by Kylie Rae
“Oh, you’re coming too!” Robin glared at him. “So you can tell her your part.”
“Kevin probably already told her...”
“Then you can apologize!”
“Alright....” Steve pulled Robin back again. “Let’s stop causing a scene. We’ll meet up tonight. To either talk to Whitney -”
“Or go to the cops!” Julie snapped.
Robin nodded and walked away before she couldn’t stop herself from hitting one of them. She typed up the message and hit send.
Ben shuffled his feet again before halfway waving goodbye and heading for the exit.
Steve turned to Julie, but her back was already to him as she stalked back to her work. He slouched, not sure how he’d ended up the bad guy this time, and returned to his office.
Once outside, Ben took a moment to let the sun thaw out the frostiness that had consumed him inside the casino. Partly from the AC pumping out at full blast, and partly from the conversation. He checked his phone to see if Kevin had called him back yet. Instead, he found a missed call and a new voicemail from Corey.
“Hey man.” Corey’s voice sounded odd on the recording. “Don’t worry about the situation. It will be handled. Everything will be fine. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“The situation will be handled?” Ben repeated with a frown. That didn’t sound like a good thing.. Then he called Kevin. He was pushed to voicemail again. After the beep he said, “It’s me again. I really need to talk to you. It’s urgent.” He resisted the urge to add life or death, hoping his gut was wrong. “There might be trouble,” he said instead. “Call me back, please.”
WHITNEY PRESSED HER back into the railing and sat on the stairs in front of her building. Kevin wouldn’t be here for another thirty minutes, but she couldn’t spend one more minute alone in her apartment. The clutter was driving her insane, but she also hadn’t found the energy to do anything about it. She’d shoved the worst of it into the closet so Kevin wouldn’t notice, but that was all she managed.
She opened the messages from Robin and read through them for the fifteenth time. The absence of her friend was a dull ache in her chest, but she was still angry.
Robin- I’m sorry if I went too far. Meet for dinner? On me.
Another message an hour later:
Robin- Please? I really want to talk to you. Face to face.
And an hour after that;
Robin- Whit, come on. The silent treatment is so middle school.
Whitney expected a follow-up phone call once Robin was out of work for the day, but she was going to ignore it. She already had plans and one little “I’m sorry” wouldn’t fix anything.
A few seconds later, Whitney’s phone vibrated in her hand and Robin’s name lit up the screen as it rang. Whitney waited until it darkened again. Then it lit up with a new message under the missed call notification.
Robin- This is important. Please call me back.
Please.
I’m sorry.
Before she could receive another message, Whitney turned her phone off. Kevin would be here soon, so she didn’t need it.
ACROSS THE STREET, Corey lurked behind a tree. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, too amped up to hold still. He didn’t have a fully formed plan, but he’d tucked his gun into the back of his jeans. He had to do something before they called the police. After them, there was only one more loose end.
The sound of footsteps approached from the left and Corey took a step further back into the shadows. Kevin came into view a moment later. Whitney jumped to her feet to greet him.
Corey’s lip curled in disgust as they shared a passionate kiss right there on the sidewalk. Kevin even groped her ass before they broke apart, grinning like fools. He watched them enter the apartment building, and he flopped down onto the grass.
Judging from that encounter, they’d be upstairs for a while. He just had to wait until dark, and then he’d... What? Break in? Maybe. He’d know what to do when the time came.
Chapter Seventeen
Two feet inside her apartment, Whitney already tugged at Kevin’s shirt to pull it over his head and her lips kissed every inch of his face.
“Babe” he said and tried to catch hold of her hands.
“Mmm,” she mumbled and groped below his belt.
He groaned but got his hands around her wrists. “Babe.”
“What?” She smiled at him and feigned innocence.
“First off, your door is wide open.” Kevin kicked it shut, and she giggled. “Second, I need to talk to you about something.”
“Can’t it wait? It’s been a really long day and I need you -”
“Ugh... I don’t know where all this energy came from, and I’m definitely not complaining, but...” Kevin pulled away from another kiss. “No, it can’t wait.”
“Oh, fine.” Whitney quit trying to fight his hold and pulled him towards the couch. “What’s so important?”
“Well...” Kevin hated having to kill the mood. He realized she wasn’t likely to keep pawing at him after he told her what he’d found out. But he also recognized holding back until afterwards would be worse. “I’d like to apologize in advance because I know you’re going to be upset... but I found something out and you need to hear...”
“Just tell me. It’s fine.” Whitney resigned herself to the worst. He’d met someone else. She was probably pregnant. He had to go be with her to take care of the baby.
“Well... I found out who mugged you.”
“Wait - what?” Whitney’s hands began to sweat, and she tucked them under her legs.
“Ben told me... it was uh, it was his dealer -”
Whitney blinked several times and avoided eye contact with Kevin as she tried to process what he’d said. Ben knew. He’d probably known the other night when she’d seen him. And he’d said nothing.
