Evan cleared his throat and set the tin on his bedside table. “Sounds serious. What’s going on?”
When she just stood there, staring at his sheet-covered legs, Evan prompted, “Elenore? Whatever it is, you can talk to me about it.”
Elle reached inside her coat and pulled out the envelope containing the annulment papers. She stepped forward and laid it on Evan’s lap.
“What is this?” He picked up the envelope, tugged the papers free, and unfolded them.
After a minute of reading, he lifted his confused gaze. “It’s an annulment.”
Elle nodded, looking away from the hurt she saw in his eyes. “I’m leaving, Evan.”
“Leaving? I don’t understand. If I’ve done something to—”
“It’s nothing you did,” she interrupted, flicking a glance in his direction. “I just have to go.”
Pushing up higher in bed, Evan beseeched her, “Please talk to me. I thought you were happy here in Atlanta.”
“I was—am. Evan, I’ve done things, things that I can’t risk coming back on you and Sarah. I-I really do have to go.”
Evan held out a hand. “Elenore? Look at me.”
Elle stared at his outstretched palm so long he eventually let it fall back to his side.
“Whatever it is you think you’ve done, we can get through it. Just talk to me.”
No matter how deep of a breath Elle attempted to take, she couldn’t seem to get enough air into her lungs.
She swung her pained gaze to Evan’s now pale face. “I can’t—I won’t involve you in this. You’ve done enough for me. More than enough. But this, this is something not even you can help me with. You have to let me go, Evan.”
A muscle ticked along his jaw. “Where will you go?”
“I can’t tell you that either.”
“So, you’re just going to disappear and leave me here wondering why? I think I deserve to know why you’re running. If it’s not from me, then from whom?”
Elle fought tears of confusion, panic, and grief. “Me.”
“You? You’re running from you? That doesn’t make sense, Elenore. Do you need to talk to someone? If you can’t talk to me, then I can find you a good doctor—”
“I don’t need a doctor, Evan. I’ve done things, things I can’t take back. And I wouldn’t take them back if I could. But if I don’t go, and soon, you and Sarah could become involved. And I can’t let that happened. I won’t. So, you can either sign the papers and let me go, or I will get it done without your help. Either way, it’s going to get done.”
Evan remained quiet for long moments, and then, “Does your leaving have anything to do with the house fires in our neighborhood?”
A rush of nerves flew up Elle’s back. She fought with everything she had to keep her shock from showing. Of course Evan would suspect her of killing those men. He was, after all, a detective. “Will you sign the papers or not?”
“Elenore? If you had something to do with those fires, you have to tell me.” His desperation resounded throughout the room.
Elle jerked her chin toward the papers he held. “It doesn’t matter, Evan. Nothing matters but getting the annulment. I’ll be leaving as soon as I have Sarah taken care of.”
“As soon as…? Sarah is my daughter, Elenore. I will see to her care. Have you even thought about what your leaving will do to her?”
“I’ve thought of nothing else!” Elle cried, the tears she fought so hard to prevent now gathering in her eyes. “I love her, Evan. More than I ever thought I could love another person. And that is exactly why I have to leave. Now, please just sign the papers and let me go.”
Evan’s eyes grew misty also. He visibly swallowed, shifting his gaze to the papers in his hands.
Seconds ticked by, the room alive with a deafening silence.
“Mr. Ramirez?” A nurse poked her head in the room. “I’m here to take you to therapy.”
Elle stood next to Evan’s bed, her hands clasped in front of her…and waited.
“Do you have a pen?” Evan asked the nurse, his voice cracking on that last word.
The short brunette stepped into the room, pulled a pen from the pocket of her scrubs, and handed it to Evan.
He scribbled his name in the appropriate place, flipped through the papers, and signed the rest.
Lifting his pain-filled gaze, Evan pierced Elle with an angry look. “I’ll see to Sarah’s care. You do what you have to do.” He jerked up the papers and held them out to her.
