Family Ties (Flesh & Blood Trilogy Book 2) Read Free

twenty years ago that he was, in fact, guilty of everything he’d been accused of? But he had been so convincing when I met with him in the visiting room of the prison. Plus, I’d already promised to help him. What was the worst that could happen? I find out he’s lying and that he is guilty after all? I’d already lived with his crimes for twenty years. The only thing I would lose was the hope which had crept up into the smallest recesses of my brain, like a little mouse burrowing into the tiniest hole for warmth, and set up residence there. No, I’d stay the course. I promised myself I’d spend one year on his case, and no more. If I couldn’t find anything by then, or if it became glaringly obvious he was lying to me, I’d give up and come right back here to North Carolina and continue with the new life I had already begun to carve out for myself.
    I printed out the Wikipedia page and about a dozen other articles, placed them in a brown expandable file leftover from my paralegal days, turned off the light, and went to bed. I was asleep within minutes, thanks to a little help from my friend Ambien.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 2
     
     
    It took me two weeks to repack my belongings, get out of my lease on the condo, which cost me two months’ rent, and make my way back to Kentucky. Mom was thrilled when I showed up on her doorstep, asking if I could stay with her until I found a place to rent.
    “Stay as long as you need,” she said. “Kick off your shoes and stay awhile.”
    Within an hour, Mom had whipped up my favorite meal, beef stroganoff, and we were sitting at the white kitchen table, which she had recently distressed, following the instructions she found on a YouTube video. She hadn’t yet asked what I was doing back home, so I figured now was as good a time as any to let her in on my plans. I picked at the strips of beef covered in creamy brown sauce and, of course, organic noodles, with my fork, nervous about her reaction.
    “So I know you’re curious why I’m back in Kentucky already.”
    “You missed your mamma,” she said with a smile which told me she knew damn well that wasn’t the real reason.
    “I have something to tell you. I’m not sure how you’re going to take it, but I want to be honest with you. Especially if you’re going to let me stay with you for a few days and feed me all this wonderful food.”
    I used my fork to point down at the delicious meal Mom had prepared. She smiled back at me and waved me off with a flick of her wrist, as if swatting away a fly.
    “I went to visit Randy, like you told me to.”
    “Yeah? How’d that go? What was so important?”
    Weeks ago, I had received a text message from Mom saying that Randy had called her almost every day for nearly two months, begging her to talk me into visiting him—that he had something important to tell me. This, combined with my desire to forgive him for his role in this past summer’s debacle and move on with my life, were the reasons I agreed to go visit him.
    “You’re not going to believe this, but Randy told me he’s innocent. He said he never killed anybody.”
    I had rehearsed this scene in my mind several times on the plane to Lexington and each time I had, Mom’s eyes popped wide open like a cartoon character and she’d nearly fainted. But to my great surprise, Mom gently laid her fork down on her mint green linen napkin and primly laid her hands in her lap, never meeting my gaze. She knew.
    “Mom! You knew what he was going to say? Why didn’t you tell me?”
    I wasn’t altogether that surprised. Even though my Mom and Randy had divorced a little less than three years after his incarceration, she had never stopped communicating with him. She had forgiven him years ago. Partly out of Christian altruism, partly because, no matter how much she protested, she still loved him. She had never given up hope that I would one day forgive him too.
    “Your father wanted to be the one to tell you,