Page 56 of Deja New
“Your visits are a waste of time. I don’t want you to go.Dennisdoesn’t even want you to go.”
“Dennis,” she said carefully, “is doing someone else’s time. How can you be okay with that?”
“BecauseDennisis okay with that.”
“And how can you be against trying to get justice for Dad?”
“Your father already got justice.”
“How— That makes no sense, Mom. At all.”
But she was already shaking her head. “I refuse to let this go on. No more visits. No more files, no more crime-scene photos. Just... enough with the meddling. Enough.”
“You know that whole ‘quit meddling’ thing is making you sound like a Scooby villain, right? It’s a bit creepy. What are you afraid of? What could come out that’s worse than Dad’s murder?”
Creepy Mom didn’t listen any better than Ghost Mom. “I’m putting an end to it, Angela.”
Angela was still studying her like Emma Drake was an intriguing amoeba on a microscope slide. “Good thing I’m an adult, then, and don’t have to tremble and obey.”
She never says “prison,” or “ICC.” It’s always “your visit” or “your trip.” I used to think she did that out of grief, that Dad’s loss was so painful to her, she couldn’t bear to talk about her bro-in-law languishing in prison. But now I wonder.
Suddenly conciliatory, her mother laid a hand on Angela’s sleeve. “I’m doing this for you, sweetie. You don’t have the strength to stop this unhealthy obsession on your own, so I’m taking things into my own hands.”
“Oh, is that what this is? You’re—uh—saving me? From myself? And also from crime-scene photos?”
A nod. “That’s exactly right.”
“Mom, I’m not the only one of us who wants closure. With the notable exception of, well,you, the whole family—” She turned to gesture to them, only to realize that at some point they’d all stolen out of the kitchen with a minimum of noise, the bums.
“COWWWWWWWWWAAAAAARRRRRDDDDDDSSSSS!”
By the time she’d calmed down, she realized her mother had left, too.