“Whitney?” Kevin put a hand on her leg and she jumped.
“No, it’s fine. I’m fine -”
“It’s not fine.” Kevin attempted to put his arm around her, but she jumped up from the couch. “Where are you going?”
“Uh,” Whitney ran her hands through her hair, shaking. “Uh, I don’t know. I just need a second.” She crossed the apartment with large strides and shut herself into the bathroom.
Kevin stared at the door. He was suddenly uneasy about her being alone in there. He couldn’t explain why, but he was worried she might hurt herself. He stood and went towards the door to listen for any signs of trouble. Did she lock the door behind her? Would he be able to get in if anything was going wrong?
Before he tested the handle, the door swung open. Whitney smiled at him and Kevin was taken aback.
“You okay?” he asked. Her eyes were a little too shiny to comfort him.
“Great.” Her smile widened and looked almost painful.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, silly. We’ll talk to them tomorrow. We’ll get it all sorted out and everything will be fine.”
“Really? You don’t want to... call the cops or anything?” He ran his hands up and down her arms and felt her relax at his touch.
“No need. We can handle it ourselves. I’m sure it was just a misunderstanding.”
“Uh, sure, okay.”
“But now,” Whitney slid into his arms and ran her hands over his chest. “There’s something else I need.”
“Oh yeah?” Kevin couldn’t help the physical reaction he had to her
grinding against him and he smiled.
“Yup.” Whitney grabbed the waistband of his pants and dragged him to the bedroom.
Whitney slid out of the bed without disturbing Kevin’s sleeping form. He sighed and pulled a pillow closer as she left the room. The front door of the apartment snapped shut, and he opened one eye to look around. He stretched one hand out and found only empty space on the bed.
“Babe?” Kevin sat up and rubbed his face. “Where’d you go?” He went through her apartment, but couldn’t find her. Movement outside the windo
w caught his eye, and he looked down at the sidewalk. “What the hell?” Whitney was walking down the middle of the street.
Kevin slipped his shoes on and ran out the door to catch up with her. Did she normally sleepwalk? They hadn’t spent that many nights together yet, but he felt like that was something she would have mentioned by now, right?
COREY SAW WHITNEY WALK down the street and wondered what the hell she was doing. But she’d made his job a little easier; now he didn’t have to break in to her apartment. He was about to step out from his hiding spot when he saw Kevin dash down the front steps. He hung back until the coast was clear, and then he followed behind the pair at a safe distance. Perfect.
JANE BROOKES WATCHED them from her window until they were out of sight. How many times had she seen that girl leave with her knife now? Too many. She couldn’t sit back and not act any longer. As much as she didn’t like to be a part of anyone else’s business... She had a strong hunch that this girl had something to do with her downstairs neighbor’s death. And even though that man had it coming, who was this girl to be judge and jury? No, no, she had to call the cops this time...
WHITNEY TURNED INTO the park and took the left path towards the bridge. Kevin gained on her, but she gave no sign that she’d heard him. He didn’t normally come to the park so late at night, and it was eerily quiet. Even the trees stood still and the water silent in the stream. The animals seemed to know not to make a sound as Whitney approached.
“Whitney!” Kevin moved to grab her arm when she turned, and he realized she had a kitchen knife in one hand. “Woah!” She swung, and he dodged, but she grabbed his shirt. They overbalanced and knocked into the rail of the bridge. Kevin tried to hang on, but Whitney’s dead weight forced him backwards and they fell down into the water below.
As they plummeted to the rocky bottom, Whitney slashed at Kevin’s flailing arms. Blood clouded around them, but he could still see her glazed over eyes and vacant expression. Her free hand encircled his throat and forced him down. Bubbles exploded from his mouth as he fought against her. But she had unexplainable strength, and he couldn’t break her grip on his throat. She stabbed again with the knife and he felt the pain in his side. He wasn’t sure if it was the blood fogging up the water that made it hard to see or him losing consciousness, but he couldn’t make out her face anymore. This was really happening, but he couldn’t wrap his mind around it–she was really going to kill him.
COREY WATCHED FROM a distance. He waited for them to resurface. Seconds ticked by and then turned into minutes. What was happening? He investigated; he had a job to finish, in any case.
He crept closer to the river’s edge, not wanting to lose the element of surprise. Whitney crawled out of the water on the other side, coughing. The water was cloudy, but he could make out a shape of a body near the bottom.
“The fuck?”
Whitney spun around at the sound of his voice. Her eyes widened and she let out a whimper of fear, but he did the only thing he could think of. He aimed his gun at her face and pulled the trigger.
He heard the sirens too late, though. He turned to see cop cars flooding the park entrance.
“Shit...”
His hands shook as the first officers ran towards him.
“Get on the ground!”
But he opened fire.
