Avery shoved her hands into her jean pockets. “So what’s the next step?”
“I’ll do what I said I would and let you know one way or the other.” Avery squinted at him through the sun, and the light turned her hair a sunny golden blonde. “You don’t believe me?”
“It’s not that,” He opened his mouth, but she continued. “Do you think I should speak to him? The inspector in charge?”
He shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. He’ll make the decision, and if he needs to talk to you, he’ll call you in.”
“The killer, he always finds his victims in the woods?”
He watched her look down at her feet and wished he knew how she felt.
“Yes.”
“I don’t think it’s just a coincidence.”
They stood in the warm glow of the sun and he studied her face. She licked her pink lips and he had the urge to kiss them.
“We’ll see.” He shrugged his feelings off. “Thanks for meeting with me alright? I’ll be in touch.”
She nodded, and shook his strong hand with her soft one. He realized too late that he’d held on for too long, as she pulled away.
“Thank you for trying Inspector Cotter. That’s what I meant to say before.”
“You can call me Noah, alright?”
She smiled and nodded, and he watched as she got back into her car.
As he got in his, he slipped his sunglasses on, and watched her shut her door. If nothing comes of this, he thought, maybe she’ll finally feel like she got a fair shake. She made it clear, short of saying the system failed her, that she didn’t trust the police. If she really felt like she was being heard, Noah thought his time with her was already worth it.
He waited until she pulled out before he followed behind her. He knew it was time to get back to the office, and start in on his new case, and after their time in the forest, he hoped he could finally concentrate on something other than Avery.
Chapter 9
Fiona
She lost track of how many times she refused to be taken from her room to be discharged in a wheel chair, and as the nurse reminded her again that it was protocol, Officer Minicozzi began to lift her from the bed.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
“You’ve gotta get in the wheelchair somehow,” he laughed, “and I don’t want to stand around all day waiting for you to realize it’s the only way you’re getting out of here.”
She struggled until he sat her down, and she crossed her arms as the nurse placed her feet on the foot rests.
“In a rush Officer Minicozzi?” She looked up at him, as the nurse wheeled her to the elevator, and batted her eye lashes.
“Actually, we’re on a schedule. Wouldn’t know it with you around.” He winked at her and she rolled her eyes.
She thought Officer Minicozzi was attractive in an older man kind of way. She flirted with him while they had her on drugs, until she saw the ring on his finger. Fiona soon came to believe Mrs. Minicozzi was one lucky lady. Through all the flirting she had done, he hadn’t made one pass at her, and his friendly nature with her could barely even be called flirting.
“Will I have crutches right away?”
“Not yet. They’ll be sent to you.” The nurse told her as they exited the elevator.
“Actually,” Owen called, as he held the elevator for the next group, “we’ll be coming to pick them up.”
“Sure.” The nurse said, and waited for the officer, before pushing Fiona out the door. “Should I wait for you to pull up?”
“Nope.” He pointed to the blue SUV ahead. “That’s our ride. Thank you ma’am.”
She nodded, and to Fiona’s surprise, he picked her up again.
“Would you put me down?” Fiona laughed, as she watched an officer she recognized open the passenger door for them.
He was tall and thin, with thinning brown hair, and a brown suit.
“Here, easy.” Officer Minicozzi hoisted her up onto her seat, and before she could say anything, he shut the door.
When the other officer got into the back seat, Officer Minicozzi climbed into the driver’s seat.
“I wasn’t kidding when I said we had a schedule. We have to check in as soon as we get you home, and if we’re late, I’ll lose my job.” They pulled out onto the road.
“Hi Fiona, I’m Ralph. How are you feeling?”
“Hi.” Fiona glanced at him from her rearview. “Alright, I guess.”
The smoky smell of cigarettes and cigars filled the vehicle.
“I’ll be staying with you for the night. Then Owen here’s gunna come by in the morning. That’s how it’ll go for the next while.”
“Great,” Fiona looked at him, “so I’m under house arrest?”
“Not exactly.” They exchanged glances.
“You won’t be going anywhere for a while with your leg like that, so you’ll be under our watch until…”
“Until what Officer Minicozzi?”
She honeyed her voice on purpose when she spoke to him.
“Call me Owen alright?”
And that was why.
“Alright.” She smiled as they merged onto the highway. “Until what?”
He rolled his eyes. “You ask too many questions.”
“Excuse me for wanting to know what’s going on in my life.”
“Anybody ever told you you’re a handful?”
She looked at Owen, but he kept a straight face. In the back seat, she caught Ralph smiling.
Chapter 10
Avery opened the door to see Sadie holding up a six pack of wine coolers and a bag of licorice.
“Tell me again why we can’t have girl’s night every night?” Sadie smiled, and Avery waved her in with a grin.
“Because we have commitments and we are grownups now, whatever that means.” Avery closed the door behind her, and locked the first, third, fourth, and fifth locks.
