SMOKE SIGNALS, outerbanks

014, things that a young girl shouldn't know

She heads upstairs, needing to find her phone, which she had left in her hurry to leave a few days before. She had to call Kie.

But something in her parents' bedroom catches her eye, making her pause.

A cardboard box lay overturned on the carpet, right in front of the carpet, the lid having fallen off, allowing the contents to spill out onto the floor. The way that it was positioned looked like it had fallen from a high shelf.

Alex stepped past the threshold, into the bedroom. Her mother had always been protective over those boxes that she kept in the bedroom, not letting her daughters carry them inside during the move. Now that Alex thought about it, she didn't even let her father touch them either.

There were clearly so many secrets that her parents were keeping, from each other, and from her. This was her chance to possibly get to the bottom of one of the mysteries.

She knelt down in front of the fallen box, starting to sift through the papers. Page after page of legal documents flashed before her eyes, which wasn't much of a surprise to Alex, since her mother had been an attorney before moving to Charleston. She would obviously still have some stuff left over in storage.

But it was one particular manilla folder in the mess that caught her eye.

Right on the front, scribbled out on the tan colored center of the folder, was her mother's handwriting;

W. Cameron

Alex's heart leaped into her throat, and she opened the folder with trembling fingers. Forcing herself to focus through the rapid racing of her mind, she read the first heading;

Kildare County Sheriff's Department
Search and Arrest Warrent

Name of arrestee: Ward Cameron
Order: Due to a claim of an unrecorded confession by a trustworthy witness, I have reason to believe the arrestee committed the accused crime, of murder in the second degree.
Warrent filed by: Sue Peterkin, Sherrif

The paper fluttered to the ground, slipping from Alex's fingertips, which had now gone numb.

There was no missing the big red letters at the bottom of the page, in her mom's unmistakable, neat handwriting;

Dismissed.

A dry sob ripped through Alex, who was too shocked to actually shed any tears. She dug her nails into her knees, doubling over as the realization truly hit her.

Her mother had been complicit in whatever Ward had done to Big John.

Whether it was actually murder, Alex couldn't prove that, since the most proof was John B's word and this arrest warrent, but there was no actual confession, and clearly it had never been acted upon or investigated any further.

Until now.

That's why Peterkin had showed up to the air strip today. John B must've gone to her, or they must've found some more, undeniable proof. That's why she was arresting him.

That's why she had gotten shot.

And her mother had played a part in letting Ward walk free.