Duke, page 17
He took a seat at the table and it hit him that within minutes he’d be facing the man who had taken his life away for so many years. He’d planned to tell him this would be the last time he would ever see him, or think about him again. He wasn’t sure why he’d come. He had nothing to say to this man that he’d care to hear. But something had pulled Duke here. The longer he sat waiting, the more he just wanted to punch his father until he was unconscious.
A sound alerted the visitors to the opening door and he immediately recognized his father. Hale’s eyes were as dark and domineering as they’d been in his childhood. Duke felt a small part of the child in him react.
He stood as he father approached, his mind comparing the skinny man he’d been to the bulkier man he now was. He was surprised to find how strong the resemblance was between them.
Hale stopped on the other side of the table. “I never thought this day would come.” His voice was deep, strong, and thick, but in a low whisper for only Duke to hear.
“Neither did I.”
As he sat, Duke followed suit.
“You look good, son.”
“I can’t say the same about you.”
It was a lie. He may have aged, but Duke could see he took better care of himself than most people.
When Hale shrugged, his thick shoulders lifted as if to show off his muscles. “What can I say when you see the sun as much as I do ...”
“I didn’t come here for chit chat.”
His father folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Please, tell me why you showed up here out of the blue.”
“I want to talk about that night.”
Hale’s fingers rapped along his bicep, his eyes lowered to intimidate Duke. Only Duke wasn’t the young, scared boy anymore.
“What more could you possibly say that you didn’t say to the judge?” his father asked.
“I want to hear your side. I want to hear why you did it.”
“Why now?” His casualness pissed Duke off and he leaned forward so quickly he got a warning from security.
“Because you left me alone.” Was that was this was about? For the first time in his life, he realized how angry he was that his father had taken everyone away from him and left him alone. For the first time, he didn’t feel guilty for putting his feelings first.
“You wanted me here and here I sit.” He waved his arms at his side before crossing them over his chest again.
“You took away Pete and Annie and put Mom in the hospital. She doesn’t even know who I am.”
“That’s good for you.”
Duke’s hands fisted on the table and he had to force himself to keep from meeting his father’s face with a punch.
His dad looked down at his son’s fist and back up to Duke’s eyes. “I can see nothing I say here will change anything. You still have no goddam idea what happened in that house.”
“You killed Pete and Annie and tried to kill Mom. I would’ve been next if I had stayed in the house.”
Like the dark clouds rolling in over the lake, his father’s eyes seemed to turn the same grey and black colors. “I take full credit for shooting Maggie. It was me or her, but son, think harder.” He leaned forwards, placing his elbows on the table. “I was protecting you that night. I didn’t kill Pete and Annie. Your mother did.”
DUKE COULDN’T PROCESS the accusation.
He sat across from his father in a blur of what he remembered, had believed all these years, and what his father claimed now.
“Your mother has dealt with being bi-polar her entire life. She had ups and downs. Sometimes she took her pills and sometimes she didn’t.” He gave a small, almost surrender-type shrug. “That was when her depression would settle in.”
Depression? What the hell was he talking about? He’d made her sad. His yelling had made her cry. She’d always been good before he showed up ... hadn’t she?
“I remember one time she took you and your brother and sister out of school on a weeklong trip before her mind plummeted. I don’t know where you guys went or what you did. She couldn’t even remember half of it once she’d stabilized again.”
Duke remembered the trip and had always wondered why she ever went back to his dad when they’d gotten so far away.
“She took us to get away from you,” he accused.
“She took you because she was on a high from her condition and you came back after she crashed in the bed and couldn’t get up.”
“I’m not here for you to warp my memories.”
“Right.” He clicked his tongue. “I’ll tell you what happened that night because I believe, on some level, you already know, you just can’t remember.”
Now his father was starting to sound crazy.
“That day I was working. I got a phone call from your mom incoherently rambling a mile a minute and I knew she was having an episode. When I got home I was too late. Pete and Annie were dead. I tried to resuscitate them, but I was too late. You were her next target, and I wasn’t going to let your mom hurt you too.”
Duke shook his head. “Bullshit.”
His father sat back in his chair, a solemn look on his face, the look of a tired man who was finally getting to tell his side of the story.
Still, Duke didn’t believe him—didn’t want to believe him. If he did, the anger of his entire life would’ve been based on a lie. His father would be in jail for something he didn’t do.
“You took the plea bargain. You pleaded guilty to murder.”
“I did it for you. They showed me a video of what you thought you saw that day. You said it was me. You believed I killed them. It was my word against yours with two dead children and a wife who couldn’t remember.” His monotone voice sounded like Duke, but his face let flickers of emotion through. Sadness, regret, and pain Duke would never reveal. Emotions a cold-hearted murderer wouldn’t feel. “I wasn’t going to drag you through a trial that I wouldn’t win.”
“That’s quite the story.” None of it added up.