Elle accepted them with trembling fingers. “I’m sorry, Evan…”
She left the room without a backward glance.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Elle held her emotions in check until she reached the parking lot. There, the tears began to fall.
She unlocked the car door and slid behind the wheel, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. She had broken Evan’s heart. She only prayed that Sarah didn’t take her leaving as hard.
Unable to see clearly, Elle wiped the tears from her eyes and cranked the car. She had a lot to do, and crying wouldn’t change anything.
There was no time for regrets. Besides, she didn’t regret killing Carl Erwin or Clyde Arlington. In fact, she felt zero remorse for any of the monsters she’d murdered. She only wished she’d killed them all. Then, there would be no more innocent victims to suffer at their evil hands.
Elle drove to the courthouse and delivered the annulment papers to the clerk. The woman informed her that she would get a notice in the mail once the documents were officially filed.
Arriving home half an hour later, Elle gathered the clothes she’d worn the night she killed Carl Erwin and deposited them into a garbage bag. She then set out for Mrs. Gordon’s.
The second Ida Mae’s door opened, Elle stepped into her arms. “It’s done. The annulment is done.”
Ida Mae patted her gently on the back. “It’ll be okay, girl. Come in and have a seat.”
Elle pulled back and offered Mrs. Gordon the bag she carried.
“What is this?” the elderly woman asked, accepting the offering.
Elle moved toward the table to take a seat. “It’s the clothes I was wearing the night I—”
“Enough said,” Ida Mae interjected, saving Elle from having to voice the words aloud. “What do you want me to do with them?”
“I-I thought maybe we could burn them. I didn’t want them at the house, in case the police come around to question me.”
Without another word, Ida Mae carried the bag into the den. She returned a minute later and sat in a chair facing Elle. “I put them in the fireplace. They’ll be nothing but ashes in no time.”
Relieved, Elle filled the elderly woman in on everything that happened during her visit with Evan, ending with, “He hates me.”
“Oh, hogwash. That boy’s not capable of hating a soul. He’s just hurting right now. He loves you, ya know.”
Elle stared down at her hands. “I can’t love him back, Ida Mae. Not in the way he wants me to. The longer I stay here, the harder it’ll be on everyone. Especially Sarah.”
“I know,” Ida Mae softly agreed. “Have you purchased your plane ticket yet?”
Elle shook her head. “No. But I will in the next day or two. I’ve been looking online at different properties in Montenegro. I found a small farm there for less than fifty thousand dollars. The cost of living there is cheap too. I should be able to find something to do to earn a living.”
“Sounds like you got it all sorted out. Are you afraid?”
With a nod, Elle admitted, “I’m scared to death. But it’s something I have to do. And with Elijah gone, I don’t have to worry about him anymore. I can start my life over.”
“Everyone deserves a do-over, Elle. Have you thought about what you’re going to tell Sarah?”
Elle blew out a shaky breath. “Yes. I’m going to tell her that I have to leave for a while to take care of some family business. She doesn’t need to know I’m not coming back.”
“I think that’s the thing to say. She’ll eventually forget…”
The ache inside Elle’s chest widened to the point where she found it difficult to breathe. Sarah would forget her.
Getting to her feet, Elle moved on numb legs to the kitchen door. “Thank you for everything, Mrs. Gordon.”
Ida Mae stood as well. “I have some errands to do today. I’ll run by the rehab center and check on Evan. I think you should have that talk with Sarah today. No sense in putting it off. It’ll only make things worse.”
“I know.” With one last grateful look in Ida Mae’s direction, Elle opened the door and stepped outside, pulling it softly closed behind her.
Chapter Thirty-Five
A knock sounded on the door just as Elle was getting ready to go get Sarah from school.
She hurried to the window to peek out, noticing a black sedan parked in the drive. The same vehicle the FBI agents had previously shown up in.
Her heart pounding, Elle backed away from the window and tiptoed toward the hallway.
