What Lies Beneath: Romantic Suspense

by Moore, Lila

  “Can I use your phone?” he asked.

  It was clearly time to call the police. There would be no more lies and cover-ups. It was time to come clean. I was relieved. I couldn’t carry this secret around for the rest of my life.

  “There’s no phone out here,” Jillian snapped.

  “Okay. We should go into town and call someone. My car’s parked just outside…”

  Jillian held up the baseball bat, pointing it at Theo’s chest. “No police.”

  “There’s a body up there on the bridge. You can’t keep the police out of this. It’s only a matter of time before they’re up here asking questions.”

  “Am I under arrest? No? Then I don’t have to answer any questions.”

  “That may not be good enough. They could pick you up for obstructing justice, or on a hundred other trumped up charges.”

  “You’re one of them, aren’t you? Figures. You talk like a cop. You’ve got that look about you. I’ve got nothing to say to you. In fact, I don’t remember inviting you in. You’re trespassing. I’m within my legal rights to-”

  “Jillian,” I said, cutting her off, “you’ve done so much for me. I don’t even know how to thank you. You protected me the way someone should have protected you.”

  Jillian lowered the bat and looked at the fire.

  “It’s time to end this,” I said. “Give me the baseball bat. I’ll tell them that I’m the one who hit Mrs. Devereaux. I won’t involve you in this.”

  “Sabine, you’re not going to take the fall for this,” Theo said. “I won’t let you.”

  “Theo, this has to end. I won’t drag Jillian into it.”

  Jillian scoffed. “Please. You didn’t drag me into anything, girl. Nobody forces me to do anything. Get out of here. Get to your car and call the police. I’ll take responsibility for what I’ve done.”

  “Jillian, you’ve already done so much for me…” I said.

  “I’m only trying to make things right. I’ll tell them I saw that bitch push your husband off the bridge.”

  “But you didn’t see it.”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “They’re going to have a lot of questions, like why you’ve kept this a secret for so long,” Theo said.

  Jillian rolled her eyes. “They’ll believe whatever I tell them.”

  Theo frowned. He used to be a cop; he knows they’re not that easily fooled.

  “Alright,” he conceded.

  I could tell he was eager to get away from the cabin. He walked back over to where I sat with Aiden. Theo tried to pull him to his feet, but he wouldn’t let go of me.

  “It’s okay,” I said.

  I peeled his hands free and handed him to Theo. Once free of me, he jumped into Theo’s arms, wrapping his legs around his waist like a monkey. Theo offered his hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet.

  “Can you walk?” he asked.

  “I think so.”

  Between the freezing water and the adrenaline coursing through my body, I didn’t feel any pain. Still, Theo looked skeptical. He managed to bend over and wrap an arm around me with Aiden still in his arms. I leaned against Theo as he led me out of the cabin.

  Jillian stood in her living room staring at the fire. She had a far-off look in her eyes as if she could see something neither of us could. Guilt washed over me. I didn’t want to leave her alone.

  “Jillian, come with us,” I offered.

  She didn’t turn to acknowledge me. She simply said, “Go.”

  27

  Theo’s car was parked on the other side of Mrs. Devereaux’s sports car. She was on the bridge, unconscious, but still alive. I was relieved. Maybe I would see justice for Tom’s murder. Though there was always the possibility they wouldn’t believe me. I could end up in a jail cell next to her.

  “Cover your eyes,” I said to Aiden as we passed her unconscious body.

  Aiden squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in Theo’s neck. When we reached his car, he set Aiden down inside. It wasn’t easy; he didn’t want to let go. Theo managed to close the car door so we could talk in private.

  “Don’t talk to the police,” he said.

  “Theo…”

  “You have to trust me on this. They will twist your words around to fit their narrative. If they’ve made up their minds that you’re guilty, then nothing will change their opinion, short of a confession or explosive evidence. When they get here, tell them you want a lawyer present. I’ll fill in the rest.”

  I glanced at Mrs. Devereaux. “Do you think she’ll confess?”

  “If she makes it… I don’t know. When I went back to her house, it was a mess. She destroyed everything, threw paint all over the living room. I think she’s lost what little grip on sanity she had. Who knows what she’ll tell the police.”

  Theo went around to the driver’s-side door and opened it. He started the ignition and turned the heat on to high. He pointed the vents at Aiden, then said: “You okay, Buddy?”

  Aiden nodded. Theo reached inside the glove box and pulled out a cell phone then closed the door. He dialed a number and looked at the screen.

  “No signal,” he said. He held out the phone and walked down the hill a few feet towards the water. “Wait here.”

  He disappeared out of sight. I bit my lip and looked around. Aiden sat inside the car, staring up at me. He placed his hand on the glass. I put my hand over his and smiled. He pulled his hand away and slumped down into the car. He looked a little less frightened, but I was still worried about him.

  I looked to Mrs. Devereaux. She was stirring awake. I glanced over my shoulder. I could hear Theo talking. He asked to speak to someone by name. Apparently, he hadn’t called 911.

  I could see Mrs. Devereaux out of the corner of my eye. She pushed herself up onto her knees. What if she tried to flee? Did she still have a gun? I should have called for Theo, but for some reason I didn’t.

