Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
dani
“Morning,” Hallie greeted me with a bright smile. “You want your regular?”
Her words barely cut through the daze I’d been in since last night. I remained frozen in the doorway, staring at the young woman who I now knew had a record—who was an inmate.
“Dani?” she questioned, her smile slipping slightly. “You okay?”
I cleared my throat, shuffling forward to let the door shut behind me. “Yeah. Just tired.”
Her eyes cut to the clock on the wall. “It’s early. Far earlier than when you usually come in.” Fear splashed across her face. “Did you get called into work? Was there another murder?”
“No, nothing like that,” I muttered, forcing a tired smile. “We’re moving back into the station today. I wanted to get an early start.”
She relaxed, grabbing a cup to pour my coffee into. “Oh, good. Maybe you should take a long lunch and take a nap. No offense, but you look exhausted.”
“I didn’t sleep well.”
She handed me my coffee, and once I paid, I wandered toward the large window. Groups of bundled up men were walking in the direction of the factory for their shift. Now that I knew the truth, I needed to get into that building. Was it really a factory or something else?
“Where’s Kole? He’s been coming in with you every morning.”
Hallie’s question had my stomach curling with dread. “Sleeping,” I answered without looking away from the window.
She giggled. “Everyone is talking about you two. I’m still newish here, but from the gossip, Kole has never given a girl attention like he does with you.”
Yesterday, her words would have amused me. The town bartender who had a permanent scowl on his face was soft for me. But now, it made my blood grow cold. The knots in my stomach were only getting worse.
Last night was miserable. It took everything to keep my mask on when Kole and I got home from the police station.
I’d feigned a migraine, locking myself in my bedroom after telling him I needed silence.
Then I spent the entire night staring at the ceiling.
I was running on zero sleep. I half expected him to wake up when I snuck out of the house this morning.
I wasn’t sure how long I could keep up this charade with him.
He knew me too well. And while pain was still stabbing me in the chest from his lies, anger was slowly seeping in.
I was over the shock now, and soon I wouldn’t be able to keep faking it.
Hopefully, I could uncover more answers before that happened.
“Are you scared?” Hallie asked quietly. “Of the killer?”
I turned to face her. “No.”
“Your name is everywhere,” she whispered, her eyes darting to the door as if making sure we were still alone. “Between you being with Kole, and how you’ve been at two of the murder scenes. Everyone thinks you’re next.”
“Kole and I aren’t together,” I informed her. “We’re just friends. He…” I forced the next words out. “He worries about me. And as for being in the wrong spot at the wrong time—maybe I just have really bad luck.”
My joke fell flat, her narrowed eyes proving she didn’t believe me. “If you ever need a friend to talk to, I’m here.”
She seemed so sincere—and maybe she was.
But I couldn’t look past what I learned last night.
This entire town was lying. To them, it was their way to earn freedom from their prison sentence.
This was their everyday life. From Natalie’s research, it truly helped to keep people from reoffending in the future.
I believed rehabilitation worked with certain individuals.
But I was jaded. From my own attack. From being here for months and realizing I couldn’t tell the difference between truth and lies. There were some people who were monsters, no matter what kind of help they received.
I couldn’t trust anyone here.
I took a sip of the hot coffee, meeting her gaze. “How long have you lived here?”
“Umm, about six months.”
I decided to pry a little more, curious on how she would react. “Why did you move here? Seems kind of desolate for someone so young.”
Panic swept over her features for a couple moments before she turned around, pretending to wipe down the counter. “Lucas. I met him online and decided to move here to be with him.”
Her lie was solid, but her tells were blatant, especially when I knew the truth. I inched closer to her, wondering how well she would answer other questions.
“He’s gone now,” I said softly. “Why not move away?”
“I like it here.”
“Why?”
She glanced up, her brows furrowing as she frowned. “The people here are nice.”
The door chimed, interrupting our conversation. My heart dipped when Susan strode in, tugging her winter gloves off.
“Large vanilla latte, please,” she ordered, barely giving me a glance as she walked to the counter.
“Sure,” Hallie answered with a small smile. I didn’t miss that she seemed relieved I couldn’t ask any more questions.
