The Sun Down Motel(105)

Viv smiled, as if she were a little amused. “Carly, I’ve been a vault for thirty-five years. You need to stop asking questions I won’t answer.”

But I had no intention of stopping. “How did you know that your mother died of cancer?” I asked her.

“What?”

“You didn’t know that my mother had died, but you knew your mother had. When I told you that Mom died of cancer, you said . . .” I trailed off as it hit me. “You didn’t say they died. You said cancer runs in the family.”

“It does.”

I felt my stomach lurch. This was too much, all in one night. “You have cancer.” My voice was flat.

“I did have it,” Viv said. “I beat it.”

“And now?”

“Get yourself screened, sweetheart,” she said as we pulled into the police station parking lot. “We’re here.”



* * *



? ? ?

They made us wait for two hours. We sat on hard chairs in the police station, watching people come and go. Every once in a while I’d go back up to the duty officer’s desk and ask about Nick Harkness. He’d tell me that he’d let me know as soon as there was any news, and then I’d sit down again.

Viv got up twice and made a phone call, walking a few feet away for privacy. The second phone call was a disagreement—I could tell from her hunched posture, the way she spoke intently into the phone, the low, whispered sound of her voice. I know. I know. I’m sorry. Those were the only words I could pick out with my limited lip-reading skills.

“Who were you talking to?” I asked when she sat down again, though I knew it was useless.

For the first time since I’d met her, through everything that had happened tonight, Viv looked visibly upset. “No one.”

“Right,” I said. I was upset myself—tired, worried, in pain. “No one.”

For a second she looked like she’d argue with me or say something hard. Then she sat back in her uncomfortable plastic chair and took my hand in hers. She held it there, her fingers strong and cool over mine. I didn’t move my hand away.

“Do you think he needs a lawyer?” I finally asked, miserable.

“No,” Viv said. “He won’t need a lawyer. There wasn’t a crime committed, unless they want to try pinning a stopped heart and a bunch of motel mold on him. They’re questioning him extra long because of who he is.”

Because he was Nick Harkness, whose father committed one of Fell’s most famous murders, and who had made a lot of mistakes afterward. Who had been in and out of trouble until he finally left Fell. We could never prove anything, but I always wondered if Nick was really upstairs in his room like he said he was.

I didn’t know why I felt I had to say it, but I did. “Nick was in his bedroom that day.”

“Yes, I know,” Viv said.

“Alma doesn’t think so.”

“Did she tell you that?” Viv looked at me, still holding my hand. “Alma likes to rattle people if she can. It’s a cop reflex. You should take it as a compliment. It means you shook her up.”

It was the first time Viv had admitted she even knew Alma, but I couldn’t bring myself to feel anything. “He’s not a criminal.”

“No,” Viv said. “I am.”

I looked into her eyes. She really did have beautiful eyes, my aunt Viv. They looked like my mother’s.

“They’ve identified Simon Hess,” she said. “Dental records, though it isn’t official yet. They’re going to process the car top to bottom for evidence.”

She squeezed my hand, then let me go and stood up.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

She didn’t answer, but turned away. The door behind the desk opened, and Nick came out. His blue eyes lit briefly with surprise when he saw me, and then he came my way.

“Hi there,” Viv said to the night shift desk clerk. “I need to talk to a detective.”

Nick came toward me. Tears stung my eyes.

“No,” I said softly, but I didn’t stop her.

“What is it regarding?” the desk clerk asked.

Nick put his hand on my shoulder.

“The body they found in the trunk of a car this morning,” Viv said. “I put it there. My name is Vivian Delaney, and I disappeared thirty-five years ago. I’d like to make a confession.”

It was surprisingly calm, surprisingly civilized. The desk clerk made a phone call. Then he stood up and said, “Come with me.”

Vivian didn’t look back as she followed him into the police station. The door clicked closed behind her.





Fell, New York

February 2018





Three Months Later


    CARLY


It got cold that winter. The snow started early in December and didn’t let up. The winds were icy, the roads hard. I barely made it home to Illinois for Christmas.

I stayed with my brother, Graham, and his fiancée for three days. Then I got back in my car and drove back to Fell.

Graham and Hailey didn’t understand it. Why I wanted to be in Fell, of all places. Why I didn’t want to leave. Why Fell, the place where our aunt had committed murder and pretended to vanish, was home. But it was.