Chapter 24
I didn’t get much sleep last night, but I did get a few solid hours of anxiety in.
—T-shirt
QUINCY
Myphone rang, and I groaned.
Peelingmy eyes open, I glared at it on my night table.
“Answer it already,” the woman pressed to my side urged. “Before it wakes me up.”
Isnorted. “You’re already awake.”
“I’m not,” she disagreed.
Irolled my eyes and reached for my phone.
Ihad a solid six and a half hours in. Honestly, that was pretty good for me.
Thatdidn’t mean I wasn’t still tired as fuck, though.
“Hello?” I answered, getting myself tangled up in the cord.
“Hey, it’s me,” DevinShaw, my contact in NewHampshire in charge of finding AlanaElDorado, said. “I have some news.”
Therewas a long pause and then I said, “Okay.”
“I thought maybe you might guess.” He chuckled. “This is about to blow another of your cases wide open.”
Ifrowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I got Alana in here, and she was telling me all about herself.” She paused. “Did you know she used to be a resident of Dallas, Texas?”
Itried to widen my eyes to get the sleep out of them, but it was proving hard.
Mymind was wide awake, though.
“No, I didn’t,” I admitted. “Alana was an afterthought. I didn’t do much research into her. Why?”
“Well, one, we just found a hit on a case you’re working. A train versus pedestrian one,” Devin murmured. “Two, we only had that because she offered up her DNA, then gave us two confessions. One from a few weeks ago when she was down in Dallas watching Taite’s show, and another from years ago. One involving a train and one of her best friends.”
Wideawake now, I sat up so abruptly that I knocked Hollis off of me.
“You’re such an asshole,” she grumbled as she curled into my back, her face pressing against my skin.
“Tell me everything,” I urged, my heart in my throat.
“I’ll let her tell you,” he said. “I recorded the confession. Sent it to your phone before I called. I’ll have her transported down there for the next step.”
Afterthanking Devin, I nervously went to my phone’s email and pulled it up.
Thefirst email to pop up was the one from Devin.
Clickingon it, I hit the video play button and waited.
Alana, beautiful despite being in a barren interrogation room, was staring at the screen looking green.
“One, tell me what happened a few nights ago,” Devin urged.
Alanalooked away from the screen and focused on Devin, reciting everything that happened that night, matching Taite’s story exactly.
Along time later, he said, “And tell me about this friend who was hit by a train.”
That’swhen the woman beside me sat up, her hair a fuckin’ mess, and stared at the screen with me.
“Uh, well,” Alana hesitated. “I changed my name from RoseBloom when I was nineteen. WhenI was eighteen, I left Dallas behind because I had a friend die.”
“A friend?” Devin asked.
“Yeah, a friend.” She looked back at the screen before turning back to Devin. “I, uh, pushed her.”
Mymouth fell open.
“How did you push her?” Devin was confused.
“My friend. She was standing on the top of the tunnel. We were fighting, and I got mad, and I pushed her. She fell in front of the train right when it was going through the tunnel.” Alana looked down at her lap. “I didn’t mean to.”
“How about you start from the beginning?” Devin suggested.
Aknock on the door had them both turning toward it, and Devin got up and answered it.
Apolice officer poked his head in and said, “Her counsel is here.”
“I don’t want him in here,” Alana said. “It’s time. The guilt is eating me alive.”
Devinmade sure two more times before he resumed his seat and Alana started from the beginning.
“We weren’t allowed to be best friends,” Alana said softly. “Her parents didn’t like me. I didn’t have any parents. I lived at a foster home. I was a bit wild, and Tansy was very sweet and kind, and took me under her wing. Tansy wasn’t wild like me. She was a great kid, and I dragged her under every single time we went out and did things. Eventually, Tansy’s mother didn’t want us around each other, so Tansy and I met in secret. That night she died, the night I pushed her in front of that train, she’d had a fight with a friend because Tansy had been accused of stealing from her friend. ButI’d been the one to do that, and Tansy knew it. She confronted me. We met up at the end of her road, and we drove. Eventually, we wound up at one of our favorite spots to go—we’d sit there for hours in that turn and talk about what we wanted our lives to be. But that night, when she got mad at me for stealing her friend’s money, I just lost it. I was so broke. I couldn’t even afford a pair of shoes. SoI just… yelled at Tansy. She took her shoes off and threw them at me. I picked them up, then threw them on the ground in front of her, then pushed her. She fell, and that was when the train hit her.”
Anaccident.
Ahorrible accident.
“I took her shoes, her phone that somehow landed on the ground at my feet, and just ran.” Alana shook her head. “It was later on that I realized that the phone had her f-finger still attached to it. I threw it in the river, tossed her shoes at the end of her driveway on the way home and left town the next day.” She shook her head. “I should’ve said something. I should’ve done anything… but I was traumatized.”
Therewas more after that.
ButI shut it off and tossed it on the bed between us.
“What are the odds?” I asked Hollis.
Shecleared her throat, then tried to get her hair under control before looking at me.
Shewas so fuckin’ cute.
“I think the universe likes you, QuincyCarter.” She shook her head. “She could’ve taken that to her grave, and no one would’ve been the wiser.
Agreed.
“Wow,” I shook my head. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“Nothing to say, I guess,” she murmured. “Now you get to go tell that family what happened.”
Ishook my head, still stunned. “They’re going to lose it.”
Iwas right.
Hourslater, when I delivered the news to Tansy’s family, they did, indeed, lose it.
Andwhen I went home an hour later, I found Hollis at my kitchen stove cooking for me.
“How do you feel about checking out my house tomorrow?” I asked.
Holliswhipped around. “I’d love to.”
Igrinned, then walked toward her, lifted her up onto the counter, and kissed her.
Whenshe pulled away, she was panting.
“Stupid periods.”
Iagreed. “Stupid periods.”