AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Andrea scanned their faces. “Where’s Clary?”
“She’s missing,” Seth said.
“She left.” Elton stared right at Seth. “She left with an old man. I think she called him Uncle David.”
“Why?”
Elton glanced over at Andrea, and she held her hands up in peace.
“I’ll be in my room,” she said, then jogged up the stairs.
Elton poked his tongue into his cheek. “Clary told me to keep it to myself.” He looked over at Oliver, then back at Seth. “Holly says she has evidence that Oliver killed Winnie. If Clary doesn’t leave, she’ll release it.”
Oliver’s jaw dropped. “That was why she was so weird last night.” Horror entered his gaze as seconds passed. “I killed Winnie?”
CHAPTER 20
All the way back home, Elton had struggled to decide. He’d never trusted Clary right from the start, but the conversation he had with Seth changed his perceptions. It turned out that Clary was right.
And Elton never wanted to hurt Seth. He thought he was keeping himself from being entangled in Clary’s web so he would always be objective.
But Seth had outright told Elton that he wasn’t doing what he thought he was.
He didn’t think he’d have to make this decision now, though. Should he keep Clary’s secret? Keeping Clary’s secret would spare Oliver from any hurt, and no one wanted Oliver to be hurt.
But that would mean Seth had to suffer the burden of whatever Clary had said to him. That wasn’t fair to him—or to Clary.
Then again, Elton couldn’t see a way out that would be fair to everyone.
Even if he told Seth the truth, his brother wouldn’t be able to get back with Clary. Seth would have to live with the fact that he chose Oliver over Clary. Could his brother survive that?
Could this family survive that?
“Holly’s lying,” Zane said and sat beside Oliver. “She always lies.”
Elton looked at Oliver, then back at Seth again. “Clary said you told her what happened that night, and Holly’s version of the story matched. If Holly didn’t witness what happened, how would she know?”
Seth rolled his head back, then pressed a hand to his face and sat down on the stairs. “I shouldn’t have let her talk to Holly.”
Elton sighed. “Look. Holly always tried to twist our words around, and she never succeeded because we learned to outright ask each other if whatever she said was true. I don’t know why we stopped doing that.”
No one said a word while Aldric looked around, as if his brain was still waking up.
“I’ll start first,” Elton said. “I saw Aldric arguing with Winnie.”
Aldrin nodded. “I quarreled with her.” He scratched his head. “I saw her carrying a duffle bag and hiding it in the bushes. I thought she was going to run away, so I confronted her. Can you imagine what we’d have had to deal with if she did? We got into a shouting match.”
“I shut them both up,” Elton said. “Winnie said to leave her alone, and I told Aldric the same. If she wanted to leave, then so be it. She was leaving Jimmy behind. It wasn’t our problem.”
Aldric nodded again. “I tried to tell Elton otherwise, but he just dragged me off.”
“Was she wearing her jacket then?” Zane asked.
Elton frowned. “What jacket? I don’t know. I wasn’t paying attention.”
“She was,” Aldric said. “The army green jacket with different patches.”
Zane sighed. “So that was before whatever happened with Oliver. Because Oliver was roaming around with blood running down his face and that blood-stained jacket.”
