Chapter 3
3
RAE
T he leather soles of my ballet slippers scuffed along the cement floor as I shuffled down the long white-walled hall. At my back, the officer assigned to escort me to holding maintained a mere few inches between us, so close that each pop and smack of his gum sounded like a firework exploding in my ear. My shoulders inched up closer to my ears, trying to muffle the annoying sound.
Two minutes into our walk, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Is that gum as good as it sounds?” I snapped over my shoulder. “Anyone ever teach you to chew with your mouth closed?”
“Shut the fuck up,” he barked and prodded my lower back with his baton.
Why he thought he needed that bemused me. It wasn’t like I might be a flight risk. His next prod sent me stumbling forward. My hand to the cement brick wall caught me before I could fall face-first.
At the end of the hall, I paused in front of a gray metal door. Based on the small barred window in the middle, the door was at least two inches thick. I swallowed hard, my fingers trembled with nervous energy. My hangover pains were long gone, my body realizing we had worse shit to worry about.
The officer scanned his badge over a card reader, and a loud buzz vibrated, tickling the hairs along my arm and the back of my neck. Thin, pale fingers reached around, brushing against my waist, and grasped the steel handle.
“Get inside,” he said. I cringed away from his crowding and maneuvered under his arm to slip through the door without having to touch him. The moment I crossed the threshold into the holding area, fear took root, freezing me in place. “Come on, move your fat ass.”
That snapped me out of my fear-locked stupor. When I was two steps into the room, a hand lashed out from between the bars, dirty fingernails stretching for my arm. I jumped with a shriek, my shoulder colliding with the wall in my attempt to evade the attack.
“Cut it out,” the officer yelled and whacked the baton against the metal bars. The hand immediately retracted. I didn’t dare look into the cell to see the person or persons inside. Forcing my legs to work, I stumbled forward, keeping half my body sealed to the wall to avoid another attack.
Keys jingled behind me as we approached the last cell. I swallowed hard, terrified about the women I’d be confined with until Alec arrived and could work some magic to set me free.
Hopefully.
I wasn’t sure how he would react when he found out why I sat in the police station. I conveniently left that part out of our phone call earlier. Telling someone the police suspected you of murder seemed like an in-person conversation.
The cell door’s metal hinges groaned and screeched in protest as it swung open. Halfway through the small opening on my own efforts, something hard jabbed into my lower spine. My steps faltered as I pitched forward. A silent cry whispered past my lips as I tumbled, turning into a hiss when both knees and palms slammed to the unforgiving floor. My teeth clattered together, nipping at my tongue with the jarring movement.
Breathing hard, I gave myself half a second to reorient my vision and thoughts before sending a death glare over my shoulder. I sucked in a breath, a new flicker of unease igniting within me at finding the officer blatantly staring at my upturned ass. Instantly, I flipped over and crawled backward on my throbbing palms until my upper back hit the opposite wall.
The officer narrowed his beady eyes and snorted. “Don’t flatter yourself, heifer. I don’t fuck women who outweigh me.” Which, by the looks of him, had to be most women. I wasn’t overweight by any means, but wide hips, a plump backside, and broad shoulders meant I resided on the bigger side of the normal-sized woman.
Those uncaring eyes slid to the only other woman in the cell. “Now, Penny.” The woman’s dead gaze lifted from her chipped nail polish to him. Well, maybe to him. The way her eyes were glazed over, who knew what she actually saw. “If you want to get out of here sooner than normal, you know what you need to do.”
Disgust had my nausea roaring back in full force, but I choked back the bile. “Get out.” The words burned in my raw throat. Palms to the cold wall, I crawled up to stand, not wanting to be at a disadvantage with him towering over me. “You disgusting pig. Leave.” My finger trembled but not from fear as I pointed in the exit's direction.
He huffed and slammed the cell door shut. The clang rang like a death toll, sealing me to my sad little fate. Only knowing Alec answered my plea for help kept me from falling to my knees and crumbling into the fetal position.
“It’s fine,” I whispered while gnawing on the end of my ponytail. “It’ll be fine. I did nothing wrong.”
“Keep telling yourself that, honey,” a scratchy voice said.
Slowly I turned to face the disheveled woman who swayed on the only bench in the cell. Pink hot pants hugged her bony thighs, and a black crop top covered little of her flat chest, exposing the clear impression of her sternum. Track marks dotted the insides of both rail-thin arms. I pursed my lips, not in disgust but pity and anger. Anger at the drug that had taken over our town over the past several years, converting innocent citizens into crazed meth heads.
Absentmindedly, she scratched short jagged nails along the opposite forearm, leaving long red marks in their wake.
“You okay?” I asked. Leaning against the wall, I massaged one throbbing palm with the thumb of the other hand.
