“And you went to get your trusty sleeping pills,” Raven muttered, his stomach tightening in anger. His chest tightening in fear. No one was answering the phone. “But they weren’t on the table where you’d left them, so you went looking for them under the bed. Right? And you found the loose screws to the vent.”

A slow, careful nod. “I retrieved the bottle of pills, but the unscrewed vent bothered me. I didn’t understand why someone would go tinkering around in there. So I lifted the vent, and that’s when I found—”

“The tape recorder,” Raven said, his mouth so dry, he thought he was going to be sick. He realized something in that moment. His father hadn’t drugged his whiskey. Raven felt ill because he was terrified of learning the truth about the night Evelyn died. His vision was blurry because he was trying so hard not to cry.

“I must’ve listened to that recording a hundred times in the span of an hour,” Dr. Holloway said, his voice thick with anguish. “Your mother’s voice haunted me. And it brought me to life. I hadn’t heard her speak in years, and in that moment, I realized I’d been living in a fog. I’d kept myself in a fog so I couldn’t see what was right in front of me.”

They were nearing the gate now. Beyond it, the world spread out, wide and infinite, and if the car reached the road, Raven wouldn’t be able to escape. He inched the phone out of his pocket again. This time his father caught the movement. He reached out, snatching the phone from Raven’s hand.

Then he was lowering his window and tossing the phone into the darkness. “Please. Just listen,” Dr. Holloway said, closing the window again. “When I left to pick you up at the airport, I was planning to divorce Evelyn. I didn’t want to hurt her. I swear, son, I never wanted to hurt anyone. But I saw a figure darting across the lawn as I was leaving the estate, and I just… pulled the car around to the side of the road. Snuck in through the back gate, like you kids had done for years. I heard everything Lily said to Evelyn because I was listening outside the window, and once I realized Evelyn had been hurting both you kids…”

“You snuck back into the house.”

“While Evelyn took her shower, yes. She liked to let her tea steep.” He twisted to the right, finding Raven’s gaze. “It was easy to pick up the flowers and stuff them into the kettle, but I swear, Raven, I wasn’t thinking about what I was doing. I must’ve been in shock.”