  I still wore Theo’s coat. It was wet and heavy with lake water. I should have taken it off, but it gave me comfort. I stuck my hand in the pocket and felt the switchblade. I couldn’t let her get away. She got away with murdering Tom once already. She tried to murder Aiden. She’d probably get away with that too. She’d hire the most expensive lawyer her money could buy and paint herself as a victim. The cops would probably put me in prison and congratulate her on her bravery.

  I took a step towards her.

  Theo was still talking on the phone, giving out our location to the person on the other end. Cops and paramedics would be here soon. I walked as quickly as I could over to Mrs. Devereaux. The side of her face was swollen and blood was flowing from a gash on her forehead. She clutched her arm as if it was broken. When she saw me her eyes narrowed with hate.

  I ran my fingers over the switchblade as Mrs. Devereaux staggered to her feet. She took a step towards me and nearly fell to the ground. I pulled out the switchblade and depressed the switch, sending the blade shooting out with a deadly hiss.

  “You’re going over the edge,” she mumbled, “and you’re going to take that brat with you.”

  Madly, she repeated the phrase again. She said it with such conviction that I looked over my shoulder, expecting to see that Aiden had joined us. Thankfully, he was still in the car.

  “Over the edge…”

  Her voice was high-pitched with a childlike, singsong quality. Eerily, it reminded me of Bella.

  “It’ll look like a suicide just like Tom’s death did.”

  I gripped the knife.

  “They’ll say you killed your husband, then your son, then yourself.”

  She looked to my side as if she saw someone standing there.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked the empty space to my right.

  Mrs. Devereaux took a step back, bracing herself against the side of the bridge. This was it. If I wanted to do away with her for good, I had to act now. I took a small step forward.

  “How are you still alive?” she asked.

  My eyes
darted around nervously. Mrs. Devereaux and I were alone on the bridge, but the way she kept addressing the empty air made me paranoid. I’d had enough bad experiences with dreaming while I was awake. Was I dreaming now, or was she? Was I trapped in someone else’s nightmare? My hand started to tremble.

  “Take your wife and your son with you,” she said.

  She thought she was talking to Tom.

  “You were right. She suspects something.”

  Was Mrs. Devereaux talking about me?

  “If you won’t divorce her, then I’ll have to take care of her.”

  She took a step towards me. I held out the knife. I imagined myself stabbing her and ending this for good. A light mist had started to fall. Tiny beads of water clung to the knife. My hand went steady. All it would take was a couple steps, a small thrust of the blade, a decent lie for the cops, and I’d be free of Mrs. Devereaux forever.

  I dropped my hand. I couldn’t do it. I’m not a murderer. Mrs. Devereaux’s mind was broken. She was seeing ghosts and babbling incoherently. It was as if the grief and delusions that had plagued me had infected her like a virus. Is this what people saw when they looked at me? I shuttered at the thought.

  I pushed the blade down and stuck it into my pockets. Mrs. Devereaux wouldn’t be making up lies for the cops about what happened on the bridge. She was still babbling about how she was going to force me over the edge with Aiden and make it look like a suicide.

  “No!” she suddenly yelled.

  I turned to find Theo by my side.

  “What are you doing?” he asked.

  His eyes quickly darted between the two of us.

  “Nothing,” I lied. “Just checking on her.”

  Theo studied me closely. I could see it in his eyes: he didn’t believe me.

  “Let’s wait by the car. The police will be here soon.”

  In the time it took us to walk across the bridge and back to the car, sirens reached us. The cops had a lot of questions. I was eager to explain, but Theo insisted that I was in no condition to talk. He made the paramedics treat me before Mrs. Devereaux. I was then whisked away by ambulance to the hospital where it was quickly determined despite the gunshot, my knee was in worse shape than my shoulder.

  After hours of surgery, I relaxed in my hospital bed. Floating on a morphine cloud, my problems seemed trivial. When Theo entered, I didn’t have a care in the world. He looked concerned.

  “How are you?” he asked. His voice was barely a whisper, as if he talked in a normal tone it might break me.

  I laughed. “I’m fine. How’s Aiden?”

  “He’s good. He asks about you all the time. He’s worried.”

  “He’s a sweet kid. What about Mrs. Devereaux?”

  Theo sat down on the edge of the bed. Again, he whispered. This time I suspected he worried more about eavesdroppers than my delicate condition.

  “She’s here, in the hospital. She suffered quite the blow to the head. They weren’t sure she was going to make it through the night, but things look a lot better this morning.”

  I smiled, though I wasn’t sure if I should be happy or sad about this development. On morphine, everything feels like a happy development. So I decided to take it as good news.

  “Is she talking?” I asked.

  “She spoke with the police yesterday, before the ambulance brought her to the hospital.”

  I wondered if that was why Theo insisted the paramedics treat me first. Was it because he was worried about me, or was it because he saw the mental state Mrs. Devereaux was in and he wanted her to talk to the cops without a lawyer present for as long as possible?

  “You’re a clever boy,” I said, sounding high even to my own ears.

  Theo smiled. “And why is that?”

