Page 58 of Watch Me Burn

For once, my mother didn’t jump to refute him. She just sat still, her skin growing paler and paler by the second.

“So you really have nothing for me, Mom? Did you never look into all these trips before? Or found anything?” I asked, my voice laced with doubt.

“No,” she said firmly. “And I think . . . I need some time to digest all that. Alone.”

I nodded and rose. Ethan regarded me confusedly, but obliged, nonetheless.

When we were out to the driveway, he crossed his arms in front of my car. “I can’t believe you just let that go. She knows something.” He frustratedly raked his fingers through his black waves.

“My mom is a person who doesn’t like to get cornered. Pushing her now would only result in her shutting down and kicking us out. She has repeated the same story since we were younger: She went out with Nathan that day and came back to a crime scene. Even if that might be the truth, I agree with you that she seems to be hiding something. But now was not the time to get that out of her. Let her sit with that tape for a while. Make her realize that we won’t stop.” Sliding into my car, I added, “Leave the ball in her court. What other choice do we have? There’s only one person who’s remotely close to a witness of that day’s events. And that’s you, who unfortunately was charged with second-degree murder.”

Ethan got into the passenger’s seat as I revved up the engine.

“And I didn’t get to see jack shit,” he said. “I’m screwed and will have to live the life of a murderer until the fucking day I die.”

He shook his head and stared out the window.

I consoled him with a gentle back rub. “Hey, aren’t you the same guy who told me not to give up when I was freaking out in that church parking lot? You were the person who held me up when I was about to break down over all this more than once, who promised we’d stick together no matter what.”

Ethan rustled his hair. “It’s not that. I wouldn’t just give up on you even if the world was falling apart, Anna. But this whole case to prove my innocence seems pointless. To the world, I’m just a fucking convict, and I was stupid enough to think this case could reverse the inferno of fifteen years ago. But after all we’ve done, we’re pretty much back at square one. Only that you’ve lost you dad all over again.”

His deep brown eyes, framed by those long lashes, pulled me in. The weight they carried, the shadow that seemed to lurk there, tightened something in my chest. It was painful to see him like this: slouched, deflated, looking so unlike the Ethan I knew. Despite what the world said, accusing him of pushing my father down our patio stairs, I’d never waver from his side.

I had dreamt of a peaceful life with him. But now, even if our destiny was to be mired in chaos and accusations, even if he was labeled a killer and I the offspring of a monster, I’d still choose him and him alone.

“We make a great couple, don’t we?” I said sarcastically, grinning.

He grinned back at me. “Yeah, we fucking do.”

I laced my fingers between his on his lap. “Let’s go home. And when we get there, I’ll need you to think really hard about what you saw on the day of that murder. I’ll make you a relaxing bath, cook whatever food you want, pray with you . . . give you a blowjob. Whatever it takes. But something is missing. There must be something we might have overlooked. We’re floundering for the final piece in the puzzle. And since it lies at the center of this all, we need to put our everything into finding out what it is. We’re too close to the finish line to give up.”

Ethan glanced off to the top of my mother’s house. I trailed his gaze to find that she was peering through the bedroom window that faced the driveway. What the hell was she doing?

“I think a blowjob might help me remember things.” He turned to me with a huge grin.

I laughed. “I thought that joke might cheer you up.”

Ethan cocked a brow with a devilish handsome grin. “Who would joke about such a thing with a poor fellow like me?”

I laughed again and wrapped him in a hug. It was nice to laugh again.

God knew we fucking needed it.

Both of us.

Chapter 28

Ethan

“So, let’s circle back to the front road,” Anna said. She pointed at a makeshift detective board we created with construction paper and Sharpie lettering. “On your way to the backyard, did you see any cars? Maybe an absence of cars? Who was parked by the roadway?”

I shut my eyes trying to think. “Uh . . . nothing really comes to mind. Everything looks the same as usual. Then again, you’d have to do a lot to stand out in a suburban neighborhood.”

Anna appeared disappointed by my answer, but what could I say? This had happened over fifteen years ago. Even the murder scene was so locked in the past—and in trauma—that my mind tried to wipe itself of it. I did notice the finer details of that memory had gotten blurrier in recent years.

“Okay, nothing suspicious out on the road. But did you see anyone walking down the sidewalk? My dad died from a head wound that came from his fall, not blunt force. The killer could’ve strolled out in white capris and no one would’ve spotted a blood speck.”

I closed my eyes again, rubbing my temples as if it’d trigger better thinking.

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