Crazy Madly Deeply

by Lily White

  “Well, that’s funny because yesterday one of your officers made it perfectly clear that I was a suspect as well. Is that your game, call everybody a suspect because you have a missing drug addict on your hands? Maybe you should be checking out the drug houses instead of wasting your time harassing good people who are just trying to live their lives. What the hell is wrong with you?”

  The hallway outside my room became quiet, the door eventually opening as Angela slipped in. She rushed over to my bedside as quickly as she could. “We need to be fast about this conversation. I just sent that rookie off to go find his superior and I’m not supposed to be in here. What happened?”

  “Angela? What are you doing? You’re going to get in trouble.” Still dazed by the drugs they’d given me, I was having trouble speaking around a tongue that felt like cotton.

  “Don’t you worry about me, Holden. I have a way of getting out of just about anything. But what I need to know is, are you okay?”

  “I think so. My leg hurts like a wicked bitch.”

  She nodded. “That’s what happens when people shoot bullets through it. I just taught you medicine 101. Why were you shot?”

  My rage came roaring back, the heat of it driving blood through my veins and casting a red haze over my vision. “Those bastards were trashing Deli’s room. She was screaming and crying for them to stop. I tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen. They told me nobody was in the room, but she was under her blankets. They didn’t see her and they wouldn’t listen to me. I rushed to stop them and they shot me.”

  Flinching at my words, Angela’s expression tightened even more, her eyes searching mine as her hand brushed softly down my arm. I could tell thoughts were racing through her mind, but she didn’t voice any of them until settling on a question I wasn’t sure how to answer. “Holden, where is your sister now?”

  “I don’t know.”

  My head was killing me, a steady pounding inside my skull that spread pain over every inch of my body. “I need you to find her. I’m not worried about me at the moment, but if you really want to help me, you’ll find Delilah. She can’t be alone. She’s terrified of going outside or leaving the house. She-“

  Angela patted my cheek, snapping her fingers in my face to stop me from speaking and pay attention to her. Once I was quiet, she glanced quickly at the door before saying, “I’ll find your sister, okay? But you need to calm down. Those machines above your head are beeping so fast, they’re about to melt down. So don’t you worry, Holden. I’ll handle this.”

  The door burst open behind her, Officer Shay himself storming in to roar out his discontent. “Who the hell said you could come into this room and speak to our suspect?”

  Spinning on her heel, Angela planted her hands on his hips and barked out her response. “Oh? So he’s a suspect now? For what? Getting in the way of the bullet your incompetent police force fired in his house? Is he under arrest? Have you done your job and read him his rights or told him he can speak to a lawyer?”

  Officer Shay’s face was crimson red. “I have the right to hold him for twenty-four hours, and in that time, if I find evidence that he had something to do with Jack Thorne’s disappearance, then yes, he’s under arrest.”

  “He wants an attorney,” Angela screamed back, refusing to give ground to the man who now had his hand hovering over the butt of his gun. Panic shot through me, the machines beeping even faster now that the drugs they’d given me were wearing off.

  “He can’t demand one because he’s not under arrest.”

  “Then you can’t stop me from talking to him!”

  They were nose to nose, as much as they could be. Officer Shay had several inches on Angela in height. Shay’s voice coming out on a low growl, he scowled down at my boss, his hand still hovering over his gun, his eyes locked to the face of a woman who wasn’t giving up. “I will arrest you if you don’t leave this room in the next five seconds.”

  “For what?”

  “For getting in the way of a police investigation.”

  “Oh? Now I’m just getting in the way of an investigation? Yesterday, you called me a suspect. It sucks to be downgraded.”

  She was going to get herself shot and be strapped down to a bed right beside me if she didn’t stop. “Angela. It’s okay,” I called out. “Please, just go find my sister.”