  “You knew she’d talk to the police.”

  “I suspected she might.”

  “What did she tell them?”

  “Well, I’m not sure exactly. I’m a part of this now, so the detectives aren’t going to share their investigation with me, but I saw her fighting the police. She didn’t want them to touch her. She kept referring to them as Tom. She thought they were trying to push her off the bridge the same way she killed your husband. At one point, she said she was going to send you and Aiden down into the water with him. Trust me that did not escape the detective’s notice.”

  “Good,” I said dreamily.

  It felt as if things were falling into place nicely, but that could have just been a false sense of comfort created by the drugs.

  “What about Mr. Devereaux?”

  “I’m friendly with one of the local detectives. We worked together years ago on a missing person’s case. Anyway, I explained what happened. How Mr. Devereaux lured you out of the house on the premise of a date; he then kidnapped you, took you to the woods and tried to kill you. You were able to wrestle the gun away from him and kill him in self-defense. Of course, the detective wanted to know why you didn’t call the cops immediately and what I was doing out there. I told him I’d been tailing you as per my arrangement with Mrs. Devereaux. I didn’t tell him that you and I have slept together. When you talk to the police, don’t tell them. It will only make things appear more suspicious. I told him you didn’t call the police because you were in shock. I wanted to take you to the hospital but you insisted on checking on your son. I told him how Mr. Devereaux confessed about his and his wife’s involvement in your husband’s death. I convinced him that I wanted to check things out for myself before going to law enforcement.”

  “He didn’t think that was suspicious?”

  “Of course he did. But once a cop always a cop. He knows that I would treat this like my own case and I’d want to solve it without interference from other law enforcement officers. They’re not happy with me, but I think they believe me.”

  “This is a lot to remember.”

  “Which is why you’re going to have a lawyer with you when you talk to them. I know a guy. He’s good and he’s handled a lot of self-defense cases.”

  “What about Jillian?”

  “Jillian’s a problem. She tried to take credit for everything. She even told them she killed Mr. Devereaux.”

  I closed my eyes and sighed. “I thought she was going to stick with the truth.”

  “You can’t control her. The detectives have written her off as a crazy old woman. I told them she was responsible for attacking Mrs. Devereaux with a baseball bat. They found it in her cabin and she refused to give it over until they came back with a warrant.”

  I groaned. “What happens now?”

  “Now, we leave this in the hands of your lawyer. Once Mrs. Devereaux is released from the hospital-”

  “I don’t think she will be.”

  “Why do you say that?” Theo asked carefully.

  “She spoke to me on the bridge. She was out of her mind, seeing ghosts and talking incoherently.”

  I swallowed hard and looked away. If Theo was reminded of my own strange behavior, he didn’t show it.

  “I don’t think the hospital would release her in that condition.”

  “No, probably not. It will help her defense though. She can make an insanity plea.”

  “Great,” I said sarcastically.

  Theo’s hand rested on mine. “We just have to ride this out.”

  “What will happen to Bella?”

  Theo sighed. “That depends on what happens to Mrs. Devereaux. If she winds up in jail, or a mental institution, Bella will go live with her closest relative.”

  “Does she have grandparents?”

  “On Mr. Devereaux’s side of the family, but since he’s not her biological father…”

  “This is going to sound crazy…”

  “Sabine, I know what you’re going to say. I don’t think it’s a good idea. Bella can’t live with you. For one, I don’t think the courts would allow it given the circumstances. But even if they did, I don’t think it would be good for either one of you. She doesn’t know that Tom is her father. S
he grew up believing James Devereaux was her dad. How can she live in a home with the woman who killed him, even if it was self-defense? I’m sure when she’s older she’ll understand, but she’s a kid. Besides, you’d have a living, breathing reminder of Tom’s infidelity, abuse, death and everything bad that’s happened since then.”

  “I would never blame Bella.”

  “I know that, but it can be hard to escape the past. No one knows that better than you.”

  “You’re right…”

  It made me sad to admit, but it would be hard for me to look at Bella without being reminded of the bridge and everything else. Maybe someday she’d reconnect with her brother and we could all live peacefully together, but that was a long journey ahead.

  “There’s one other thing,” Theo said. His eyes dropped down. He stared at my hand, tracing the lines of my palm. “I have to leave.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s best the cops not know that we were involved.”

  I couldn’t help noticing how he used the past tense.

  “We’re not involved anymore…?”

  “We are, but they can’t know we have a romantic relationship. That’s why I need to go away for a time. When the investigation is closed and things calm down, we can see each other again.”

  “I’m never going to see you again, am I?” I blurted out. I didn’t give Theo a chance to respond. “I don’t blame you for leaving. I would probably do the same if I was in your shoes. You can do better than the trouble I’ve brought into your life.”

  “You didn’t bring trouble into my life, or yours. Trouble found you. It’s over now.”

  “You don’t know that. What if I keep sleepwalking? What if I remember something else? This could go on for the rest of my life.”

  Theo squeezed my hand. “You can’t think like that. It’s over. You were sleepwalking because you wanted to remember, but the stress and trauma that went along with remembering was too much. Now you know the truth. You don’t have to live in fear anymore.”