Snow Blind - Lori G. Armstrong [116]
“Does Trish know any of this?”
“No. What do you think, I’m stupid? That
woman is just like every other woman, can’t keep her big mouth shut to save her life. Or in this case the life of her son.”
I stared at him, absolutely speechless.
“So help me God, if you breathe a word of this to another livin’ soul I will make you pay. Everyone knows about your vindictive streak. You killed the woman who killed your precious brother Ben. Now you’re usin’ DJ to get back at me because you’re jealous of my new family. DJ don’t want nuthin’ to do with you, unlike your sainted injun brother.”
“No one will believe you.”
“If it comes to it, I’ll tell Sheriff Richards I killed that sumbitch. I will go to jail to protect my son. Trish 413
will hafta sell the ranch.” His eyes were angry blue flames. “Bottom line is my family will have nuthin’. And every bit of it’ll be on your foolish head, girlie.”
His nostrils flared rage as he leaned over me, his stale breath hot with fury. His fists closed tight in readiness to meet my face. Instinctively, I shrank inside myself in remembrance of other times I’d faced his wrath.
Hooves connected with the slats in the stall, making a loud clatter, breaking the moment. Dad retreated. “Get out. And stay out of this, you hear me?” He spun on his boot heel and I heard the door slam.
I’d made it to the door when DJ oozed from the shadows. I jumped back. “Oh. DJ. You scared me.”
“I oughta scare you good.”
Everything inside me went on high alert.
“My dad better not end up in jail because of you and your big mouth. He’s right. None of us want you here. No one would care if you never came back.”
“Brittney would care,” I whispered.
He laughed. “You think she really likes you?
Wrong. She’s usin’ you to hurt Mom’s feelin’s. Always tellin’ Mom how much cooler you are than her. How you’ll let her do whatever she wants whenever she’s with you. Brittney is a spoiled baby. Don’t think it’ll take much for me to turn her against you, ’cause I will do it. Leave us alone.”
Sick of his intimidation, I tried another tactic. 414
“What did Melvin Canter do to you, DJ?”
“None of your fuckin’ business.”
“Whatever it was, it’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong. You don’t have to deal with it Dad’s way.”
“Back off or I’ll show you exactly how I deal with people talkin’ shit ’bout me and makin’ me do stuff I don’t wanna do.”
Holy fucking Christ. Looking in his hate-filled eyes, I knew the truth: somehow, someway he’d killed Melvin Canter.
Losing battle here, Julie. Let it go.
I shouldered past him out of the dark barn into blinding white. Snowflakes pelted me, sticking to my burning face. A blast of cold air shot out of the vents when I cranked the ignition. Everything cooled down fast in these frigid temps.
I was numb. Frozen to the marrow of my bones. Trish waved me down when I bumped past the
house. Just made me increase my speed.
At least Brittney hadn’t sought my attention. If it came down to it, the poor kid would be a sacrifice to her brother’s worthless honor. Maybe Dad hitting me was better than the false sense of security he gave her. I’d never been delusional about how Dad felt about me. Although it appeared I’d been delusional about my relationship with Brittney.
When I hit the gravel road, I hung a left rather than returning to the main highway, deciding to take the long way home. It’d allow me time to think about 415
why I ever thought my dad would change, except from bad to worse. Or about why I thought I should change. Kim had been right. Doug Collins was a cancer I needed to cut from my life. Now.
The words kept repeating on a never-ending loop, DJ killed Melvin and your father covered it up. For the first time in a long time, I had no idea what was the right thing to do. Ignore it? Turn them in?
I fished inside my purse for the disposable phone. I could make an anonymous call to the sheriff. And say what? This is no one you know, but my fourteen-year-old brother just basically confessed to killing their hired man, whose initials are MC and it is an open case in the