Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 55734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 279(@200wpm)___ 223(@250wpm)___ 186(@300wpm)
Mom’s shoulders droop. “Fine, but remember, I warned you about him.”
“You like him,” I snap.
“I’ve always thought he was a good man. He saved us. He made it possible for me to move on, to be a mother. All those years ago, I never imagined that he would …” She shudders. “… want you.”
“Don’t say it like he’s gross. I’m a woman, Mom, in case you haven’t noticed.” I raise my hand before she can say another word. “Please, I need to get ready.”
She turns and walks away. She knows I’ll get sucked into a conversation about this way too easily. After drying my hair, I jump in the car and begin driving. At least I won’t have to take public transport like I did on the way home when Landon dropped me off.
There’s Landon, getting in my head again. After that standoff with Mom, it feels impossible not to let him into my thoughts. I can still feel what we did last night, my pussy aching, something inside wanting more.
Carter is waiting for me in our office lobby. He walks into my path, making me jump.
“Sorry,” he says, shuffling on the spot. “Listen, we need to talk.”
“Okay …”
He leads me back to the parking lot around the corner, where the smokers gather. We’re the only ones out here. He takes out a cigarette. “Do you mind?”
“Sure,” I say. He seems even more on edge than usual.
“So,” he says, taking a big drag, “this is a fucked-up situation. I won’t lie, and it’s all off the books.” He takes another drag.
“Okay …”
“The director saw your little standoff with Landon yesterday, too. I got word this morning that she’s pissed about it.”
“What? Why would she even care?” I hiss, thinking of the devastating look on his face when he told us about his diagnosis. “It’s none of her business. I could go to hum—”
“Wait,” he cuts in, smoking down almost half the cigarette in one big, long, stressful inhale. “Just wait. Technically, you’re right. You could go to human resources, but it won’t be like that. It’ll be a simple case of finding some other excuse. Even if you did go to HR, it would be your word against hers. Don’t you see, Lily?”
“Oh, fuck,” I say after a pause. “If they go digging for a reason to get rid of me—”
“They’ll probably find out you’ve been working solo cases.” He takes another big pull, then flicks the butt away. “That’ll mean my job’s in the shitter, too, but I might make it through. You won’t.”
“Because she saw me with Landon Cross? What the fuck? He’s a good person.” That fierce certainty grips me again. It’s like the universe is trying to make me fight for him, even when I was the one who was going to bury what we did. “Why does the director hate him so much?”
“It’s that job I mentioned.”
“The apple tree,” I groan, shaking my head. “How am I supposed to take this seriously when I don’t know what happened?”
“Ask Lan—”
“I thought you were just telling me never to see him again. Or did I hallucinate that?”
He lights another cigarette. “Fair point. Okay, it’s like this: simple, short, and sweet. Landon Cross went to visit a woman who wanted help leaving her husband, who was an abusive father. Landon visited, and then something happened, an argument maybe. We’re not sure what, but it ended up with Landon hanging that man from the apple tree at the end of the garden.”
Everything in me turns cold. “What?” I whisper out hoarsely.
“Then he used some police contact he had to get off scot-free.”
“So you’re telling me he killed a child abuser,” I say, my head spinning, “and you hate him for it?”
“I’ve got a friend. Hell, he was all our friends. His name’s Petey. He was one of the best social workers I’ve ever met. He saved more kids than I can even count. Once, during a job, he slapped an abuser across the face. He got jail time for that. He’s never allowed to work again. Our industry is littered with cases like this, but big bad Landon Cross can murder a man and get away with it.”
“You’re just guessing it was murder.”
“Everybody knew. Even the local sheriff told me the autopsy showed signs of a struggle and strangulation. It wasn’t a self-induced event. Get it? Yet Landon got away with it and then went on to another case, another photo op. We have to work from inside the system.”
“Landon told me something similar once.”
“Then he’s a goddamn hypocrite.”
“If the man was hurting his kid, he deserved to die.”
Carter takes another big puff, the biggest yet. He exhales with a ragged cough. “Maybe you’re right, but in that case, we should all quit and become serial killers. You might think I’m some jaded old ass, but I believed in this system once. On my good days, I still do, and you wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.”