that she’d kept her mouth shut despite my mother’s jabs and obvious lies.
I nodded and forced a smile in the direction of the aide, who gave me a stern look before returning her gaze to her phone. Drawing on every ounce of patience within me, I made sure to keep my tone mild when I spoke again. “Mom, I need you to tell the truth. This is your chance to come clean. It’s the only way any of us can begin to heal.”
That sounded like a bunch of garbage, even to me. But I believed it was true for Thea, at the very least. If my mother had murdered Amber, I didn’t know that there was any healing in her future. How did someone come back from that?
Mom shook her head, tears still rolling down her cheeks. “I can’t, Hayle. Don’t make me.”
“You can, and you will.” I hated to play this card, but it was necessary. I wouldn’t let myself think too hard about whether blackmailing her made me just like my father. “Otherwise, I’ll turn the typewriter over to the police and ask them to investigate all of your illegal activities.”
Her eyes widened with shock and what I had no doubt amounted to panic. Maybe they wouldn’t be able to prove she’d been responsible for a murder that occurred over eight years ago. But the drug paraphernalia should get her some jail time, and she knew it.
It might not be illegal to make poppyseed tea, but I’d found plenty of evidence that she’d been using the pods for more than tea. All this time, she’d been growing poppies right under my nose, and I’d had no idea she’d been supplying herself with a steady supply of opium.
I’d been so fucking blind.
No longer.
“What happened to Amber?” I insisted yet again.
“She was going to take you away from me,” she replied, her voice small.
“Do you mean that she wanted to take away your visitation rights?” If so, I’d never heard anything about it.
“No, she was going to ship you off to boarding school. I couldn’t let her do that, Hayle. You have to understand.”
Understanding dawned, but it had nothing to do with my mother’s motivations at the time. “Are you talking about The Harrison School?”
“Yes.” She brightened slightly. “That’s the one. Amber was going to send you there.”
I pushed my chair back and stood, taking a few steps away before I said—or did—something I would regret. I’d never had much of a temper, but right now, I wanted to throw the damn table across the courtyard.
“What’s wrong?” Thea asked quietly, and her voice anchored me. We were so close to the truth, and I couldn’t give up now. I was doing this for her.
Forcing one foot in front of the other, I returned and planted both hands on the table, leaning in close to my mother. “Amber wasn’t trying to ship me off to boarding school. It’s a school for gifted students, and I filled out the application without even telling anyone. Yes, it’s in Massachusetts, but I thought you and I could move there together if I got accepted.”
Any remaining color drained from Mom’s face. “Wh-what?”
“I changed my mind about it when Dad and Amber got engaged.” I glanced at Thea, wondering what she would think about my next admission. “It was different with Amber and Thea around. Dad was on his best behavior, and we felt like a family for once.”
“But I heard Amber talking on the phone with someone from the school,” Mom argued. “She was asking questions.”
I sighed in frustration. “Yes, because she found my acceptance letter and wanted to find out what was going on. She ended up talking to me about it and promised not to tell Dad, since I didn’t want him to know I’d been planning on leaving.”
When Mom didn’t say anything else, I pushed. Again. “So, that’s why you killed Amber? Over fucking boarding school?”
She began crying again. “She was taking you away from me. Taking you on outings, just the two of you, and turning you against me. I didn’t have a choice.”
“Of course, you had a choice,” Thea choked out, addressing my mother for the first time. “That was my mom, and you stole her from me.”
I leaned even farther over the table, until I was only inches away from the woman who had given birth to me. Yet, I didn’t recognize her anymore. Had my entire life been a lie?