Three months ago, four kids were run off the road by a drunk driver and pronounced dead at the scene, leaving their families to grieve and wonder why accidents had to happen.
The four left behind families, and namely, five specific siblings: all sen...
"What did you do?" Michael spoke for the first time since stepping foot in the Green's home, "I mean, we're all still alive, so I don't think it could have been that awful."
"I went to the police." Roland sputtered out, "And before you all start yelling at me, I had good reason. I thought they could help us, especially since Detective Barlow was the officer on the case in the first place."
"Detective Barlow?" Mary asked, "I thought he was just a uniformed officer."
"He got promoted." Roland replied, "And I'm not quite sure why. I went to him, specifically, and tried to explain what we found and what we were hoping the police could do for us, and he got angry with me. He said I didn't have evidence and that they had already done a thorough investigation into the crash, so they wouldn't be reopening the case. He also made fun of my relationship with Erin, which seemed like an odd and cruel thing for a detective to do."
He took a deep breath before continuing.
"And then I got a text from the unknown number, saying that the case would never be reopened, and that they had seen to that."
"So what does this mean?" Michael asked, "Is Barlow involved in this somehow? That would be so strange—he and my dad have been friends for years."
"It's not like we're accusing your dad of conspiring with this murder, but Barlow seems like a solid suspect at this point." Roland replied, "I mean, the way he acted...it was as if he were hiding something and was scared of it be discovered."
"I want to know how he got promoted so quickly." Jordan spoke up, "I mean, is that a normal thing to have happen?"
"I don't think so." Mary shook her head, "And he was there pretty quickly after the brick was thrown through Lindsey's window last week. Do you think he was following one of us?"
"Or all of us."
"That's not helpful, Michael." Mary rolled her eyes. "But if there's someone in the police department that is working against us, then we have to be even more careful than usual about this. We can't be seen sneaking around without raising Barlow's suspicions, but we need to find out what he knows and why he would be trying to hurt us or our siblings."
"Agreed." Roland nodded, and Michael couldn't quite believe that he was agreeing with Mary, "Barlow's dirty and we need to figure out a way to get rid of him. If we don't, we have no help from the cops, and we might end up needing that help."
"That's terrifying." Jordan shook her head, "I mean, why in the world would we need the cops? I know we're holding these little meetings, but it's not like we're seriously going to investigate our siblings' maybe-murder."
"We are so far past "maybe" at this point, Jord." Mary snapped, her eyes wide with disbelief. "Your brother was killed in cold blood and you don't want to bring justice for him?"
Jordan shrugged.
"I don't know. It seems dangerous."
"Don't you think Neil deserves to be avenged?" Mary asked, her voice getting a little louder as Michael worried that Harry might be listening in on them. "We have to catch whoever did this to him."
"And Eddie, and Victoria, and...Erin." Michael reminded his sister, unsure of why she was fixating on Neil. "In any case, we need to figure out what's going on with Barlow. But could we maybe continue this another night? I'm starting to get a headache."
It had happened a few times since that night in the woods—Michael's head had started throbbing, his vision would go fuzzy and his breathing would get quick whenever he stood up too fast or even bent over in a way his head didn't like. But he was ignoring it—he had his first football game as captain in four days.
"I think you have a concussion, and you need to stop brushing it off." Mary said as Michael rubbed the back of his head where the stalker had hit him, "Just go to a doctor."
"I'm fine, Mary." Michael shook his head, "I just want to go home."
"Fine." Mary nodded, "We'll pick this up tomorr—"
She didn't get the word out before the front door opened loudly and slammed quickly, followed by footsteps running through the house. The four looked at each other in alarm and Michael picked up a candlestick, ready to defend himself and his sister against whoever was running through the house like a madman.
But when the person rounded the corner into the dining room, it was just a short brunette ponytail and athletic shorts, not a black ski mask and a gun like Michael had been half-expecting. Lindsey ran into the room and stopped when she saw that everyone was there, her hand on her chest as she caught her breath.
"Geez, Lindsey. You can't be doing stuff like that when we're all on edge." Roland shook his head and put down the wooden music box he had grabbed for self-defense, "We were just about to have everyone leave, actually. You're kind of late..."
"I think my father murdered our siblings."
Michael felt his eyes bug out of his head as he stared at her, and everyone else reacted in the exact same way until Mary decided to be the one to speak.
"What?"
"You heard me, Hadden." Lindsey snapped. "My father murdered our siblings."
A/N: I am so sorry about the missing update, but I'm back with Wednesday's!
Also, if you guys want to win a Kindle edition of Dear Sydney, head over to my Instagram (@officialkatherinepowell) and repost the image to be entered in the drawing! The giveaway is open until this Saturday, June 16.
-Katherine
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