Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

could make him confess his guilt. And I did.
    He said yes and then he calmly reached over and took a gun one of the officers had so conveniently laid on the table and he shot himself in the head.”
    “Oh, my God!” Kate was horrified. “Honey, I’m so sorry.”
    “Abigail…” Sarah began.
    Abigail shook her head. “You know what his crime was? He fell asleep while he was supposed to be watching his child. He was drinking and he got sleepy and he lay down and she left the house to play with her friends. The real killer snatched her. Of course he felt guilty. What parent wouldn’t? He was the child’s father—not that I knew that at the time. They didn’t tell me and, worse, I didn’t think to ask.” She looked at her sisters, tears shimmering in her eyes. “Even when he said he was guilty, I knew he wasn’t, but I didn’t have the time to say it. He just went for the gun.” She lifted her hands. “I had his blood all over me. Some nights I wake up and I’m still covered and I can’t wash it off no matter how hard I try.”
    “You have nightmares,” Hannah said. “I hear you crying but your door won’t open for me.”
    Abigail held out her hand to her sister. “I’m sorry, Hannah. I know that distressed you, but I just couldn’t face anyone. I couldn’t tell you what I’d done.”
    “Is that the reason you won’t have anything to do with Aleksandr?” Joley asked.
    Abigail let out her breath. “I don’t know. I only know that it was one of the most horrifying moments in my life and I expected him to comfort me—to do something—but all of the officers began talking really fast, especially the one whose gun it had been. The next thing I know I was dragged out of the room and Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    Aleksandr just stood there and watched them take me away.”
    Sarah frowned. “I don’t understand. Were they accusing you of something? What did he do?”
    “He stood there so still, his eyes as cold as ice, and he watched them drag me out of the interrogation room as if I were a suspect in one of his murders. I was covered in the poor man’s blood and they took me right past his wife. I looked at her and she was staring at me so hopelessly. She’d lost her daughter and in a few minutes someone would come and tell her about her husband.“
    “That rat bastard!” Joley exploded. “And all this time I was harboring a plot to get the two of you back together.”
    “Toads aren’t good enough for him,” Hannah declared.
    Sarah held up her hand for silence. “Abbey, honey, I know this is hard for you to tell us, but we need to know everything that happened to you in order to help.”
    Abigail shook her head. “So you and Libby and everyone can make me feel better about what I did? I can’t take it back. That small moment in time when I walked into that room so filled with my own importance. So certain I’d catch a killer and Aleksandr would be grateful to me. So sure that my magic was wielded with every bit of power and expertise as all of yours.” She leaned back, fighting tears. “We never can just stop time. Or take moments back. Life doesn’t work that way, does it?”
    “No, it doesn’t, Abbey,” Kate said. “But we go on. And we learn from our experiences. Tell us the rest.
    Tell us what happened to you.”
    “They interrogated me for two days and nights. Apparently the officer who was careless with his gun accused me of upsetting the prisoner with my questions. They were horrible, hitting me and shouting.”
    She broke off, shaking her head. “I thought they were going to kill me. They wanted to blame someone for the poor man’s death and I guess I was the perfect scapegoat. I didn’t have anyone to stand up for me and they wouldn’t allow me to call the embassy.”
    “How terrifying. That doesn’t make any sense,” Libby said.
    “They didn’t even let me change my clothes. I was so frightened and I kept thinking Aleksandr would come and get me out of there, but he didn’t.“ Abigail looked down at her hands. ”I was so far away from all of you and too ashamed to reach out. I was so scared, but I was more afraid you’d find out what I’d done and never be able to forgive me. I still can’t forgive myself.“
    “And you can’t forgive him,” Sarah said quietly.
    Abigail shook her head. “Somewhere deep inside me, I know it’s selfish to want him to put me first. To want him to comfort me when