22. It’s Over
It’s Over
Melody
The rain was so heavy it created a misty gray above the trees, fading the ridgeline into the clouds above.
The gravel in my driveway crunched as a quiet engine shut off. I peeked through the kitchen curtains and saw the sheriff getting out of her vehicle.
What the hell is she doing here?
Miriam and Marcus were in the kitchen as my mind raced with horrible scenarios.
I’d get arrested at the breakfast table, within line of sight of the mantle where he looked at me. Taunted me. His ghost was laughing at me. Telling me I would never be free.
The knock sounded like an executioner’s drum.
Miriam was up and running to the door before I could stop her, opening it with a warm greeting of, “Hi Sheriff!”
Oh, Miriam…
She’d be the one most hurt when they took me away.
“Hey, sweetheart. Can you get your sister for me?”
I was already rounding the corner, a shawl tightly wrapped around my shoulders.
“Miriam, can you head inside, please?” I asked, taking her space in the door and standing in front of Sheriff Whitlaw. I shut my eyes and waited for the news.
“Come downtown with me, young lady.” …Or whatever it was cops said.
Maybe she’d just get straight to Mirandizing me.
“We got the results from the coroner’s office.” She hooked her thumbs into her thick utility belt. She said something else, but my eyes swept over the gun and the handcuffs.
Would she use those cuffs on me? Would my brother and sister see me like that? See me getting hauled into the back of the sheriff’s car?
“Did you hear me, Melody?” she said. “It was ruled an accidental drowning caused by a mix of his pills and alcohol.”
I swallowed. Then blinked.
“What?”
“It was an accident.” There was something about the way she said it. The gravity of it. Like she knew something. Like she knew it was…a lie. “I’m on my way to file it, and I thought I’d come let you know first.”
“Th-Thank you?”
Maybe I was being pranked? Were the Grays doing something? With the one that was an influencer? Valerie? Did she get everyone else involved to make a big reveal?
“It’s over,” Whitlaw said, her voice a whisper. “It’s finally over.”
She put her strong hand on my shoulder and squeezed.
“You can relax, now.”
She turned and walked back to her car.
Even as she drove away, I couldn’t believe it. I had lived in fear of my pending arrest for so long. Now, it was over. The weight had been lifted.
But the phantom fear remained.
The phantom fear, and the sound of raindrops on a metal roof as thunder crashed somewhere above the valley.
It wasn’t over. It couldn’t be. I didn’t believe it.