“You want to know what happened that day? I lost everything and prayed my only living son would have everything. Believe me or not, but remember your mom loved all of you. She just sometimes forgot.”
“I remember my parents fighting, my father yelling and my mom crying. I remember being tanned on the backside with your belt.”
“I didn’t say I was perfect. I’m just saying I’m not a murderer.”
Duke couldn’t discuss this any longer. Without another word, he stood up and left.
He climbed into his truck and drove. Today he’d planned to acknowledge his dad’s reasoning and put it all in one of those silly bubbles and watch it float away. But he left with more questions than answers and a feeling of confusion that terrified him.
Before he knew where he was, he’d parked at his mother’s residency and was inside requesting to see her files.
Was she bi-polar? Had she always been bi-polar? Was anything his father said true?
“You’ll have to make an appointment with her doctor to discuss her files,” the receptionist said. “Let me see what he has available.”
Duke rapped his fingers against the counter as he waited. An action so unlike him.
A group of nurses in the corner seemed distraught. Their high voices made it to Duke’s ears but their words were unrecognizable.
Once he had an appointment set up with her doctor, he asked to visit his mother.
“That’s not possible today.” One of the nurses from the group walked up beside them. “Mrs Falkner isn’t here.”
“What do you mean she’s not here?”
Her hands wrung together. “She slipped out without anyone noticing.”
“And where did she go?”
“We don’t know. Would you know where she might have taken a taxi?”
If his father was right, Duke knew exactly where she was headed.
Chapter Thirty
SAGE DROVE HER car down the bumpy driveway and parked her car in front of Duke’s childhood home.
Looking at the house she’d heard so many horror stories about, chills ran down her spine and the gloomy, grey day didn’t help. The windows in the house seemed darker, the door unwelcoming. As she walked across the overgrown path, even the long grass seemed to be clutching her ankles and warning her to stay away.
She shook her head and moved forward. These fears were ridiculous, but her heart felt heavy over the deaths that had happened here and gave her a tinge of discomfort. A collaboration of emotions no child should feel, but Duke had lived it all.
But that was in the past and he’d expressed no longer wanting that part of his life to control him anymore. When he’d decided to sell the property, Sage had been all for it. It would be worth a pretty penny considering it was on the outskirts of the city and had a gorgeous view, but Duke had requested the house be torn down before it was listed. The construction crew were scheduled to demolish the house next week before they listed the land on the market.
Sage stopped at the front door. Her hand lingered on the knob as she looked back over her shoulder. The real estate agent would be arriving any minute for an assessment. Duke had planned to meet her before his scheduled appointment with his father.
She swallowed the discomfort that lingered along with the knowledge that Duke was facing that monster again. But who was she to decide what closure he needed? She was the woman who—at her mother’s request—had taken Celeste to Dean’s funeral and afterwards helped spread his ashes over the lake.
Sage hadn’t needed closure with her dad, but apparently her mother had. They all dealt differently with life and death. Dean had been Celeste’s best friend for a long time, but only a dream to Sage. One way didn’t work for them all. If anything, she was so proud of Duke for facing his fears but also terrified of what he might discover at the same time.
She drew her hand away from the door now, deciding to wait for the real estate agent to arrive, when she heard a sound inside.
Stepping away from the door, another set of chills ran through her and the hairs on her arms stood up. It was likely an animal, squirrel, or raccoon had entered the old house.
Her phone vibrated and the sight of Duke’s name took away all her hesitation of being here. She swiped her phone and read his message.
Where are you?
Her fingers typed back. At the house waiting for real estate agent. I think you have rodents living inside.
When she heard the noise again, and with Duke just at her fingertips, she decided to go investigate.
She opened the door as her phone vibrated. “Hello?” She almost laughed at saying the word out loud.
Who was she talking to? A mouse?
She shook her head as she stepped inside, leaving the door propped open to air the place out.
She stepped toward the living room, her eyes watching the dark mark on the floor grow bigger the closer she walked. She hadn’t realized it at the time, but she realized now that was where his mother had been shot and had almost bled to death.
Her phone vibrated again and she looked down at Duke’s message. He was now also phoning her. She barely read the message before blackness stole her sight.
Get off the property.
DUKE’S WHEELS SPUTTERED down the laneway, his body shaking with fear. Sage hasn’t responded back to his text or answered his phone calls, but he knew she was at the house ... possibly with his mother.
He could be overreacting.
He could be wrong.
The conversation with his dad could have been a complete lie, but deep down, the more he dug into his childhood memories, the more believable his story became. He remembered his father showing up at the hotel they’d been staying in and carrying his mom from the bed where she’d been lying for days. He remembered singing one day with his mom and tip-toeing the next. But murder? He sure as hell hoped not.
Sage’s car and another car he didn’t recognize, but assumed belonged to the real estate agent, was parked out front. There were no signs of them.
He jumped out of the truck. “Sage? Sage!”
The front door was open a crack and he darted up the stairs and inside.
“Sage?”
