By 6:15, the hatred had burned out. What was left was fear.
I called Ethan. It went to voicemail.
I called again. Voicemail.
I texted him. Call me right now. It’s about the car. It’s urgent.
No answer.
I stood in my kitchen with my phone in my hand, shaking.
I almost called 911. I had my thumb on the numbers.
And then I thought about what I’d have to say. That I watched my mother-in-law damage my car an hour and a half ago. And then I let my husband drive away in it.
I put the phone down.
I told myself he’d only gone a few miles. That Tunnel Road was flat and in town. That he’d figure out something was wrong. That he’d pull over.
I told myself a lot of things.
At 7:30, I called him again. Voicemail.
At 8:45, I called Claire. Voicemail.
At 10:00, I sat down on my living room couch with every light in the house on, and I didn’t move.
At 11:32 p.m., somebody knocked on my front door.
Two police officers stood on my porch in the rain.
The older one took off his hat.
“Mrs. Carter? I’m Detective Marcus Hale. Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office. May we come in?”
My knees almost gave out.
“There’s been an accident on the Blue Ridge Parkway,” he said gently. “Your vehicle went through a guardrail near Craggy Gardens. It went down an embankment. About two hundred feet.”
I grabbed the doorframe.
“We found a man and a woman inside the car,” Detective Hale said. “I’m very sorry.”
I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry.
I just slid down the doorframe until I was sitting on the floor of my own front hall.
Ethan. And Claire.
I’d killed them.
That’s the only thing I could think. Over and over.
I killed them. I stood in my kitchen and I watched him take the keys and I killed them.
Sophia Rivers is an experienced News Content Editor with a sharp eye for detail and a passion for delivering accurate and engaging news stories. At TheArchivists, she specializes in curating, editing, and presenting news content that informs and resonates with a global audience.
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