Treasured (Book Two)

Chapter 19: Reveal

I instantly remembered that Mom was upstairs, trying to sleep away the massive headache. I reached for my phone and texted the details to Luke, telling him to call the police and my mom.

Luke sent me back a silent text, explaining that he will do that ASAP. "You killed Ellen, didn't you?" I demanded. Dad furiously shook his head.

"It wasn't me, Cole." Dad snapped. "You know me better than that." "I don't know anything about you," I reminded him. "Except your taste in lying."

"I didn't kill Ellen!" Dad repeated. "You are waving a gun at us, Lewis!" Grandma sobbed. "Please just stop and let us talk." "You don't even like me," Dad sneered. "How will I ever listen to what you guys have to say?"

I slowly rose up and stared at him. "I get it," Dad continued. "You have been lying to us, stealing money from your crushes, and you are angry. Why?"

Dad pointed the gun at me. "Sit down, Cole." he rasped. "Please." "Put the gun down first," I said calmly. "Put the gun and I promise you, the police will handle everything."

He mumbled something very low and stared at his weapon. He lowered his gun and dropped it on the ground. Mom came downstairs, looking worried.

"What is going on?" Mom demanded. As soon as Mom saw the gun, she screamed. Within minutes, the police bursted through the doors, raising their guns at us. "Freeze!" they cried. We raised our hands then slowly backed away from the table.

Instead of arresting me and Mom, the cops handcuffed my grandparents and my father. They shoved them into the police vehicle and drove away.

I advanced to the door until Mom blocked me. Her face was red from anger. "Cole," Mom said. "What is going on?" I took a deep breath and told her what Luke and I had found out.

When I was finished, Mom just stared at me. "Cole, what has gotten you to become like this?" Mom touched my cheeks with her fingers. "Is it me?" she said. "No," I answered. "It was never you."

"Then why is my daughter behaving like, Lucy Liu?" Mom asked. "This is my job, Mom." I insisted. "To you, you think I am just an innocent damsel who needs to be rescued by a Mr. Show Off, but I am not that person."

"You are a seventeen year old girl, being some hero." Mom explained. "Why?" I bit my lip and stared at her hard. "Nancy Drew didn't care about her age when she signed up being a detective," I said. "Neither does Veronica Mars."

I walked up to her and glared. "I get protecting your daughter from danger, but I can handle this, big time." "Stay out of the police men's way," Mom warned. "They have gotten this under control."

"What if they can't?" I asked. "They are just going to look at a couple of papers and shut the case down as if it was a huge stack of trigonometry homework, not this girl."

Mom gave me a worried look. "I am going to be fine," I said again. "Trust me, Mom." She shook her head. "I am taking you to a psychiatrist," she said. "This is just crazy."

I gave her a deadpan look. "Seriously?" I shrieked. "You are taking me to some mental hospital?" "I am thinking about it," Mom said. "You think I am crazy?" I demanded.

"I just think it will be a great way to think about yourself for once." Mom explained slowly. "You didn't answer my question," I growled. "I thought you were the most normal person in the family. And now, I just think you are sick, just like Dad."

"Young lady," Mom seethed. "I am doing this for your own good." I squeezed Mom out of my way and opened the door. "This is for your own good, Cole!" Mom cried. "You need to start behaving like a teenage girl and less like some Know-it-all!"

I paused for a moment then faced her. "You think this is for my own good?" I asked softly. "Does it ever occur to you that all of this was for your own good? I mean the lousy boyfriends, the perfect life, doesn't that mean that you are nothing but a  perfectionist?"

Mom stared at me for a moment. "I am going to solve this case, Mom." I said. "And after this, I am leaving this stupid house." I walked out of the house and slammed the door with all of my might.

I hurried to the car parked on the driveway,  yank the car keys from out of my pocket, and started the ignition. As I adjusted the rear view mirror, I saw my mom staring at me through the window.

Her face had suddenly turned white and puffy from crying. Ignoring her, I backed out of the driveway then headed to the police station.

As soon as I reached to the station, Luke was there waiting for me. He gave me a two fingered salute and smiled. "Are you alright?" Luke asked as I got out of the car. I gave him a mere nod then entered the station.

The building still smelled like old coffee, cigarettes, and the faint scent of pen ink. As we walked to the receptionist desk, two
boys were too busy chatting about the football game behind us. They had brown hair, blue eyes, and they looked like the belong at a fraternity group.

I rapt my knuckles on the desk, trying to capture the cops attention, but it didn't work. Luke groaned at this. "Hey cops!" he shouted. They stopped chatting then looked at us. One of the stupid boys tapped on my shoulder.

"Hey, I know you." one of the boys said, pointing at me. "You're Little Miss Nosy." His friend laughed at me. Luke turned to face him. "And you're the guy, who probably in the police station for a date," Luke smiled. "How's it going for you? Pretty terrible, huh?"

I snickered at that comment. The college boys glared at Luke. "Now, if you will excuse us, retards." I continued. "I need to talk to the police, and not trying to get your numbers."

The boys grumbled then left the station. The same cop with the friendly face walked over to us. "Hello kids," he said. "How may I help you?" "I need to find my relatives," I began. "Are they being interrogated?" The friendly cop looked behind him and shook his head.

"No," he answered. "You can visit them-" Just then, a large thug with a walking stick and dark shades came into the police station. It was Dennis.