The knock sounded again, harder this time. “Mrs. Ramirez?”
Elle froze, unsure of what to do. She couldn’t simply stand there and not answer the door. They would only wait outside for her. And she had to leave in the next twenty minutes to get Sarah.
With no other choice, Elle made her way to the kitchen door and tugged it open.
“May we come in, Mrs. Ramirez?” SSA Rollins asked, his intelligent gaze pinned on her.
Elle backed up a step. “Okay, but I have to get my daughter from school in a few minutes.” It hurt to speak of Sarah as her daughter, knowing she would have to leave her soon. But that’s exactly how Elle thought of her.
“We’ll keep it as brief as we can,” Rollins informed her on his way inside. Taggert followed close behind.
The two men took up residence on their previous stools at the bar, with Elle standing on the other side, facing them. “Have you found my father?”
“Unfortunately, not. We did, however, find his sister in Tennessee. But she claims she hasn’t seen him since before he married your mother.”
Elle blinked. She hadn’t known that Elijah had a sister. He’d never mentioned her before.
“We also spoke to the man your mother was married to before she passed. He—”
“What did you say?” Elle breathed, both of her hands now gripping the edge of the bar. “What about my mother?”
Rollins stared back at her without moving. “You didn’t know your mother had passed away?”
Elle found it difficult to speak. Of all the things she’d often thought about Mary Griffin, dead had never been one of them. “I— No, I— How long has she… What happened to her?”
“Perhaps you should speak with the man she’d been married to at the time. His name is Ray Durden.” Pulling a notepad and pen from his suit jacket pocket, Rollins flipped it open and copied something from one page to another.
He tore the page off and pushed it across the bar to Elle. “That’s his phone number and address.”
Elle accepted the paper, folding it up and shoving it into the pocket of her jeans. She would look at it later, once she’d had time to process the agent’s words. Her mother was dead.
Rollins and Taggert spent the next fifteen minutes questioning Elle anew about Elijah Griffin. Where he frequented, any out of state friends she might have recalled since their last visit.
Elle could barely think, her mind still whirling with the news of her mother’s passing. “Like I told you before, Agent Rollins, Daddy never talked to me about his dealings outside the farm. Nor did he ever mention friends or places he went. The only place I ever heard him mention was a bar in town called the Watering Hole.”
Rollins’s normally hard gaze relaxed a bit. “I know you want this to be over with. But until Elijah Griffin is located, it never will be. I trust you still have my card?”
“Yes, I have it.” Elle glanced at the clock on the wall. She had five minutes before she needed to leave.
Taggert and Rollins continued with their questioning, apparently expecting different answers, until Elle finally blurted, “I’ve told you everything I know. I don’t have a clue where Daddy is, or where he would go. And honestly, I pray to God, I never have to see him again. Now, I really do have to go. I’m running late already.”
Something in Rollins’s eyes spiked Elle’s anxiety. It was as if he could see into her very soul, like he knew exactly what she’d done. Did he suspect her in the murders of the people beneath that barn? Elle was beginning to wonder.
Once again, the agents left, letting her know in no uncertain terms that they would be back. Rollins had informed her that they would be going to the rehab center to speak with Evan.
Elle’s heart went out to the detective. He lay in that hospital bed, unable to walk without assistance, or be home with his daughter. And Elle had dropped the mother of all bombs on him. She’d annulled their marriage.
Of course, the marriage had been a farce from day one. Elle would never have been a true wife to Evan. Not in the way he needed her to be. She wasn’t capable of giving herself to him in the conventional sense. She was far too messed up for that.
No, Evan needed to go on with his life, to meet and fall in love with someone who could love him back and be a real mother to Sarah. The little girl deserved to have a good role model in her life. Not someone without a true identity, and definitely not a murderer.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Elle ended up taking the car to pick up Sarah from school. She took her to a fast food restaurant, allowing her to order whatever she wanted. Including ice cream.
