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“Now, we just need a person to blame.”
I look down at the piece of shit in my hands and see the confusion in his torn-open face. “You think we should hang him?” I let him hear the words so he can suffer more fear.
“In the law’s eyes, this fucker’s gonna hang himself, right after he killed his father-in-law.” Garrett puts on his gloves and takes the blood-stained weapon out of the bag, and Caleb says nothing, just stares with shock and fear in his eyes as my brother lifts up his arm and places it in his hand. He makes sure Caleb's prints are all over it before he tucks it inside the bastard’s pocket. Then looking back up at me, he nods his head and passes me the rope from his shoulder.
I like the way my brother’s thinking. I take a few strides back and let the rope go slack, making sure I get a good swing on it before I aim high and toss it over the beam above my head. Then I admire the fear on Caleb’s face as I drag a chair from the kitchen and position it underneath the beam. I stand up on it so I can make a noose that’s perfect for his throat then test the strength of it by tugging real hard.
“Wade, you aren’t gonna kill me.” Caleb shakes his head as I slowly hop down and walk back toward him.
“You bet ya ass I’m gonna kill ya.” I lean down and get in his face, grabbing the front of his hair and dragging him across the floor to the chair. Garrett holds the fucker upright for me as I climb back up on the chair again, then assists me in lifting Caleb up when the fucker starts to struggle.
I place the noose over his head and make sure it’s tight around his neck. Then holding the rope in my hands, I whisper into his ear from behind him.
“I want ya to think of her in those final seconds. Think of the misery ya caused her, and how I’m gonna fix all the wrongs you made by givin’ her the best fuckin’ life she could ever wish for.” I leave him with that, stepping down from the chair and moving to stand beside my brother.
I look up at the spineless bastard and how he’s panting through his fear now. The eye that he can open is already bulging from its socket and the fun’s not even started.
“You ready?” Garrett checks.
“You're going to hell,” Caleb spits his final words at me, and despite all the pain he’s caused Leia, I make sure the last vision he sees is of me smilin’.
“See ya there, fucker.” I stare the abusive cunt right in his eyes as I kick the chair out from under him, then watch with great satisfaction as his body thrashes and the rope takes the strain of his weight. He gags and chokes, and I enjoy every single flinch his body makes until it makes its last.
The beam creaks above our head as his limp body swings from it and all that satisfaction I was feeling quickly vanishes. I head over to the stairs, taking a seat on the bottom one and holding my hat between my legs. Garrett must sense I need some time because he gives me it. Then, after what feels like hours, he takes a seat beside me.
“What’s goin’ through your head?” he asks.
“The fact I let my kid down and it ain’t even here yet,” I admit, full of fuckin’ regret for how I handled all this. “I should have told Leia what her father did, she would’ve stopped trying to protect him. I made a judgment call, and I made the wrong one.”
“You were tryin’ to spare her feelings, and you put your own aside to do that. You couldn’t have predicted any of this. When Caleb came clean about what had happened to Bree, he had us believing he had some decency in him. If you're lookin’ for someone to blame on how this turned out, I’m right here. I let the Harvey thing get in my head. You were right, we’re Carsons, the only form of defense we know is attack, and it’s always worked for us before. I shouldn’t have tried playin’ it differently. If we’d killed Walker when we should have, Leia wouldn’t have had to keep believin’ she was protecting him.”
“How do we fix this?” I look at my big brother for the answer, because I’m all out of ideas.
“Well, we got one thing fixed,” he looks up at Caleb Mason’s swinging body. “It ain’t just the law we need to believe our story. Hopefully, we can get Harvey buying it too, and if he had any ideas on making that asshole our new mayor, we just took his backup horse right outta the race.”
“You’re a clever fucker, ya know that?” I watch my brother stand up, then I take the arm he offers to help me up.
“C’mon, the work ain’t done yet. We need to get ya home so you can calm your girl down, she’s gonna be vital to how this plays out.”
“Idon’t understand, why would your father and Caleb be fighting?” Mom interrupts as Sheriff Nelson continues to take my statement. Being in the house again has me on edge, but I know how important this is. I have to be brave, and I have to get this right.
“Because, earlier this afternoon, Caleb pushed me down the stairs.” I look at Mom blankly and wait for her over-the-top response. She doesn’t disappoint and puts her full efforts into looking shocked at the thought of my husband hurting me.
“Dad stopped by the house after we got back from the hospital to check that me and the baby were okay, and he flew into a rage. There was a fight, he put Caleb’s head through the coffee table.” I explain things exactly how Wade told me to. “I got scared, so I left and drove to Maisie’s place.”
I wait for the Sheriff to catch up with his notepad.
“After a while, I came here to check if Dad had calmed down, and that’s when I found him.” I don’t have to fake the tears that I cry, reliving what actually happened in my head is enough to trigger them, and Mom actually seems sincere when she places her hand over mine.
“Did you notice anything strange about your husband today, ma’am?” Nelson turns his attention to her.
“No, I barely saw him, as far as I know, he went to church as normal and then came back here. Myself and Karina have been at the spa all day, there will be witnesses there to confirm that. I even had to have a truck come and tow the car, we couldn’t get it started. That’ll all be on file, right?” She sounds concerned.
“Yes, ma’am.” Nelson’s radio crackles and he gives us both an apologetic smile before he steps aside to answer it.
“What the fuck, Leia? Why did you have to tell your father he did that to you? You could have called me, and what baby? You never said you were preg…” She stops whispering and quickly puts on a smile when Sheriff Nelson rejoins us.
“Mrs Mason, I’m afraid what I’m about to tell you may be another devastating blow for you.” He clears his throat. “I had two of my officers stop by your house after you called and told me what happened. We were looking to take your husband in for some questioning. I’m afraid when my officers arrived, they were too late. Mr Mason has taken his own life.” He looks at me sympathetically.
