“I can’t say this with Walt in the room,” I tell William. “If you want to tell him later, that’s up to you. But right now, this needs to be just between you and me.”
William looks back at Walt. “Wait outside in the hall. But remain by the door.”
Walt does as instructed, closing the door behind him.
Remain by the door? What’s William think I’m going to do? Pull a knife on him? I’m half his size and I don’t have a weapon. I’m the one who’s afraid of him. I don’t know how he’s going to react to this. What if he doesn’t believe me? What if he still thinks I’m a criminal? What will he do to me?
My heart’s racing again and I feel sick to my stomach. I wish Garret were here. He knows William. He could explain all this better than me, and William might actually believe him. And Garret could stop William from doing whatever he’s planning to do to me.
William glares at me. “Go ahead.”
I take a deep breath, then look directly at William and say, “I’m your niece. Royce Sinclair was my father. I didn’t know until—”
“Stop right there!” He puts his hand up. “I am not listening to this. You may have managed to con some very smart, very important people, but you are NOT going to do it to me.”
“I swear to you, I’m not lying. Royce was working on a political campaign 20 years ago and he came to Des Moines during the caucus. He was there for a speech and he asked my mom out for dinner.”
William huffs as he crosses his arms over his chest. “Royce was married 20 years ago. He wouldn’t ask a woman to dinner. You should really work on your story, Jade. At least try to make it believable.”
“Would you just listen to me? I promise you, I’m not lying.”
“Spoken like a true con artist. You’ve been doing this so long you believe your own lies.”
“I’m not a con artist. I’m trying to tell you the truth. Royce wasn’t the man you thought he was. He did something really bad to my mom and—”
“How dare you speak of my brother that way!” His arms drop to his sides and he takes a step closer, towering over me. “Royce was a husband. A father. He wasn’t perfect, but he was a decent man. And I’m not going to stand here and listen to you make up lies about him and your mother in order to—”
“He raped her!” The anger I was trying to suppress suddenly explodes.
I didn’t want to tell William this and I didn’t think I ever would. I never thought I’d meet him. But here we are, face-to-face, and I can’t take another second of this. I can’t stand here and listen to him accuse me like this, making it sound Iike I’m the bad one. Like I did something wrong. And I hate the way he’s sticking up for his brother, the man who committed a horrible crime against my mom. The man who destroyed her life, and mine. The man who killed my mom’s parents. The man who tried to kill me and almost killed Garret.
William backs away, but I don’t see his expression. I keep my eyes on the floor.
“He what?” I hear William’s voice, but it’s so faint, it’s almost like he’s saying it to himself.
“He raped her.” I say it again, quieter this time. “Your brother raped my mom. She was my age and he asked her to go to dinner, but instead he took her to a cornfield and he—” My throat burns as I try to fight back the tears that are forming as I imagine the scene in my head. “He raped her. I don’t know what else he did to her that night, but it was bad. Really bad, and she—” I stop to breathe, but now I’m crying so it’s making it difficult. “He left her there to die. It was winter. It was freezing cold and he just left her on the side of the road.”
William stands there, not saying anything.
I take a moment to catch my breath, the tears continuing to fall as I think about what happened that night. I’ve never had to tell that story to someone, at least not all of it, like I did just now. And saying it out loud wasn’t easy. It still hurts when I think of Royce doing that to my mom. I can’t even imagine how scared she was when he took her out to that cornfield. And how awful it was for her to wake up in the hospital and have nobody believe her when she told them who did that to her. Only her parents believed her and then he killed them, leaving my mom with nobody. It’s so horrible I try not to think about it.
I wipe my eyes and look up at William. “I didn’t want you to find out this way. I didn’t even want to tell you that. I’m sure you loved your brother and I didn’t want you to have to remember him this way. That’s why I told Grace I didn’t want any of you to know about me. I told her I—”