Chapter 19
Jace
“What are you talking about?” Shannon demanded, and I struggled how to frame what I was about to tell her.
I could be wrong, but I’d been looking at those photos on Cai’s parents’ wall only a day ago.
They’d showed a chubby teenage girl with brown hair, holding her little brother in her lap.
There was no denying the resemblance. It had niggled at me.
I’d thought she’d just seemed familiar because she’d looked like Cai, but that wasn’t it.
I’d recognised her because Cai’s big sister was Shannon’s best friend.
Sure, she was older and much thinner and had dyed her hair a different colour, but it was her.
I was certain. My gut told me I was right on this.
The question was, why had she lied? And why had she singled out Shannon and ingratiated herself into her life?
Was it revenge? Did Margie blame me for Cai’s death, quite like their parents had back when it had happened?
Was she the catfish? Was this all part of some master plan of which I didn’t yet know the intended outcome?
Seriously, I had a splitting headache coming on.
I swallowed thickly. “You know Cai had a sister, right?”
“Yes. We never met her, though. She was older and moved abroad when Cai was still a kid.”
I reached across the counter and took her hands in mine, making my voice as gentle as possible when I said, “It’s Margie, Shannon. Margie’s Cai’s sister.”
She stared at me for a long, tense moment, blinking several times before she began to shake her head. “No, that can’t be. The sister’s name wasn’t Margie. It was …”
“Melanie. She could’ve had it changed by deed poll. It’s not that difficult once you’re an adult.”
“But why … why would she—”
“I think she might be the catfish, Shannon,” I said, keeping my voice low and steady.
I knew this news would be hard for her, especially since she only had a small circle of close friends as it were.
She pressed her lips together, a pallor draining her complexion.
I felt like a piece of shit for doing this, hated that I could be destroying her friendship with Margie, but she needed to know.
Keeping her in the dark would be too dangerous, especially if Margie was unstable.
“It makes sense,” I went on softly. “If she blames me for Cai’s death, the success the band went on to have after he passed … I know it’s difficult to get your head around at first, but it’s not that farfetched.”
I watched as her eyes grew shiny with tears before they hardened, and she tore her hands from mine. “No. It’s not true, Jace. Margie is my best friend. She wouldn’t do this.”
Fuck, she was taking it badly. I tried to touch her again, but she stepped away, keeping her distance. My heart plunged all the way into my shoes. “It’s someone close to one of us, Shannon. Someone who knows things the public doesn’t.”
She barked a disbelieving laugh. “Right, so what if I suggested to you that it could be Elias? He’s got a gambling addiction. Catfish scams are normally built to steal money from the victims. He’s got a perfect motive, too.”
I stared at her, knowing she was simply hurting and lashing out. “You’re accusing my cousin? You know Elias. He might have problems, but he’s got the biggest heart of anyone I know. He’d never do this.”
“Your dad considered him a suspect in the beginning, along with the others, didn’t he?
Besides, even if Margie is Cai’s sister, maybe she befriended me because she missed him and wanted to be close to the people who knew him.
Maybe she never intended to lie but just couldn’t bring herself to tell me the truth. ”
“Are you seriously trying to rationalise a lie that big?” I challenged, and her features turned to stone.
She didn’t get a chance to respond because Zara came downstairs, ready for school.
She glanced between the two of us, a frown tugging at her lips. “Are you fighting?”
“No, we’re not fighting, honey,” Shannon was quick to reassure her. “Just having a little discussion. Are you all set for school?”
Zara nodded, and I moved to grab her bag. “Come on, kiddo. Let’s get going.”
She moved by me and headed for the door while I brought my attention back to Shannon, my voice quieter when I said, “Look, I’m sorry if I spoke out of turn. It’s only a theory right now, but think about it, give it some credence just for a minute. For me, please?”
She didn’t say anything for a long moment, but then finally, she nodded. I brought my hand to the back of her head, drawing her close and kissing her forehead. Some of her tension had subsided, and she let me kiss her, though I could see in her face that she remained perturbed.
After Zara was safely at school, I drove back to my parents’ house and parked my car in the drive.
I went inside, searching for my dad, but the place was empty.
Then remembering that he and Mam sometimes went for brunch with their friends Jessie and Michelle on Mondays, I exhaled a frustrated sigh.
