“How would he find out, though?” I ask.
“There is no telling with the two of them,” Tim says.
“Do you know Sheriff… Weaver?” Collier asks them.
“Yes,” Hannah says, rolling her eyes. “He was the bastard who told me to give up and plant a cross by the lake.”
“He arrested Suzette the night she died across town from where she was found,” he says, looking at his phone. “The computer system sends copies of everything automatically to the state. It’s deleted from everything here, so it messed up the state’s file… But I have it. She was arrested for disorderly conduct and assault on a police officer. She was booked but released just minutes later at 9:07 PM. The call for her body was called into 911 at 9:12 PM but it’s a twenty minute drive from the station to where she was found.”
“He was the one who responded to our wreck,” Tim says. “He was there. I remember him.”
“No, Officer Levi Higgins was. He got Tina out and checked her while paramedics were with us. That’s why he got promoted. He wasn’t on duty but stopped and helped,” Hannah says.
I am looking back and forth between them while I munch on my food. I am sitting cross-legged on the bed as I absorb everything they are saying. They're going back and forth between each other, thinking about all of the possibilities aloud. By the time I am done eating my wings and my to-go cup full of chocolate milk is gone, I sigh heavily and get everyone’s attention.
“So… could Suzette have been with him when he responded?” I ask. “Because what if… I watch too much crime TV… What if he accidentally killed her or she died in his care… He didn’t want it coming back on him, so when he passed the car with twin babies and unconscious parents… He wanted to make sure she looked as bad as possible so no one would look into it. Maybe he assumes social services would look for my parents. Maybe he didn’t care… But with all that… It sounds like he killed her, took me, and dumped us both. Then he went to the station, did what he needed to do, and made it look like he arrested her. Then she’d be found dead with a baby, like she went crazy and stole a baby before shooting up… Obviously, he realized the timing was suspicious and deleted records so no one here would see it. He might not have even known it was being sent to them. Computers were still pretty new back then.”
“Alright,” Collier says with a sigh. “I am going to get with the police here and get a few things rolling.”
“What now?” I ask. “Do I get a paycheck now for doing your job?”
“Kendra,” Marcus says, rubbing my back.
“No,” I say as I abruptly stand up and step toward Collier. He doesn’t react, but he is watching me closely. “I won’t even mention the fact they lost an entire fucking child because no one thought to find out where the fuck I belonged. No one thought, ‘Oh, hey. This woman couldn’t have been the mom. Who is the mom then?’ I went from foster home to foster home when I could have been with them. You wanna know when I was sexually assaulted for the first time? Hmm? It wasn’t even Archer.”
“When?” Collier asks simply, although I don’t think he wants to know.
“Five, Jeff,” I yell at him. As I continue talking, tears roll down my face, but I keep my voice loud and steady. “I was fucking five years old when my foster brother forced his dick in my mouth. I was eleven the first time someone raped me. I stayed in that home for six months being raped daily. I wasn’t silent about it either. I reported it to the social worker when I was five, and six, and seven. I told her when that man held me down and fucked me. You know what she told me? She told me that I’m lucky to have a stable home, but if I kept complaining, no one would want me. Alan was the first man in my life to not use my body. He was the only one I could curl up on the couch with to watch a movie without fear of being fucked over the armrest. All of that could have been prevented, but here we are again with a police department that doesn’t give a goddamn about me. No one givesa fuck that he tried to blow me up. No one cares that when he comes for me—which I know he will—I will die.”
“I do care, Kendra,” he says gently.
“No, you don’t!” I scream at him, trembling with both rage and grief from everything that has been stolen from me. “Archer is not going to stop. He is angry because to him, I stole his life. I took his dad and everything he should have gotten when he died. He wants revenge, Jeff, and with the way you fucking people investigate, maybe Ishouldgo jump off that goddamn bridge. It sure as fuck beats what he will do to me.”
“I know you don’t mean that,” he says in a tone that lets me know he is trying to not set me off even more.
“You saw the goddamn video of what he did to me,” I laugh in an almost crazed way. “Nineteen hours of being fucking brutalized, and that was with him not intending to kill me. Are the fucking cops even going to look for my body this time, or will I just be presumed dead again?”
“Kendra,” he says with a heavy sigh, clearly annoyed with me.
“Did you miss the part where I am Holly? Do you need a goddamn map to find your way around too?” I snap at him. “Three goddamn hours in this fucking town and I found out more than you have in six motherfucking weeks, Jeff. If you had done your goddamn job six weeks ago, I wouldn’t have gotten as bad as I did. I wouldn’t have planned my own fucking suicide. He could be in fucking jail. You expect me to fucking trust youwhen you couldn’t even check the fucking state records? I have two babies to fucking think about right now. How am I supposed to feel bringing them into this world when some fucking psycho wants me dead and you are sitting on your goddamn ass?”
“You’re right,” he says. “I’ve made mistakes, and it’s cost you a lot.”
“I am so fucking done with all of this,” I say with a dry laugh. I grab the keys to the truck before storming past everyone and going to the door. Collier moves to stand up, and I spin around on him. “I swear to God, I will run that goddamn truck into a tree. Stay the fuck away from me.”
I look at Marcus and Bellamy because I need them to understand that I just need space, and I’m not going to swan dive off anything. Marcus nods once as if to tell me he gets it, so I turn around and leave the motel room. When I get to the truck, I back out of the spot and drive.
Chapter Fourteen
Marcus
Damn, she’s hot whenshe rages. I know she just needs to breathe for a second. Maybe I am being too trusting, but I truly think she meant it when she said the twins changed her perspective. I look at Bellamy, and he nudges me with a smirk.
“Is anyone going to go after her?” Collier asks with a sigh.
“Tim, you want to?” I ask. His eyes light up at the chance, and I smile. “She won’t go far, but know that she has a temper and will probably turn on you. Just let her get it out if she does. She will then sob because she doesn’t mean to lose her temper.”
“I’ve lived with her momma for a long time. Calming these women down is a talent,” he says proudly. He turns and kisses Hannah before standing up. “I’ll text when I get to her.”
