“That’s when your dad turned into an asshole and started beating you,” Andrew surmised.
I nodded. “My mom was the only thing holding him together, but she was too weak, and it shouldn’t have been her taking care of him. She didn’t have the strength to do it. After she died, it was like my dad became this raging lunatic. Anything he could get mad about, he took out on me.”
“You were only thirteen when your mom died,” Jack said, his brows furrowed.
I nodded again. “I stayed away from home as much as possible, trying to find odd jobs that I could do. My dad started selling off anything we owned, just to have money for booze. He stole any money that I made. He was basically a full-time drunk. I was starving most days, but it wasn’t just me. Most of the families in town were going hungry. The mines closing destroyed so many lives, and there was no way out. And then the men started dying from black lung disease. Nobody was coming to help. We were just left to suffer.”
“But if the mine wasn’t profitable anymore, it wouldn’t have made sense to keep it running,” Robert said.
“It was profitable. That’s why everyone was so confused when it closed. It didn’t make any sense to close it down.”
Andrew sighed, running his hand over his jaw. “Lorelei, I heard you admit that you killed three people. We know now that you killed your mother, but who were the others?”
My eyes flicked down in shame. “You remember me telling you about that night with my father?”
“When he almost killed you,” he says, his jaw hardening as he speaks.
“Yeah, well, Matthew was there and he hit him over the head with a cast iron skillet. He killed my father and we dumped his body in the mine. I couldn’t let Matthew go to jail for protecting me,” I rushed on, hoping he would understand. “I sent myself the mail from my father. I started the rumors around town, making people think he was still out there, drunk and wandering around.”
Andrew sighed. “That doesn’t mean you killed your father. He would have killed you that night. Matthew was saving your life.”
I nodded. “I know, but after that…because of his decision, I was all alone. I didn’t have enough money to support myself. My dad had already sold off almost all of our things. Matthew started finding work anywhere he could. I didn’t realize how much it was hurting him until it was too late.”
Jack grunted from beside me. “The stress on his heart…”
I nodded. “He was working all the time, stressing constantly about supporting both his family and trying to help me. I was almost eighteen, and I thought that it would get better once I was legally responsible for myself. I took whatever jobs I could find, and I gave it all to Matthew, hoping it would help, but I had no idea how bad things were for his family.” I huffed out a laugh. “I thought I could just leave and Matthew wouldn’t have to feel responsible for me anymore. He got some job working construction, but since he was young and new, they gave him all the really hard work. He collapsed on a job, and by the time they got him to the hospital, he was already dead.”
Andrew stepped forward and took my hand in his. “That’s not on you. Christ, you were just a kid.”
“But he died because of me. It was my fault. If he had never killed my father—“
“Your father would have killed you,” Corduroy chimed in. “You wouldn’t be standing here right now, and I can guarantee it because we’ve seen it before.”
“So, that leaves Murray and Arlen.”
I shook my head rapidly. “I didn’t kill either of them. I swear. But…I was in the car with Murray when he died.”
“That was your hair in the car and your footprints outside the passenger door,” Andrew surmised.
“Yes.”
“How did that all come about?” Jack asked. “How the hell did you get wrapped up with those two?”
“Because Arlen was responsible for closing the mine,” Andrew said. “And you wanted revenge.”
“Not just revenge,” I bristled. “It’s not like I wanted him dead. I just wanted to find a way to get money back to the people in town.”
“And how was that supposed to work?” Jack asked. “Did you think asking him nicely would work?”
I glared at him. “Despite what you think, I actually have a brain and not just looks. I have a lawyer friend—“
“Callum Reins,” Jack filled in. “He’s your lawyer, but he doesn’t practice criminal law. He’s not going to be able to help you out of this.”
“He was never meant to. If our plan went the way it was supposed to, we would walk away with enough money to give everyone in that town something to live on and retire with. That was the end game.”
“And just how did you plan on pulling that off?” Andrew asked, still skeptical.
“The plan was initially just to get to Murray. He ran the company that closed the mine. I got a job working as his secretary. It didn’t pay much, but it was enough to live on. I dressed the part, made sure that he was interested in me, but I never gave him what he wanted. Eventually, that turned into him asking me out. I played it off as uninterested, not wanting to be sleeping with the boss. As it turns out, Murray was actually a pretty decent guy. And then one night, we attended a charity function together, and Arlen was there. When he introduced me at first, I had no idea who
