Chapter 27 #2
By the time noon rolled around, my arms were covered in scratches and my scalp was sunburnt where I’d parted my hair.
“Doesn’t make you miss Florida, does it?” Suzannah asked as I poured water on the top of my head and shuddered at the coldness of the droplets on my scalp. It was so unbearably hot but it was still only April.
“Not at all.”
I didn’t want to stop for the scheduled group lunch—I doubted I could stomach anything anyway—but Tommy reminded me it was important to be present. People could have information.
What he didn’t want to say was that people also wanted to observe us.
As payment for helping us search for Hazel, they wanted front-row seats to our grief.
And if giving them their very own tragedy porn would keep them engaged and searching, I couldn’t argue.
We needed to cover as much ground as possible.
I’d been jumpy the whole morning, searching for Pullman around every corner, and I was starting to get fed up with his absence.
It seemed like I was going to have to go to the station and confront him there directly.
Maybe it was finally time to loop my family in to what I’d found and what Hazel had been doing.
If I could convince them to come with me, maybe the sheriff’s office would take us more seriously.
I was walking back from the park bathrooms, contemplating this very idea, when I almost barreled straight into him.
“There you are,” Pullman said. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
The bathrooms were pretty far from the search party’s lunch spot, positioned back behind the flag-football fields.
We were at least one hundred yards from the pavilion where everyone else was, and separated by a long, steep hill.
This was not where I wanted to have this confrontation.
He couldn’t kill me here, people could see us from below, but he also could say whatever he wanted to, completely unheard.
I felt a shiver of fear run down my spine. Real fear.
I tried to stare him down and play it cool, but I just kept thinking of his real name. Nick.
“How’s the menstruation going?” Pullman asked, a sly grin spreading across his face.
It felt like he could see right through me. I was an idiot to think confronting him was a good idea. I needed to get to the other officers. To Detective Newbury. To someone else I could tell about what I knew.
“Stay the fuck away from me,” I said, inching sideways, away from him.
Pullman blinked. “What?”
“I’m serious. Get away from me.”
He looked confused. “That’s some serious PMS you’ve got, huh?” He took a step toward me, his bulky body blocking me from everyone else.
“Back up!” I shouted, my eyes searching for anyone close by. Or at least anyone close enough to hear me scream.
“Rose, are you okay?” Pullman reached for my arm and I shoved him.
“Get the fuck off of me!”
“What is wrong with you?” he asked frantically, and I tried to bolt, shoving him again as I tried to run around him. But I didn’t make it a foot before he restrained me. I thrashed and screamed as he did. “Help!”
“What is going on?” Pullman demanded, as I screamed louder, holding me against his chest in a vise-like grip. “Why are you screaming?”
“Stop it! Help me!”People were starting to look up now.
“Why are you screaming? What’s wrong?” Pullman struggled to keep me upright as I continued to kick and thrash. I wanted to claw his fucking eyes out, but he had both arms around me in a protective cage.
I could see my family now, standing up and watching in horror. I didn’t care if I caused a scene. I didn’t care if all the people who hated me were watching.
“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Pullman called out to an approaching cop, still holding me tight. “I got her. We’re fine!”
I thrashed again, this time my kick landing between his legs.
Pullman groaned loudly, his face turning pink as we both went down to the ground, his body on top of mine.
He managed to wrestle me onto my stomach, pinning my hands behind my back.
He waved off the other cops coming to see if everything was okay.
“It’s the sister. I’ll take care of her.
” I twisted my head and realized his face was right next to mine.
I forced myself closer to him and bit down on the skin of his neck as hard as I could.
“Ow!” he roared. He instantly moved away from me. “What the hell?”
He yanked me upward onto my knees. I was crying now, fat tears sliding down my cheeks as I stared at him. I was aware that my entire neighborhood was at the bottom of the hill, watching a cop put cuffs on me. My family was arguing with the police down below, trying to come to help me.
“You have to calm the fuck down, all right?” Pullman looked oddly calm considering I had just bitten him.
Was it because he didn’t know that I knew? Who he really was and what he had done? I had to play this smarter if I didn’t want to end up with the same fate as my sister.
I nodded my head. I quietly sat on my knees in the grass, my hands cuffed behind my back. My face was soaked with tears.
Pullman sighed, wiping his hands on his face. He crouched so he could face me directly.
“Are you calm now?” he asked.
“Yes,” I lied, as my brain raged, telling me to bite his nose off.
“Good,” Pullman said. “Now, tell me what’s wrong. Why are you shouting and causing a scene?”
I sat in silence, staring him down. How could he have lied to me so easily? How had I not recognized him?
In fairness, his hair was completely different, the floppy hairstyle I remembered now shaved and cut short. He was at least a decade older.
Pullman looked annoyed. “Okay, if you’re not going to tell me here then I will take you in.”
