Two days later they found the car with Violet still in it. That’s how long it took for the storm to clear up and the water to recede enough for them to find it. It had floated several miles down the river and was found wedged in a pile of large boulders next to the bank. A couple of pre-teen boys came across it as they were walking along the river road above.
Because of the stab wounds, an autopsy was done. The results shocked everyone.
We were all standing in the living room when the call came in. I wasn’t invited, of course, but I heard Sarah and Adam talking as I walked down the hall. Then the phone rang and I walked in. I was definitely part of everything that happened, which is probably why no one said anything about my being there with them. We were all waiting on news about Violet, and the entire house had been tense for the past two days. Without even asking, I could tell that Adam was talking to someone official. I don’t know exactly who though. It didn’t really matter. Sarah and I sat quietly and waited for the news.
When Adam hung up the phone, his face looked like it had been drained of all the blood. He had gone white and couldn’t even speak. It took a moment for him to collect himself. He looked as if he were trying very hard not to cry. Sarah and I stood up and waited for him to talk to us. Finally he composed himself.
He explained that the coroner found that Violet did not die from her stab wounds, as we all (well most of us) thought. She drowned. What that boiled down to was that Sarah lied. Violet was not already dead when the car went over the bridge. Sarah left her there to drown. She was probably hoping that Violet’s body would never be found. No such luck. I was absolutely horrified that she would do something like that.
“I can’t believe that you just let my mother drown!” Adam yelled.
I looked over at Sarah as he said this. I had no idea how in the world she was going to explain her actions.
“Abbey! Don’t you have anything to say for yourself?” he asked me.
“What? Me?” I pointed at myself as I looked from Adam to Sarah and back. “Wait, I thought you were talking to Sarah.” I was thoroughly confused.
“Why would I be talking to Sarah?” He said with a growing attitude in his voice.
“Because she is the one that left your mother, alive, in the car to float away and drown. I was injured, up on the bank of the river. And pregnant. Don’t forget that part. I tried to get her to go back to get Violet and she refused.”
“You are lying!” Sarah screamed.
“You know I’m not lying.” I was trying to be calm. “I begged you to go in after her and you said she was already dead. You could have gone back in and saved her.”
“Why are you saying that?” Sarah said directly to me. Then she turned to her husband.
“Adam, after I helped her to the river bank, I wanted to go back for your mother. I didn’t tell you this before because I didn’t want to hurt you anymore than you were already hurting, but Abbey grabbed onto me and wouldn’t let me go. Your mother was still in the car, screaming. It was horrible, but I couldn’t pull away from Abbey quick enough to get to her. That’s the truth. I swear.” Sarah told him all of that with a dead serious look on her face and even managed to squeeze out a tiny teardrop, for emphasis. The woman deserved an Oscar for her performance. I almost believed her and I knew it was all a lie.
Adam glared at me.
“Oh my god. You don’t believe her, do you?” I asked him. He couldn’t possibly believe such a wild, ridiculous story.
I had a bad feeling that this was not going to go my way.
“There’s no reason for Sarah to lie. I believe her.” Adam said, taking her hand.
“Are you kidding me?” I was shocked. “She had every reason. She hated your mother. Violet was horrible to her. And to me. You are the only one that she was nice to. Of course she never treated us poorly when you were around. But, she was a holy terror when you were out of town. I guarantee you that Sarah hated her, every bit as much as I did.” I laid it all out for them.
“Really?” Adam asked. “You just admitted that you hated my mother. That sounds a lot like motive to me. I’m calling the cops.” He made a move for the phone.
I saw Sarah smile and I gave her a look that caused her to immediately lose the stupid grin on her face. Then I lunged for the phone and got to it just as Adam did. He was surprised by how quick I was.
“What are you doing?” He asked as he yanked the receiver from my hand.
“Adam, please don’t call the cops. Do you really want to put the mother of your child in jail?” I knew Sarah would hate that I called myself that.
“You are not the mother of his child. I am.” Sarah chimed in.
“Is that right? Well, we’ll see about that!” And I stormed out of the room without another word. They never did call the police on me.
A few days later, the police called Adam back. They told him that even though Violet ultimately drowned, they were treating it as a murder. She was stabbed after all. Adam and Sarah seemed to have forgotten that part. They had been so focused on the fact that I drove over the bridge and left her to drown. I knew the truth though. So did Sarah, whether she wanted to admit it or not.
Now that everyone was focusing on Violet being stabbed, the accusations started flying. I was not immune. However, I knew I was innocent and did my best to ignore them. I was sure that Sarah knew I didn’t do it. She saw me in the hallway right before she walked into the library and found Violet stabbed. I was calm and had no blood on me. I was certainly not someone that could have a fight and stab someone, then calmly walk down the hall like nothing had happened. It would have been written all over my face and those things would have been obvious to anyone walking by.
Because Adam was the sole heir to his parents’ estate, he got it all. This was no surprise to anyone. I was sort of hoping that Violet would leave me, or at least my baby, some money. Especially since my child would be her only grandchild, and she did promise me a lot of money if I got pregnant. But that didn’t happen. It was probably my fault that she didn’t leave me anything. I should have just told her that I did get pregnant on purpose. At least she might have honored her end of the deal then. But it was Violet. Who knew what was in that crazy old lady’s head. She may never have had any intention of coming through with her promise. Once I got pregnant, there was no way to force her to pay anything. She knew that. At least this way I could honestly say that I did not get pregnant on purpose, just to make Violet happy, and to make some money. I would hate to have to explain that to my daughter one day.