The Return

Chapter Twenty One

Cody Selbourne's home was like every other red brick three-story on the block—cozy. He lived on West Filmore Street by the golf course. The neighborhood was a good one, well lit up, secure, a bit of a stretch from where he went to school, but tolerable.

He led the way through a wrought iron gate and up the stone steps. The lights in the living room glimmered through the window despite the hour.

Shit, he had the whole family in on it.

He pushed the door open. A whiff of frankincense wafted across Holly's nose. Ironic since Cody struck her as the farthest thing from religious.

A wide central hallway walked them into a living space, the walls brought to life by framed pictures. Cody's pictures. There was one of Heaven figuring out a game of golf, her frustration crystal in black and white. The other pictures were of his parents, school, raindrops. Holly was startled by his talent.

On the worn couch sat a frenzied woman in a night robe that shot to her feet. Next to her was a gaunt-faced man with spectacles perched on the bridge of his nose. "Qué te tomó tanto tiempo?" The woman pulled Cody into her arms and pressed her lips to his cheeks.

He squirmed and pulled away.

"Ignore your mother, she wouldn't sleep a wink till you got back,"

The stringy-haired man slapped a hand on Cody's shoulder.

More than a scrawny white boy. Holly observed the coffee table. On it were rosaries, and prayer books as well as a baby-Jesus figurine.

"There was a bit of traffic, but we're here. And the girls are tired." If anything, he appeared drowsier than they did. Holly couldn't blame him. It wasn't easy to chauffer his friends to a party and get dragged to prison, return to pick up his car and head home only to be heaved back into the road again by his stranded girlfriend and her sister.

"Tonterías, ¿se van a dormir con el estómago vacío?" The woman turned to Holly and Heaven expectantly. She wasn't as porcelain as her son. With loose curly hair peeking out of a thin scarf, the woman had dark eyes and a bigger build.  "You girls must be famished, Cody told me about your father."

Heaven nodded. "It's fine, Penelope, thank you for having us."

"Nonsense, you know you're always welcome, Heaven." The woman held Heaven by the elbows. "I thought with your mother back in the picture, he would put all this tonterias behind him?"

Heaven let out a tired sigh. "He's trying it's... complicated." Her shoulders fell. "And I'm sorry if we woke you, Hank." Heaven looked apologetic. They were well acquainted with her. The story on the side of the curb all of a sudden seemed too real for Holly's comfort.  Cold fear spread through her limbs.

"Oh, it's no trouble. I was preparing for a meeting with the board. Sleep was nowhere near my schedule," The man waved it off. "You girls make yourself at home. If anyone needs, Papa Hank, I'll be in my office working on the perfect pitch for those know-it-alls at the bank,"

Placing a chaste kiss on his wife's head, he left her to handle the kids.

"If it's not too much trouble, Penelope, we would like something to eat." Heaven had a hand on her stomach.

Penelope nodded. She led the four of them into the kitchen. It didn't connect to the living room in rambler style. It was a room on its own. The colors blue yellow and green were used liberally with pots and pans of varying sizes hanging on the walls.

"It will never be a problem, Heaven." The woman waved a hand over her shoulder. "I have been a terrible host," She offered them a seat at the round table and pulled open the fridge door. "What's your name, Sweetie?" Penelope jabbed a bottle of water in Holly's direction.

"Holly," She introduced herself with a weary smile.

"You look like your sister," Her eyes darted to Cody. "Ella no?"

"They're twins," He groaned. "And I think you'll like Holly; she shares your perspective on the Leighton case."

The woman's eyes widened. "¿Ella piensa que también fue un asesinato?"

"And she is working on an article to blow the whole case open again."

"That's wonderful to hear," It seemed like she was resisting the urge to wrap her arms around Holly.  "I personally worked on the case alongside Detective Douglas Giovanni. I was the evidence technician on the case. We were asked to close the case weeks after the body was found."

"Not enough time to look through every nook and cranny of a case," Holly thought aloud. The woman nodded. "Why did they ask your team to close the case?"

She gave a half shrug. She set a left-over foil-wrapped dish on the counter and shut the fridge. "I never put the puzzle pieces together. Pobre chica, her parents were devastated when we told them there was nothing more we could do," She moved to the microwave.

"Hope you like spicy food as much as your sister, Holly?" 

She was Nigerian, spicy food was in her blood. "Bring it on Mrs. P!" Holly rubbed her hands together with a smile on her face.

Cody joined them at the table. He took the seat closest to Heaven and drew it even closer.

Penelope undid the foil wrap and placed the enchilada to reheat.

"Did your team have a theory of what happened to Scarlett?"

Penelope leaned on the counter. "What happened the night of Scarlett Leighton's passing was unfortunate, but it was not an accident."

Holly knew it.

Penelope clicked her fingers. "We found something, Giovanni told me it would be in my best interest to bury it," She vanished into the pantry.

"Look what you've done to her, she's digging into the fucking past, do you know how hard it was to get her to shut up about the Leighton case when she was kicked off it?" Holly turned. Cody had Heaven in his arms, a scowl etched on his face.

"She's excited that someone is seeing things her way." Holly rose to Penelope's defense.

What was his problem?

"You didn't see her during that case." He looked up from Heaven. "You didn't see the insomnia, the restlessness. I was scared seeing her like that..." He shook his head. "I don't even know why I'm fucking telling you this." He huffed. "I thought she was going to go crazy. And call me selfish, but I don't see the reason why I have to lose my mother to a case of a girl I never even met."

Holly frowned. She had never thought about it like that. Cody was just a kid, a middle schooler like the rest of them when the Leighton case occurred and he had to watch as his mother fought a system that wanted to bury the case and move on. He watched her slowly loose her mind.

And he's scared.

Scared of pushing her over the edge again 

"Now, I can't give this to you, but I can let you take a picture of it. You can add it to your article and get the public talking about it,"

Holly met the woman halfway and took the box from her hand. It wasn't a big one. It was roughly the size of a shoebox. Holly placed it on the counter and eagerly flipped the flaps. Inside sat a Ziplock bag that contained a crumpled sheet of paper and pills. They still had the yellow evidence tags on them.

Grabbing her phone off the table, she pulled up the camera app.

And then, her phone bleeped. A text. Everything was silent for a slow-moving second as regret spread across her chest.