Genevieve
EVERYTHING IS A FUCKING LIE.
"You know what this is about, don't you?" I asked Ford, ire pulsating through my body.
He has the shame to glance away, clenching his jaw as he nods. Until he returns my gaze again, I observe him. His body seems stiff. I know he's aware of what is imminent... now this lie has been exposed.
"You need to read through it properly," Ford instructs, though I'm momentarily taken aback by the hard edge to his voice. It's been such a long time since I've heard it, especially as I've started to draw him out of his shell and indulging him to experience happiness. "Sit down. Take your time."
Grudgingly, I comply, though there's nothing more I'd like than to disobey him out of pure spite for the magnitude of this secret he's kept from me. What was the cost?
I bet it was lie to me to keep his membership with Red Alert.
How had I fooled myself into thinking that I could be some sort of priority in his life when he's willing to lie to me and keep life-changing secrets from me?
I sit primly on the edge of Ford's bed and he takes the chair at his desk. As I bow my gaze to my phone, I can still feel his eyes tracked on me and I will him to return his gaze to something else. Mercifully, he does. He shunts the snacks and water out of the way and opens his laptop. Now I can focus on the plethora of information I've just been sent via an email—how the hell did Jeanette Somerby get my email address?
That'll be answered. Of course it will. I'm sure of it.
The email title is what draws my eyes initially, and I'm still trying to get my fucking head around. I had a brief glance through the various attachments before Ford returned from grabbing food, but it didn't suffice. I'm ravenous for the details, but still the email title saturates my mind.
Chasity's Missing Sister
The first part of the attachments in the email is a newspaper clipping. I devour the words presented to me, dated 2001.
HEARTACHE FOR THE WINTERS FAMILY:
PARENTS MURDERED AND TWO-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER MISSING ONE YEAR ON FROM OLDEST DAUGHTER'S BRUTAL DEATH
As we've not long passed a year since the tragically brutal death of Chasity Winters who was only eighteen at the time, the rest of the family have also been attacked. The bodies of the parents were found inside their home yesterday morning, but as of yet, their youngest daughter remains missing. Autopsy results show that Robert and Mary Winters were 'stabbed more than fifty times each' with 'wounds sufficient to bleed out from', with that as their resounding cause of deaths. It appears that the events occurred in the middle of the night, and thus far, no witnesses have come forward with information.
Forensics also found other smaller blood samples around the house, and it's believed that the blood belongs to the two-year-old daughter. There are no further traces, and sources confirm that the police are working around the clock right now but it's 'not looking hopeful for the daughter'. There's a heart-breaking miniscule amount of evidence to go on.
If anyone has any information regarding the night of 24th July 2002, we urge them to contact the police. At this stage, any information may assist with the case. We hope the daughter is found safe and soon.
I'm stunned straight into speechlessness.
Chasity had a sister... the age difference between them is staggering enough—could her parents have been only kids themselves when they had Chasity, and matured into a stable family by the time the second daughter was born? That seems like the most probable solution. There was once a girl in high school whose brother was nineteen years her junior. By that logic, seventeen years is entirely logical.
