Page 51 of Little Hearts

“I truly don’t know,” Naomi replied, turning the engine on and pulling out of the parking space. “I don’tthinkso, but then again neither Clara nor I really know him all that well.”

“I never realized how little time Aggie actually got with her father. I guess perspective is a funny thing. As a child, all I thought was how unfair it was that she got to have both parents under the same roof. But in reality the only time she would have got to spend with him was weekends and those he spent with one of us,” Clara mused.

“So, I guess we pretty much all agree that he wasn't the world’s best father,” Naomi said.

“I think Andrew would definitely agree with that. He looked totally disinterested in the whole thing, bored even. I wonder if there’s some bad blood there he didn’t want to delve into.” The cop part of Jonathon never turned off.

“It would be understandable,” Clara agreed. “I don’t think he lived with Aggie and their parents much, either before or after their mother’s death. I couldn’t imagine having a baby at just fourteen. It seems like our dad was always interested in women.”

“Agreed.” Naomi nodded. “Although it seems they did a better job with Aggie. Could be that’s why Andrew isn’t particularly interested in his father, annoyed that they gave his sister the family they couldn’t give him.”

“And yet he didn’t immediately jump in and declare his father guilty,” Jonathon noted. “He could have, and no one would have blamed him, but he agreed with the rest of you that you don’t think your father is violent. I think Andrew is more detached from the family than resentful.”

“Fits in with what we know of him. When Naomi and I went to meet him the first time he told us he wasn't big on family and wasn't interested in a relationship, but he wasn't angry or bitter about it like Aggie was back then. I think he just doesn’t really think of his parents, and us, as his family.”

“Iamconvinced our dad is a stalker,” Naomi said. “That he has pictures of his exes from after they were divorced in his house is creepy. And stalkers do escalate. So I guess it’s possible that he wanted them back, tried to convince them, and when they rejected him he killed them. I suppose that could explain why he carved little hearts into their chests.”

“That is super creepy.” Clara shuddered. She had had enough of creepy to last a lifetime. She didn’t want to believe that her father was a killer. She didn’t think he was, but she had been fooled before. “At least we got to spend time with Aggie. We’ve both been wanting to try again with her. I wish it were different circumstances that had brought us together, but …” Clara broke off as the car shuddered.

“What was that?” Jonathon demanded from the backseat.

“I don’t know,” Naomi was struggling with the steering wheel. “Something’s wrong with the car.”

It shuddered again and started to weave side to side across the road. Luckily, they were on their way to Naomi’s house, which was on the city outskirts and quite remote, so there were no other cars on the road, or they would most likely have slammed headlong into oncoming traffic.

“I can't control it,” Naomi yelled. “And the brakes aren’t working properly.”

The car skidded again, veering straight toward a tree. Clara knew they were going to crash, she could see it happening in her mind.

She screamed.

Naomi battled with the steering wheel.

Jonathon yelled instructions.

The tree got closer.

The car seemed to be moving faster.

Then they hit.

* * * * *

3:23 P.M.

A rushing in his ears made it impossible for him to focus on anything else.

Jonathon woke slowly. He tried to see, but the rushing in his ears seemed to have also stolen his sight. He tried to remember what had happened, but the rushing sound had stolen that too.

Instinctively, he knew that he needed to focus.

That it was important.

Vitally important.

Using every bit of willpower he possessed, he inhaled a long, slow breath, then exhaled it just as slowly. That seemed to help, the rushing had dimmed to a dull whoosh.

He hurt all over like he had been in a car crash.

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