“I don’t” Sadie wrinkled her nose, and pushed the coolers into the fridge, “fine, I do, but I’m not grown up.”
Avery walked over to her ottoman, opened the top, and revealed their movie selection. Sadie knelt down; her mint green skirt fanned out around her, and sorted through the options.
“How was your day?” Avery stood by the sliding glass doors.
“Slow. No clients. Yours?”
“Good. Class was good. I gave them their second week project. They have to take a picture of something that is considered ugly by society’s standards, and make it appear beautiful using black and white.”
Sadie looked up from the movies. “Sounds like something you’d do.”
“Hmm?” Avery looked outside at the glowing lights of Crown River, then down at her friend, and tried to decide if she was going to tell her about everything that was going on.
“I don’t want a rom-com, but I’m not picking some slasher flick either.”
“It’s your pick.” Sadie smiled up at her, and Avery decided then she couldn’t do it.
At least not without a drink.
Sadie rifled through the movies, and Avery picked up the framed picture she had on her end table. She studied the two girls with long blonde hair in their bathing suits at her parent’s cottage. It was taken the first year she met Sadie, and they spent every summer together since. They were often asked if they were sisters and that’s how they came to describe their friendship.
Sadie had listened to her whenever she decided to talk about her attack, and it always turned into Avery talking non-stop about the actual event, or her therapy sessions, or people who made fun of her for it (it made front page news for a week in the town paper). She didn’t want to bring the mood down, especially when she knew it was out of her hands. If it amounted to nothing, she’d only feel guilty for obsessing over it and wasting Sadie’s time.
She wished she could at least discuss Noah with her, but the thought was interrupted when Avery heard the twinkling notification sound on her phone. She plunked herself down on the couch and check
ed it.
“That Spencer? Are you still talking to him?” Sadie set another movie in her maybe pile.
“No and no. It’s a Facebook message…from Charla Kent.”
“What?” Sadie turned to face her. “Shh-ar-la? From high school?”
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t know you had her on your Facebook.”
“I don’t. You can message someone even if they aren’t.”
“What did she say?”
Avery read the message aloud. “Hey Avery, I know this might seem random, seeing as how we’ve never actually talked, but I just wondered how you’re doing, and what you’re up to these days? It’s been ten years since high school, and I’ve been catching up on old times with our classmates. Wondered if you’d like to do the same?”
“Is that it?” Avery nodded, and read the message over to herself. “Wasn’t she a — a…”
“Bitch? Yeah.”
“Yeah.” Sadie smiled. “I still don’t get why she’d message you.”
Avery shrugged. “Maybe she sent lots of people the same message. Maybe she’s trying to get a reunion started?”
“She didn’t send me one.”
“I don’t know.” Avery slipped her ring on and off her index finger “I mean, she was never a bitch to me, but her group…”
“Yeah, I remember.”
Sadie was the reason Avery made it through high school in one piece and she let her know it all the time.
“You think I should respond?”
“I mean, if you want, but do you really want to see all those girls again?”
Avery stared at the message and contemplated deleting it altogether. She didn’t care what any of those girls were doing since high school, or if they’d changed. She left the site and checked her messages.
“I’m gunna grab some coolers, want to set the movie up for when Josh comes?” Sadie went to the kitchen and her skirt flowed behind her.
Avery turned the TV on and grabbed the Blu-ray disc from Sadie’s ‘yes’ pile.
“I love Into the Wild!”
“I know, that’s why I picked it.” Sadie called. “Want ice in yours?”
“Sure. You don’t mind watching it again?”
“No, I haven’t seen it in a while, and I never get the chance to…”
Avery stopped listening to Sadie the moment she saw the sketch of the mask on the screen. The same sketch as the night before, and this time she turned up the volume to hear the story.
“… Wendy was found shot and stabbed to death in Birch Falls Park. “
Avery noticed Sadie staring at her with their drinks in each hand. “You alright?”
“The identity of the previous victim has not yet been released, but she is believed to be a resident of Birch Falls. Police arrived at….”
“Avery?”
“I’ve gotta tell you something.” Avery grabbed a drink from her hand and took a big gulp.
“Okay. That bad?” Sadie set her drink down on the coffee table and sat beside Avery on the couch.
Avery told her about seeing the sketch of the mask the night before, and how it resembled the one that was worn during her attack. She told her about her trip to the station to see Noah and their trip to the woods by the Crown River.
“So you think it’s the same mask?”
“I’m not sure, but it looks so similar, and I’ve never seen another one like it since.”
“What’s going to happen now?”
“They’re looking into it.”
Sadie grabbed her drink and took her first sip. “Have you told anyone else?”
Avery shook her head. “Well, just Josh.”
“You should call the inspector to see if there’s any news.”
“He wouldn’t tell me if there was. He told me to leave it to the inspector in charge of the case.”
“And now another girl is dead. That’s three, right?”
Avery shrugged. “Noah’s done everything he can, and I think it’s two. One girl escaped. That’s how they have that sketch.”