They sat at a table outside the restaurant, feeding the birds bits and pieces of French fries.
Elle shifted on her seat, her heart breaking at what she had to do. “Sarah? I need to talk to you about something.”
The little girl licked at her ice cream cone, watching Elle with expectant eyes.
Swallowing around the ache in her throat, Elle began. “I-I’m going to have to leave for a while.” She couldn’t tell Sarah that she wouldn’t be coming back. She just…couldn’t.
A small indention appeared between Sarah’s eyes. “Where are you going?”
Licking her lips, Elle replied, “Somewhere far away.”
“When are you coming back?”
Elle glanced away, not wanting the little girl to notice the tears forming in her eyes. “I don’t know.”
Sarah climbed down from her seat and moved to stand next to Elle. “Can I come with you?”
More tears surfaced. “No, Sarah, you can’t come with me. You have school. Plus, your daddy would be lonely if you left him.”
“But I want to go with you, Elle.”
Elle shook her head, still unable to meet the child’s gaze. “You can’t. But you have your grandma and your aunt Myrtle to take care of you.”
“Why are you crying, Elle?”
Elle couldn’t answer. She eased her arm around Sarah’s small shoulders and pulled her close to her side.
Sarah suddenly sniffled, telling Elle without words that she cried as well.
Elle found her voice. “Please don’t be sad. You will have a wonderful life with your dad, grandma, and aunt Myrtle. They all love you and will see that you have everything you could need or want.”
“Don’t you love me, Elle?”
“More than anything,” Elle choked out, squeezing Sarah tightly against her side.
The little girl grew quiet for some time, and then, “Why do mamas leave?”
Multiple emotions assailed Elle at once. She knew exactly what Sarah felt. Elle herself had gone through the same sense of abandonment and fear that Sarah no doubt experienced in that moment.
Not caring about the now dripping ice cream the child still held in her hand, Elle turned in her seat and lifted Sarah onto her lap. “Listen to me, okay?”
At Sarah’s nod, Elle continued, “You are the only thing in this world that I have ever loved t
his much. I need you to remember that. Always.”
Sarah hugged her back. “Okay, Elle.”
The two of them remained in that position for several minutes, simply holding on to each other, neither of them speaking.
Elle attempted to breathe through her emotions, until she regained a small semblance of control. “Your ice cream has dripped all over my arm.”
Sarah giggled, sliding off Elle’s lap. “We need some napkins.”
“I don’t think napkins will handle this job. Come on, we’ll go wash up in the bathroom.”
And just like that, Sarah skipped toward the building as if all was right in her world. For that, Elle was relieved.
When they arrived home approximately twenty minutes later, Elle walked Sarah over to Mrs. Gordon’s to see if she would mind watching the little girl while Elle took a trip to Albany, Georgia.
“Why on earth are you going to Albany?” Mrs. Gordon asked as soon as Sarah rushed off to the den to watch cartoons.
Elle hugged her middle. “The FBI came again today. They told me they’d found my daddy’s sister. I didn’t even know he had any family. They also told me they spoke to the man who was married to Mama before she died. I-I had no idea she was dead.”
Ida Mae reached out and gently touched her on the arm. “I’m sorry, Elle. Seems like life just keeps handing you crap. Wish I could do something to help.”
“You are helping, Ida Mae. More than you know. Thank you for watching Sarah. I’ll be late getting back. Do you mind if she stays the night with you?”
“Course she can stay. Want me to run her to school in the morning?”
Elle shook her head. “I’ll be back before then. I can take her to school.”
Ida Mae nodded. “You’ve got so much on your plate. Would you like for me to talk to the child about you leaving?”
“We had the talk today.”
The older woman’s eyes grew large. “How did that go?”
“It was one of the hardest things in the world to do. But she took it better than I did.”
“She’s young,” Ida Mae consoled. “Kids are resilient little souls.”
Elle Unleashed: A Gripping Psychological Thriller with a Twist Page 11