A Mother's Lie - Sarah Zettel Page 0,61
with the double-barreled shotgun found at the scene. Police refused to rule out suicide…whereabouts of the Jankowski family are currently unknown, but they are wanted for questioning…”
Chelsea pressed her hand over her mouth and stared. Dana nodded and turned the laptop back around.
“Holy shit!” breathed Chelsea. “Are these your grandparents?”
“And my mom. The guy was holding her hostage for three days, and she killed him and ran.”
There was a picture of a body. It was old and grainy, and black and white, but you could still see the mess that had been made of him and the black splatter of blood, like someone had tossed a whole gallon of paint straight at his chest.
“Wow. I knew your mom was a badass, but this is…next-level…and—” Chelsea stopped, clearly because she’d gotten a look at Dana’s face. “Okay, what am I missing?”
Dana took a deep breath. She wanted to tell Chelsea everything, but somehow, the words did not want to string themselves together. “I saw my dad. He came to the hospital yesterday, and he…he was hinting around that Mom had done some…really bad stuff.”
“Seriously? Usually he only hints around that he wants to blow you off again.”
“Yeah. Something’s changed. He’s in trouble. I don’t know what exactly. Mom says it’s money, and she always knows when it’s money. Anyway. He tried to tell me she killed somebody. He tried…he wanted to get me scared of her. He…he’s gone off the fucking rails this time.”
A wave of anger swelled again, hot and unnerving. She could feel herself trying to let it go already, to just…accept that Dad did and said shit like this, and it didn’t matter.
This time, it matters. It really, seriously matters.
“I am sick of him jerking me around,” she said. Each word dropped harder than the last. “And he’s gonna hear it from me. Me! Not Mom!”
“Just as soon as you stop crying,” remarked Chelsea.
“Oh, fuck!” Dana slapped the nearest pillow up against her face and bawled. And because Chelsea understood and Chelsea was her BFF, Chelsea grabbed a Kleenex and shoved it under the pillow.
“Rag for the ugly cry,” she said. Dana laughed and cried and dropped the pillow and took the Kleenex and honked when she blew her nose.
Chelsea handed a cupcake to Dana and took one for herself.
“What are you gonna do?”
“I’m going to find out exactly what the hell my dad’s talking about. Then I’m going to tell him he doesn’t get to hide me, then use me. Fuck that.”
“Yeah, fuck that fucker into the middle of next fucking week!” Chelsea raised her cupcake like she wanted to make a toast. Dana bumped what was left of her cake up against Chelsea’s.
“But…thing is, I need your help.”
Chelsea glared at her, which would have been way more intimidating without the blob of frosting on her cheek. “I am not helping you do any more stupid stuff. Look what happened last time.”
“Come on—it’s not going to be any big deal. I just need you to cover for me with my mom—that’s all.”
“Yeah.” Chelsea scrunched the cupcake wrapper tight in her fist. “Cuz when everything’s fine and it’s no big deal, that’s always when you need somebody to cover for you!”
“All I’m doing is telling my dad I know he’s full of it, and he should fuck off and never come back.”
“So call him! Phone’s right there!” She stabbed a finger at Dana’s cell, which was next to her laptop.
“I have to do this to his face. It’s the only way I can be sure he’s listening, and I’ve only got two days!”
That stopped Chelsea in her tracks. “Why two days?”
Dana swallowed. “Cuz Mom’s making me go away to this stupid ‘enrichment camp’ for rich kids whose parents need to get them out of the way while they’re investigated by the special counsel or something.” Telling Chelsea made it way more real. Her whole summer, her internship—everything—was all done before it even got started. She was being shoved aside. So she’d be safe and out of the picture. “I’m supposed to leave Wednesday.”
Suddenly, Chelsea got up off the bed and stalked over to the window.
“Fuck!” she said to the city outside. “Just…fuck! Dana! Why’d you have to go screwing around with this?! Huh? I told you it’d just mess everything up! Why couldn’t you listen?!”
“What the hell, Chelsea? What’s going on?!”
But it was like Chelsea didn’t even hear her. “You…you don’t think—that’s what’s going on! You get all tied up in knots and your own little world and