Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Julia Tutwiler Prison For Women
Wetumpka, Alabama
Three months ago…
“Do you still feel guilty?” Magnolia asked her.
Lily looked up from the files in front of her.
“Guilt is a useless emotion,” Magnolia added. “Wastes time. Energy. I personally never bother with it.”
“What, exactly, would I feel guilty about, Mother?” Lily was highly aware of the guard to the right. Blond, slightly rounded shoulders. Tall. Jesse Baker was typically the guard given watch duty when Lily was in visiting sessions with her mother.
“Oh, knowing you…anything.” Her mother’s hand waved vaguely. A light, coral polish on her nails today. “You blame yourself for all sorts of things that aren’t your responsibility. Even as a child, you were far too serious. Always thinking the weight of the world was on your shoulders.”
Her mother wasn’t talking about the weight of the—wait. “Atlas.”
Magnolia blinked her glorious eyes. “Hmmm?”
She shut her files. “How do you know?”
“Know what, darling?”
That I am looking into Atlas Bennett. That I am fascinated by him. No, no, fascinated was the wrong word. She was merely conducting research. That was all. Research. Just like she and her friend Sloane researched their other subjects.
“Names are important, you know,” her mother said. “Take me, for example. I was named for the Magnolia. A name that fits me perfectly. Beauty. Dignity. Southern charm.”
Yes, nowhere in that description was murderous predator. So perhaps it wasn’t the most perfect name ever.
“And you…” Magnolia turned her waving hand toward Lily. “My precious daughter. Named after the beautiful lily.”
Lily’s jaw locked. “Many lilies are extremely poisonous.” One of her mother’s little jokes. You literally named me for poison. “They cause vomiting, mouth pain, and weakness.”
Magnolia smiled. “Isn’t that fun?”
“Not to the people vomiting.”
A delighted laugh escaped Magnolia. “You are telling more jokes lately! I find that wonderful. Maybe you are finally coming out of that shell of yours!”
She wasn’t a turtle. “That wasn’t a joke. I don’t think the people vomiting would find it very fun.” An inhale. “I was serious.”
“Aren’t you always?” Magnolia’s lips pulled down. “How did I wind up with such a serious child?”
Maybe because you’re a murderer, and I grew up knowing that dark truth. Lily also had never been particularly amused by her name. She didn’t think her mother had given it to her because lilies were beautiful. But because they were poison.
Magnolia settled a bit more comfortably in her chair. “Beautiful things can be dangerous. They should not be underestimated in this world. Carry your name with pride.”
Like it was easy to carry a name given by your serial killer mother. There was a reason Lily had always made sure she used her father’s surname of Gallo and not her mother’s maiden name of Calhoun.
Something has to separate us.
“Of course, your middle name is Oleander,” her mother murmured. Those big, wide eyes blinked innocently. “Are you going to accuse me of some wicked intent with that one, too?” A blink. “Honestly, darling, you should be grateful I gave you such beautiful names.”
Her palms were slick with sweat. Her mother was playing games. Oleanders were poisonous. In some cases, fatal. Severe cases of oleander poisoning could result in heart paralysis because the oleander contained cardiac glycosides.
“Do you still journal, my Lily?” Magnolia asked with a flutter of her lashes. “When you were a child, you were always scribbling away in your diary.”
No, she had not been. As a child, she’d never kept a diary. She’d also never had any close friends. Magnolia hadn’t liked for the other children to visit their house.
“The therapist here tells me that it would be very beneficial for me to keep a recording of my thoughts. My emotions.” Her mother pressed her lips together. Slowly released them. “I suppose I could give it a try. I do want to cooperate as much as possible.”
Her mother had always written down her thoughts and emotions. She was the one who’d kept journals.
And Lily had been the one to dispose of them so they could not be used against Magnolia. Well, most of them. She’d kept one.
Did her mother know that? Lily suspected that she did.
“Keep a journal,” her mother urged her. “Maybe it will help you, too.”
You want me to read your journal again, don’t you? I’ve read it a thousand times. There is nothing inside that will help me. Time to change the subject. “Are you still in contact with the doctor from Louisiana?”
“Who?” A faint pucker between Magnolia’s brows.
“The man who offered marriage,” she reminded her.
“Oh, right. We’ll see what happens. You just have to be very, very careful with men. You never know what burdens they carry. We all carry burdens in this world.”
Again, Lily knew the phrasing was deliberate. All the talk about names…about carrying burdens…the world…
You know, don’t you, Mother? But how did she know?
“You’ve centered in on your first test subject,” Magnolia murmured.
Yes, she had.
Atlas Bennett.
Atlas. Named for the Titan of Greek myth. The one who bore the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Do you think he’ll carry your burdens? Take some of your darkness away?
” Magnolia shook her head. “I doubt it, darling. I think he’ll just pull you under with him.
The weight might just crush you both.” A shrug.
“I always worried you’d be attracted to the wrong kind of man.
I mean, just look at the failure of your last relationship. ”
She wasn’t talking about that relationship with Magnolia.
“He was a user,” Magnolia said. “Tried to warn you about that. You didn’t listen.” Her lips pursed. “Will you listen this time?”
“I’m not attracted to research subjects.”
“That’s not what he will be.”
Their gazes held. Fought.
“Live up to your name,” her mother urged her.
That was the problem. She already had. And now I have to find a way to stop. Someone has to help me stop. Because she wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to do it herself.