“I’m glad you’re up early.” Susan turned her attention to me. “I’ve already been to the station. We have a lot to do today before I go to the clinic.”
“The clinic?”
She blew out an annoyed breath. “I’m taking over Natalie’s therapy appointments. My time will be split, so I expect you to put in extra hours.”
I stared at her, a chill running down my spine. If she was doing Natalie’s job, it meant she knew everything. Of course she did. It was why she showed up immediately after Natalie was murdered. The job title was needed to keep running this experiment.
“Of course,” I answered when I realized she was staring at me expectantly. “I’ll help you set up your computer when we get to the station.”
“Already done,” she said briskly. “Natalie’s email is no longer in use. I’ll give you mine when we get to work.”
My stomach sank. That meant I couldn’t log in on Natalie’s computer anymore. I’d been hoping to look at the files one more time. Not knowing about Kole’s crime was driving me crazy. I needed every detail I could get.
Hallie handed over the coffee, and Susan grabbed it without uttering so much as a thank you. Natalie didn’t have many friends here—and now I realized why—but with how Susan acted, she was going to quickly become hated in town.
“Ready?” Susan asked me, heading toward the door.
“My shift doesn’t start for another hour—”
“What else are you doing?” she cut me off sharply. “I think your time will be best spent working until this town is safe again. Wouldn’t you agree?”
I bit my tongue. I had planned to scout out the factory this morning, but clearly that wasn’t happening.
I muttered a goodbye to Hallie before following Susan into the cold.
The sidewalks were still shoveled off from the snow that fell a couple days ago, but from how dark the sky was, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be long until fresh snow blanketed the ground.
“Dani, wait.”
Miles’s voice came from behind me, and I turned around to see him rushing closer. I’d only seen him a few times since he was attacked that night at the police station, but he seemed like his injuries were better. I ignored Susan’s irritated grumbling, giving Miles a smile in greeting.
“Hey,” he said between heavy breaths. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure.” I glanced at Susan. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
She pursed her lips but didn’t comment before storming away. Miles waited until she went into the police station before looking at me. Exhaustion was seeping into my bones, and I was anxious to get into the station to try and learn more, but from Miles’s tone of voice, it sounded important.
“How are you feeling?” I asked, meeting his gaze.
“Better,” he answered, a frown appearing as he noticed my bruised jaw. “I was going to ask you the same. I heard what happened the other night. It’s a miracle you made it out alive.”
I had no desire to go into detail about the night in the woods. “I was lucky.”
“You’re handling it well,” he muttered, letting out a short laugh.
“I’ve barely slept since the attack. The pain…
the panic. I can’t fucking get it out of my head.
But you’ve been going to work every day with no fear on your face.
You’re stronger than me, Dani.” His jaw ticked, and he shook his head.
“You know what, never mind. I’m gonna go. ”
My heart panged, and I grabbed his arm when he moved to turn away. “Don’t. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. What happened to you was traumatic. Talking about it helps, and you’re coming to me because I was there with you. Your feelings are completely normal.”
He stepped closer. “This is my first full day back at work. I had to change my schedule because I can’t walk to work before the sun comes up. Every time it’s dark, I feel like that asshole will come back and finish the job.”
I was still holding onto his arm, and I squeezed it gently. “That’s a normal response, Miles. You went through something traumatic.”
“Are you scared?” he asked in a whisper.
“Everyone is scared.” I kept my voice soft, giving him a different answer than I gave to Hallie earlier. “I’m sure you can make an appointment with Susan if you need a therapist. It might help.”
He scoffed. “I don’t think that lady has smiled since she got here. Not very friendly for a therapist.”
The dread filling me only grew. Susan was here for one reason, and it wasn’t for normal therapy. But Miles didn’t know that. Out of everyone here, it was the interns I could trust most.
“Well, you can talk to me.” I smiled. “I’m here if you need to.”
I tensed when he wrapped his arms around me, tugging me into a tight embrace.
I awkwardly returned the hug, patting him on the back.
Logically, I was aware he was using me to help with the trauma of that night because I went through it too.
But having someone who I didn’t know well touching me like this had my pulse spiking unevenly.
“Going from the bartender to an intern? Does that mean I have a chance too?”