Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Vivi had been quiet ever since Mason arrived at her house that afternoon, a dead giveaway to let him know that something was wrong. He snuck a glance at her where she stood just a few feet away, sorting things from the closet in the master bedroom and packing them into boxes to be moved to storage.
“How did your visit with Ellen go?” he ventured warily.
She paused the process of putting the folded shirt into the box, and she stared sightlessly at it for a few seconds before responding. “Not great.”
He hadn’t expected much else, to be entirely honest, but he knew Vivi was disappointed. “What happened?”
She bit her lip. “She didn't even recognize me. I know there are supposed to be good days and bad, but I just… I guess I didn't expect that. It hurt a little bit, you know?” Her gaze lifted to his. “And then I felt awful for feeling that way, because I know she can't help it.”
“I'm sorry.” He abandoned the box of books on the bed and moved toward her, pulling her into his arms.
He couldn't imagine what this was like for her. He didn't have any first-hand experience with anyone who had a form of dementia, nor was he close with any of his family members, save Miles. As similar as their childhoods had been, they were also vastly different.
While Miles and Mason had practically raised themselves, Vivi had had Ellen. He knew she was close to the older woman despite the fact that they weren't even related, and he couldn't begin to contemplate a connection like that. Still, he wanted to ease the hurt that Vivi was feeling right now.
“I know it's hard for you, but I'm sure it's hard for her too.”
“I know,” she mumbled against his chest. “That's what I keep trying to tell myself.”
She pulled away a little bit. “The doctors recommend just giving her little reminders when she forgets, but sometimes she's just so adamant that it's almost easier to go along with it.”
“I don't blame you,” he said. “I'm sure she believes whatever she says. Better to just drop it sometimes than get into an argument that she won't remember anyway.”
A stricken look crossed her face, and he tightened his hold on her. “I'm sorry, that was—”
She shook her head. “No, you're right. I just feel kind of helpless when she's like this.”
“I know, babe.”
He hated that she was hurting, and he wanted nothing more than to take that pain away. He squeezed her hip. “The little plastic things on the ends of shoelaces are called aglets.”
Vivi rolled her eyes, but a tiny smile lifted her mouth. “Distracting me?”
“It was that or sex,” he said honestly.
Vivi’s smile grew and something in his chest fluttered. It was scary how much he liked her. Just being with her made him happy, and the more time he spent with her, the more he wanted to be with her.
The only black cloud hovering over their relationship at this point was Knox. He felt guilty for not telling him about them, but Vivi had insisted she wanted to tell him. He wanted to give her that opportunity—but he hoped she would hurry up about it.
He felt like a dirty secret, like she didn’t want to admit she was with him. Given his past, the knowledge hurt. He tried not to let it show, but it got harder every day to just let it slide. He wanted to be with her, and he wanted everyone to know she was his.
She leaned in for a quick, soft kiss. “Armadillo shells are bulletproof.”
He wanted to tell her everything he felt, everything that weighed on him, but she’d been through enough that day. Instead, he bottled up his emotions and pushed them to the furthest recesses of his heart as he gave a little tug on her hand. “Let’s grab some food. I’m starving.”
Over dinner, they made small talk, keeping the conversation light and steering away from anything that involved either Ellen or her brother.
The situation with Tyler hovered in the forefront of his mind. They obviously wouldn’t be getting any information from Ellen, but the whole thing had stirred his curiosity, especially knowing that Vivi was somehow involved. He wanted to get some answers. “Ellen has a son, right?”
Vivi nodded and swallowed a bite of food. “Elijah.”
“How old was he when you lived here?”
“He was older than Christine, so he’d been gone for a while at that time.” Vivi studied him. “Do you think he had something to do with it?”
“Possibly.” He set his fork down and leaned back in his chair.
“I don’t know exactly what happened to Russ, but I looked over the backgrounds you printed off this morning.
There’s no information on him—no vehicle registered in his name, no health insurance, no rental agreement.
What Tyler said is accurate—it’s like he just disappeared. ”
“So you really think he’s dead?” Vivi bit her lip.
“I have to admit it’s a possibility. Now, whether it was an accident or intentional, I don’t know.”
Vivi stared at him. “If it were an accident, why wouldn’t she have told me about him? Why don’t I remember anything about him?” She gestured with one hand. “Not in the entire time I’ve lived here has there been any evidence of him. Why?”
He couldn’t answer that, and he really didn’t like the implication. “I’m not sure, babe. I want to help you figure that out, but I don’t know where to start. A death certificate was never issued, so there’s no evidence that he’s actually gone.”
“Unless someone admits it,” Vivi added.
Wishful thinking, but they would be stupid to do so. If someone had killed him, they’d managed to keep it secret for fifteen years. By now they probably expected everyone to have forgotten about it. Had it not been for Tyler digging into Christine’s past, no one would have been the wiser.
“Let’s say he is dead. Like you said last night, I seriously doubt Ellen would be capable of doing it herself. You were living with her at the time. She couldn’t have just killed someone in front of you.”
Vivi’s teeth worried her lower lip, lost in thought. “I—”
She stopped abruptly, her entire body going rigid. “Dr. Vance.”
From where he sat watching her, he could practically hear the wheels turning. “Who is that?”
“A child psychologist.” She sat forward a little bit.
That was news to him. “What are you talking about?”
“About six months after I moved in, Ellen took me to see Dr. Vance. She said I needed to talk with someone about my parents’ deaths.
But if that were the case, wouldn’t she have done that right away?
I mean, why else wait so long? I never really thought about it before, but now…
” She redirected her gaze to him. “What if it had to do with this instead?”
It made his stomach churn to consider, but he couldn’t rule it out. “Do you think you saw something and shut it out, or maybe he helped you to move on and you’ve forgotten about it until now—until the dreams started?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea. There was another doctor around that same time, too, but I only remember seeing him once. I’d have to look through Ellen’s things, see if she kept his information.”
That didn’t help with the situation at hand, and it only left him with more questions than answers.
But he wanted a resolution for Vivi if nothing else.
“If Ellen caught Russ… with you,” he said slowly, watching her reaction, “she could have just reacted impulsively. Maybe she was trying to protect you and things went a little too far.”
“Then why not go to the police?”
He lifted one shoulder, completely at a loss. “Maybe she felt she couldn’t. Maybe she thought she’d go to jail and you’d be alone again. Desperate people do stupid things all the time.”
Vivi nodded slowly. “She could have covered it up.”
“Possible.” He nodded. “She’d have reached out to someone she could trust.”
Vivi’s chest hitched. “Like Elijah.”
His thoughts exactly. “We should talk to him. Can you call and see if he’ll meet up with us?”
Vivi nodded her assent, but her face was tinged slightly green like the thought made her sick to her stomach. He couldn’t imagine what she was thinking or feeling right now. If this had truly happened to her…
Anger burned in his stomach. He wanted answers on her behalf. He stood and moved around the table to her, then knelt next to her chair. He cupped her face in his hands. “Whatever we find, I’ll be right here.”
“Okay.”
The word was a whisper, but he saw the truth of it in her eyes. She was putting her faith in him—and he wouldn’t let her down.