Ned looks at her like a back corner of his heart knows it’s true. His face contorts in grief and guilt.

“Mom…” Julia’s voice breaks.

“Shut up, Julia. You’re never seeing this boy again. Ned, if I were you…”

The door opens and Gordon storms inside. “I heard what you said to my son. What the hell is wrong with you? Are you insane?”

Shaking with rage, Ned pulls his phone out of his jacket pocket. The screen shows an active call to Gordon’s phone. “My father was listening.” His voice drips hatred for Iris.

“How dare you accuse my son of any involvement in this?” Gordon yells.

If Iris restrained herself against a kid, she unleashes against an adult. “Now he’s your son. Now he’s your son. Suddenly you’ve found your paternal instinct. You’ve ignored this boy for years. You’re part of this entire mess. You disgust me.”

“You’d say anything to protect your husband. He confessed! The police just told us.”

She shoves a hand into Gordon’s thick chest, and surprised, he stumbles back. “Ned started a drug ring, Gordon. Drugs!”

“Not the bad stuff!” Ned yells.

“This ring of yours, drug dealers want to make it bigger, so yes, you idiot, it’s the bad stuff!” Iris yells.

Ned’s sobs stop, and his trembling mouth turns to a savage line. “This isn’t my fault. What is wrong with you to say that to me?”

“My husband wouldn’t do that. My daughter wouldn’t do that. It leaves the drug dealer you’ve pulled into our lives.” She pauses. “Or you.”

“Mom, please stop. Please,” Julia says.

“Wait, what?” Ned says. Gordon just stares at her.

“Maybe she never met Marland. Maybe Ned and Danielle argued about the drug dealing, her telling him he was putting his whole future at stake, and they fought. He hit her. Harder than he meant to.”

“Oh, Mom, no,” Julia says.

“You horrible bitch,” Gordon says.

Ned just stares at her.

Iris’s voice is like a judgment. “I mean, the police would consider the possibility. She dies. Ned can’t leave her in the house. He takes her to the park, where he knows she’ll be found quickly. He leaves the phone he doesn’t recognize, that she was using before, because it’ll throw suspicion on someone else.”

“Are you suggesting I killed my mother?” Ned says, his voice a slow, awful rise. He looks at her with a blind rage and then shoves her into the wall. Julia and Gordon pull him back.

“You see what he’s capable of…?” Iris yells, pointing at Ned.

“Is there anything you won’t say or do?” Gordon snarls at her. “Kyle confessed. Deal with it and leave my son alone.”

The back door opens. Grant hurries in, followed by Peter. “Come see!” Grant cries. “Come see what we found. The murder weapon.”