I was antsy to move on this, and my dad was the best person to help.
However, when I called him, I only got his voicemail.
Too geared up to wait for him to get back, I decided I’d get started on my own.
First, I needed to understand why Margie might be doing this—if she was doing it—and there were only two people who could give me answers.
Still feeling off kilter, I asked Dixon if he’d drive me to Cai’s parents’ house. I was too amped up to be behind the wheel. Cool as always, Dixon agreed, not asking any questions about why I was going back to the house after the memorial on Saturday.
When he pulled up outside, I got out, and he said he’d wait at the end of the street for me, that I should call him when I was ready to head back.
Cai’s mother, Nina, answered the door, doing a double take when she saw me.
“Jace, I wasn’t expecting you. Is everything okay?”
“I need to talk to you about your daughter, Melanie,” I said, and if my dad hadn’t taught me so much about micro expressions over the years, I might’ve missed it.
The slight widening of her eyes, the tense mouth, and raised eyebrows.
Fear. The mention of her daughter had Nina frightened, and that wasn’t a normal reaction.
“You’d better come inside.”
I followed her into the house, and she led me to the kitchen where Cai’s dad was standing by the sink doing dishes.
“Dan, we have a visitor,” Nina announced, and he turned to take me in, his expression mildly wary. “Oh, hello, Jace, what brings you back here?”
“He wants to talk about Melanie,” Nina explained, a slight quiver in her voice.
Dan’s eyebrows jumped as he grabbed a dish cloth to dry his hands. “I see.”
“You said she lives in Canada,” I ventured, eyeing them both for signs of deception. I didn’t spot any, but I did see a whole lot of something else: Shame.
Nina nodded. “That’s the last we heard from her. She had a boyfriend who was moving there, and she went with him, said she had a job all lined up. That was almost twenty years ago now.”
“And you haven’t heard from her since?”
“No, Melanie, she … well, we didn’t have the best relationship. It seems like a long time not to speak, but we understand why she didn’t want us in her life any longer.”
She paused to share a look with her husband, and again, they were both drowning in shame. What exactly had happened between them and Melanie that she chose not to speak to them for twenty years?
Dan turned to me, casting me an assessing glance. “Forgive me, son, but why exactly are you here asking about our daughter? You’re upsetting my wife, and it’s a subject that’s painful for both of us.”
I pressed my lips together, staring at the table for a moment before I met his gaze steadily.
“This isn’t going to be easy to hear,” I warned, and they both appeared to steel themselves before Dan nodded for me to continue.
“I think your daughter is back in Ireland, and I also suspect she’s been meddling in mine and my ex-wife Shannon’s lives. ”
An audible silence fell before Nina asked, “What has she done?” Her inner brows raised and drew together, her chin lifting while she pursed her lips. I knew this one, too: Concern.
“You first,” I said. “Tell me why she might be doing this because for the life of me, I can’t understand. I was there when Cai died, but everyone knows it was an accident.”
“It’s our fault,” Nina blurted, her voice quavering with emotion.
She glanced at Dan as though looking for permission, and he lowered his head to give it.
“Melanie had been a difficult child, but Dan and I, we made some decisions that, looking back, certainly exacerbated her problems. If we could do things over again, we’d do them a lot differently. ”
Dan’s shoulders slumped, like there was an invisible tonne of guilt there that he carried daily. A sense of unease swept over me. What had they done?
“You’d better take a seat,” he said, motioning to the table. I pulled out a chair, and Dan sat across from me, clasping his hands together while his wife hovered nearby, nervously fidgeting with a button on her cardigan.
“As I said, Melanie was an unruly child. Maybe we spoiled her, or maybe we just weren’t strict enough, but we tried our best. By the time she entered her teens, we’d completely lost control of her.
She’d go out drinking, doing drugs, shoplifting, and getting involved with boys.
She’d lie to us constantly, but when she came home pregnant at fifteen, Nina and I were at our wit’s end.
Melanie didn’t feel ready to raise a child, which was completely understandable.
She was still so young. So we came up with a plan to home school her until the baby was born, then we’d raise him as ours so that Melanie could go on with her life, complete her education, and hopefully go to college. ”
“Him?” I asked, starting to put the pieces together.
“Cai,” Dan explained. “He was Melanie’s son, not her brother.”