Chapter 70
NOW
Libby and Adeem had let me talk for more than an hour, without interjecting once.
Adeem’s phone hadn’t even rung during that period, leading me to believe that he must have turned it off. When I finally stop talking, they blink at me for a few minutes, as if the film had ended and the lights had come back on. Now, it’s such a relief having someone else speak, I leave them to it.
“To conclude,” Libby says. “Your father killed your Aunt Cess. Your sister’s death was an accident, your mother’s death was a suicide.”
“No,” I say.
Libby looks set to continue with her monologue, but this appears to throw her. “No?”
“My father killed them all. Indirectly, perhaps, but he still did it. My father was poison. He killed everything he touched.”
Libby and Adeem don’t respond.
“It’s of no consequence to me if you believe this,” I say, “but if there’s one truth I can stand on after my eighty-one years, that is it.”
They are quiet a moment. Then Libby speaks. “You were found guilty of your father’s murder, as well as your aunt’s. You admitted murdering your father but have remained steadfast that you didn’t kill your aunt.”
“And I still remain steadfast.”
“Ness spoke for you in court. She also believed your father had killed Cess.”
“Yes. She was right.”
Libby looks back at her notes. “We noticed that the court reviewed your journal during the trial and commented that your entries were incredibly detailed and accurate—the weather, the dates, the tiny, specific details about what you did on certain days. The only part of your journal that couldn’t be verified was … ”
“Daphne.”