Instead of responding, she shifted that zoned-out gaze to the floor once again.
Right. She didn’t want to be friends, and that was okay. A conversation, a distant memory floated into my head of Alec telling me not everyone deserved my friendship. He’d told me that when one of the mean girls turned on me again, attempting to comfort and chastise me in the same breath.
A smile tugged at my lips. Typical Alec. Wanting to comfort yet protect, even from your own dumb mistakes. We became friends in third grade, which grew into more until we became the oddest couple in middle school. Once we were in high school, everyone assumed Alec would dump the poor fat girl.
I guess, in a way, he did.
Except not in the way anyone expected. Certainly not me.
We were in love. Actual head-over-heels, innocent love. I was, at least. His touch set my skin on fire. Our conversations continued until late in the night, talking about everything and nothing, and his smile melted my heart the rare times it peeked through.
Then he left.
Leaning against the wall, I rested my head back and closed my eyes. With the initial shock of the situation wearing off, the full weight of the call I made slammed into my heart, making my breath catch. Pitching forward, I placed both hands on my knees.
Oh shit, I called Alec Bronson for help.
The man I hated and yet fantasized about at night with my vibrator.
What would he think when he saw me? Did he remember leaving, breaking my heart with his disappearing act? Heat swelled along my cheeks as I fought back tears. This was all too much. Suspected of a crime and having to call my ex-boyfriend for help all in one day was a lot to ask of anyone.
Young me dreamed Alec would come back for me during those couple years in foster care, then after when trying to figure out life with just a high school education and no family, saving me from it all.
But he never did.
Now he was headed back to Sweetcreek because I called, not because he wanted to see me. I counted on that protective spirit of his when I made the call. Even if he didn’t care about me, the guardian side of him wouldn’t allow him to not come to my aid.
Cheap shot? Sure. But so was leaving a note in my locker telling me goodbye the day after we made plans for our future. Days after our innocent relationship took a passionate turn. His hands between my thighs, the flood of desire and passion he pulled from me those few times we were alone haunted my dreams. I wanted more then, told him as much, desperate to return the favor but he simply smirked with a shake of his head.
I shook my head, dislodging all thoughts of Alec. What the hell was wrong with me? Focusing on Alec when I was in jail and an innocent man was missing. One thing was for certain: the person who haunted my life, killing everyone I loved, was back. After everything I did to keep others at arm’s length, the sicko following me still sliced into my heart without ever touching me.
Grief could do that to you, could hurt worse than physical pain, and I went through it with my parents, two ex-boyfriends, and best friend. All ripped from my life violently and without warning, leaving me utterly alone in every way.
When would this end? Would only my death stop the death of others?
Or could Alec maybe jump into the case and find the actual person responsible? If he stuck around long enough to hear my side of the story after he sprang me from the pen, that was.
A pitiful whimper broke through my wandering thoughts, directing my attention to my cellmate. I moved across the small cell and knelt in front of the woman. Goose bumps covered her bone-thin legs and arms. Without a second thought, I removed my three-quarter-length cardigan and draped it over her lap.
“Hey,” I whispered. “You okay?”
Short, greasy blonde hair swung with the shake of her head. “I need money.”
“Bail money?”
“No,” she rasped, finally looking up from her lap. “I need… I need more.”
I pressed my lips into a thin line. There wasn’t a question what she needed more of. Meth had taken mothers, sisters, fathers, and brothers away from family, making them only care about one thing—their next hit. The dealers infected our town with the drug.
“I can’t give you money,” I said with a sigh. “But if you want to get clean, I can help.”
A flash of desperation crossed her makeup-smeared face. “I don’t want help. I want my next hit. Can you give me money? I need money.” Her frail fingers reached out and grasped my arm. “I’ll do anything.”
Her weak grip slid away as I stood, my knees throbbing under my weight from the earlier fall. “I can’t help you with that. But when you’re ready, come by the library. I’m there most days and can help you get your life back on track.”
Instead of responding, she shifted those glassy eyes back to her lap.
For a few seconds, I stared at the crown of her head, wishing she’d look back up and take me up on my offer. But she didn’t. The thin charm bracelet on my left wrist tinkled as I rubbed both hands up and down my bare arms, its sound a reminder that I couldn’t help those who didn’t want it or just weren’t ready.
Backing away until I stood in my original spot, I let out an anxious breath.
All I could do now was wait.
The growing flutter in my stomach and tightness in my chest told me calling Alec had set something new in motion. Inviting him back into my life, exposing him to what all had happened over the past two decades, had the potential to change my life forever.
For better or worse, only time would tell.
At least I knew I wouldn’t have to wait too long to find out.