Chapter Eighteen
Robin stood in the doorway to the hospital room and watched the monitors. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the bed. With all the wires and tubes, it just wasn’t Whitney lying there. The doctors kept talking about percentages, but Robin knew she was gone. There wasn’t anything left in there, and she couldn’t help but blame herself.
Rose and Dan were on the couch, their hands clasped together. A steady stream of tears slid down Rose’s face, but neither of them spoke. Charissa, Daniel and Shyanne huddled at the end of the bed, varying stages of grief played across their faces.
The sound of a throat clearing made them glance up. Robin stepped aside so the police chief could enter the room.
“Afternoon, everyone,” he said, his face blank.
“Afternoon,” Dan muttered, but sounded more like a question. They’d all been there for hours. Was it really afternoon?
“It isn’t much, but here’s what we know so far.” The chief opened a folder and took a deep breath. “The knife found by the river has been confirmed to belong to Whitney. It matches the set in her kitchen and has her prints all over it. There were also traces of blood found on it. Preliminary tests have come back that it belongs to multiple individuals. Exact matches haven’t been found yet, but I believe we can conclude at least one will be the man found dead in the park recently. The other of course will be the young man from the river...”
“She killed someone else?” Rose choked the words out through her tears.
“That is our current belief, yes. With Steve Lewis’ statement about her assault on him this week, we can deduce she wasn’t in her right mind at the time of the attacks. He told us she didn’t know him, didn’t seem to even see him as she attacked.”
“I knew there was something wrong,” Robin whispered. “That’s why I called you.”
Dan nodded as Rose buried her head in his shoulder to sob.
“We are now requesting her medical records to be released, to confirm her mental capacities. Has she seen a professional about her issues in the past?”
“Yes,” Dan said. “She’s seen a doctor on and off for most of her adult life. She had terrible anxiety... and a bout of depression a while back...”
“I see. This information, and anything her doctor can add, will help fill in the blanks on this investigation. We’ve also talked with one of our nurses, Courtney May, about previous interactions she’s had. When she wakes up and goes to trial -” Rose let out an even louder sob, “-we can use mental incapacitation as her defense.”
“If she wakes up...” Robin couldn’t help but mutter.
“What’s that?” The chief asked.
“What about Corey?” Robin said instead. “He’s partially responsible for all of this. He triggered her mental break!”
“Mr. Jones... was pronounced DOA after the shootout at the park. He didn’t allow himself to be taken into custody. But we have Ben Anderson’s statement informing us of Mr. Jones’ confession to the mugging. We understand he had a part in all of this and it was clear to us what he was doing in the park with a gun in the first place.”
“So, he got what was coming to him,” Daniel said. His knuckles were white from gripping the edge of the hospital bed.
The chief inclined his head, but didn’t elaborate. “That’s all the information I have at this time. You all have my card, call if you need anything.”
He left, and they all seemed to let out a collective breath they’d been holding. Robin turned to leave; she couldn’t take being in this room any longer. Maybe she’d find the cafeteria.
“Wait,” Shyanne said. “I need to... I have some news. And there doesn’t seem like there will be a better time soon...” Rose looked up. “Peter and I found out two days ago at the doctor appointment. We’re having twins.” Shyanne tried to smile, but cried fresh tears instead.
Charissa folded her into a hug and patted her back. “That’s great. Really.”
Daniel and Robin joined the hug, Rose and Dan stood up to follow suit.
As the group held onto each other, the heart rate monitor gave one final blip and then flatlined.
DEAR MOM,
I’m writing a letter instead of calling or e-mailing because I want there to be a delay before you read this. I know you’ll be mad and say you would have come with me, but I think this is something I should do alone.
Whitney is dead. I know you already know. I know I called you after the funeral and cried my eyes out so you are aware of how deeply this hurts me. But I have to keep reminding myself of it because every morning I wake up and wish I could get coffee with her again or go out for ice cream like we’ve done at least onc
e a week since we were teenagers. And then I have to remember that she’s gone, and it cuts me all over again.
I miss her so damn much, mom. What am I going to do without her? She always said I was her rock, but she was actually mine. I don’t know what to do with my life without her in it.
Anyway. That’s the point of this letter. I’m leaving Oklahoma. And I’m not going back home. I can’t go back there. Probably ever again. There will be too many memories and it will hurt too much. So I’m going to travel for a while. Maybe I’ll find somewhere that feels right while I’m gone. I’ve saved enough from my job here at the casino that I’ll be set for a few months if I sleep in my car. If I sleep.
But I want you to not worry about me. I’ve gotten rid of my old phone, but I’ll call when I can. I have a minute phone to take just in case of emergencies. I’ll be okay. I am your daughter, and you raised me to be independent.
Please don’t call the police or anything. I promise I will call at least once a month. But I need to be alone. I need to figure out what to do now.
Love,
Robin
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Also by Kylie Rae
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In Spite of it All
Until I Wake (Coming Soon)
Watch for more at Kylie Rae’s site.
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