Chapter Four
“Walk us through what happened.”
I hung off the back of the ambulance, wincing when the paramedic came at me with the antiseptic.
“There isn’t much to tell,” I replied as he dabbed the gash on my forehead. “I was driving and a deer ran out into the road. I tried to swerve, but there wasn’t time. I hit the poor thing head-on, blacked out, and woke up with a busted car and bleeding head.”
The officer nodded, jotting down my account in his notebook. He was a short man with sandy hair, muddy eyes, and a dusting of freckles on his cheeks. Behind him, his partner circled the remains of the deer. “How fast would you say you were going?”
“Seventy-five.”
“And where were you headed?”
“Home.”
He opened the wallet he took out of the car. Unzipping it, he met my eyes—looking deep into my shifting gaze. “Can you confirm your name and address for me, please?”
“56 Coral Reef Road, Kim Manor. And my name... is Soo Min Kim.”
Officer Davis put Sue’s license back in her wallet, and then handed it right to me. “Thank you, Ms. Kim. From the... pieces... of the animal in the road and the single set of tire tracks, your story matches the evidence.
“This was clearly an unavoidable accident, and we’re ready to wrap things up here. If you give me a few minutes, I’ll get the accident report for your insurance.”
“Thank you,” I croaked. My heart pounded so hard against my rib cage, I was sure he could dance a tune to it all the way to his squad car.
Okay, he bought it, but he was never the challenge.
The paramedic glued the cut closed, then bandaged it. By the time he was done, Officer Davis returned.
“All right, Ms. Kim.” He gestured to his car. “After you.”
I blinked. “After me? After me where?”
“To the car.” He laughed. “I’m sure you’re eager to get home.”
Understanding dawned. “Oh! No, that’s okay,” I blurted. “I’ll wait here for the tow truck.”
“Absolutely not.” Davis handed me the accident report. “The town only has the one, and he’s tied up on another job. He won’t be here for hours, and there’s no way I’m leaving an injured woman on the side of the street for that long.
“Here,” he said, taking my arm. “Let me help you.”
I wanted to argue, but didn’t know how to do that without coming off strange.
Leaving anyone else alone with the car seemed like an extraordinarily bad idea. I used the clothes I found in Sue’s shopping bags to clean up the blood on the passenger side—fueling the lie that I was alone in the car, but what if I missed a spot? What if they did their CSI luminol shit? What if—
“Ma’am?”
I jerked to attention, realizing Davis was waiting for me to move. Swallowing hard, I let him lead me to the car—passing his partner as she moved back to the accident scene, examining Sue’s sports car.
We drove away as she opened the passenger side door and ducked inside.
I leaned back in my seat, eyes darting this way and that—taking everything in. The squad car was as immaculate as I expected of the serious man who took copious notes while I gave my story, and whipped out a tape measure to compare the skid marks on the road with Sue’s tires.
I eyed him, relaxed and whistling behind the wheel. A guy this by-the-book wouldn’t be so chill if he suspected something, would he?
I peeked inside my bag, making sure the recorder was on. If he starts asking me weird and specific questions, I’ll have proof he questioned me without a lawyer present. That’ll get anything I might stupidly say thrown out.
Although if I learned anything from living vicariously through lawyers on TV, it’s that my best play right now, is to shut the fuck up.
“So,” he spoke up, nearly popping me out of my seat. “Are you sure you don’t want to swing by the hospital? Head injuries can be very serious.”
“I’ll go,” I replied, holding tight to my phone. Resting beneath it was Sue’s. “But I need to see my mother first. She’s ill and elderly. I can’t imagine how worried she’s been waiting for me to come home. I need to reassure her I’m alright.”
“Right, of course.” He tipped his chin. “I completely understand. My first thought after a near-death experience would be to hold my family too.”
I chewed my lip, eyeing him out of the corner of my vision. Am I supposed to say something in response? Is he trying to bait me with normal conversation, or is this really just a friendly chat?
If he suspected me of something, wouldn’t he be driving me to the police station?
Not if he suspected you of something he couldn’t prove, that whispering voice slithered in. He’d just try to catch you off your guard, then. Get you to say something you shouldn’t.
“You take this road down to Fifth Street, then turn left on Coral Reef,” I finally said, then I shut my mouth. If I could sit in silence while Sue baited me every which way from Sunday, then I could certainly keep my mouth shut with a random cop.
He nodded.
Quiet permeated the car—smothering even to me. Our route was still gripped by the trees and the occasional break through the leaves, revealing the shining sparkling sapphires that were the ocean.
