Disclaimer: I do not own the characters created by Janet Evanovich. I just really really wish I did!! I am just using them in this story. I only own Carmella, but you can have her if you want her!
I grasped Ranger's hand as the hearse rolled past and we fell in behind to join the funeral procession. The flowers that lay on the coffin were beautiful, the purple flowers standing out against the lilies. Her favourite colour, I was assured. Tears filled in my eyes. I looked up at Ranger and saw he was fighting to keep control of his emotions. Celia was stood on my other side, her eyes glazed with tears.
"It's so horrible." She whispered "she may have been a pain in the ass at times but she went through so much and she never really got a chance to live." I nodded, not knowing what I could possibly say. Carmella didn't want us to cry. She said a funeral should be a celebration of a person's life, not a time for grieving about the end of that life. I saw Junior pushing her along in her wheelchair while her friends from Florida walked alongside her. Her friends from Trenton had offered to come but she had told them there was no point them paying to fly over to Florida to give their respects to a woman they'd never met and had only heard bad things about. She didn't want her mother's funeral turning in to a circus of sorts. I could see where she was coming from. One of her legs was seriously broken and she had broken the ankle on her other leg. Her ribs were cracked again and she had a broken arm. The doctors said she was lucky to be alive after the collision. In the worst case scenario, she'd be wheel chair bound for the rest of her life. No one could say for sure how extensive the damage to her back was after the accident. This was something that she'd already taken in her stride and almost accepted. I didn't know where she got her strength.
We'd got the call the day after we went to see Ranger's family. We'd immediately flown out to Florida. The sight of Carmella in the hospital bed almost broke my heart. She was still out cold with her leg and ankle in plaster and a drip. The doctors told us that she may never wake up. Ranger had looked utterly distraught. She'd woken up screaming the next day while I was alone with her. Ranger ran back into the room to find his daughter shrieking and fighting against her restraints, screaming for her mother. In the end the nurse had to come in and sedate her so she didn't do herself any further injury. They wanted to keep her in for further observation, but she screamed so loudly that Ranger had to tell them that it wouldn't be possible and that she had to come home. For the whole time she'd been back in Trenton she didn't say a word. It was only when we flew down to Florida and she saw her friends and had to help arrange the funeral that she started to talk again. When she was at home, she only spoke to us through Ella. The psychiatrist she'd seen while she'd been at hospital told us that she felt responsible for her mother's death and wanted to distance herself from us to try and make sure we didn't have the same fate. Nothing we said to her would change this. Freddy and Oli had tried to talk to her on our behalf but the answer had always come back the same 'I'm just trying to deal with this'. It was killing Ranger. He couldn't stand feeling so helpless, especially when it came to Carmella.
We arrived at the cemetery and all stood around the grave where Eva's coffin was being lowered. Carmella was grasping Freddy's hand as if her life depended on it. Tears were pouring silently down her face as the priest began reading the celebration of Eva Manoso's life. It turned out she never officially changed her last name to Bernards. This seemed to prove to Carmella that she'd never really lost her mother to James; a final comfort. Celia had her eyes closed and was sobbing quietly. There were more people there then I had expected. James, of course, wasn't there. He'd disappeared on the day of Eva's murder and hadn't come back. Eva's sister was stood near Carmella holding baby Lucas and looking terrified that she might drop him. Eva's mother was lurking somewhere. I'd caught a glimpse of her earlier and had been terrified. She looked like a walking skeleton, her face contorted with rage. The thought of her creeping around a graveyard wasn't comforting in the slightest.
"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust." The priest finally said as he scattered a handful of earth into the grave. Carmella and Celia did the same. At the request of the family there was no wake so everyone trickled away until there were only a few people left. Unfortunately one of those people was Eva's mother. She stalked over to us and stood inches away from Carmella.
"You murderer." She hissed maliciously at her granddaughter "You killed your own mother. You choked the life out of her with no remorse. You can't run away from what you did forever." Carmella raised an eyebrow sceptically.
