Thread of Truth, стр. 40
“It's never made sense to me that he was in some sort of bad luck hit and run,” I said, thinking it through out loud. “He knew the route. He was a good rider. I saw the bike. The damage was far too great for someone to have just bumped him or grazed him, too much for a simple hit and run. It's bothered me from the moment I found him.” I paused. “It looked like someone purposefully rammed into the back of him on that bike.”
“You really should stop talking,” Sharon said, repositioning the gun.
“I just want to understand why,” I told her, ignoring her threat. “You've been pretty quiet since I first started talking with your family. I took that for you being preoccupied with the baby and with your daughter's new role as a mother. But I was wrong.”
Neither Bill nor Olivia said anything, but they were now focused on Sharon and her gun.
She shuffled her feet. “I never liked him.”
“Oh my god,” Bill said. “Oh my god.”
“He ruined your life, Olivia,” she said. “Just ruined it. All of your plans went up in smoke with this baby. All of them. I hated him for that. And no one was doing anything about it.”
“Mom,” she said, her voice a whisper.
“You couldn't see it,” Sharon said, giving her daughter a quick glance. “You were in love with that boy. Every decision you were making was for him and not for you. Every single one. You didn't want the baby. You didn't want to get married. You didn't want to be a wife. But you just kept saying yes to him. He was bending you to his will, when everyone else was telling you to ignore him.” Sharon shook her head. “Someone had to stop it.”
“Sharon,” Bill whispered, still unable to believe what he was hearing. “What are you talking about?”
“Don't act like you didn't think the same thing, Bill,” she snapped. “You talked about it endlessly. You wanted to forbid them from seeing one another. You disliked him more than I did. So don't act like this is a surprise to you. You said they were headed for disaster.”
He stared at his wife, open-mouthed, as if he didn't recognize her.
“I was trying to be alright with it,” Sharon said, her focus back on me, both hands still folded together around the gun. “I was trying to accept all of it. I figured you'd move out with him, realize it was a mistake, and we'd be here to be your safety net.” She paused. “But then I heard you arguing.”
Olivia squinted at her mother. “What?”
“I heard the two of you fighting,” Sharon answered. “I heard what he did and who he did it with. It disgusted me. I was happy to hear that you were finally angry with him. Finally. But I was furious with him for what he did to you. Furious. I was outside in the backyard when you were arguing. I heard every word. When I couldn't stand it any longer, I came inside to tell him to leave the house and to never come back.” She cleared her throat. “But when I came in, you were both gone.” She paused. “So I got in the car.”
“Jesus Christ,” Bill whispered.
“Jesus had nothing to do with any of this,” Sharon barked at him. “Because I prayed to every god in the universe to stop all of this with them and no one was listening. So I had to do it myself.”
“You ran him down,” I said. “You got in the car, knew where he'd be riding, and you ran him down.”
“I didn't get in the car with that intent,” she said, her words slowing, carefully coming out of her mouth. “I wanted to find him and tell him exactly what I thought of him, and tell him to never step foot in our home again. After holding my tongue for so long, I could finally tell him what I thought of him because I knew I was right.” She paused. “I was driving to his home because I wanted his parents to hear it, too. And then I saw him on the bike trail.”
Olivia was crying.
Bill was still slack-jawed.
“I didn't think twice,” Sharon said. “I just veered right into the lane and hit him. I couldn't help myself. My anger and fury toward him was like nothing I'd ever experienced.” Her entire face quivered. “He ruined my daughter's life and I wanted him out of it.”
“And you left him there,” I said. “You left him for dead. He might've been alive, even after you'd hit him.”
She blinked once. “Maybe. But I just turned back onto the road and came home. There was relief knowing he wouldn't be coming back. No more foolish talk from him. Olivia wouldn't be set up for failure with him. Her father and I could take care of both her and the baby without his interference.” She shook her head. “It was over.”
A clock ticked somewhere in the room. I needed to get the gun out of her hands. If she'd killed Desmond out of desperation, she was capable of doing it again.
And now I was her target.
“The car,” Bill said.
“Yes, with the car,” his wife said, frowning. “How else would I have hit him?”
“No,” he said, glancing at me, then back at her. “That's why you wanted me to get the new car the next day. To trade in the old one.”
Sharon's lips puckered.
“You told me your dad wouldn't let you drive the new car,” I said to Olivia. “The first time I wanted to meet with you. You said that's why you wanted me to come here. You told me that on the phone and then here in the living room.”
She was crying and looked at her dad.
“We'd been talking about replacing it, but all of a sudden, you were adamant about doing it,” he