He heard noise from the living room. “Hale? Hale, is that you?” The sound of his mother’s voice triggered a memory inside him.
As he walked to the living room entrance he was a ten-year-old again. The fireplace crackled, and he could hear the rain outside. He even felt damp from stepping inside from the rain.
“Maggie, what did you do?” It was his father’s voice, and he saw him bend down beside Annie. “They’re not breathing. Where’s Duke?” When his mother didn’t reply his father yelled, “Where’s Duke?!”
Duke looked up to see his father’s hands around his mother’s throat, but not choking her, trying to get her attention, trying to find him.
“Duke, honey, come here.” It was his mother’s voice, but it hadn’t come from the past. She hadn’t seen him or talked to him that day.
He blinked now and the room transformed into the abandoned home, dark and dirty with stains from the past.
“Duke?” His mother stood by the fireplace, looking thin and fragile, her eyes distant and lost. “You’re supposed to be with your brother and sister. We both are. Come now.” She held one hand out toward him, but kept the other behind her, holding what looked like a pillow. A pillow that would do nothing against Duke now.
“Mom, where are the women? There are two ladies here and I need you to tell me where they are.”
She smiled. “Don’t worry about them. They won’t bother us.”
Her answer worried him. What had she done to them?
“Sage! Sage!” Silence accompanied him into the living room and into the kitchen. “Sage?”
“Duke!?” He heard Sage’s muffled voice on the other side of the basement door. He unlocked the door and pulled but the latch at the top prevented it from opening. His fingers grabbed the lock clamped on the latch and he cursed.
“Are you okay?” he asked, looking around the kitchen for an object to smash the lock.
“Yes we are.”
“Who’s in there with you?” Duke ripped open drawers, his fingers digging through utensils and odds and ends.
“The real estate agent.” She pounded on the door. “Open the door.”
“I’m working on it.” He found a hammer in the hardware drawer and ran back to the door, skidding to a stop on the linoleum floor. He hit the lock three times before it broke apart. He ripped the door open and Sage flew into his arms. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“My head hurts.” She cringed when he touched the back of her head. He felt blood. “Everything went black and I woke up down there with the real estate agent. I couldn’t get reception on my phone.”
“Listen to me.” He gripped her shoulders and bent down to her eye level. “Go out this door, get in your car, lock the doors, and phone the police.” He ushered both women to the back door.
“What’s going on?” Sage reached for his hands. “Who’s here? Why aren’t you coming?” Panic flared in her voice.
“Trust me.” He kissed her.
“Is it Santos or Malcolm?” She asked against his mouth, not kissing him back.
“It’s my mother.”
The features of her face twisted. “I don’t understand. I thought she was in a hospital.” She touched the back of her head and looked at the blood on her fingers. “I thought she didn’t remember...”
“Hussy! Are you one of my husband’s whores?”
Duke turned to his mom, shielding Sage with his body. “Mom, it’s me, Duke. Dad’s not here.”
The lines on her forehead eased, her mouth loosened and she smiled. “Duke, baby, come here. I have a surprise for you.” He could see her still carrying the pillow behind her back. He fought to not cry, knowing she’d killed Pete and Annie, knowing she wanted to kill him now too.
He heard the real estate agent on the phone with who he hoped was the police. But when they arrived, what would they believe? Would they believe his mother had been responsible for the deaths of Pete and Annie? Or would they leave the man in prison who’d already confessed?
Duke took a step toward his mother, pulling away from Sage and reaching in his pocket to press the record button on his cell phone camera.
He owed his dad freedom. He owed his dad his life and the least he could do was get a confession out of the real killer.
SAGE KEPT HER DISTANCE as she listened to Duke’s mother confessing to two murders. Murders for which his father was currently serving time.
Her heart throbbed for the man she loved as he stayed by his mother’s side until the police arrived and took her away. Her heart finally cracked when the strongest man she’d ever met walked back to her after handing his mother over to the cops, not wiping away or hiding his tears. His body crushed hers in a hug and she felt his sobs against her body. Everything he’d believed had just been questioned, ripped apart and rewritten before his eyes. His emotion left Sage with nothing to say, not knowing what to say.
Most of the police cars had driven away before Duke’s grip loosened. “Let’s go home,” he said.
She wasn’t sure what home meant. Did he need space? Would he revert back to the guilt he’d recently fought to release?
She didn’t ask as he held her hand and guided her to the passenger’s side of his truck. He opened the door and helped her inside.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Sage asked as he reversed out of the laneway.
“No.”
She wouldn’t pry. Not now.
He drove to the old part of the city where her mom lived and Sage remained quiet. Would he stay at her mother’s house or drop her off to hide away from his feelings again?
Instead of turning down her mother’s street, he parked a few blocks down in the laneway of a contemporary seventies looking house with a flat roof, box shape, and glass walls.
“Will you stay the night?”
“This is your house?” Sage had been so preoccupied with taking care of her mother for the last few weeks she’d had no idea he lived so close.
