Page 61 of Watch Me Burn
Believing she was overwhelmed about where to go from here, I pressed on. “This name, it’s likely one of the victims’, a girl. We can find her, talk to her. Given she might be a victim, your badass lawyer skills might arrange some sort of plea deal for her before we spill the beans to the authorities. Sort of a get-out-of-jail-free card.”
Anna shook her head. “It can’t be Scarlett. There’s no way you heard that name.” She scurried past me to the balcony window, stilling her trembling frame against the wall.
“What?”
I rushed after her. “It was Scarlett. I know it. This is the real deal, Anna.” I strolled up to her. “What’s wrong?”
After a few moments, she turned to face me. “Are you sure you heard the name Scarlett? Not Sandy, not Sloane, nothing else—”
“I’m 100% sure, Anna.”
Silence rose between us. I watched as Anna’s distraught expression grew slick with tears.
I cupped her face worriedly. “Whoa, whoa, darling. What’s wrong?” I peered into her eyes for some sign of an explanation. “Did you know a girl named Scarlett?”
Burying her head into my chest, her next words were muffled—but as blanketed as they were, nothing could coat the piercing reality they revealed.
“My dad used to use that nickname for Nathan as a kid whenever he whined or threw a tantrum!” Anna sobbed. “Do you know what that means, Ethan? Do you?!”
My throat dried up.
Yeah, I fucking damn well knew what that meant. But cradling Anna in my arms, feeling the weight of yet another revelation crushing her, I wished against all odds it wasn’t real.
“Look, there could be another girl named Scarlett. Shit, it might just be a coincidence.”
“This isn’t some random guess, Ethan. I know my dad, and my mom too. She’s definitely hiding something, and this name—it didn’t just fall from the sky.”
Why did fate have to keep kicking my love when she was already down?
Karma, you bastard.
“Hold on a sec, let’s not jump off the deep end here. If Nathan knew the truth would bust him, why the hell would he assist us? He’s no idiot. It doesn’t add up.”
“I don’t fucking know, Ethan!” Anna’s voice trembled. “I feel like I’m grasping at straws in pitch-black darkness.”
I pulled her closer, trying to shield her from the storm of her emotions. “Hey, it’s going to be all right. How about this: we go to your mom’s place and straighten this out. Maybe, for once, she’ll be straight with us and spill the god damn beans.”
Anna nodded, wiping away her tears. Soon enough, we were en route to confront her mother.
Chapter 30
Ethan
Anna’s mother sat in the living room, her posture slightly better than the day before, but her aura remained fragile.
Anna wasted no time. “Mom, the day Dad died, Ethan heard him shout ‘Scarlett’ just moments before.”
I glanced at Anna, who stared at her mom with a weary determination as if she was tired of it all. And she was. Exhausted, to be precise. Close to a breaking point. This investigation needed to end. Now.
“You and I both know Dad used to call Nathan Scarlett whenever Nathan was throwing a fit. Looking back, it was an awful way of degrading him. But do you think it’s a coincidence that Ethan hears this nickname right before Dad’s murder? Seems a bit suspicious, doesn’t it?”
I anticipated another round of defense from Anna’s mother. But she did the unexpected. Breaking down, she covered her face with her hands.
“Anna . . . my dear Anna.”
With trembling hands, she wiped away the tears streaming down her face, looking squarely at Anna.
Anna’s voice trembled. “It can’t be, not Nathan.” She barely managed to collapse onto the couch behind her.
