Ashley Cooper's Arc

Chapter 34 of 37

The woman came back at dusk. Ashley watched from the hotel window as she crossed the lot, and her stomach dropped. She knew that walk. She knew that hair. It was her mother, Mandy. Mandy had left the Cooper house for Ricky, then buried him in secret when he died. Now she was here, in this far town, holding a folded sheet of paper. Ashley opened the door before Mandy could knock. "Becca," Mandy said, testing the name like a lie. "That's clever. You look good, baby." "Why are you here?" Ashley asked. Mandy stepped inside. Miko moved from the shadow near the desk, one hand hidden in her fox robe. Mandy didn't notice her. "Ricky's dead," Mandy said. "Your boyfriend killed him, and you ran. I loved that man." Her voice broke, then hardened. "I told the police I'd bring you in. I traced your father's car. I traced you." "Mom, it was an accident." "It doesn't matter." Mandy held up the paper. Ashley saw it was a printed photo of herself, and a phone number under it. "I'm calling them tonight. I can't lose him and pretend you had nothing to do with it." Ashley's mind went white. Everything she'd built here would end. Miko, the one person who wanted her whole, would be taken from her. "Please," Ashley said. "I finally have something." Mandy reached for her phone. Miko moved first. She crossed the room fast and struck Mandy's wrist. The phone skidded across the floor. Mandy spun, shocked, and swung at the small woman in the robe. "Becca, help me," Miko said, calm. Ashley didn't think. She grabbed her mother from behind with her bone arm and pulled. Mandy fought, clawing at Ashley's sleeve. Miko drew the blade. It happened in seconds. Mandy stiffened, gasped, and went heavy against Ashley's chest. Then she slid down and lay still on the floor. Ashley stared at her mother's body. Her hands shook. "She's my mom," she whispered. "She came to end you," Miko said. She knelt and closed Mandy's eyes. "You chose. So did I." She picked up the phone, snapped it, and dropped the pieces in her pocket. They waited until the hotel went dark. Miko pried up three boards in the back room where the wood was already loose. Together they lowered Mandy into the gap. Ashley packed the dirt with her bone hand. Miko fit the boards back and swept sawdust over the seams. When she was done, the floor looked like it always had. Miko took Ashley's face in her hands. "No one traced you but her. She told me that herself, at the desk. It's over." Ashley believed her. The woman hunting her was gone, and the hotel was quiet again. But she had killed her own mother to keep this life. She looked at the swept floor and knew a piece of her was buried under it too.