Katherine waited for me by the car, leaning on the passenger's door. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"Hmm? Yeah, of course I am," she replied candidly. Her tone was bored and tired, emphasized by a prolonged yawn.

"You kinda stormed out of there, so I thought--"

"I just couldn't be in the same room as him anymore," she bluntly replied. She piled into the car when I unlocked it. "You should name your car. It's been through a lot."

"What do you recommend?" I asked as I pulled out of the driveway. Katherine turned the radio up and pat something in her pocket, clutching onto her jeans like the object would disappear if she didn't keep a firm grasp on it.

"Boy or girl?"

"Boy."

"Hmm...something that sounds like a psychiatrist's name. How about...Reginald?"

I giggled. "Why Reginald?"

"I don't know. His friends call him Reggie, and his patients do, too--when they get comfortable with him, of course. Reginald likes tennis and buying things that are too expensive for him, but he's a great shoulder to cry on."

"That was a pretty quick backstory," I complimented. "Reginald it is. Reginald has seem some shit."

"It's what inspired him to go into the psychology field. All that shit fascinates him." Katherine glanced down at her pants again, her eyebrows furrowing and her eyes narrowing.

"What's that you've got there?" I asked, leaning over a bit to see what she was withdrawing from her pocket.

"Don't be mad," she warned.

"Why would I be mad?" I demanded softly, blaring my horn as a car stopped short in front of me.

"Cause I kinda stole something," she admitted with a nervous smile.

"Kat, what did you take?" My voice rose in despair, and I rested my head on the wheel as I approached a stop sign.

"Um...the tape recorder," she answered quietly, withdrawing it from her pocket. She played with the "start" button, holding it securely in her pale grasp.

"Kat!" I groaned. "You can't do that! We've gotta bring it back!"

"Ugh, I shouldn't have told you," she whined. She folded her arms and glanced out the window. "C'mon Avery; what's the worst thing that could happen?"

"Well, I'll be an even bigger liar than before," I began. "Pierce will hate me. We'll hear something we weren't mean to hear."

"You're no fun."

"I am literally so much fun, Kat," I countered. "I just don't like this one bit."

"I'm playing it."

"No."

"I'm gonna do it."

"Don't do it."

"I'm gonnaaaaaaaa," she assured. She seemed hesitant to press down on the "play" button (which was scratched and battered, presumably after years of use).

"If you're gonna do it, then why won't you play it?" I inquired.

"I...what if I hear something?" she grumbled, setting the recorder down on her lap.

"Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's not our business--"

"No...what if it's...something about Carson?"

"What about Carson?"

"What if...I don't know, he admits something on here?"

"One: Pierce is too clever to admit to murder on a tape recorder. Two: Why wouldn't you wanna hear it if it's a confession?"

"Because...because what if you go away after this? After everything's solved?" she whispered. She clutched her arms to her chest as she gazed out the window, tracing shapes on the glass and watching her finger buckle under the pressure.

I exhaled as I pulled over to the curb. I put Reginald in park and placed a hand on Katherine's shoulder. "I'm never leaving you, Kat. Not after all of this. Okay?" I promised. I held up my right hand to God and placed my left hand on my heart. "Okay?"

"I believe you, Avery...it's just that...people tend to leave after a while."

"I mean, I'll have college, but we'll stay in touch. I promise. You're stuck with this wrongly accused murderer until the end of time, alright?"

Katherine's face contorted into a toothless smile. She nodded forlornly and took my hand. "I think we should tell Daddy."

"What?"

"About Carson and me, Avery. About everything."

Katherine fiddled with her thumbs as she sat down on the lush sofa. Mr. Summers was preparing coffee in the kitchen, so we waited, dreading the encounter. She has to get this off of her chest, I reminded myself. I awkwardly stood adjacent to the couch, feeling too middle-class to sit on the probably thousands-of-dollars fabric. The living room was expansive to the point that it was obnoxious, with Katherine in the middle of it all, surrounded by copious amounts of gaudy decorations and ostentatious furniture. She buried her head in her hands. "I don't know if I can do this, Avery."

"Come on, Kat," I said, walking over to her and taking her hand. "It's gonna be okay. I promise, okay? And if you get flustered, I'll swoop on in to save you. Like Batman. Or Han Solo."

Katherine smiled and replied, "I haven't actually seen any of those movies."

I stared wide-eyed at her. "This weekend. You, Dakota and me. We're watching all of them."

"All?"

"All," I repeated. I pounded my fist in my hand for clarification. "All of them."

"Avery, are you sure that you don't want anything?" Mr. Summers called from the kitchen.

"I'm sure, sir, thank you!" I replied. He emerged from the kitchen and handed Katherine her cup of green tea. She smiled at him, taking gracious sips and downing the whole cup in about five seconds. She set it down on the table parallel to her, careful to place the cup on a coaster.

"So, what brings me to this little meeting today?" Mr. Summers asked with a slight laugh. He frowned when he saw Katherine's downcast eyes. He set down his cup on the table and set his hands in his lap. I was still taken aback at his casual jeans and stained Grateful Dead shirt. "What's wrong, Katherine?"

"Daddy, I have to tell you something, but I don't know if I can..." Katherine looked to me for support. I hurried to her aid, clutching onto her hand and sitting beside her. I squirmed on the extravagant couch, but heaved and pushed through the poor feeling.

"Mr. Summers, Katherine and I have both been keeping a secret for a little while now, and it's about time you knew," I began, noticing that I was excessively using hand gestures to distract myself from the uncomfortable mood.

"Oh. Oh, God, I know what you're gonna say," he gasped, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his eyes.

