Page 23 of Falling Too Late

Yes, I did. Because I wanted her dead. ?

I didn’t voice it out loud. If I didn’t say it, it wouldn’t be true. I wouldn’t be a bad person for wishing them dead.?

“It was Kevin,” Gloria finally said. I could feel Alex’s eyes boring into me.

I wanted to ask but held back. Gloria must have seen the question on my face.??

“He wasn’t dead when they took him, but,” Gloria hesitated, “from my understanding, he was burned pretty badly.”

I watched Alex’s face. He didn’t show any emotion.

“What about my mom?”?

Alex finally spoke, “Your mom’s arm was bandaged up, and she had smoke in her lungs or something like that.” He walked closer to me, watching me. “She was asked if anyone else was in the house, and she told them no. That you had been staying at your aunt Katie’s.”

I looked away from him, nodding. Of course, Mom would say that to save her own ass.

“How did the fire start?”??

“We don’t know yet, baby.” Gloria rubbed my arm. “But we are allowed to get some things out of the apartment. The firemen are going to help before they seal it up for investigation.”

My eyes bore into Alex, but he didn’t give me anything.

Could he have done it?

I tried to banish the thought. Alex was too kind to have done something like risk two people’s lives to start a fire. He couldn’t be capable of it.

Maybe he was trying to kill them for you.

The thought hit me hard and made me hopeful.

Alex spent the next few hours bringing things from the other apartment. He would bring them into the living room, and I took a wet cloth and wiped them all down, trying to get rid of the smell of smoke.

Gloria left and headed back to work. She wanted to stay home, but we knew how tight money was. She couldn’t even miss a half-day on account of an emergency.

Alex and I worked separately, trying to get the place put together. We didn’t want his mom coming home and fussing with anything.

In the bathroom, I was putting things away under the sink when I heard it.

“NO!” I screamed and clambered into the bathtub, crouching down and covering my face with my hands.

“Wren?!” I heard him shout, but I didn’t respond. My heart thundered in my chest and I tried to stay as quiet as possible.He won’t find me. He can’t do this to me.

“Please I won’t scream, I promise!” The words flew out of my mouth and I begged repeatedly: “Please! Nononono!”

“Wren, what’s wrong?” Hands were on my shoulders, and I screamed louder.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt Daddy, I swear!

My hands were pulled away from my face.

“Look at me!”

Alex’s panicked eyes were on me. “It’s just me, Wren, I wouldn’t hurt you, you know that.”

Time seemed to slow as I stared at him.

What had I heard?

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