Dove Sport

Chapter Twenty: Hate

Dara's grandmother was willing to let Grace stay in her home with one condition: Grace could only stay if she agreed to speak to the sheriff. Now that the Larks knew that Grace hadn't murdered their son, there was no reason for Grace to not speak with Sheriff Kins for fear of the Larks finding out. Blair woke up early on Saturday morning in order to bike over to Dara's place and arrived feeling very much like a drowned cat due to the morning drizzle. Her skin was cool to the touch and her cheeks rosy when she knocked on the front door of the Wake residence. When Dara answered a few minutes later, Blair swore she felt as if the breath was knocked out of her.

    Today she wore a pair of baggy jeans cinched with a belt high on her waist. She wore a black tank top and an unbuttoned yellow-green flannel shirt over it. On her feet were fluffy purple socks and no shoes. Her hair was fluffy as though she'd just woken up, but it looked excellent anyways, and as usual there was charcoal eyeshadow at the outer edges of her eyes. Really, she was dressed the same as she was everyday, but there was just something about her that made Blair feel like she was having heart problems. Maybe she was. Maybe she needed to see a doctor.

"Nice outfit." Blair managed to say as Dara stepped aside to let her into the house.

    "Thanks," Dara said, shooting her a smile. She steered Blair into her grandmother's living room where Sheriff Kins and Grace sat together on the couch. In the kitchen, Dara's grandmother was fussing with mugs of coffee.

    "Now that everybody who was invited has arrived, let's get on with it." Sheriff Kins said, nodding to Grace where she sat, looking very much like she'd like to curl up in a ball and not have this conversation. When Blair had spoken to her the night before on the phone, her sister had sounded confident in her decision to share her version of events with the sheriff. Looking at her now though, Blair wondered if she was getting cold feet.

Whatever turmoil her sister was experiencing, Grace put it aside and straightened in her seat. Dara's grandmother joined them with mugs of coffee and cocoa as Grace, the person who perhaps rivaled Meredith for closeness to Seth, laid out exactly what had happened in the weeks leading up to his death.

    How it had started as a casual conversation in classes and flourished into an exciting and forbidden romance. How, for reasons Grace herself was unsure of, their parents had tried to tear them apart. How Grace learned she was pregnant and how she and Seth planned to raise the child together. How they became engaged with Calliope Lark's blessings and made plans to escape Doveport to start a new life. How their dreams of freedom went up in flames. Blair listened with a steadying hand on her sister's shoulder as Grace detailed it all. When her sister was finished, her voice had gone hoarse and a little over half an hour had gone by.

    "Go over the last time you saw Seth again." The Sheriff ordered, a tape recorder clutched in her hands and her eyes trained on Grace's face. If Blair didn't know better, she'd say the sheriff was suspicious of her sister.

    "We were at school behind the gym, school had just gotten out for the summer so it was totally deserted." Grace recounted. "Seth had asked to meet up with me earlier that day to explain the plan: that he would fake his own death on his birthday and we would meet up afterwards. But, before that could happen, my mom and dad had me sent away."

The Sheriff's eyes never seemed to stray from Grace's face and something about it was making Blair distinctly uncomfortable. She knew that the Sheriff was only being thorough but she couldn't help but think she was also being cruel to her sister. Grace had been through an ordeal, not to mention was pregnant, so while this was a murder investigation, Blair felt that her sister deserved a break. As it seemed the sheriff wasn't going to provide one, Blair would have to make one herself.