The Inheritances Game (Jameson Hawthorne)

Avery's Grandma

Sister. That word echoed in my mind over and over again. Sister. Sister. Sister. "Toby told my mom—told Hannah—that he was sorry about her sister." Thoughts crashed into one another in my brain, like a ten-car pileup, the cacophony deafening. "And in another postcard, he mentioned Kaylie. Kaylie Rooney—she's the girl who died in the fire on Hawthorne Island. Sometime after that, my mom helped nurse Toby back to life. He didn't remember what had happened, but he said that she hated him. She must have known." 

"Known what?" Libby asked, reminding me that I wasn't just talking to myself. 

I thought about the fire, the buried police report, Sheffield Grayson saying that Toby had purchased accelerant. "That Toby was responsible for her sister's death." 

The next thing I knew, I had my laptop out, and I was doing yet another internet search on Kaylie Rooney. At first I didn't find anything I hadn't already seen, but then I started adding search terms. I tried sister and got nothing. 

I tried family, and I found the one and only interview with a member of the Rooney family. It wasn't much of an interview. All the reporters had gotten out of Kaylie's mother was, and I quote, My Kaylie was a good girl, and those rich bastards killed her. But there was also a picture. A photograph of... my grandmother? I tried to wrap my mind around that possibility. Then I heard the door open behind me. 

Max poked her head into the room. "I come in peace." She squeezed by the door and strolled past Oren. "For the record, I'm armed only with sarcasm." Max ended her stroll right next to me and hopped up on the desk. "What are we doing?" 

"Looking at a picture of my grandmother." Saying the words made them feel just a little bit more real. "My mom's mom. Maybe." 

Max stared at the picture. "Not maybe," she said. "She even looks like your mom." The woman in the picture was scowling. I'd never seen my mom scowl. She had her hair pulled into a tight bun, and my mom always wore hers loose. Twenty years ago, this woman had looked decades older than my mom had when she died. But still, Max was right. Their features were the same. "How has no one made this connection?" Max asked incredulously. "With all the rumors about your mom, and people trying to find a connection between you and the Hawthornes, no one thought to look at the family of a girl they pretty much murdered? And what about your mom's relatives and the people who knew her growing up? Someone must have recognized her, once you made the news. Why hasn't anyone tipped off the press?" 

I thought about Eli, selling me out for a payday. What kind of town was Rockaway Watch that no one would have done the same? "I don't know," I told Max. "But I do know that whatever Tobias Hawthorne left in that safe-deposit box—that police report, his investigators' files—I want to see it all. I need to see it. Now." 

Catalina's Pov

I followed Jameson and Xander out of the car before looking back at Avery who slipped out of the car after me. I took her hand as Jameson took my side and Xander took Averys other side. We had an agreement none of us were letting her go through this alone.

✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿ ... ✿°•∘ɷ∘•°✿

I was in the library trying to get a head start on work for school seeing how crazy things had been at Hawthorne House.  I went to grab a book to realize it was missing, I looked around frantically only to see Xander sitting across the table from me, reading my book upside down. 

I let out a breath. "Xander I need that book."

He looked up at me. "Not right now you don't because I need your help."

I pursed my lips. "Xan I'm doing homework."

"Do it at home I have a lead." 

I gritted my teeth, telling myself not to give in. But of course it was too tempting and I ended up eavesdropping on Jameson and Avery through a metal door with Xander.

"My mother was Kaylie Rooney's sister," Avery started, before words tumbled out about her mom living with a false name and Toby being in love with her mom. I looked at Xander who seemed to replicate my shock.

"What do you think Toby left in Jackson that's worth so much?" Jameson asked. "And where in Jackson? How long did Toby's amnesia last? Why stay 'dead' once hismemory returned?" 

"Guilt." Avery choked out. "Toby loathed himself almost as much as he loved my mom." 

Avery's Pov

"Knock, knock!" Xander opened the door revealing him and a surprised Catalina. "Cat and I just happened to have our ears pressed to this door. We might have overheard somethings, and I have a suggestion!" Jameson looked like he might actually throttle his brother. I glanced at Oren, who was still pointedly ignoring all of us. I could practically hear him thinking, Not my job. 

"Sorry." Catalina muttered almost being cut off by Xander throwing something at me.

"Call her!" It wasn't until I'd caught itthat I realized it was his phone—and a number had already been plugged in. 

"Call who?" Jameson asked, his eyes narrowing. 

"Your grandmother," Xander told me. "Like I said, I inadvertently overheard some things while my ear was casually pressed to this steel door. Kaylie Rooney's mother is your grandmother, Avery. That's a piece of the puzzle we've never had before, and that"—he nodded to the phone—"is her phone number." 

"You don't have to call," Catalina told me walking to my side. 

"Yes." I swallowed. "I do." My heart jumped into my throat just thinking about it, but I hit the Call button. The line rang and rang and rang, with no one picking up and no voicemail. I couldn't bring myself to hangup, so I just let it ring, and then finally someone answered. 

All I got out was a hello and my name before the person who'd answered cut me off. 

"I know who you are." At first, I thought the gravelly voice belonged to a man, but as the words kept coming, I realized that the speaker was a woman. "If my worthless daughter had taught you the first damn thing about this family, you wouldn't dare have dialed my number." I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting. My mom had always told me that she didn't have a family. But still, each word her mother—my grandmother—spoke cut into me. "If that little bitch hadn't run, I would have put a bullet in her myself. You think I want a dime of your blood money, girl? You think your family? You hang up that phone. You forget my name. And if you're lucky, I'll make sure this family—this whole town—forgets yours." The sound on the other end of the line cut out. I stood there, the phone still pressed to my ear, frozen. 

"You okay there, buddy?" Xander asked. I couldn't reply. I couldn't say anything. You think I want a dime of your blood money, girl? You think you're family? I wasn't even sure if I was breathing. If that little bitch hadn't run— 

Catalina put her hand on my arm. "Breathe."If that little bitch hadn't run—I closed my eyes. I breathed. The wind picked up.And I told them everything.