Page 42 of Finding Our Reality

Anna gasps, tattle-telling to Aunt Teresa. “Mimi…”

Smiling, she fake scolds her children. “Raylee, don’t tell your brother to shut up. Holt, don’t aggravate your sister.”

Tyson grunts and wiggles around on the soft blanket I spread out across the living room rug. “Come on, Ty. Let’s work those muscles.” I roll him onto his stomach, encouraging him to push up with his arms.

Will joins us, sitting next to Raylee on the couch. He offered to do clean-up duty from tonight’s family dinner. Flopping onto my back, I pick up Ty and lay him across my chest. I smile, watching his little face contort into a gummy grin as his tries to bite my chin. Instead, he drools all over my face.

When Aunt Teresa called me last night to say she wanted to have a family dinner, I was worried I wouldn’t make it back in time from my out-of-town work. But they waited on me. My wonderful and sweet family—whom I am still completely mad at—waited on me. Dinner was supposed to be at six. I didn’t pull up into the driveway until seven and found them all sitting around the kitchen table, waiting on me.

“Where’d you go, Ella?”

I peer around Ty’s head, looking at Will. “Huntsville. It was a pre-interview for a television show.”

“What happened?”

“This woman had two sisters. Twenty years ago, one sister killed the other. Poisoned her. She did it slowly over a year’s time. Then, when she was in prison, she was so distraught, she hung herself. I met with the surviving sister, asked her some questions. I have to make an interview format for the producers.”

Raylee tosses me a spit rag so I can wipe my face. “Plus, she’s older so they wanted to make sure her house would be a suitable filming location. Then, I met with some others—the defense attorney, the prosecutor, some of the police, family friends. The local university there has a really nice conference room in their library. They should be able to film all the other interviews there.”

Holt cocks his head. “Interview formats. I had people do those on me before I had to give big interviews.”

“Yeah, it just helps the flow.”

Will shrugs. “What do you mean?”

“Well, everyone talks in a different manner. When you ask someone to tell a story, some people start in the beginning, some people start at the end, and some people start in the middle. When you watch these crime shows on TV, they usually start with a little information about the crime itself. You know, what makes it so horrific to human nature, and then they have to wind back around and tell the story from start to finish. If I can figure out how the subject talks, tells her story, how she likes to answer questions, how much information she elaborates on, then I can come up with a plan for what all the producers need to ask and in what order they need to ask it. It definitely makes the editing process easier in the end.”

“Honey, that’s so amazing. I must say, when you became obsessed with all that true crime stuff after Carrie disappeared, I became more than a little concerned. I can’t believe you’ve actually turned it into a career.”

I smile upside down at Aunt Teresa. “I can’t believe it either. I love what I do. Just think, if I followed Mom and Dad’s path, I would’ve been an architect. Don’t get me wrong, that’s an amazing profession, just not for me.”

Uncle Ray clears his throat. Anna is still sitting on his lap, but she’s curled up against his chest, losing the battle to keep her eyes open as he softly scratches her back. “Speaking of Carrie, how are things going? I heard you went to interview Crutch’s brother on Monday before you left town.”

“And which little spy did you hear that from? Marcum or Holt?”

“Crutch.”

My ears snap to attention. “Excuse me? For someone who said he didn’t hardly see or speak to the man, you sure seem to be talking to him a lot lately.”

A small shred of shame slices away at my heart, knowing that I shouldn’t make such comments. If anyone deserves to be spiedon, I guess it should be me. I did keep the fact that Carrie was selling and using drugs from my family. We haven’t really talked about it, but I knew I had to apologize. I barely had the words, ‘I’m sorry’ out of my mouth before they all forgave me.

I guess I should take a lesson from my own family.

Unfazed by my attitude, Uncle Ray answers, “A couple of cars got broken into at the factory. Crutch and Leary stopped by when they heard it over the radio.”

“And?” I wrap my arms around Ty and clamber into a sitting position.

“And…I asked him how things were going between the two of you.”

I narrow my eyes. “Why not just ask me?”

Holt snorts. “Some could say you’re a little defensive when it comes to questions about Crutch. Or offensive, depending on how you look at it, I guess.”

I blow air from my mouth, which makes Ty grunt in excitement. “I only call it like I see it when it comes to him.”

Raylee leans forward. “And how do you see it? After all these years?”

I could lie. Tell them that everything between me and Ry is completely dead. That we’re consummate professionals and nothing more, but this is my family we’re talking about. Not my parents. Not my in-laws. Not my stuck-up society peers. Myrealfamily. They deserve the truth.

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