Page 129 of Carbon

Mother’s head bobbled on her shoulders as she looked around. “Where’s her car?”

“The man who killed Angelica kidnapped me and a friend, and then we crashed.”

“Where is he? Where’s Beau Davies? Because I want to give him a piece of my mind.”

A piece of her mind? Good grief. “He’s not here, and in any case, he didn’t kill Angie.”

“Of course he did. The police said so.” She belted Black on the arm, but he didn’t flinch. “I want that man in jail.”

Father wrapped an arm around her waist, but she shook him off. “Carolyn...”

“Don’t you ‘Carolyn’ me. These buffoons you hired are wasting their time and our money.”

Father sighed and did his best to ignore her, never an easy task. “Are you all right, Gussie?”

“I will be once I get back to London.”

Another wrinkle creased his brow. “We were hoping you’d come home.”

I gave Mother a pointed glance, then looked back at him. Seriously?

“I know what you’re thinking, but your mother’s trying to change. We’re on our way to a counselling appointment right now.”

“She doesn’t need counselling. She needs Alcoholics Anonymous.”

“We need to take this one step at a time.”

I took a deep breath. “Well, until she’s managed a few more steps, like all twelve of them, I’m going back to London to stay with Ben.”

“Who’s Ben?”

“You know him as Beau.”

A deathly silence fell, punctuated only by the rattle of Sofia’s stretcher being loaded into the ambulance.

My father spoke first. “Do you mean to tell me there’s something going on between you and that boy?”

I nodded.

Mother gasped. “But he’s a criminal!”

“The only thing he’s guilty of is loving me.”

Father’s nostrils flared in the way they always did when he got angry. “I’m ashamed of you. I never thought you’d stoop so low as to cavort with the help behind our backs.”

“Well, if Mother hadn’t sent him away nine years ago, we wouldn’t have had to hide, would we?”

“What are you talking about?”

It all came spilling out along with my tears; the way Mother lied to Ben and coerced me into marrying Rupert, and how Ben came back for me because what we had between us would never die.

“You disgusting child,” my mother said when I’d finished. “All the money we spent on your education, your lifestyle, your wardrobe, and you just throw it away on some thug?”

Support came from an unlikely source. Black.

“Ben Durham is a good man, and it’s about time you learned that there are more important things in life than money. Like your daughter’s happiness. I suggest you take a look in the mirror and realise you can roll a turd in glitter but it still stinks. And you...” He gave a sniff. “Don’t smell so good.”

Father looked as if he was about to swing for him. “How dare you speak to my wife like that?”

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