The Murder House Mystery

Chapter Seven

    Steve and I prepped the knife for fingerprinting, so we could figure out who used the knife to stab Bella. Then, after we finished that, Grandma managed to get everyone to sit down at the dinner table. We took everyone's fingerprints.

    We looked at the fingerprints on the knife, but to no avail. Apparently, everyone had used that knife. Bella and Pete had used that knife to make dinner, and everyone else had used it to cut the cake, except John, who used it to cut the sandwiches.

    Steve went off to do some important detective work. He didn't let me come. He said I was "too young" (whatever that meant).

    John came up to me and offered to help me clean up the blood. Mom and Tammy were trying to get the power and wifi back on and Grandma and Great Uncle Bill were attempting to figure out what to do with the dead bodies.

    While we were cleaning up the blood, John tried to start up a conversation.

    "How would you like to have your dad back into your life?" he asked me.

    I was baffled. How could he just offer to come back into my life after being gone for seven years? Did he have some sort of ulterior motive? Did he even care about me or my mom? All that escaped my mouth was the single word, "What?"

    "Oh, uh, you know," John struggled for words, "You never had a real father figure. Some would go to the extent of calling your 'family' broken. I still love your mother, Lina. I didn't have the heart to tell your Uncle Bill that we weren't married. I thought I could win her back."

    I snapped. "Are you kidding me? Who do you think you are?? Where have you been for the last seven years?? You abandoned me! And you have the nerve to just waltz back into my life and try to claim my mom? And you still have the audacity to call my family broken?"

    John was flabbergasted. "What? I didn't call your family broken. I was just saying that someone might. You know, they'd asked where your dad is and why you had two moms instead. They'd say you were broken and they'd bully you. I'm just trying to protect you--"

    I cut him off, "It sounds like YOU think my family is broken! You are not part of my family, just because I have your DNA. You LEFT my mom! And Tammy raised me. She is more family than you would ever be for me."

    John was at a loss for words. "But-but- I still love your mom!"
    "That doesn't do anything for you," I retort, "You never showed up. You never help us. You know what? I'm done. You clean this up yourself."
    I toss my bloody rag at him and storm out of the kitchen. Then, I encountered Tammy, who had apparently heard my entire conversation with John.

    She took a deep shuddering breath, "Look, I know you want to meet him. I know you want to meet your biological dad. I know that I'll never compete with him. Our time together really meant nothing, I--"

    I didn't let her continue. I hugged her.

    "Tammy," I said, "You are more family to me than he will ever be. Seven years is a long time, especially when you had to deal with me as a five year old."

    Tammy laughed. "Yeah. You were a pretty wild five year old."

    I giggled. "Remember when I accused all of my teachers of being robbers in disguise?"

    Tammy chuckled, "Yeah. That was pretty wild."