Forever And Always

Chapter 21

Callie laid on the ground next to Betty's bed, it was the middle of the night, when they heard the sounds of crashing and banging. Both girls sat up and looked at each other oddly, they got up quietly and made their way down the steps. They got to the steps to run into Mrs. Cooper.

" Did you hear that?" Betty asked, just to be shushed. Her mom held Ms. Grundy's gun up.

"Ms. Cooper, what are you doing with that?" Callie asked.

" Get behind me," Mrs. Cooper advised the girls. " Be ready to dial 911." She then opened the door to downstairs, she made her way down with the two teenage girls following her. They saw a man rustling through papers at a desk. " Don't move." The man stopped what he was doing. " Hands where I can see them." The man slowly turned around.

" Don't shoot, Alice," Mr. Cooper pleaded.

" Dad! Hal! Mr. C!" all three girls voiced at the same time. Later Callie sat at the Cooper's kitchen table as Mr. C had pictures laid out all over the place. " These are Sheriff Keller's files about the Blossom murder investigation."

"How did you get these, Dad?" Betty asked.

"I broke into his house the night at the last drive in and I took them," Mr. Cooper explained.

" Well, that's impossible. FP Jones already confessed to that," Mrs. Cooper informed her husband.

"Well, I have no idea why he would do that because it was me. That's why I am here. To destroy any evidence that could lead back to me."

" Wait, that doesn't make any sense," Betty spoke. " Why would FP fess up to something he didn't even do?"

"He's covering for somebody, " Callie answered. " Or somebodies."

" Yeah, I'm not thinking about FP right now," Mrs. Cooper admitted. " I'd like to know why Betty's father is stealing and destroying evidence in a murder investigation."

"Look, I was worried that the investigation would get back to Polly, somehow. To us," Mr. Cooper confessed. " And somehow Sheriff Keller would figure out the connection between our family and the Blossoms. And he would think that there was some kind of motive."

"Wait, you mean about Great-Grandpappy Cooper being murdered by a Blossom?" Betty asked.

" Betty," Callie began. " Your Great-Grandpappy Cooper was a Blossom."

" You are an intelligent one, aren't you Andrews?" Mr. Cooper notified her. "After the murder, our family severed ties with the Blossoms and their name, and we took a new one, Cooper."

" I'm a Blossom?" " Betty asked in horror.

" Polly is also a Blossom," Callie stated. " Which makes her and Jason relatives by blood." 

"Which is why you wanted to..." Mrs. Cooper began.

"Yeah," Mr. Cooper nodded. " Alice that's why."

" Oh, my God, Hal," Mrs. Cooper groaned. " If you're willing to send our daughter away to keep her away from Jason..."

"How far would the Blossoms go to keep them apart?" Betty asked.

"Murder," Callie answered.

"We need to get Polly out of that house," Mrs. Cooper ordered as they all stood up. Callie got in a car with the Coopers and got dragged to the Thornhill, Mrs. Cooper banged on the door.

" Don't bother calling the cops," Callie advised.

"We're not staying, Polly!" Mrs. Cooper added, Callie saw Cheryl and Polly standing on the staircase.