Delilah laughed. “No one prospered in this town but your greedy ass family!”
“Stop it, Dee!” Delores said. “She’s right. We were a people together before that evil bastard hurt you girls. Mother Abigail insisted we drop the charges. Goodiva’s father cursed her out and got into a fistfight with Tyson over it.”
“Why was Tyson there?” Delilah interrupted.
“What?” her mother froze.
“You said Tyson. Why would he be there to discuss us kids?” Delilah asked.
“Never mind, he was there. And things got bad. Goodiva’s father went looking for Peter Collins and tried to kill him with his bare hands. He was on the warpath. He got arrested, and that was the beginning of the pandora box of secrets opening. I stepped up to organize the crisis, to calm everyone down. I thought I was good at it. I understood the law. So I got us a lawyer out of Denver. We were going in for the fight. I really wanted so bad to get justice for your friend's baby. For you and your friends. I did. I swear to God, that’s how it started.”
“Tell her the rest,” Mother Abigail said as if bored. “Stop stalling.”
“When Mother Abigail couldn’t buy our silence. Tyson tried to blackmail me with the truth of my mother’s past. He threatened to tell your grandfather the truth of why my mother committed suicide. I refused to listen or take the bait and told my daddy myself. I broke his heart, but I did the right thing.”
“You sure about that?” Mother Abigail teased. “The right thing is a matter of opinion.”
Delores closed her eyes and bit back her tears. “So Mother Abigail decided on a different approach. She got in with the police department with the detectives, and they contracted a therapist that met with you girls. Abigail got her hands on the audio recordings. And we learned the truth.”
“You heard them?” Delilah asked.
Delores wiped at her tears. “Yes. I heard what you kids said. What Queen went through was terrible. It didn’t happen to you. And I’m sorry, baby, but I thought that made us lucky. I didn’t understand how badly traumatized you were too. I accepted the bribe Mother Abigail offered behind your father’s back. I had to get Shelly’s parents and Queen’s mother to accept the money and sign an agreement to not discuss the case or sue the city or the school district. To drop the charges. It was easy with Shelly’s parents. The military was all over her father for the arrest of assault on Tyson and Peter Collins. He was forced to apologize to Peter Collins to get the counter-charges dropped. It broke him. But Queen’s mother was different. She surprised me. Gayle wasn’t a good mother to Queen, not by my standards. But she loved Queen, and she was ready to go to war with Mother Abigail. She really hates you,” Delores looked at Mother Abigail. “And she has good reason too.”
“Me? She hates the whole town, says we’re the reason she’s a drunk. When the truth is it’s you that she really hates,” Mother Abigail scoffed.
“Wait... what are we talking about?” Delilah said. “You and Gayle barely know each other. She was never sober long enough to get to know you or our family when me and Queen started our future.”
“Let’s focus on the topic baby. Stay the course. I’m almost done. Queen was so traumatized from what she’d been through, and her mother refused to let her see the therapist any longer because she knew that the town belonged to Mother Abigail. Queen needed someone; she needed help. So, I spent a lot of time with you three. More time with Queen. And eventually, I got Queen to open up and tell me everything I needed to know.”
Mother Abigail interjected, “Your mother was looking for information and leverage to use against Gayle. She needed it if she was going to convince Gayle to sign the agreement. Hard thing to do because the town already knew she was a tramp and a drunk. But your mother is a smart one, and she knows Gayle. They used to be best friends.”
Delores closed her eyes.
Delilah looked at her mom in shock. “Is that true?”
Delores opened her eyes and forced a smile. “Yes. But that was a long time ago.”
“You never said that to me. She never said that to Queen. Friends? You two barely said two words to each other any time you met.”
“It was a long time ago,” Delores said.
Mother Abigail chuckled. “Yep, a long, long time ago.”
“Let me finish Abigail,” Delores pleaded. “I kept meeting with Queen. Instead, Queen made her own confession. I’m so sorry, Delilah. We should have had this conversation a long time ago.”
“What? What did Queen confess?” Delilah asked with a shaky voice
“That you three killed Peter Collins by pushing him into a well,” Mother Abigail said. “That you Ms. Delilah planned that teacher’s murder.”
“Queen wouldn’t say that?” Delilah sighed.
Delores reached for a tissue and cried harder.
“Your mother got her little confession on tape,” Mother Abigail said. “She called all the parents together with me. Played Queen’s confession for the room. It was the first time I saw Gayle sober up; in what a decade?” Mother Abigail laughed. “Everyone agreed that it was best to not ever mention that we knew the truth to you kids. To bury that secret with Peter Collins. Even the police let it go. I paid off Peter Collins's sister, and his sister took her brat and left town. Goodiva’s daddy flipped out and left his wife and kids. Got discharged from the military and disappeared.”
“Your father almost left me over it. They hated me. I hated myself. And Queen didn’t get the help she needed,” Delores wept. “It was my fault. All my fault.”
“Indeed it was,” Mother Abigail said. “Your mother didn’t take a check. She took something more valuable. She got you into my family. That was her demand. College, a new life for her and her husband in Massachusetts. Henry thought it was all you and your brain. But it was really his wife’s brain. She’d been pulling you two along into her dream of riches from the very start.”
“I didn’t do it for that reason. I just wanted to give you something different than this trauma. Get you out of this town. And I lied to your father so much. He didn’t know all of this, so don’t blame him,” Delores pleaded.
“He knew enough,” Mother Abigail said.
“Shut up,” Delores replied, softly.
“You both are lying,” Delilah said through clenched teeth. “You’re lying. Nothing but lies, all of it. One lie, then another, and then another.”
“Do you see why you need to stop this crusade of yours to dig up all my buried bones?” Mother Abigail asked. “Even if your friends forgive you for having the best life while their families were destroyed because of your mother's sins the investigation into Peter Collins's death would destroy Queen’s career as a detective. You like to play videos, little girl?” Mother Abigail asked. “Well, I got an audiotape I can play for the press too.”
“That’s it. We’re done.” Delores said to Mother Abigail. “I told the truth. Just get out.”
“No you told your version of the truth. But that’s fine. You’re a coward Delores. I’m the one that will settle this.” Abigail turned her attention to Delilah. “You really love those two friends of yours. I’ve seen it. I had to wonder if you girls were lesbians the way you obsess over them. Even Charles thought your connection to the two of them was weird. Can you imagine how shocked he was when I played those tapes for him?”