I Died to End Their Lie novel · Chapter 14 of 24

Chapter 14: The Family Room

At noon the detective sat in the armchair of our family room with a folder on his knee.

Dad stood by the fireplace.

Mom sat on the sofa with her bandaged hands in her lap.

I floated near the piano, where nobody had touched a key since Tuesday.

Cade came down the stairs in a clean white shirt.

His eyes were pink at the rims, and he looked younger than eighteen.

"Dad, you said you needed me," he said. "Is it about the funeral?"

"Sit down," Dad said.

Cade sat beside Mom and took her hand.

She let him.

Dad put the assistant's phone on the coffee table, with the screen turned up.

"Read it," he said.

Cade looked down.

I watched his eyes go across the first message, and the second.

He didn't move.

"Thursday, four-oh-two," Dad said. "'Dad wants Jesse out of the house.' Did I want that, on Thursday?"

"I don't know what this is."

"It's your name at the top."

"Anyone can make a screenshot, Dad." Cade's voice stayed soft. "He's lying to save himself. He's the one who called the farm."

"He called the farm because you told him to."

"I never said that."

"You told him Jesse lies about being sick," Dad said. "On Thursday afternoon."

Dad's voice shook.

"Nobody on this earth knew Jesse was sick on Thursday afternoon."

The detective turned a page in his folder.

Cade opened his mouth.

"The medical examiner has the diagnosis letter," Dad said. "It was dated Tuesday. It was in his backpack, under a pair of socks."

"Dad..."

"Who has been in his backpack, Cade?"

Mom's hand slid out of his.

"Cade," she said. "Honey. Tell us it isn't true."

He looked at her.

Then he looked at Dad, and at the detective, and at the phone on the table.

I saw the exact second he understood that nobody in the room was going to help him.

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