CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR MOLLY #2
“I didn’t lie. She never said in those diaries that she was the one who pulled the trigger.
Just went on saying how Nicolai called her and there was an incident, but I know you.
You wouldn’t want to know unless there was foolproof evidence.
I didn’t have that, so I waited until I had enough to bring you all of it.
Just got into the last diary today. She put it all there, a full confession.
I have no clue why. That’s when I called the upstanding police officer himself, Detective Worthing. And we came right here.”
“You left a tracker here?” Ashton asked Jake.
Jake barely reacted, but I caught a glimmer of amusement in his gaze. “You’re not the only one who knows how to do things.”
“Right.” Ashton’s tone was dry, but he sighed.
I tugged his hands down in front of me, linking our fingers.
Jake arrested Sloane. “I brought him here so you could hear straight from him what happened.” He was putting handcuffs on Sloane as he said to Jess, “So you know, too, who killed Kelly. Felt it was the right thing to do, bringing him in person.”
She nodded, her face stoic until Trace pulled her back into his arms. Then she turned her back to everyone else, and buried her face into his chest. He held her like that the rest of the time.
Jake studied her a moment, a flicker of sympathy showing before his own face went stoic. He glanced in Ashton’s direction. “I have enough wherewithal to know when a battle went down, but I’m expecting that when I leave, I won’t be seeing any bodies lying around?”
Ashton’s voice sounded behind my ear. “What bodies? What are you talking about?”
Jake smirked, a faint one, before he dipped his head forward again. “I’ll be charging her, and I’ll be taking that one with me as well.” He nodded in my father’s direction.
“Wha—huh?!”
“We’ll be downloading the online journal, too, for evidence.” He gave Ashton a significant look before moving Sloane forward. “But first, I’ll put this one in the car.”
As soon as he was out of the room, Ashton was across the room and in front of my dad. “Let’s go.”
“Hey—ouch! What are you doing?!”
Ashton marched him right out of the room and down the hallway.
“He’s getting to the journal first. The detective is letting him,” Trace said to me.
I nodded, not surprised by anything anymore.
The only ones in the room were Trace, Jess, and me. The rest of the guests, they’d all been taken to the nearest hospital to get checked out. From there, Ashton told me the plans had been to have them driven back to the city. Except for Jess’s mom. She stayed and was already up in her own room.
Pialto and Sophie were being taken back as well.
“Sloane will be charged. So that means Nea’s and Nicolai’s bodies will be released into evidence.” Trace added, saying to me, “And guarantee he’ll charge your dad too. Breaking and entering. Anything else because he just confessed to a whole list of crimes.”
I was dazed but nodded. “I’m not posting his bail.”
Jess shuddered, breaking free from Trace’s arms. She crossed the room to the liquor cabinet and poured herself a hefty drink. “It’s our wedding night, honey.”
He had a faint smile on his face as he watched his new wife. His eyes were cast in shadow before he said to me, “Something happened with Ashton out there.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“When we were running around, trying to find everyone. He was shaking. I have never seen him shake like that, and he already thought you were safe. It wasn’t that he was worried about you.
It wasn’t that he was worried about me. It was something else, something entirely else, and I have no clue what it was. ”
Jess turned our way, holding her drink against her chest. “Molly, you started to talk a while ago about your place in our group. Or about group roles? Something like that?”
I nodded, distracted by what Trace had just said about Ashton. “Yeah. Why?”
“Could you explain that again? Or explain more?”
I frowned, but okay then. “In a group, there’s different roles.
There’s a thinker.” I nodded in Trace’s direction.
“That’s you. The analyst. Then there’s doers.
I feel you and Ashton are mostly doers. Ashton thinks, too—I mean, we all do—but you and him.
You guys get shit done. And then there’s me.
I’m the in-between. I bring everyone together.
I’m the connector.” I kept frowning though.
“But why are you asking? Why now, I mean?”
She drew in another breath, her chin starting to tremble.
“Because when my brother finally gets released from prison, we’re going to start a whole new battle to try to keep our mother around as long as possible.
And right now, I’m feeling a little raw.
I lost Kelly all over again today, so I need to remember who else I still have.
” She was blinking rapidly, lifting her glass and using the back of her pinkie to wipe away a tear.
“I like hearing how we’re a group, and we all have our roles, because it makes sense to me. I need something to make sense to me.”
I walked over to her, my heart breaking, and hugged her. Drink and all.
She was right. We were all a new family, and one I had no intention of losing.
“Just call me the group sealant.”
She barked out a laugh, her one free hand hugging me back. “That sounds so wrong but so right.”
Wrong and right and sometimes inappropriate. That sounded about right.