  Both their heads snapped in my direction, Officer Shay’s mouth pulling into an angry line and Angela’s eyes filling with sorrow. Nodding her head, she ignored the officer still standing toe to toe with her. “I’ll leave now, Holden. Don’t worry. I’ll find out what happened to Delilah.”

  Turning back to Shay, she snapped, “If you will excuse me, please. I need to go find out what you all did to another innocent person.”

  I was shocked when he actually stepped aside to let her pass. Nobody messed with Angela when she was in one of her moods. Not even the police, apparently.

  She’d almost made it to the door, when Shay set his sights on her, calling his question out before she could place her hand on the knob. “How did you even know that Mr. Bishop was here?”

  My brows rose at the question, only because it was one I hadn’t thought to ask.

  Turning back to face us, Angela smiled. “Well, you see, Officer, I happen to be psychic. And if you don’t believe me, I’ll be happy to pull the crystal ball out of my ass and read your future for you, too.” Her smile became fiercer. “Actually, wait, how stupid of me. I don’t need a crystal ball to know that you and your entire police force are about to be sued for shooting an innocent man. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find what other victims to add to the lawsuit that’s coming your way very soon”

  Spinning back, she was out the door before he could utter another word. I didn’t know whether to curse her for getting herself involved in my mess, or cheer to have her on my side.

  The cheering would have to wait. Officer Shay leveled a glare in my direction, his large, stocky body taking up too much space in the room. “Do you want to tell me what happened to Jack Thorne now that you’re awake?”

  My first instinct was to admit the truth and save everybody the headache this entire situation had caused. But remembering the promise Michaela had demanded from me, I stuck to the script, hoping like hell she knew what she was doing. “I don’t know what happened to Jack. Have you checked with his drug dealers? Or asked around at the parties on his side of town? Maybe they know.”

  Shay smirked. “You know, it’s really funny how you, Michaela, and your boss all want to paint Jack as some drug addict not worthy of your time, but I happen to know him as a talented and intelligent young man who has everything going for him. I also happen to know you have a bone to pick with him and no money to your name, so if I had to take a guess, I would pin his disappearance on you.”

  I shrugged. “Seems to me you’ve already done that. Did you happen to find him as you tore apart my house?”

  “No, but I found his girlfriend, and isn’t that all sorts of interesting? When we talked to you yesterday, you didn’t mention Michaela was at your house. Sounds to me like you were hiding something.”

  “Yeah,” I answered, wishing my voice could be a little stronger and clearer. The drugs weren’t allowing it. “I was hiding a woman who was terrified to go to you about whatever caused her to show up at my door beaten and bruised.”

  Narrowing his eyes, he looked at me like I was scum he’d just scraped from the bottom of his shoe. “Are you trying to convince me that Michaela Paige showed up at your house unexpectedly on the night both she and Jack caused a scene at your restaurant, and you let her in without asking any questions about why she was at your door?”

  “No, that’s not what I’m saying. Of course, I asked her what happened. Her face was swollen and she was crying. But she wouldn’t tell me why she was there, just that she needed help because she was scared and hurt. Given how Jack was acting that night at the diner, it didn’t take a genius to put two and two together. So I let h
er in.”

  He scowled. “And what do you believe happened?”

  Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly. The pain meds were wearing off and my leg was throbbing as bad as my head. “Does it matter what I believed happened? That’s just an opinion. All I know is that a woman needed help, so I helped her. She’s a friend of my sister’s.”

  “Let’s talk about your sister, shall we?”

  “My sister has nothing to do with any of this,” I growled, anger balling my hands into fists.

  He opened his mouth to respond, but the door opened behind him, a nurse I recognized from after my accident two years ago walking in. She had been the woman who sat beside me after Delilah was brought in, the same woman who had wheeled me to Delilah’s room to let me see that my sister was alive. Seeing her brought all the pain back to me from that day, but I wasn’t unhappy to see her either.

  “You again?” Officer Shay angrily barked.