I’d actually have rather he took me to the station. But there was no guarantee that once he put me in the car, that was where we’d actually go. I couldn’t risk it.
“I’d rather stay here, Nick,” I snapped, watching Pullman’s face drain of color. He went silent.
“Tell me,” I said, my voice low and furious. “Does your entire station know that you’re featured in that best-selling book about the case they fucked up? Or did you lie to all of them too?”
“Rose.” Pullman shook his head. “Just listen to me.”
“It is you, right? Dominick Pullman,” I said, angry tears sliding down my face. “The guy from the mall. The one who asked for Alex’s number?”
“Yes,” Pullman said quickly. “But I—”
I couldn’t take it anymore. “Did you kill Alex?” I asked desperately. “Did you kill my sister?”
“No!” Pullman said, his face twisted in pain. “Oh my god, no. I never even met your sister. I—”
“I don’t believe you!” I said, struggling against the cuffs.
“Rose, I swear. On my life.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me it was you? At the mall?”
“Because at the time, it didn’t matter. Alex’s killer went to prison.
I was a teenager. Alex and I only texted twice after we met and then never again.
That’s it, end of the story,” Pullman said.
He wore a frustrated expression on his face but his voice was calm.
Calmer than I would have expected after being confronted with this knowledge.
I had expected a wild panic. This seemed too mundane.
Was it possible he was actually telling the truth?
“This is all very convenient.” My body still thrummed with adrenaline.
“Well, I’m not lying,” Pullman said.
“That still doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell anyone you knew me. Or Alex,” I reminded him, struggling uncomfortably against the cuffs. Pullman looked sympathetic for a second, and I ignored it. “Or why you’re still on this case. Isn’t this a conflict of interest?”
Pullman’s cheeks turned slightly pink. “It might be considered one, yes, which is why I didn’t say anything.
I worked my ass off to be a detective. I was randomly assigned to Hazel’s disappearance.
It’s my first big case. I didn’t want to jeopardize it by recusing myself. It didn’t feel significant.”
I hated how reasonable that sounded. “So you just lied to me and my entire family instead?”
“Yes,” Pullman said sheepishly. “And I’m sorry about that, but I felt like I could really help. Because of my connection, not in spite of it. I had a vested interest in helping you find Hazel. Which I still want to do.”
He sat down beside me. I didn’t say anything and he sighed. “Look, Rose, I’m sorry for giving you any reason to doubt my intentions. If you want, you can call Newbury over right now and tell him. But I’d prefer it if you didn’t. I want to help find your sister. And I think I can.”
I considered his words for a minute, not sure if I fully believed him.
It did make sense, in a weird way. And nothing Pullman had done so far suggested that he had known Alex well.
As much as I hated cops, he had listened more than the others.
He had come to investigate Bradley, on his own, after Victoria suggested it.
He was going out of his way to find a lead.
I had no choice but to trust him.
“Can you uncuff me, please?” I asked, still annoyed.
“Depends. Are you going to keep your teeth to yourself?”
“Yes,” I said, narrowing my eyes. Pullman smiled slightly and reached behind me to undo the cuffs. He was so close that I could see just how deep my teeth had gone into his neck. It might even scar.
“I can’t believe you bit me,” he said, shaking his head. I could smell his cologne: sandalwood.
“You had me pinned to the ground like a criminal,” I said, as I felt the cuffs give away. I shook my hands, grateful to have mobility again. “Be happy that’s all I did.”
I gave him a dirty look and the corners of Pullman’s mouth twitched, like he wanted to smile but refrained. I wiped my hands on the thighs of my jeans. They had been sweating in the cuffs.
“You know,” Pullman said finally. “Bradley came by the station this morning. That’s why I was late. His alibi checked out. Though we will be investigating him to make sure there have been no instances of relationships with underage students.” I felt his gaze on me, and I avoided his eyes.
“Hey!” My father was approaching now, with Steve and Tommy behind him. “What the fuck are you doing?”
He was humming with anger, his finger pointed at Pullman.
“Why was my daughter in handcuffs?” he shouted. “Why was she shouting at you?”
“It was a misunderstanding, sir,” Pullman said, looking to me.
“Misunderstanding my ass,” Tommy snapped at him.
“That was excessive force,” my dad added. “I’ll have your badge.”
“You need cause to detain her,” Steve piped up.
Pullman raised an eyebrow, giving me a look that said, Can you rein them in?
I sighed. “I did bite him.”
Both my father and Steve blinked in disbelief. I wasn’t ready to explain the full story to them yet.
Pullman’s face remained expressionless as he looked between my father, stepfather, and brother. “I’m going to get back to the search,” he said, and his gaze turned back at me. “Are we all right?”
Are you going to keep my secret? he seemed to ask with his eyes.
“Yeah,” I said, shaking my head. I was as convinced as I was going to be. But it also all meant I was no closer to finding my sister.
I sighed as I watched my best lead walk back to the rest of the waiting officers.