God's Lonely Man

Make Your Own Decisions

"Under-aged drinking?" her father yells, pacing his office. The door is closed and the blinds in the window are down, but there is no doubt in Laura's mind that everyone outside can hear him. "Laura, what were you thinking?"

She swallows hard.

"Were you even thinking?" he continues, not waiting for a response from her. "You're already vulnerable enough as my daughter without inhibiting yourself with alcohol!"

"I didn't ask to be vulnerable!" Laura shouts back.

He stops pacing and looks at her, raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"You think I get kicks from having some stupid target on my back because of your job?" Laura demands. "It's your life choices that are making me more vulnerable than I'd already be! Do you have any idea what it was like in high school, being the chief deputy's daughter? How many people picked on me or shunned me because they thought I was a narc?" She shakes her head. "The drinking was wrong, but you're suffocating me!"

"I'm allowed to be worried about you, Laura," he asserts through clenched teeth.

"But you should also trust me to make my own decisions," Laura points out.

He slams a folder down on the desk in front of her next to her lunch. "Your own decisions? Like, befriending Carmilla?"

Laura scoffs. "What about her?"

He opens the folder and points at a mug shot of none other than Carmilla.

"Carmilla Karnstein," he hisses, "is the daughter of the crime syndicate leader Lilita Morgan, better known as The Dean. She's on the board at Silas University and has been rumored to be connected to crimes from drug trafficking, to murder, but none of it has been proven."

Laura had known that the Dean of Silas University had her fingers in some suspicious pies, but her father had decided that keeping Laura in town trumped any potential dealings Laura might have with her.

Laura looks down at the mug shot and quickly scans over her offenses. Nothing major pops out–– just some petty theft and aggravated assault. But under the "Associations" section, The Dean is listed as her mother.

"You didn't know this, did you?" he asks, not accusing her, but genuinely curious.

Laura shakes her head, still staring down at the file.

He sighs and sits down across the desk from her. "Laur, the bodies that were in that ditch–– one was a new deputy named Brody Kay. But the other was a thug named Samuel David Ellis, one of whom has known associations with that William Luce that we've charged for assaulting you last night."

Laura finally looks up from the file and meets her father's eyes.

He had also shown her the autopsy photos for Ellis and Officer Kay, either to shock her into changing her alibi, or to show her show her how 'scary' Carmilla could be.

"William Luce and Samuel Ellis both work for The Dean," he continues. "The working theory is that something happened between Ellis and Officer Kay. But who buried them?" He presses his lips together in a thin line. "I don't think it's a coincidence that The Dean's daughter's vehicle was stuck in the area. Now, I'm going to ask you again. Do you know anything different than what you've told me, given this information?"

Laura holds her father's gaze in spite of the whirling thoughts and feelings inside of her. She had known Carmilla had killed that new deputy, but was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt, considering she herself had dropped a body into that ditch, as well. But now that she knew Carmilla's mother was some kind of mob boss, did that make Carmilla a bad person, too?