Chapter 2I Was the Only Witness to My Mother’s Murder. Now I’m the Suspect.

I was sixteen and in my second year of high school.

My parents ran a business out of town, and Grandma was too old to look after me anymore.

Mom came back, rented an apartment for me in town, and stayed with me for a few months.

She was away most of the time, and I was at an age when everything felt raw. We barely spoke and weren’t close.

I went to school. She worked.

I got home late, but she got back even later because she had suppliers to meet, prices to negotiate, and business dinners to attend.

One day, I thought someone followed me home. I told her and asked her to pick me up after school.

Mom promised she would, but she never came.

I waited for her at school until midnight. Rain poured down.

There was nowhere to shelter, so I gritted my teeth and ran home.

That was the night the nightmare began.

As I passed through an alley, the person who had been following me jumped out and pinned me to the ground.

The rain and thunder drowned out my cries for help.

By the time I got home, I was soaked in rain and blood.

Mom was fast asleep on the sofa. The apartment smelled of alcohol.

“Lynnie?”

She opened her eyes suddenly, as though the smell of blood had woken her.

The moment she saw me clearly, she sobered up. She wrapped her arms around me and burst into tears.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry… Lynnie… It’s my fault. All of it!”

She said she meant to pick me up that night. But if she stayed for one more round of drinks, she could secure the lowest price from a supplier.

She thought I would be fine.

I almost laughed.

Maybe it was the pain. Maybe it was hatred. I pushed her away and refused to let her touch me.

I said only one thing: “Call the police.”

Mom began to wail again.

“We can’t call the police! Lynnie, if we do, everyone will find out what happened to you! How will you face anyone at school? What will you do afterward?

“I’m here now, sweetheart.

“I won’t leave again. I’ll stay with you…”

But less than three months later, Mom was brutally murdered.

After she died, I thought no one would ever uncover what happened to me that night.

I was wrong. Dad found out.

He took out a battered notebook and threw it in front of me. “Your mother kept a journal. Before she died, she wrote down everything that mattered.

“She was afraid someone would find it, so she locked it in a metal box and hid it. The fire didn’t destroy it. I found it…”

Dad seized my collar. “Your mother made a mistake, but she didn’t mean for that to happen! She refused to call the police because she thought she was protecting you!

“How could you bring yourself to kill her? What kind of monster are you?”

His shouting made my ears ache.

My uncle stopped trying to calm him. With trembling hands, he picked up the journal from the table.

The handwriting was Mom’s neat .

She wrote about how her carelessness led to the attack on me.

There were stains on several pages, perhaps from her tears. I could see how deeply she regretted it.

My uncle finished reading and wiped his eyes. His voice shook. “Darren, calm down.

“Even if this happened, it doesn’t prove Lynn killed her.

“My sister was stabbed more than thirty times. There were signs of sexual assault too. Lynn couldn’t have done that—”

He pushed Dad aside and took my hands, his eyes pleading. “Lynnie, do you resent your mother so much that you’re protecting her killer and stopping us from getting justice for her?

“I swear, if you tell us who killed her, I’ll help you get justice for what happened to you too. I’ll cut the animal who hurt you to pieces with my own hands.”

His eyes were red, and I couldn’t bear to meet his intense gaze.

Before I could respond, Dad gave a bitter laugh.

“You don’t need to avenge her. That animal is already dead, and Lynn probably killed him herself! The police are investigating. We’ll have answers soon.

“Lynn, I don’t want to send you to prison. But I can’t let Susan’s murder go unanswered. You’ve left me no choice!”