“She was a girl,” Carlie said. “No matter how you’ve twisted it in your mind, Richards, she was seventeen and your student and you seduced her.”
“It was love,” he whispered.
“I never thought I’d say this, but I almost feel sorry for you,” Carlie said. “Even though Sharon’s right. Your actions got a beautiful girl killed by two psychopaths. You’re pathetic.”
“I know. And I’m sorry,” Richards said. “But I did love her. I know it was wrong, but I cherished her.”
“Stop, please,” Carlie said. “I don’t want to hear one more thing from you about my sister.”
“My life’s over. It was the moment she died. I might as well be dead too.” With that, he lunged toward Lily and yanked the gun from her hand. Then he put it to his head and pulled the trigger.
Carlie and Lily screamed as Richards fell to the floor. I went to my knees but there was no need. Richards was dead.
And then the sound of sirens came from the road below us. The sound of justice.
23
Carlie
Cole and I spent the rest of the night answering questions from Ford’s deputies. We told them everything we knew, including handing over the journal and the recordings from Carlie’s phone. Because Idaho was a one-party state and I was there and aware of the recording, they were admissible. I felt confident that both women were going to jail for a very long time.
The hour neared midnight by the time we stumbled inside to two very anxious animals. I worried that poor Duke would have had an accident but darned if that silly dog hadn’t used the litter box.
Exhausted and utterly emotionally spent, we fell into bed and slept until the next morning, when I awoke to a call from my mother. Apparently, the story had been in the morning paper. I silently cursed, angry at myself. I should have gone home last night and told her everything so that she didn’t have to read it in the paper.
She was crying so hard I could barely make out the words. “Is it true? Richards? Sharon? Shelley Lancaster?”
“Yes, Mom.”
“Sharon and Shelley confessed,” Mom said. “And Richards is dead.” More sobbing from the other end of the phone. “It’s over. She can finally rest in peace.”
“I know.” I started to cry, remembering all over again what Sharon had said about how Beth had suffered at the end. I wouldn’t tell my mother.
“The paper says Ford claims he’s innocent. There will be a trial, I suppose. You’ll have to testify.”
“It’ll be my pleasure. Mom, come out to Cole’s. We’ll have breakfast.”
“Thank you, sweetie, but I need some time alone today.”
“All right, whatever you want. I’ll call you later, all right?”
“Yes, that would be nice.”
Later that afternoon, I called out to my mother as I came in through the kitchen door.
“I’m in here,” Mom said.
I walked through the kitchen to the living room. Mom was on the couch. Several photograph albums were open on the coffee table.
“Mom, are you all right?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” She wiped under her eyes. “Looking at old photographs. Would you like to join me?”
I sat down next to her.
She pointed at the album labeled “1989.” “That’s the last photograph your father ever took in June of that year. After that, your father stopped taking pictures. Nothing but blank pages after this. And I was sitting here thinking about how much we wronged you. You were still here. There were proms and events that happened and there are no photographs of any of it. Did you even go to prom?”
“No, but I didn’t want to.”
“I’m sorry, honey, that we couldn’t do better.”
I rested my head against her shoulder. She smelled of lilacs. The scent of my mom. “We all just got through, Mom. You don’t have to apologize.”
“Joseph wants me to marry him.”
I blinked, surprised. “Do you want to?”
“Very much. Are you mad?” Mom asked.
“No, not at all. I want you to be happy. That’s all I care about.”
“We were such a happy family.” Mom brought the open album onto her lap. “Weren’t we? Until they took her from us?”
“Yes. We were happy.”
“And now everything’s different. It was just you and me. Now there’s Joseph. He’s so insistent that we spend the rest of our time left on earth together.”
“Do you love him?” I asked.
“I do. Not the way I loved your dad. Our love formed when we were young and passionate. We raised a family together. With Joseph it’s less intense but not in a bad way.”
“You’re comfortable with him.”
“Yes, he’s such a good friend to me,” Mom said. “We laugh and laugh.”
“Is there something besides me that’s keeping you from saying yes?”
“I worry that I’ll forget what it was like back before Beth was killed. How happy we were. That I was Mrs. Benjamin Webster.”
“Mom, just because you love Joseph doesn’t take away from the past. You don’t have to hold back out of some strange sense of duty to Dad. Or to Beth. And definitely not to me.”
“I’ve been doing that, haven’t I?”
“I think so. Moving forward is a good thing. Wasting away in this house out of a sense of duty does not honor Dad or Beth. They want us to live while we can. Later, when we’re all together again, none of the trappings of earth will matter. You’ll be free of all the pain.”
“But what happens in heaven? Whose wife will I be there? And what about Joseph’s other wife? It’s very confusing.”
I chuckled. “I think God has it all worked out. I doubt there are duels in heaven. Right now, enjoy your time with a wonderful man.”
“All right, if you say so.”
I looked down at a photo of Beth and me in front of the lake. Wearing our matching polka-dot bikinis, we had our arms wrapped around each other and grinned at the camera. My two front teeth were missing. Beth’s light hair glistened
