Chapters (41)
On the far end of the dresser, there’s an extensive collection of pill bottles and Mom grabs one. Unscrewing the top, she dumps a few into her cupped palm. I want to stop her but I don’t want to make this night even worse. She will just fight me on it and then refuse to tell me anything else. No, this is one battle I won’t engage in tonight.
I watch her down the pills and wait for her to continue. But she doesn’t.
“Is there anything else you can tell me?”
She shakes her head.
“Nicholas didn’t do this.”
“Owen thinks he did.”
I shake my head.
“Is there anyone else who was there?”
Mom lifts her chin in the air and thinks about it for a moment.
“Well, I’m sure you’ve talked to Pink Eye already, right?”
I furrow my brow. When I ask her who that is, she just starts to laugh.
“C’mon, you must remember Pink Eye. He and Owen were best friends back then. He’d know more for sure and if he’s not locked up somewhere, I’m sure he’ll be the one to convince you that Nicholas is bad news.”
“Pink Eye? That’s his name?” I ask.
“Yep, pretty dumb, huh?” She smiles. “He got pink eye when he was a kid and the name stuck somehow. They were really close once. Robbed a lot of people together, but then he just disappeared.”
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“Don’t know. I asked around a bit all of those years ago, but no one from that old neighborhood knows a thing. He wasn’t even there that night that Owen got arrested.”
I stare at her, thinking through everything that she’s saying. I wonder if she even realizes the gravity of her own words.
If Pink Eye was Owen’s best friend from back then and then suddenly he just took off, disappeared, maybe he was the one who killed Owen’s girlfriend?
She reaches for a packet of potato chips and flips on the television.
“Are we done here?” she asks. “My show is starting soon.”
“But I have so many more questions now,” I protest.
“I don’t care.” She shakes her head, ushering me toward the door. “I’m done talking.”
“Okay, okay, I’m going,” I say, throwing my arms up. “One last thing, though.”
She rolls her eyes but doesn’t kick me out quite yet.
“Do you know where I could find Pink Eye?” I ask. “Or his real name?"
She stares at me for a while before she blinks. “No idea.”
“No idea where I can find him or his real name?”
“Both,” she says and shuts the door in my face.