51. SKYE
SKYE
I opened the door and there she was. Arms crossed, hip cocked, a smirk on her face that was very sinister.
“I know you were in my room,” Storie said, and pushed past me into my bedroom before I could stop her.
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t play dumb. You went through my closet.” She turned to face me. “So what did you find?”
I shut the door behind us. If we were doing this, nobody else in this house was going to hear it.
“I found two empty bottles of antifreeze.” My voice didn’t shake. “You killed Midnite. You poisoned that horse and you let your father blame Kira for it. And I’m telling him.”
Storie didn’t flinch. She smiled wider.
“Go ahead. But will he believe you, Melody?” She let the name hang in the air between us. “You’re lying about who you are. You’re lying about your name, your past, everything. We both know what you did. You have no business being around children.”
My blood went cold. “How do you know…”
“I saw you looking at the Solo Sheffield case on your phone one night. I got curious. I’m always curious about true crime.
” She tilted her head. “Imagine my surprise when I looked it up and saw a familiar face. His lawyer. You. Melody Harlow. I learned all about your little performance in court. How you bungled that case. Wait til Justice finds out his nanny starred in a sex tape in front of a judge.”
“You don’t know shit about what happened to me.”
“I know enough.” Her voice was calm. Controlled.
Not a teenager’s voice at all. “I know you weaseled your way into this family under a fake name. I know you have a criminal record. I know you got your daughter killed because you were careless. And all I have to do is tell Justice any one of those things and you’re done.
Out the door. Probably in handcuffs again. ”
My hands were shaking uncontrollably, and I wrapped them around her throat and shoved her against a wall. The nerve of this little bitch to say I got my daughter killed.
“You’re insane.”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “Now give me that letter back and get your hands off of me. Are you gonna kill another child?” she snipped as I released my grip.
“What’s your end game? Justice deserves to know the truth about you. All of you.”
“It’s better for him if I play along for now.
He doesn’t know that I know. He thinks I’m his.
” She sat down on the edge of my bed like she owned it.
“You want to hear something funny? I found that letter by accident. My mother was dying. I went into her room looking for a pair of earrings, and there it was. I read it and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
But it explained everything. It explained why what I felt for him was never a daddy-daughter bond.
It was something else. Something I couldn’t name.
I love him… kinda like how you do. Like that bitch Kira did.
But neither of you are good enough for him.
” She paused. “And then I got curious about what it felt like to kill somebody. I hated her for lying to him about me. She kept me from my real father. So I took a pillow and I put it over my mother’s face and I held it there until she stopped breathing. ”
The room tilted. I grabbed the dresser to keep my balance.
“You killed Monica.”
“She was dying anyway.” Storie said it like she was talking about taking out the trash. “I just helped it along. Call it mercy if that makes you feel better.”
“You’re a monster.”
“No more than you, child killer.” She stood up.
“Listen, Melody. Here’s how this is gonna work.
I know you’re not staying long. You’ve got one month.
Get whatever you need out of this situation and get out.
Don’t try to snitch on me. Don’t try to tell Justice anything.
And I won’t tell him the truth about you.
” She walked to my door and opened it. “We understand each other?”
I stared at this child. This fifteen-year-old girl who had killed her own mother, poisoned a horse, framed an innocent woman, and was now standing in my doorway issuing terms like a crime boss.
I didn’t say a word.
“Good,” she said. “Glad we had this talk.”
She pulled the door shut behind her, soft and quiet. Like nothing had happened at all.
To Be Continued…