Goodbye Earl(67)

2019


29





Rosemarie


Rosemarie had never 100 percent believed that Kasey’s mom died in a boat accident, but Kasey’s story hadn’t budged over the last fifteen years, and none of the girls dared bring it up to her. So, when Kasey finally admitted that Roy had threatened to kill them if she ever told the truth, all the blurry puzzle pieces fell into place.

Kasey also told them Roy died almost exactly a year ago in Bluewood, a hundred miles away. Liver cancer. His mother found her online and contacted her, let Kasey know Roy left the farmhouse to her. His mother also told her that she had him buried in the small cemetery near the property where Angie was buried too, but Kasey had never been to either of their graves. Kasey knew Roy only left her the farmhouse as a fucked-up thank-you for never telling anyone the truth about what he’d done to her mom, and it was the one good and decent thing he’d done with his shitty life. It’d taken Taylor getting married for her to decide to come back and go step inside the house for the first time since that night her mom died.

They were still sitting in Ada’s minivan outside of the hospital. Kasey apologized for keeping everything secret for so long, but Rosemarie stopped her.

“You did what you had to do, Kasey. That was too much put on you. You’re an amazing, strong woman, and I will pinch you hard if you say sorry one more time,” Rosemarie said, pretending to squeeze Kasey’s arm.

“You’re an amazing, strong woman, and so are you, Ada. I literally can’t imagine my life without y’all in it. You’re my family, and I don’t have another one. Even when we’re apart, y’all stay right here,” Kasey said, touching her heart.

“Oh, I love you so much,” Ada said, taking Kasey’s face in her hands and kissing her mouth. “Kase, we all thought part of the reason why you left was because you were mad at us for not killing Roy that night. For not making it happen.”

“No! Why in the world would I be mad at you for something like that? We were teenagers! Teenage girls planning a murder!” Kasey said.

“Well, now let’s be grown-ass women planning a murder,” Rosemarie said.

“Wait. Seriously? Last time—” Ada started.

“Last time we didn’t know what we were doing, and this time we will,” Rosemarie said.

“And this time we would definitely all be tried as adults, and my boys would have to come visit me in prison,” Ada said.

“That’s not going to happen. We’re all too pretty to go to prison, so that alone…and also, we won’t get caught. Also, your family is superrich, and superrich people rarely have to go to prison. It’s the reason Trey will never pay for this unless we make sure he does,” Rosemarie said.

Kasey’s phone lit up.

“Si’s going to call me soon, but right now he says they had to let Trey go. The judge denied the restraining order because Trey said she was lying about everything. He says she’s mentally ill and needs help,” Kasey said after reading the text.

“Okay, good. This is good,” Rosemarie said.

“Wait. Explain what’s good about this!” Ada asked. She twisted her face up in confusion.

“Because we can’t kill the son of a bitch if he’s in jail or at the police station, can we? We need him out and now he’s out. The Foxberry lawyers worked their trash magic, and now we’ll work ours,” Rosemarie said.

No more wasting time wondering if this was what they should do.

No more wasting time waiting around to see what would happen next.

Trey needed to die.

“Tomorrow. That’s when it needs to happen. Seriously, Caro may lose the baby if she’s overwhelmed with stress, thinking Trey’s coming up here to kill her. He can come visit her if he wants. He’s a free man right now,” Kasey said.

“That’s probably what he’ll do, but that’s perfect too. Mimi will be here all day tomorrow, and we’ll ask her to let us know when Trey comes. When he does, Kasey, you’ll bump into him and invite him to dinner at the farmhouse tomorrow night so you can talk to him. Let him know this was a big misunderstanding and now that you’re back in Goldie, you want to get to know him better,” Rosemarie said. “Ada, what’s he order when he comes into the restaurant?”

“Usually pasta. Last time he got my mushroom lasagna. He loved it so much he ordered an extra to take home,” Ada said.

“My dad still grows psychedelic mushrooms, so we’ll make it with those. Spike his Foxberry Bourbon with LSD I’ll get from my dad too. Let’s make sure he’s really tripping. Which pie is his favorite? It’s pretty poetic if we make him a poison pie too for what he did to our pie queen,” Rosemarie said.

“Pecan,” Ada said.

“Would he taste mushrooms in it?” Kasey asked.

“Not if I use enough sugar, right?” Ada said.

“Use a lot of sugar,” Rosemarie said.

“He won’t taste the LSD?” Ada asked.

“No,” Rosemarie said. “And all these questions…does that mean you’re not against this idea?” Ada had freaked out so much last time that if she didn’t want to help, Rosemarie wasn’t going to try to force her. Although it would be easier with her on board, Rosemarie and Kasey could do this alone if they had to.