Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
Lookout Mountain
Beth Ann was reeling as she drove to her parents’ house.
Tears streamed down her cheeks and dripped from her chin, and she snatched a tissue from the box on the driver’s seat.
For the dozenth time since she’d learned Minnie was dead, she cursed herself for not going to the police about her sister.
If she had and they’d found her, she might still be alive.
Her stomach churned but not from the winding road. Her little sister was dead. And she had a child.
A missing little girl named Iris. Her own niece. One Beth Ann hadn’t even known existed.
An ache spread deep inside her, guilt searing her. She’d failed Minnie.
Her father had declared Minnie dead to him. Dead to him.
And her mother… well, she’d cried a lot, but usually did everything her husband ordered, as if she was afraid to stand up to him. It was plain barbaric.
Then one month rolled into another and another and Beth Ann finished college and never moved back in with her parents.
You should have looked for Minnie yourself.
Where had Minnie gone? How had she survived? Especially if she’d been pregnant when she left? Who’d helped her?
Or had she gotten pregnant after she ran away?
Different scenarios bombarded her with frightening images of what could have gone wrong. Minnie had slept with a guy she met on the streets. She’d sold her body for money for food. She’d been sexually assaulted…
The thought of her sister living on the streets alone, homeless, hungry and pregnant, made her stomach roil.
There were so many questions that needed answering.
Where was little Iris? Was she safe?
She turned onto the long drive leading to her parents’ house, dreading seeing them. But she had to confront them.
As she crested the hill, she spotted the big house where they’d moved while she was in college. Beth Ann had never lived here with them, so it wasn’t home to her and never would be.
Thunder rumbled as she crept over the hill and she parked, wiped her tear-stained face again with another tissue, jammed her phone into the pocket of her jeans and strode up the porch steps.
Windchimes tinkled and danced in the breeze. She rang the doorbell and tapped her foot, glancing around to survey the property. Immaculately groomed lawn, stunning view of the mountainside, and a flower garden. A beautiful property.
Her parents cared more about their land than they did their own children.
She punched the bell again then pounded on the door. Finally, it swung open and her mother stood on the other side, her eyes startled when she saw her. “Beth Ann,” she said in a trembling voice
"Yes, Mother. The police came to see me." She didn’t wait for an invitation. She stormed past her mother and into the living room.
“Get Dad,” Beth Ann said.
Her mother exhaled. “Now, Beth Ann, please don’t make trouble. We’re already upset enough.”
“Are you?” she said, grinding her teeth. “You didn’t seem too upset when Minnie ran away.”
“What the hell is going on?” her father snapped as he poked his head into the doorway. “I could hear you all the way in my study.”
“Good.” Beth Ann crossed her arms, chin lifted defiantly. “The police told me about Minnie. And I know they talked to you.”
Her father’s polo shirt stretched across his chest as he inhaled a long slow breath. “Yes, it was… uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable?” Beth Ann shouted. “You learn your daughter who you never even searched for, is not only dead, but her death is suspicious and you’re uncomfortable. Or is that because she had a child, Dad?”
Her father’s gray eyes burned a hole through her. “How dare you speak to me like that, young lady.”
Sarcasm laced her voice. “Why? Because the truth hurts? Or you’re ashamed that your baby girl had a baby?”
His cheeks reddened and he hissed between his teeth.
“Beth Ann, please calm down,” her mother murmured.
“I won’t calm down, Mother.” Beth Ann spun toward her father, her mind racing. “I have a feeling you lied about the reason Minnie left. That she was pregnant and you knew about it. Did you run her off?”
The slap across the face from her father was so hard her head jerked backward and a stinging fire shot up her cheek.
“Get out, Beth Ann, and don’t come back,” her father shouted.
“I guess you just answered my question.” Hate seized her as she stormed through the hall to the door. She slammed it and climbed in her car, sobs escaping her as she barreled down the mountain.
Why didn’t you tell me, Minnie? I would have helped you.
Only now it was too late…