FREDDY PRINCE | CH. 10
Chapter Ten
The minute Kalani checked Dahlia’s voice message, she was on her way to Dunes Town. Dahlia didn’t even have to say much about why she was calling; just the sound of her voice made Kalani eager to hear her out.
Her Uber ride was filled with thoughts and questions. Why was Dahlia ready to talk all of a sudden? What did she want to talk about? Did she know something all that time and still shooed her away? So many things ran through Kalani’s mind on her way to Dahlia; it almost made her sick.
“You must be Kalani.”
A blonde woman, who wasn’t Dahlia, answered the door. She was tall and slender, dressed as a rich white woman would dress, and had the attitude to match.
“Yes. I’m here to speak with Dahlia.”
For a moment, Judy stared at Kalani with worry in her eyes. She was fearful that reopening the old can of worms would ruin her relationship with Dahlia or get her killed, but there was nothing she could do. Dahlia had already agreed to talk.
“Step right in,” Judy said. “She’s up the hall in the kitchen.”
Instead of showing Kalani where to find the kitchen, Judy walked away with a drink in her hand. Kalani left it up to her own sense of smell to find her destination, and when she got there, it surprised her to see how beautiful it was.
“Dahlia?”
She called out to the woman standing near the stove, relieved to see that it was Dahlia.
“Ok. Whew,” she chuckled. “This is a gorgeous house. I love this kitchen.”
“Thank you.”
Dahlia spoke kindly, but her face wasn’t kind at all.
“Come in and have a seat. I’m making my world-famous pasta sauce for dinner tonight.”
Kalani took a seat at Dahlia’s large round table. The air was uncomfortable for her, but there was no turning back. Dahlia stimulated her curiosity, so she had to know what it was she wanted to say.
“Did you know my mother?”
Dahlia seemed frozen in time after the question. She knew Naomi like the back of her hand. She knew her better than her own husband knew her. There wasn’t a single thing Dahlia didn’t know about her mother. Except who killed her.
“Yeah.”
She finally spoke, her head hanging low with her back still turned.
“We met through my brother, Mack.”
“Mack’s your brother!? I didn’t know Mack had any family.”
“There’s a lot about him you don’t know. The same goes for everyone.”
They hadn’t even begun discussing the details of her mother, and Kalani learned something new. Mack had family outside of her dad. She even questioned the possibility of him having kids that he kept hidden from the world.
A few times she questioned whether he and her mother were having an affair because she respected him more than she did her father, but nothing ever came of it. Before Kalani left Virginia, she figured out Mack wasn’t her mother’s type.
“I knew your mother very well,” Dahlia continued. “In fact, I was in love with her. I can look back and laugh at myself now, but living in the moment was something completely different. I thought she might grow to love me the same way I loved her one day. But we never saw that day. Everything got ripped right from under us before there was ever a chance.”
Kalani’s wheels spun. After finding out her mother had a same-sex love interest, she wondered if that was the reason her father killed her. She thought maybe he was jealous and didn’t want to lose what he had already lost to a woman.
“Did my dad know?” Kalani asked softly.
“He knew,” Dahlia chuckled. “He hated our relationship. So did Mack. They both felt like I got too attached and that I was the reason Naomi rebelled so hard against what your father stood for.”
“Do you think my dad could've done this? I was dead set on proving it was him, but now I don’t know. I had no idea any of this was even a factor. I had no idea you were Mack’s sister.”
Dahlia wanted to tell her story for years, but she was afraid. She saw how ruthless Corbin and Mack were; she knew what happened to anyone who went against them. Even though she had deep-rooted connections in the military as well, Dahlia didn’t trust that she’d be safe if she spoke out.
“Look, I’ll be straight with you,” Dahlia said. “I’m not one for long-winded conversations or dancing around subjects. Your mother knew something your father didn’t want to get out. After their divorce, she threatened to come off what she knew because he used his position to walk away with everything. It’s hard to say whether your father was the one who did this, but he definitely had a motive.”
Dahlia had to face honesty herself after Naomi’s death. She realized she didn’t actually know who had killed Naomi; she only pointed a finger at Corbin because she was jealous that he was married to the woman she loved.
“What did she know?” Kalani eagerly asked.
“I don’t know. She never told me. The night she said she was going to tell me everything was the night they found her body.”
There was a sadness in Dahlia’s eyes. A sadness Kalani knew to be genuine love. She was heartbroken and fearful, and with good reason. But the more Dahlia exposed her father’s crooked life, the more questions Kalani had to ask.
“If my father didn’t do this, who do you think did?”
“I can’t say.”
Dahlia thought long and hard while she stirred her sauce.
“There was so much fuckery going on at that office, it’s hard to say who did what.”
