Page 9 of Into These Eyes
The only thing I hear after that is the wail of Dad’s cries as he holds me and rocks me right there on the cold tiles. It can’t be real. Things like this don’t happen to families like ours.
That’s what I keep telling myself all night as I lie in bed, waiting for Mum to come home, waiting for her to apologise for being so late, that she simply lost track of time.
Waiting for someone to tell me it’s all been a terrible mistake.
In the early hours of the morning, Anika slips into my bed and snuggles close. I hold her tight and try to absorb her warmth. But when light filters in through the window, winter seeps right through my feather-down comforter and burrows deep inside my soul.
At 9am sharp, Detective Jarrod Reid enters our home. Dad ushers him into the living room, where only last night we’d been oblivious to the horror about to destroy our world.
With Dad still in shock, he doesn’t force me out of the living room as I sit beside him and listen to the detective explain what happened to Mum.
He tells us that my mother’s murder was captured via a security vehicle’s dash-cam. The suspect was recorded holding the knife he’d driven into my mother’s chest. He tried to flee the scene, but was caught by the security guard. An open and shut case, the detective reassures us.
“But … but where?” I ask. “She was out with her girlfriends.”
Detective Reid hesitates, his eyes fixed on Dad, his expression unreadable. “I’m not sure your daughter should be here for this.”
“We’re talking about her mother. Whatever it is, she has a right to know,” Dad mutters.
Detective Reid nods, his sympathetic gaze lingering on me. “It’s come to light that she wasn’t out with friends. She was visiting a man. Lachlan Lake. Does that name mean anything to you, Brian?”
What? A man?
That’s not possible. Mum wouldn’t …
I look at Dad. The small amount of blood remaining in his face drains away. Shaking his head, he glares at the detective. “What do you mean byvisiting a man?”
Exactly. This detective’s got it all wrong. Obviously.
“It’s part of his statement. They were in a … romantic relationship.”
If I’d managed to eat any breakfast, I’m sure it’d be all over the carpet right now.
“This is bullshit!” Dad roars, leaping to his feet. “Get the fuck outta here with your filthy lies! My wife would never do … anything … like …”
For a terrifying moment, I think Dad’s having a heart attack. He sways on his feet, his face bright red, hands fisted at his sides. After a moment, he flops onto the couch beside me. Resting his elbows on his knees, he drops his head in his hands. I stare, one part of me processing the absurdness of Mum cheating, another wondering if Dad might actually pull clumps of hair from his scalp.
Like, just maybe, he believes it.
I force my gaze to the detective, noticing his eyes flicking from me to Dad and back again. I shake my head, unable to force words from my tightening throat.
“I’m sorry,” Reid says, giving my hand a quick, gentle pat. “Unfortunately, it’s true.”
Pushing the idea of Mum doing anything to hurt our family aside, I concentrate on the practical side of the revelation.
Swallowing down my shock, I ask, “This man … he killed her?”
Reid shakes his head. “It was his son, Gavin Lake.”
I’m not sure if Dad’s listening anymore, but I suddenly have an insatiable need to know every detail. If I know how ithappened,whyit happened, then I can make sense of what seems impossible. “But … why?”
Reid gazes at Dad for a long moment. When he realises my father isn’t in any state to take in information, he turns to me, explaining that Gavin Lake had discovered his father’s affair with my mother last night before she arrived at their house. His own mother had recently passed away, so when he found out about the new woman in his father’s life, a violent altercation took place between father and son.
“Gavin left the premises, but when he returned and saw your mother near his house, he attacked her.”
As silence fills the room, Dad sobs uncontrollably into his hands. I hold him close the way he’d held me the night before, but I don’t let him distract me. Someboykilled my mother?
“How old is this … Gavin Lake?”
