Destined

Thirty Three

What?

"What?"

What was it about Vince that made almost everything he said make me want to revaluate everything I knew?

"Your dad left to protect you. He let you and your mum believe the worst of him, and left you behind so they would never come near you. And he took the pay out money and quit his job so he could relocate,"

I shook my head. I couldn't believe it. This meant my dad never had an affair. The late nights, the credit charges, he'd been meeting Vince's mum?

"He felt so guilty," Vince continued. "He believed my mother's death was his fault and he didn't want anything to happen to you, or your mother, so he left. But then, last year, out of the blue, he called me, asked to meet. And he told me everything. About his suspicions, and that's when I looked through my dad's computer files and found the pattern. And I found that Darke was the only mutual connection in every drug bust. So I tracked Darke down and came here," he frowned. "As fate would have it, Roger, Celine, Mrs. Rivers, they were all here too. I was at that party looking for Roger. I assumed he'd be there since all his teammates were. I didn't want to show up at his house since I hadn't spoken to him or his family since our dads died. When I saw him, he was leaving the party, walking down the road, so I followed him. I told him why I was here. That's when he mentioned the drugs," he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "What he said exactly was that he'd accidentally switched gym bags with a friend and found a kilo of cocaine inside. I then figured, his friend most likely bought the drugs from Darke. Or someone else, but we'd soon uncover a chain that would lead to Darke," he moved and started pacing. "I asked him which of his friends but he said he didn't trust me, and that we'd figure it out later as he had better things to do at that moment. That's why I got angry. I mean what could be more important than finding out the truth about what happened to our dads?"
"Celine," I mumbled.
"What?"
"Celine was in trouble. I can't say more than that but that's why Roger was at the party that night,"
Vince frowned, "And I beat him up..."
"Yes, you did beat him up. Why was my shirt negative for his blood?"
He sighed, "I paid the lab, Kristina. I had to do something,"

In as much as I was grateful that him committing a crime had potentially saved me, I wouldn't have been in the situation had it not been for him. And if the lab was so willing to take a bribe, what else had they done? How else had the investigation been influenced? For all I knew, the killer was still out there because people were being paid to look the other way.

"What happened afterwards?" I asked calmly.
"Afterwards... you and Matt showed up. I panicked and tried to stop you from running,"
"Why did you have a gun?"
"It was my dad's. I carried it for protection, thinking I'd confront Darke, but then, after Matt pulled me away, I decided to just go home, then as I was leaving the party, your friend almost ran me over...."
"What?"
"Well she probably doesn't even know it was me. Maddie, she was in a huge rush to leave and she tore out of the side of the road like she was being chased,"
"Wait, what time was this?"
"I don't know, a little after nine,"

That meant Maddie lied. She never came home or left again to return to the party. She left the party and went elsewhere. But where? And why had she lied? There was no way she killed Roger. She couldn't have been among the guys I'd seen crouching over the body. The same guys that Celine had later seen hiding the body. So what was she lying about?

"This is so much to take in," I said.
He came to me, "I know, I'm sorry. But after everything, I wanted you to know. I didn't know who you were when we met, I swear. I figured it out one time when you were telling me about your parents' divorce. I couldn't tell you I knew your dad, because then I'd have had to reveal many other things too,"
"Why are you revealing them now?"
"Because I got tired. You were right, about me being a coward. I didn't realize it until then. I thought I was protecting you but really, I was just making us both miserable," He placed a hand on the counter behind me bringing his face down to mine, "And then when you walked into the dean's office earlier yesterday, looking...the way you did, I couldn't wait any longer,"
"Wait for what?"
"Did you read the book I gave you?" He straightened.
"Yes,"
"What did you think?"
"It was....nice,"
He guffawed, "Nice? You had so many words about Final Attachment and this one you're going to give me one syllable,"
"It's a great book, Vince. But you aren't a romance novelist, you write mystery, so it was surprising for me,"
He nodded, "l couldn't tell you, so I wrote you a book,"
"I don't understand,"
"I could see it in your eyes. You were terrified, of me. Not that I'd hurt you, not physically anyway, at least not after the first two weeks of our meeting, but you didn't want to trust me, as a man. I understand it. Your father left, and if the one man that's supposed to love and care for you just as easily as breathing left you behind, why should any other man do it? So every time I got close to you, I told you I liked you, that I was attracted to you, you retreated. You built up walls, you got angry, you tried to push me away. But at the same time, you wanted me to keep trying, to break your walls, so you stayed on a different ground, you talked to me about my writing, because for you, it was safe,"