“Right. Maybe it’s fallen on deaf ears. I can’t believe whoever’s in charge hasn’t contacted you by now.”
“Sounds bad, but I’m used to them not really listening to me. Noah has though, he’s different.”
They both turned back to the reporter. “Please call the tip line with any information that could be helpful to the investigation.”
“You should call.” Sadie set her drink down and licked her pink stained lips. “Don’t you think?”
“It won’t help. The police have all my information.”
“No, not the police. The news. That’d make them pay attention.”
Avery stared at Sadie and realized she was being serious.
“I don’t want to be in the news. I don’t want the attention.”
“The killer has to be stopped. People need to pay attention, or they’ll end up like these girls. Hunted down and mutilated. That’s so sick.”
“They’ve already spoken to the girl who escaped. She’s their best chance of finding him.”
“Okay, just say it’s the same person who attacked you ten years ago. That was before any of the murders happened. Maybe the killer was testing things out, experimenting with you? Maybe they were just getting started? It could mean the killer is from Crown River. That’s important for not only the police to know, but the community.”
“What if I’m just laughed at again? What if no one takes me seriously? I can’t do it again Sadie.”
“I take you seriously. To save even one life by bringing awareness to this, and maybe even getting a straight answer about what happened to you in high school, could be worth it.”
Sadie grabbed her phone from her purse, punched in the hotline number, and held the phone out to Avery.
“All you have to do is press send. You can stay anonymous if you want.”
Avery took the phone and hit the button. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
“I’m here for you no matter what.”
Chapter 11
Noah had just gotten off the phone with the last person to see his drowning victim, and he was about to meet with them when he heard the news from around the coffee pot.
Another girl found shot, stabbed, and left in the park to be found. There was no question, as word circulated through the office, that it was the work of the masked man.
On his way to the parking lot, he saw Owen getting out of his car, and jogged over to meet him.
“Hey, did you just come from Birch Falls Park?”
“Yeah, I guess you heard.”
“It’s all over the news and the boys were talking about it in there.”
“So you saw the news?”
“No, why?”
“That girl Avery Hart, she contacted the press. Told them everything.”
“What do you mean?”
“Told them about how she thinks someone with the same mask was after her ten years ago. Apparently she tried to stay anonymous, but they researched her case, and they know it’s her. Ethan’s pissed.”
Noah shook his head. “Why would she do that?”
Owen shrugged. “He asked me to be there tomorrow when he brings her in for questioning. He read your file. I don’t think he was going to contact her— until now.”
“Is he pissed with me?”
“No, actually, he wants you in there with us when we call her in.”
Owen gave him the details, and when Noah left to interview the jogger who claimed to have seen Mr. Hornby on the path, his mind raced.
How could she have done something so reckless?
He was trying to help her, and she thought she should handle things on her own. He wondered if there was a possibility that she could be in real trouble for compromising the investigation.
She has Ethan’s attention now.
She put herself out there.
She put herself in danger.
Chapter 12
Avery hid ou
t in her apartment all day after the news broke.
When she went to leave that morning, a news crew bombarded her at the door, and she decided to stay in her apartment until they went away. Her cell phone rang, with everyone from the local TV station, who tried to schedule a TV appearance with her, to her own parents leaving several messages. Sadie slept over, but left early that morning for an appointment, and Avery was left alone to wonder if she made the right choice by getting her story out.
She thought about what Noah, and everyone from the police department would do, when an officer called her.
She was so nervous, she almost shook as the officer scheduled a time for her to come in the next afternoon, and reminded her not to speak about the case again. By the time Avery got off the phone, her hands shook, and it was hard to swallow.
She would have never thought to call the news on her own, and she wasn’t blaming Sadie for pushing her, but the circumstances for being called in to meet with the inspectors wasn’t ideal. Someone from the department was ready to talk to her, but she couldn’t appreciate the fact that she had gotten what she wanted only after she made the phone call to the news.
The fortune cookie told her she would get something she always wanted, and if this was what it meant, being careful what she wished for swirled in her mind.
As she checked her recent messages for the fifth time that day, she remembered her commitment to Veronica. She deleted another message from the local news, and was shocked to hear her dad’s voice on the next new voicemail.
“Avery, I need you to call your mother back. We’re coming down if you don’t. You need to call that reporter back, and let them know this is a big misunderstanding, and I’m sure I don’t have to tell you why. You’re not a little child anymore, and I thought we put all this behind us, and if you haven’t already called the police to apologize, I suggest you get on it. They have more important things to worry about than a prank that happened to you when you were young and naïve. Are you still that little naïve girl Avery? I hope not. Just put an end to this and call us back.”
She shook her head as she deleted the message and dialed the shelter. She wasn’t surprised at her dad’s lecture, or the fact that he could make her feel like a stupid kid again so easily, but she was surprised that he’d called at all.
Lies Come True Page 4