In other words, there wasn’t a damn thing to look at other than a mess of trees and water. Hardly engrossing enough to prevent conversation, which just made it weirder that we weren’t talking.
You don’t need to fill the silence. You don’t need to fill the silence. You’re almost to the manor. Just keep your mouth—
“So what brought you out so late at night?”
I stilled. “Excuse me?”
“What took you out of Lantana?” I felt his eyes on me. “There was a receipt in your car for a gas station in Charlesbrook. I’m assuming you were on your way back when you hit the deer.”
“When the deer hit me,” I corrected, then fell quiet again.
I could sense Davis waiting for me to say more.
“When it hit you,” he gave in. “So, do you have family out that way? Near Charlesbrook.”
“No.” I pointed the way we were headed. “The only family I have is that way.”
“So—”
I was really starting to hate that word.
“—if it wasn’t family you were out there to see, were you out on business? Or maybe seeing friends?”
“I don’t have many friends,” I said to the window. “It’s actually a sore subject. I cry just thinking of how lonely and isolated I’ve become, so I don’t like talking about it.”
“Oh, uh...” Davis stalled, his eyes lifting off me and returning to the road. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
If he was really determined to have a conversation with me, I’d make it as uncomfortable as possible.
I got my wish for a whole ten minutes, then I saw his jaw crack in the rearview mirror.
“So, business, then,” he concluded. “What do you do?”
“I’m a failing entrepreneur,” I dropped.
“I could be good at it, but I’m a parakeet—hopping from one shiny thing to another—getting bored as soon as the one before loses its shine.
I might be headed for bankruptcy actually.
At some point the mountain of credit card debt gets too high to bail you out. ”
“Oh... I see.”
Another awkward silence took us as far as the final turn to the manor.
I rested my head on the cool glass, eyes fluttering shut. It had been a long and horrible night. The only thing I wanted to do was sleep—
“So—”
My lids sprung open, peeling back as far as my lips. First, I would snarl. The next thing I’d do if this fucker didn’t shut up was bite.
“—if things are so bad, I’m guessing all those bags in your car were the result of some serious retail therapy.”
I froze. “Bags?”
He laughed. “Your trunk was overflowing with every single designer brand my girlfriend dreams of.” Davis raked me up and down. “Were the clothes, shoes, and jewels for... your mom?” he asked like he already knew the answer. “Pretty fancy for an ill and elderly woman.”
Stiffly, I turned—meeting his searching eyes before they flicked back to the road. “Why would those things be for my sixty-eight-year-old mother? Why couldn’t they be for me?”
Davis merged onto the dirt road, rumbling down Coral Reef. “You’re dressed modestly for someone who—”
“And there it is,” I snapped. “You’ve finally arrived at your destination.”
“Excuse me?”
“Excuse you? You want to be excused? I thought I was the one who should be begging your finest pardons for not getting dressed up and put together before you found me bleeding on the side of the street?”
“What?” he cried, eyes bugging. “That’s not—”
“What would you have liked to rescue me in, Officer? Should I have been wearing the tight miniskirt? Or the pumps? And you must definitely hate this saggy, old bra that I’ve worn for the last week?
” I popped my breasts up, sending Davis careening into the side of his door.
“Why oh why didn’t I peel my cracked head off the steering wheel in time to change into something more uplifting, and low-cut? ”
He sputtered. “I didn’t say a thing about—”
“About why you didn’t drive up and find me flashing my best come-hither smile?” I scoffed. “You didn’t say it, but I’m sure that was your next question.”
“Ms. Kim! There— There has been a terrible misunderstanding,” he cried. “I, in no way, meant to imply a negative about your clothing, or what you should or shouldn’t be wearing. Obviously, it is no business of mine how you choose to dress on any given day.”
I sniffed. “Look, my head is killing me. I’m tired, I’m freaked out, I’m looking at a massive car repair bill. Do you think we could take a break from discussing what a friendless, broke, slovenly, living-with-my-mother loser I am?”
Davis’s cheeks glowed neon red.
I really should’ve been a lawyer. Anyone with my ability to make a cop this flustered was destined to be.
“Of course, Ms. Kim, please rest. I apologize for...” He tossed his head. “I’m just sorry.”
Accepting that, I rested my head back on the glass and closed my eyes.
Eeeeee!
I shot up, blinking under the stabbing sunlight. I fell asleep? How? When?
“We’re here,” Davis said, raising his voice over that horrible screeching. “If it’s all right, I’d like to escort you inside. Get you settled.”