Page 75 of Justice II

“What you said about her was true? You weren’t saying that to deflect from me finding out about your past?” he asked.

“No. I was about to tell you that day. Storie killed the horse, Justice. Kira didn't do it.”

“You're sure?”

“Yes. She let you blame Kira, and she knew you'd believe her. She threatened me because she knew I was hiding who I was. That's how she kept me quiet.”

He sat forward, his elbows near the edge of the table.

“What else?”

I had wanted him to ask me that for so long. Now that he had, I wished I had something easier to tell him.

“She really did confess to killing Monica,” I whispered.

We were surrounded by the sounds of other people’s conversations that were probably far lighter than ours. The cafe was quaint, smelling of coffee. It seemed way too cozy to be discussing something so dark.

“Why? Monica was literally on her deathbed?” he wondered.

“She suffocated her.”

He stared at me. His mouth opened slightly before he closed it and looked past my shoulder.

I could hear the coffee machine behind the counter. Somebody laughed near the entrance. I wanted everybody to shut up for a minute while he heard what I was telling him.

“She said that to you?”

“Yes.”

“Those words?”

“Yes, Justice.”

He brought a hand to his mouth and stayed like that. I watched him run his thumb along his bottom lip. He didn't ask whether I had misunderstood her. He didn't call me a liar.

When he looked at me again, I could see how badly he wanted me to take it back.

“I'm sorry,” I said.

He shook his head, but he kept listening.

“She talks about hurting people like it doesn't mean anything. She threatened Dream to get to me. You can't keep hoping she'll grow out of it.”

He looked down at his hands.

“What the fuck am I supposed to do?”

I didn't have a good answer. I had spent enough nights trying to come up with one myself.

“I don't know. I really did find a letter from Monica that was written to you. Somehow Storie found it before she died. That’s what made her kill her. In the letter Monica confessed to Storie not being your daughter.”

I watched the recognition hit. Maybe hearing that name struck a chord.

I knew what he must have been going through. He had loved Monica. He loved Storie, even when she made it difficult. I had just put both of them in front of him as people he didn't know as well as he thought he did.

“Monica said it happened while you had briefly broken up,” I continued. “She wrote it because she was dying and wanted you to know. It was with someone named Tavares.”

He rubbed both hands over his face. When he lowered them, he looked exhausted. He finally believed me. I wanted him to know the truth but I hated what that meant for him.