  The nurse’s eyes snapped up to him, her lips a thin line of annoyance. Crossing her arms over her chest, she reminded him, “As far as I can tell, this is a hospital and not a police station. I have every right to be in this room, even more than you.”

  “Are you planning on kicking me out of here like you did in Ms. Paige’s room?”

  “No,” she answered calmly, “I’m here to tell you we have the results of Michaela Paige’s tests that were run, and I think they might be of interest to you in your investigation.”

  A groaned rolled over his lips before he tipped his head toward the door. “Let’s step outside to discuss it. I don’t need sensitive information being overheard by a suspect.”

  The nurse barked out a humorless laugh. “Suspect for what? Beating a woman for years? Because I can promise that you have the wrong man if that’s the crime you’re investigating.”

  Officer Shay wasn’t amused. “Outside, now.”

  Rolling her eyes, the nurse stepped out, Officer Shay following right behind her. I was left on the bed to consider what I’d just overheard.

  Resting my head against the pillow, I closed my eyes and thought about what the nurse had just admitted. Jack had been hitting Michaela for years, most likely leaving enough evidence behind for the hospital to verify the abuse.

  My jaw ticked with anger at the thought of it, and I wasn’t sorry for killing Jack. Especially not after what I had just learned.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  Michaela

  I had three healed hairline fractures. One on my cheekbone, one on my arm, and one on my hip. None of them had been severe enough to require casts or prevent me from moving, but their existence was proof enough that Jack had been mistreating me for far longer than I wanted to admit to myself much less anybody else. Shame enveloped me, but I had to look at it for what it was. The old injuries only helped to prove the story I was telling about a man so lost to the power that came with wealth and his drug habit, that he’d not only harmed his own girlfriend, he’d harmed other people as well.

  I didn’t know how many girls would be willing to come forward, but I did know how I would get the message across that I needed them to tell their stories. The only problem I faced was how to get the call for help out to the woman I knew had access to the girls in question.

  Thankfully, the answer to that problem came walking through my door with a scowl on her face and anger written into the line of her shoulders.

  “Spill.”

  Angela stood staring at me with her hands on her hips and a no-nonsense expression. How she’d sauntered into my room without someone stopping her was a question on my mind, one that would have to wait until I was done telling her what she wanted to know.

  “Where would you like me to start?”

  “From the beginning. When telling stories, that’s usually the best place to begin.”

  Nodding my head, I weaved my fingers together in my lap. “The night Jack and I showed up at your diner, he hurt me.”

  “How hurt are we talking?” she asked, her voice careful.

  I swallowed. “As hurt as a man can make a woman.”

  Sympathy softened her eyes and withered her shoulders. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

  Shrugging it off, I decided against mentioning it wasn’t the first time. The only information relevant at the moment was Holden. I’d become a new person since falling for him, a stronger person. The injuries against the Michaela of the past couldn’t matter anymore. I wouldn’t be able to run away from it forever, but for now, I had to roll back my shoulders and charge through it...for Holden, and for the person I wanted to be because of him.

  “Thanks, but that’s not what scares me right now.” Pausing , I realized how it did scare me, even though I’d tried to convince myself otherwise. But it wasn’t just me. It was all the girls used at the parties, the ones I failed to protect, the ones I’d failed to speak up for. I needed to change that.

  “Anyway, after Jack did that, I ran off, and I ended up at Holden’s house. I was friends with his sister. We were on the same dance team, so I knew where she lived. Holden took one look at me and said I could hide at his house and that’s where I’ve been for the past two weeks.”

  Holding up her hand, she said, “Let me stop you there. How is it you were able to run on foot to Holden’s house?”

  “We were on his side of town so that Jack could buy drugs.”

  Understanding flashed over her face. “That’s what I thought. Okay, continue.”

  “Holden and I...” My voice trailed off, the tears coming back again as sobs threatened my chest. “We’re more than friends. He...I love him, Angela. He’s an amazing person and his art...”

