The Zero Night by The Zero Night

Author:The Zero Night [Night, The Zero]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-09-01T21:00:02+00:00

* * * * *

When nearly half an hour passed after Cat went into the library, Serena began to think that Delaney Candis had decided to skip their meeting. Then she spotted a girl getting out of a blue Highlander SUV in the library parking lot, and she recognized Delaney from the investigation two years earlier.

The teenager had grown up in the time since then. She was very attractive, with a willowy build and slightly messy brunette hair down to the middle of her back. She wore a white-and-yellow blouse and what looked like a Ragstock skirt in a sunny shade of orange. Her brown eyes reflected a keen intelligence, so Serena wasn’t surprised to hear that Delaney was in a battle with Cat for the top spot in class. In pictures, Serena had also seen the girl wearing a warm, magnetic smile. But looking at her now, she saw no smile, just nervous apprehension.

“Delaney, I’m Serena Stride,” she said as the girl approached her near the red brick walls of the library.

“Yes, I know.”

“I appreciate your meeting me.”

“What is this about?”

“I’ve been reviewing the case file about your mother’s death, and I have a few more questions.”

“My mother died two years ago,” Delaney said in a strained voice. “What other questions do you have? Why are you bringing this up now?”

Serena hesitated. Other students kept passing in and out of the library doors near them. “Do you mind if we go somewhere else to talk? This might be a little easier with more privacy.”

“Fine. Whatever.”

They headed down the sidewalk away from the library. Serena made small talk, but otherwise, they didn’t say anything to each other. At the Swenson engineering building, they turned right and headed toward the university stadium. There was a large stretch of green grass near the stadium parking lot, and Serena led them there. The sun was high in the blue sky overhead.

Serena had been debating exactly what to say, but she decided to be honest with the girl about everything. There was something about Delaney that made her think she would respond better to the truth than to anything else.

“I want you to know something right up front,” Serena told her. “I’m an alcoholic, like your mother was.”

The surprise on Delaney’s face was obvious. She hadn’t expected a confession like that. “Oh. Okay.”

“My own mother was an alcoholic, too,” Serena went on. “She was also a cocaine addict. There’s a strong genetic component to addiction, and I got the family disease. I’ve struggled with it my whole life. I hear you’re very smart, so I assume you’re smart enough to know that you’re probably at high risk, too.”

“I don’t drink,” Delaney said. “And I don’t intend to start. No drugs, either.”

“Good for you.” Serena looked away, squinting into the sun as she figured out what to say next. “When I was a teenager, I ended up taking care of my mother most of the time. I did a lot of things to make her happy.

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