The Tree’s Bones Hold His Sweetheart’s Crime

Chapter 3

Rosalie's POV:

My skeletal remains were driven away by the police, but my spirit could only follow helplessly in the wake of my father and Jerold.

I trailed behind them all the way back to the house I once called home.

Stepping across the threshold, I found the rooms as neat and tidy as always.

The only difference was that every single trace of my existence had been utterly erased.

From the living room, a soft, graceful figure hurried forward to greet them.

It was Judith Carter.

She was my junior in college. When we were in university, she had been my father's student.

And she was also the cold-blooded monster who took my life.

Now, dressed in cozy, elegant loungewear, she slid her arm through my father's with practiced affection. "Dad," she chimed.

The word struck my spectral form like a physical blow, making my soul tremble.

"Dad, Jerold, you're back," Judith said with a sweet, dutiful smile. "You both look exhausted. I've cooked your favorite dishes."

Jerold reached out and gently ruffled her hair, his eyes filled with a tender, protective warmth.

It was a look of pure devotion I had never received from him.

"Thank you, Judith. For doing these for us," Jerold murmured.

My father looked at her, his stern features melting into an expression of soft, fatherly love I had never seen directed at me.

He nodded approvingly. "What a wonderful girl our Judith is."

The three of them gathered around the dining table, laughing and chatting in perfect harmony. They looked like the absolute picture of a happy, blessed family.

I hovered at the edge of the table, forced to watch the woman who murdered me basking in the warmth of everything she had stolen from me.

A wave of monstrous, suffocating hatred shattered what was left of my sanity.

Losing all control, I lunged at Judith, stretching out my hands to snap her treacherous neck.

But again and again, my fingers passed straight through her neck.

Helplessly, I could only watch as they shared a pleasant family meal.

As they ate, my father casually brought up the day's grim discovery in the mountains.

"We unearthed a skeleton from the hollow of the ancient ginkgo today," he said, setting his fork down. "The coroner thinks the person has been dead for about three or four years. The police suspect it was the work of poachers."

At his words, Judith stiffened for a fraction of a second, a blink-and-you-miss-it tremor running through her shoulders.

She quickly masked it, her face twisting into an expression of delicate, lingering horror.

"That is absolutely terrifying," she gasped, pressing a hand to her chest.

"Those poachers are completely devoid of humanity. Thank goodness we caught onto them three years ago before Rosalie... I mean, before they could smuggle out any more ginkgo saplings."

She lowered her gaze, doing an impeccable performance of a clumsy girl who had accidentally spoken a forbidden name.

Jerold slammed his fork onto the table with a sharp clatter.

Even in front of my father, his handsome face was contorted with an ugly, unvarnished disgust. "Why do you have to bring up what happened three years ago? Doesn't it make you sick to even think about it?"

A flash of smug triumph gleamed in Judith's eyes before she quickly pleaded, "Jerold, please don't speak like that. Dad is right here."

My father pushed his plate away, his expression darkening with acute shame and fury. "Jerold is entirely right. If I had known she would turn into such a despicable, treacherous creature, I should have smothered her the day she was born. Her mother died in agonizing labor just to bring her into this world, and she repaid that sacrifice by dragging our family name through the mud."

He continued, "If she had possessed even an ounce of conscience back then, she wouldn't have ended up a despised fugitive. She doesn't deserve a shred of our sympathy."

Judith gently placed a choice piece of rib onto my father's plate, her voice dripping with sweet consolation. "Dad, please don't lose your temper. It's all in the past now."

Watching the two people I loved most in the world look back on my memory with nothing but cold, venomous loathing, I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces.

My soul shook with an unbearable agony. My tears rained down from my eyes, splashing onto the hardwood floor. Yet no one could see my sadness.