The Adventures of Monday Addams and Wednesday Addams

Chapter 49-The Gates Family

If I'm being objective, his confession sounds entirely plausible, delivered with the perfect degree of sincerity. Perhaps my father is exactly what he says.

"Thank you for being honest with us." Monday told her father.

But then there's the matter of his tells. The way he smooths his mustache. The way he delivers a comforting wink. We've been playing Russian roulette with him since I was 12. I know them well.

"I'm sorry I wasn't a better father." Gomez said sadly.

"Could we please do without the overt display of emotion?" Wednesday asked.

"I know they make you feel uncomfortable." Gomez said.

"How many fathers hand their daughters fencing blades when she's five?" Wednesday asked.

"Your saber strokes were an essay in perfection."

"Or teach them how to swim with sharks?" Monday continued.

"They found you as cold-blooded as I do."

"The right way to flay a rattlesnake?" Wednesday added.

"They really do taste like chicken when prepared properly."

"The point is, you taught us how to be strong and independent. How to navigate ourselves in a world full of treachery and prejudice." Wednesday said honestly.

"You are the reason we understand how imperative it is that we never lose sight of ourselves. So as far as fatherhood goes, I would say you've been more than adequate." Monday said her eyes stinging a little.

"Gracias, Monday and Wednesday."

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AT THE SHERIFFS OFFICE

Wednesday and Monday stormed into the Sheriff's office "We need to talk."

"How the hell did you get in?" Galpin asked. "Bernice? Bernice!" He yelled.

"Bernice may or may not have received a call that her tabby cat Swifty is being held for ransom." Monday said smiling sneakily.

"Our father did not kill Garrett Gates." Wednesday said getting to the point.

"Well, I have his signed confession, and he identified the saber he used to do it. Both of which I'm about to deliver to the District Attorney." The sherif said.

"Don't you find the timing convenient? The coroner kills himself out of remorse for a decades-old murder case the very weekend my father, your prime suspect, deigns to return to town." Monday asked.

"All I see is a guilty man who's finally going to pay for his crime. And cuffing him myself, oh, that was the icing on the cake." Galpin said evily.

Wednesday was shocked "How are you failing to see that someone is desperately trying to derail my investigation? I found the monster's cave, and I gave you the DNA evidence. Did you even bother to test it?"

"This may come as a shock, but the world doesn't revolve around you two." He paused and handed them a piece of paper. "Here. DNA results. No match. Inconclusive. So you truly believe this is all some coincidence?"

"Whoever hurt Eugene also murdered the coroner." Monday said surely.

"Unfortunately, someone sabotaged the security camera in the morgue, so we don't know what happened. They stuck bubblegum on the lens. Black bubblegum. Maybe I should run DNA on that?" The Sheriff tested.

"Someone is trying to throw us off our game. This is all a distraction." Wednesday said.

"No, this is about justice being served. Garrett Gates's family deserves closure, even if none of them are around to take comfort in it." The Sheriff said.

"What happened to them?" Wednesday asked.

Sheriff Galpin sighed sadly "His mother hung herself in the backyard. His father drank himself to an early grave. Even his little sister didn't escape. She was orphaned, sent overseas, ended up drowning. Every last one of them's gone. Your father doesn't just have Garrett's blood on his hands, he's got the whole damn family's."