"In case you hadn't noticed I am, in fact, in a wheelchair. The chances of me running at all are quite slim." She retorted. The woman glared and stormed away, dragging her other daughter with her, who glanced apologetically at Carmella. Freddy rested a hand on Carmella's shoulder.
"Let's go girl wonder." He said comfortingly. She nodded and allowed herself to be steered out of the cemetery. Ranger grasped my hand tightly and we followed them down the road to the RangeMan building.
At Carmella's request there wasn't going to be a wake. She didn't think the idea of people getting together just to share their grief was particularly appealing. When we got to the building, Carmella disappeared up to her room with Freddy. Her other friends had gone home, each making a valid excuse to free themselves. I didn't blame them; they were only 16 and this was something that they couldn't deal with. Carmella had gone from one of the most bright and vivacious teenagers to a complete social recluse. We walked up the stairs to the offices. Carmella was still receiving threatening letters and we were no closer to tracking James or Antonio Cervezo. Ranger was worried. I was just scared for Carmella. Ella was waiting for us with Carlos and Liberty. They were both sleeping and Liberty had drool down her chin. Ranger smiled
"She's just like her mother." I frowned at him
"Shut up! I do not look like that while I sleep!" I laughed. Ranger grinned
"No that's true, you sort of burble and snore instead of just drooling quietly." I glared at him for a few seconds before we both started laughing. We hadn't laughed in so long; it felt amazing to finally let it all out. Of course it didn't last long.
"Ranger? The police have been around again. They say that if we don't take Carmella to them soon they're going to get an arrest warrant for her and do us for withholding evidence." Bobby announced. We both stopped and looked at him. He grimaced apologetically.
"Sorry but they sounded pretty pissed, I thought it would be better to just tell-"
"Yeah it's fine. Thanks Bobby." Ranger said shortly. Bobby nodded and walked out the office, followed by all the other employees who were presumably to uncomfortable to stay.
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Carmella looked nervously around the police station and looked up at her dad.
"I don't understand what they want" She whispered "all I did was find Madre's body…" She trailed off and looked down. Ranger rested an arm around her shoulder. After a twenty minute wait, a female officer walked up to them.
"Carmella Manoso?" She asked, smiling comfortingly. Carmella nodded and the woman indicated for them to follow her. They were led to a small interview room where there was already a stern looking detective with a mono-brow and a cheap suit. The female officer sat next to him and indicated that they were to sit opposite.
"My name is Detective Jacobs. We need to ask you a few questions about your mother, Miss Manoso." He said, pausing for dramatic effect. Carmella simply nodded and continued to look down at the table.
"See here's the thing Carmella, we know that you had a particularly volatile relationship with your mother. You made public the fact that you 'hated her' and even said on numerous occasions that you wished she was dead. Then you turn up out of the blue to see her and the next thing anyone knows, she's dead. You can see how that looks I'm sure." Jacobs said with an icy smile on his face. Carmella slowly looked up from the table.
"I really hope you're not suggesting what I think you are. Earlier today I had to watch my mother being buried. She was 32 years old and she had a baby son. My brother now has to grow up without a mother. That is something I would never wish on anyone. I admit that at times I did hate my mother as I'm sure most teenagers do. I did not kill her. I came to Florida to patch things up with her, which I did. I went back to see her before I went back to New Jersey and found her dead. You want to be talking to her husband, James. She was terrified of him and she knew he was going to do something to her. I refuse to say anything more until I have a lawyer present." She announced firmly and stared at Detective Jacobs. He simply smirked and shrugged.
"If you think it will help. I've got to tell you Carmella, we've got forensic evidence that you were in the house. We've got witnesses who saw you leave the house in a panic. It's all pretty damning. You're going to need divine intervention to prove your innocence here." He sneered. Carmella smiled
"Then I guess I better start praying."
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I am so sorry that I haven't updated in so long! Ok I will be a better author and update way more often, I promise! Thank you if you're still reading this even though I am rubbish!! Thanks to everyone for reading and thank you very much for all the review. Thanks for reading. Keep all the reviews coming. Any comments or suggestions are always welcome. Arigato!