"Y-you do?" Katherine asked, her voice clashing between hope and worry.

"I, I get it, you're born that way. I knew plenty of homosexual boys back in boarding school--really a lot, if I think about it. It's...it's okay, Katherine."

"Daddy, I'm not gay!" Katherine protested. I covered a laugh in my sleeve.

Mr. Summers heaved and replied, "Oh, thank goodness. Not because it's wrong!--just, your mother would be better at that than I would."

"Daddy, it's...," Katherine started again, staring at the chandelier dangling from the ceiling.

"It's Carson Harris," I said. Mr. Summers narrowed his eyes and took a prolonged gulp from his tea.

"What about Mr. Harris?" he inquired.

"Avery and Carson didn't date Carson and I used to date and I love him and we're trying to figure out who murdered him," Katherine blurted out, immediately covering her mouth, as if she had just spewed several cusses in secession.

Mr. Summers stared blankly at his daughter. "Mhmm," he mumbled. His eyes were vacuous and and still. "Mmmmmhmm."

"Daddy?" Katherine muttered. Her father didn't respond. "I killed my dad, oh my God."

"You didn't kill your dad, Kat," I reassured.

"Look at him! We're talking about him right now, in front of him, and he's not even scolding us!" Katherine groaned as her father remained in his catatonic state.

"Okay, so... ," Mr. Summers began. Katherine sighed in relief when he finally began speaking again. "You...and this Harris boy...were in a relationship...together...?"

"Yes."

"And you," he said, shifting his wide eyes towards me, "weren't...dating...him...and...what?"

"My lawyer came up with the idea to say we were dating. It would explain why Carson wrote my name before he died. I...I never actually met Carson before."

"I see," Mr. Summers said. He suddenly let his tea cup clatter onto the ground, staining the carpet. He buried his head in his hands and muttered something along the lines of "Holy fucking shit."

Katherine threw her head back and began to groan. Oh my God, what is happening? I moaned to myself. "Um, I think you two should communicate your current emotions with each other?" I offered.

"Okay, I'll go first," Mr. Summers said, clapping his hands together and sitting straight. "You both have been lying to me for the past several weeks!" he exclaimed, nearly laughing.

"Well, we actually dated for a while before that," Katherine said.

"A while? Oh, that's a good one. I can't believe you lied to me for that long."

"Oh, don't act like you would've approved!" Katherine scoffed.

"What did you think I would do?" The two Summers were suddenly in a screaming fest with each other.

"He's black, Daddy! You know how badly we were scared of you? We were gonna run away! We were gonna leave, Daddy!" Katherine stood up and accusingly pointed at her father. "We were gonna leave you!"

"Katherine...how could you? You...after your mother?"

"Mom chose to leave us, Dad! Stop acting like she loved us! She didn't give a shit!"

"Don't you dare talk about your mother like that!" Mr. Summers snapped, his eyes bulging out of his head. "Your mother was a good woman, Katherine, and she loved us. She just...she just wasn't there all the time."

"The only thing she ever did for me was make me sick. I wish she was here just so I could tell her off."

"Katherine, stop it!" Mr. Summers demanded, borderline begging.

"Carson was the only person who understood me. And now he's gone, Daddy. Now he's gone..."

"Katherine, did you love Carson?" Mr. Summers whispered. Katherine nodded her head. Mr. Summers approached his daughter and slowly wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry, baby. I'm sorry that you had to go through all of this."

"Is...is this what it felt like for you, Daddy?" Katherine asked softly. Her father nodded into her shoulder. He looked up from his grasp on his daughter and turned his attention towards me.

"Avery...thank you for being here for my daughter when I wasn't able to. I...I won't tell anybody about this, I swear. Once the real killer is caught, you'll be able to rest easy. I know you didn't do it, Avery. You're a good kid."

"Thank you, Mr. Summers," I said with a warm smile.

"I...I didn't mean that stuff about Mom, Daddy. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, sweetie. It's okay." His voice sounded torn between the need to defend his wife and his unconditional love for his daughter. His eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. "Follow me."

He led us up into the attic, the only normal looking part of the entire house. The ladder leading us up there was decayed and creaked with every step, while the attic itself was littered with cobwebs and old boxes. Mr. Summers pushed aside several crates and took precarious steps until he reached the very back of the attic. He ushered us over with a warm smile. He turned, grabbed a tall box, and then swung it around in front of us. "I know that you never wanted to open this, but your mother left it for you before she passed. I really think you should open it now." Katherine's entire body shook as she approached the box. It's the gift that her mom left for her on that Christmas. I rested a hand on Katherine's shoulder to reassure her. She grinned at me, knelt down and began to open up the box.

"Do you know what's in it, Daddy?" she asked. Her father shook his head. She opened up the box and reached inside. Her hands grasped onto something, and she very, very slowly withdrew the box's contents. "It's...it's a book? One book in this giant box?" She looked at her father for further explanation, but he could provide none.

"What book is it?" I asked.

Katherine presented it to me. "P.D. Eastman's...Are You My Mother? " Mr. Summers smiled at his daughter as she began flipping through its pages. "Mom wrote me a note. 'Merry Christmas, Katherine. I'm always here, even if it doesn't feel like it.'" Mr. Summers embraced his daughter as she began to read through the pages.

Mr. Summers's face suddenly turned forlorn. "Kattie...I've gotta tell you something. You too, Avery."

"What is it, Daddy?" she softly asked.

"I...I've been lying to you too, Katherine. I...I saw him go into the hotel, Kat. I saw you with him."

Katherine let the book clatter to the floor as she backed away from her father.