Chapter 14 - THE DESERT
Police told me not to go.
So I went.
Not alone.
Ruiz planned it.
The “original evidence” was copied.
The drives in my backpack contained nothing useful.
A tracker was sewn into the lining.
SWAT units staged miles away.
The abandoned mining property sat under a black Arizona sky.
No city lights.
No traffic.
Only desert wind.
I entered the building.
“Charles?”
His voice came from behind me.
“You always were predictable.”
I turned.
Fenwick held a pistol.
He looked older than he had two days earlier.
Blood stained one sleeve.
Natalie sat against a wall with her hands tied.
Mom was strapped to a chair.
Her face was bruised.
For once, she looked small.
“Austin,” she whispered.
Fenwick held out his hand.
“The drive.”
I tossed the backpack onto the floor.
He didn’t move toward it.
“Open it.”
I did.
“Slide it over.”
I obeyed.
Mom started crying.
“I’m sorry.”
Fenwick laughed.
“Now she’s sorry.”
“Shut up,” I said.
His smile disappeared.
“Your father used to speak to me that way.”
“Maybe that’s why you killed him.”
Mom closed her eyes.
Fenwick tilted his head.
“Margaret told you?”
“She told police enough.”
He looked at her.
“You stupid woman.”
Mom shook violently.
“You said he’d only get sick.”
There it was.
Not innocence.
Participation.
Fenwick’s face hardened.
“He was going to destroy us.”
Mom screamed, “You poisoned him!”
“You poured the drink.”
I stopped breathing.
Mom turned toward me.
“Austin—”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”
She sobbed.
“I didn’t know how much he put in it.”
I stared at the woman who raised me.
The woman who packed my school lunches.
The woman who sat beside my hospital bed when I broke my leg at thirteen.
The woman who poisoned my father’s drink.
Something inside me went quiet.
Fenwick watched my face.
“Family is disappointing, isn’t it?”
I looked at him.
“You wouldn’t know.”
His jaw tightened.
That tiny reaction gave me hope.
Keep him talking.
Police needed time.
“You stole from my father.”
“I made him rich.”
“You stole.”
“I built his portfolio.”
“You murdered him.”
“He was going to send me to prison.”
“So you killed Daniel Morales too.”
Natalie gasped.
Fenwick’s eyes moved.
There.
Confirmation.
“You ran him off the road,” I said.
Fenwick smiled faintly.
“Daniel should’ve minded his own business.”
My rage almost ruined everything.
I took one step.
Fenwick raised the gun.
“Careful.”
Mom started crying again.
“Austin, please save me.”
I looked at her.
“You tried to kill my child.”
“No!”
“You drugged Irene.”
“I only wanted her weak!”
The words hung in the building.
Even Fenwick looked at her.
Mom realized what she’d admitted.
“I didn’t mean—”
“You wanted her weak enough to control.”
“I never wanted the baby hurt.”
“You doubled the dose.”
Her face collapsed.
Fenwick laughed.
Then Natalie suddenly kicked the backpack toward him.
He looked down instinctively.
I moved.
The gun fired.
Pain tore across my shoulder.
I hit Fenwick.
We crashed into the floor.
Another shot exploded.
Mom screamed.
Natalie crawled away.
Fenwick struck me with the gun.
My vision flashed white.
Then three red laser dots appeared across his chest.
“DROP THE WEAPON!”
Fenwick froze.
Police flooded the building.
He looked at me.
For one strange second, he seemed tired.
Then he lifted the gun.
Ruiz fired first.
Fenwick fell.
Silence.
Then chaos.
Medics.
Commands.
Handcuffs.
Blood.
I sat against the wall holding my shoulder.
Mom stared at Fenwick’s body.
Then at me.
“Austin…”
Two officers untied her.
For a second, I thought she expected me to come closer.
I didn’t.
She whispered, “I’m still your mother.”
I looked at her.
“Yes.”
Hope flickered across her face.
Then I said:
“And you’re going to spend the rest of your life explaining what you did to my father.”
Her face went empty.
Ruiz approached.
“We got his confession on audio.”
I nodded.
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
Then she glanced toward Natalie.
“And hers is coming next.”
I should have felt finished.
I didn’t.
Because one person still hadn’t answered for everything.
May you like
Carla.
And by sunrise, she had disappeared from county custody.
