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Sylvi’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “What?”
Val drew a ragged breath. “I visited Cassandra Springfield at the jail.”
Horror froze Sylvi’s features. “What did she tell you?”
“The truth?” Val shrugged. “I don’t know. But I never asked you what happened. I am now. Will you tell me? Please?”
Sylvi shook her head. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can,” Val said gently. “Everyone who was in the room that day is either dead or in jail. Aaron Gates and Sandra are in jail. Dewey Talley is dead. You’re safe now. And if you’re not safe, I can make sure that you are.”
“And Mom and Dad?”
“I’ll keep them safe, too,” Val promised. “Tell me. Please.”
Sylvi covered her face with her hands as a sob broke free. “Aaron Gates. He killed him. Killed Van.”
Val slid from the chair to kneel in front of her sister, gently pulling her hands free and holding them in hers. “I should have done better by you. I should have listened. If you’ll let me, I want to listen now.”
“You won’t believe me.”
“I think I will.”
Sylvi looked up, uncertain. “Why would Sandra have talked to you?”
“She’s looking to plea-bargain. I know that she visited you once a month. I know that she visited Mom, too.”
“She saved me. Kind of.” Sylvi exhaled. “She could have let those men kill me, but she didn’t.”
Instead, Sandra had kept Sylvi too afraid to talk, all these years. Val waited silently, giving Sylvi’s hands an encouraging squeeze.
“Van was using,” Sylvi said.
“I know. Now. I didn’t know then.”
Sylvi’s eyes widened, then narrowed with a flicker of anger. “So you believed Sandra?”
“Only because Desmond corroborated what she said. He said that Sandra and Van did coke at parties.”
“Coke and heroin. And meth,” Sylvi murmured. “He’d pop pills when he got busy. That’s where I got my first hit.”
Val flinched. “Van gave you drugs?”
“No. I stole them from him. I was so tired, and I needed to study for an exam. I knew it was risky, but I was desperate.” Her gaze searched Val’s. “And then I was hooked.”
“You knew all this time that Van was using. Why didn’t you say something?”
“Who would have believed me? I was the fuckup kid in high school. You were a Marine and then a teacher like Dad, and Van was successful at work, and I was... just me. I got in trouble and got suspended all the time and...” She sighed. “I cleaned up my act because I wanted college to be different. I wanted to be different. I wanted to be like you and Van. I wanted to get straight As, but I couldn’t hack the workload. That’s not an excuse for using, but that’s where my head was then.”
“Did Van know you were using?”
“Yes. He cut me off, but I’d steal money from him. He was always using, but he managed it somehow. He’d use and become Superman. I’d use and become a junkie mess.”
“You got clean.”
“I did. I didn’t want to be the fuckup Kristiansen any longer, so I got some help. Went to the campus clinic and they found me an outpatient program. I got clean. Van kept using. He was a charming junkie,” she said with a sad bend of her lips. “Life of the party.”
“He was hyper the last time I saw him,” Val said. “That Thanksgiving. I thought he was just busy or embarrassed that I’d seen him with Cassandra, but now I’m realizing he was high.”
