drag me down | grayson dolan

【eighteen】

I nervously walk down the long hallway of the quiet building. My heels click along the carpet as I reach Duke's office. Of course the door is closed, it always is. I lightly knock on the wooden frame and inhale a deep breath.

"Yeah?" He calls out.

I slowly open the door and peek my head in. He turns toward my view, his eyes soften once he sees me. "Jacobs, come in."

I quickly obey and step into the room. I shut the door behind me before we start our private conversation. "I want to talk to you."

"Is it about last night?" He lowly asks.

"Yes." I gulp while pulling up a chair. I sit across from him and look down at the floor.

"I'm sorry for showing up unexpectedly." He randomly states.

"It wasn't random, weren't you invited?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Well, yes. Bodhi came into the bar and invited a few guys. I happened to be working, so he told me to come. I knew you would be there so I wanted to go. I thought I would get a new lead about the masked phantoms. I'm sorry for not saying anything." He runs his hand through his brown hair.

"It's okay, don't worry about it." I lowly whisper, looking back up to him.

"I didn't realize you told everyone we were family friends."

"That was the first lie I thought of a few weeks ago." I nod my head.

"Savannah, I had no idea your father is deceased." He slowly says.

"It's my fault. I should have told you." I let out a sigh.

"No, don't blame yourself." He shakes his head.

"My mother is to." I barely let the words slip out of my mouth.

"Seriously?" He whispers in shock.

"Duke, she was murdered." My shaky voice tells him. I can feel the tears pool in my blue-grey eyes.

"Murdered?" His eyes widen as he scoots closer to me.

"My father and I found her dead on the kitchen floor. I was only fifteen years old." A few tears stream down my face. "August 10th, 1982. The worst day of my fucking life."

"That's next week." He lowly says.

"Yup, it's going to be nine years." I look down at my heels.

"Why would anyone want to kill her?"

"She was having an affair." I hate admitting this to anyone, especially myself. My mother was the best woman I knew. She was funny, beautiful, headstrong. Her and my father were high school sweethearts and had a loving relationship. Why would she cheat on him? It's still a mystery to me. "It was with some man that she met. He wanted to make their relationship public, but she wanted it to remain a secret. He killed her for it."

"He's still out there?" Duke whispers.

"No, they found him in 1985. It took three years, but they got him. The FBI worked day and night to get justice for my father and I."

"What did your father say when he found out about the affair?"

"He cried for weeks, he didn't understand it." I let out another deep breath. "He loved her with every ounce of his soul. She let him down."

"Whatever happened to the man who killed her? Is he dead now?" Duke raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he got the death sentence after they caught him. His name was John Griffin." I shudder just thinking of his name.