She went over to a cabinet on the other side of the kitchen and popped open a hidden safe. Inside were piles of money, what looked like important papers, and a small envelope. She grabbed the envelope and walked over to hand it to Kalani, and when Kalani reached out to take it, Dahlia held on to it for a moment.
“What you’ll see on these video files may be hard to watch. I re-watched the damn things so many times it nearly drove me to the institution. I know there’s something there; I just can’t figure it out because I’m too close to the situation. Maybe with your fresh, inexperienced eyes, you might be able to piece together something better than I’ve been able to over the past three years.”
“What’s on these?”
Kalani’s eyes were saddened when she took the Memory card into her hand. It was like she could feel her mother’s presence all over it. The last time they hugged, the last smile she got to see. She felt all of that. Knowing the missing key to what took it all away could’ve been right there in those files made her gut wrench in horror.
“What am I gonna see when I play these videos?”
Dahlia looked stunned by the question. It was one so terrifying, so full of tenderness and fear, she didn’t know how to answer it.
“I-I’m not sure.”
She stumbled over her words.
“I mean, maybe I’ve looked too far into things. Maybe what I believe I know isn’t truly there. I fought so long and so hard for the truth; I’m not even sure I know what that is anymore.”
They gave each other a long stare. The scenarios Dahlia voiced sounded valid; they sounded like legitimate possible motives for murder. But why? Why would anyone want to go that far? To take a life for the sake of keeping a secret? Why? And what was the secret?
“Do you think my mom loved you back?”
“What?” Dahlia blushed. “I mean, I don’t know. If she did, she didn’t act like it. Not entirely, anyway.”
Kalani was intrigued. Happily too. The way Dahlia blushed and smiled when she talked about her wonderful memories made Kalani remember her own good memories with her mother. She felt warm inside. Like her mother was there wrapping her up in a long and loving hug. Dahlia too. It was the first time in a long time that she felt Naomi’s presence.
“You know,” Dahlia said. “I think she loved me the same way I loved her. I think she was just scared to come out with it. A year after she started her rehab center, I quit. I just couldn’t stand it anymore. I would have to watch her with your father and the way he treated her, day in and day out.”
She shook her head as she remembered what she was a witness to.
“There were so many nights she would show up at my door for comfort, even after I moved away. When she finally talked me into coming back to work with her, I really felt like things would change for us. She started being more open and casual with me. I don’t know. Sometimes I think it’s just my mind psyching me out.”
Kalani knew her mother never judged anyone for their lifestyle. She was a pure soul who lived and let live. When it came to matters of love, Kalani never saw that her mother had a preference. She did believe that her mother was more comfortable with women, but she never said anything about it because it wasn’t a big deal.
“I think she loved you too,” Kalani said, smiling. “If I know my mom, she would’ve told you a long time ago if she wasn’t interested.”
The largest smile covered Dahlia’s face, and she was as red as a tomato. That was the first time anyone had ever given her any hope about her love for Naomi, and it felt good. She believed for so long Naomi would come around and confess her love, and in that moment, Dahlia felt like Kalani was the messenger.
“I guess you’re right,” she said. “She was a very vocal and straightforward woman.”
“That she was.”
They sat and talked for hours. Mostly about the good things they remembered about Naomi. Although they laughed and joked, Kalani made sure she paid attention to everything Dahlia said. She clocked names, dates, situations, and even side characters who might not have looked suspicious to anyone in the beginning.
She took in everything. Every single detail was stored either in her memory or on her notepad, because, as she said, there wouldn’t be a stone left unturned.
“Thank you for talking to me today; I really appreciate it. You actually made me feel closer to her. Like, okay enough to make peace with the way things are now.”
“Same here,” Dahlia replied. “I haven’t been able to gain any closure with this until now.”
For Dahlia, Kalani was easy to talk to. Over the years, she’d talked to therapists, friends, coworkers. She even talked to Mack about how she felt a few times, and none of those people ever brought her any peace. Kalani was different, though.
Kalani listened and actually cared to know the details. She asked questions and validated Dahlia’s love for her mother. That was more than anyone had ever done for her in her life. Even outside of her feelings for Naomi.
“Can I contact you if I find anything?” Kalani asked as she prepared to leave.
“Hell yeah!” Dahlia said. “I wanna know everything. Every single detail, I want it all. I owe it to Naomi to see this thing through.”
Kalani smiled and threw her arms around Dahlia. She embraced her long and hard, like they’d known each other all her life. What she felt from that hug couldn’t be explained. She felt love. Hope. Joy. Pain. She felt her mom.
When she left Dahlia’s place that evening, she went straight back to her hotel room to dig into the contents of the memory card. What she saw in those files was horrifying and nerve-wracking. There were so many instances where she saw her mother stressed and fearful; it made her sick. She also saw something else in those files. Something that made her question the validity of every single person around her.
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