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“Nose candy,” said Matilda cryptically. “Your dad developed a great fondness for coke. Spent a ton of money on the evil stuff. And guess who his supplier was?”

“Dylon Pipe?”

“Bingo. Only Dylon wasn’t satisfied with being paid his regular fee. He must have discovered that Algis here is worth a great deal of money, and so he decided to supplement his income by asking a percentage on top of his usual price.”

“He called it a loan,” said Algis. “The little creep kept pushing me for more and more, and since I couldn’t afford him blabbing to people about me being such a good customer, I had to keep paying him bigger and bigger sums of money. Until one night I simply had enough. So I decided to follow him, and demand that he give me back my money. Only he wasn’t going home, but instead headed to Jay’s place. I was watching from across the street, and I saw him shimmy up the drainpipe, sneak in through the window, then sneak out again, and take a nasty tumble as he did. So I looked around, crossed the street, and was planning to grab his backpack. But as I stood leaning over him, he suddenly opened his eyes and started screaming his head off, the idiot. So I panicked, grabbed the first thing I saw, and hit him on the head to shut him up. Only I must have hit him too hard.”

“And killed the kid in the process,” Matilda muttered. She was still angry when she thought about it. Her husband arriving home that night with this kid’s backpack, which contained her necklace, and confessing that he’d killed some lowlife drug dealer. At least he’d had the good sense to dump the stone into the canal, and make sure he wasn’t seen.

“So you killed Dylon?” asked Laia, aghast.

“It was an accident!” Algis cried.

“It doesn’t sound like an accident to me,” said Laia.

“The kid had been pestering me, blackmailing me. I was at the end of my rope.”

“And high as a kite,” Matilda added.

“I’ve already told you, I’m going to quit, honey,” said Algis.

“Don’t you honey me!” said Matilda.

“Okay, so what about Jay?” asked Laia.

Matilda closed her mouth with a click, and Algis looked away.

“Oh, my God, you killed him, too, didn’t you!”

“Yeah, well, the kid was going to destroy your future,” said Matilda finally.

A look of horror now appeared on Laia’s face. “Mommy!”

Matilda sighed.“Like your dad said, it was for your own good, sweetie. That man was going to ruin your life. So it’s all for the best. Now can we watch the show? I actually think Steve Harvey is underneath that mask.”

“What… when… How could you!”

“Look, I agree with your mother,” said Algis. “I did what I had to do, and I’m not sorry.” He gave his daughter a sweet smile. “One day, when you have kids of your own, you will understand.”

“Tell me exactly what happened,” said Laia, suddenly adopting a steely tone.

Matilda sighed, then nodded to her husband.“Better tell her.”

“I found Dylon’s phone in his backpack, which is how I knew that he and Jay had worked this thing together. Stealing the necklace as an insurance scam. Which is when I decided to pay that young man a visit. I knew you were out with your friends, and so I dropped by the apartment to give him a piece of my mind. Tell him to stay away from you, you know. Only when I got there, he just laughed in my face. Called me an old so-and-so, and became belligerent. So I…” He licked his lips, and glanced at Matilda. “I hit him. I didn’t mean to hit very hard, but I guess I don’t know my own strength.”

“And once again, you were high as a kite,” said Matilda dryly.

“One line for courage, darling. Just the one line.”

“Daddy, the police told me Jay’s face was flat as a pancake. That he’d sustained so many blows there was nothing left. So don’t tell me you just hit him once.”

“It was a very heavy rock,” said Algis feebly.

“You took a rock in there? So you intended to kill him?”

“No! I just took it as insurance. You know, just in case.”

Laia turned to her mom.“Did you know about this?”

“Know about it? I told him to go there!” Matilda said. “It was my idea!”

“He was a very bad man, sweetie,” said Algis, trying to take his daughter into an embrace. A foolish thing to do, of course, for Laia blew up.

“You’re crazy! You’re both crazy! Who are you people! I don’t even know you!”

“We’re your parents,” said Matilda. “And we would do anything for you.”

Suddenly Matilda’s eye was drawn to a wire peeking out from her daughter’s blouse. And as she grabbed it and pulled, an entire device popped out.

“What’s this?” she demanded. “Are you recording us, you stupid girl!”

“Yes, Mommy,” said Laia. “And for your information, the police have heard everything you just said.” She got up with as much dignity as she could muster, and stared down at her parents, who were both immobile with shock. “And for your information: I loved Jay and he loved me. And I’ll never forgive you!”

And in just that moment, a small contingent of cops stormed into the room, and before Matilda knew what was happening, she was being placed under arrest, and so was Algis.

CHAPTER 38

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