  I could barely speak around the pain in my heart. “I want to help him. I want to make up for everything the town has done to his life. It’s not fair. He’s worth so much more than the bad luck he’s been handed. It’s like the universe is against him.”

  She barked out a laugh. “Yeah, I can agree with you on that. If that boy were a character in a book, I would swear the author hated him. I’d never let him buy a lottery ticket for me either. With his luck, I’d end up owing them money.”

  A sigh blew over my lips. “Angela, I don’t think Delilah is alive. Or if she is, I don’t think she’s at his house.”

  Angela’s eyes widened, pain and worry flashing across her expression. “Why?”

  “Her room. I never saw it before the accident that killed her parents, but it doesn’t look like a nineteen year old woman lives there. Her walls are still covered with pictures of high school. But, I thought that could be a result of her head injury, or some psychological trauma, so I didn’t really worry about it until she supposedly came home two days ago.”

  “What happened then?”

  My fingers tightened over each other, the tears I’d been trying to contain finally free to fall down my cheeks. “He swore she was in the house, and any time he went in her room, he saw her. He even took her a plate of food. But when I went in, the room was empty. She wasn’t there.”

  Cursing under her breath, she looked up at the ceiling and back to me. “You’re sure? She wasn’t just in the bathroom? In the closet? Under the bed?”

  I just looked at her.

  “Well,” she threw up her hands. “I would rather believe his sister has some strange love of hiding than believe that Holden has been imagining her for the past two years. He lives for that girl.”

  My voice low, I suggested, “He was shot trying to defend Delilah. If he is imagining her, it’s severe.”

  “Yeah,” she replied, swatting a tear from her face that had escaped her eye. “I know it. That’s what he told me.”

  My eyes rounded. “You’ve seen him?”

  Laughter shook her shoulders. “I snuck into his room same as I snuck into yours.”

  “Don’t they have police posted outside?”

  More laughter. “Yes. To get in Holden’s room, I had to convince the rookie officer to go look for his superior. To get in here, I had to wait unti
l he wasn’t looking and just run past him. They really should fire that guy. He’s a shitty cop.”

  My heart felt like it would tear from my chest. “How is Holden?”

  “Drugged up and strapped to a bed, but other than that he seemed fine. He’s worried about his sister and asked me to find her. Now, how the hell am I supposed to do that if she doesn’t actually exist any longer?”

  A thought occurred to me the instant she asked the question. “The nurse who went with me for the x-rays. She said Holden broke her heart two years ago, so I assume she worked with him after the accident. Maybe she would know what happened to Delilah.”

  She flicked a quick glance at the door before turning to me and saying, “It’s worth a shot. What does the nurse look like?”

  “Black hair. Pretty brown eyes. Purple scrubs. Tough as nails demeanor. Kind of reminds me of you.”

  A smile stretched her lips. “Then she should be easy to find. Bitch calls to bitch. We’ll meet eyes and just know we like each other.”

  Nodding, I could hear noise out in the hallway, and I knew instantly that someone would be coming in the room, giving me little time to tell Angela the rest of what I needed her to do.

  “There’s one other thing,” I mentioned, my voice soft for fear whoever was on the other side of the door would hear me. “I need to come clean about something that’s been happening in town for several years now, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it on my own. I need to get a message out.” My eyes locked to hers, “Can you help me?”

  “Whatever you need, Michaela. Personally, I’m sick of the way things are in Tranquil Falls.”

  Giving me a pointed look, she’d admitted she knew more about the secrets of the town without having to say a word.

  Grabbing a scrap of paper and a pen, I wrote a name and phone number down. Handing it over, I said, “Call this person. Tell her I asked you to call. Then ask her to get in touch with the others. She’ll know what it’s about. Just tell her I’m not missing like the news says. You can also tell her what happened the night I showed up at Holden’s, between Jack and me. She’ll understand.”