Chapter 19.

Less than an hour later I'd had Kelsea drop me off downtown on her way out of town.

I don't want to think of how warm her hug was. How much it felt nice to know that I had someone who knew so much of the darkness in me and wasn't afraid to still show me love despite it.

I've never met a person like her and doubt I ever will again. I'd watched her drive away, her hand out the window letting the flurries catch in her fingers as she went.

As much as it hurt to watch her go, I felt better seeing her driving towards the county line, heading for safety.

I pull up the hood of my sweatshirt and stick my hands deep into the pockets of my father's coat. One hand around my cards, the other around the bottle.

I briskly make the walk to the impound yard. I could have had Kelsea drop me off here but after the last time I thought it was best she steered clear.

I casually walk by the front window of the building and glance inside, hood still pulled up high.

I don't see the man this time.

Lying scum bag.

Instead there is an older woman behind the desk so I quickly step inside and up to the counter.

The window to my right has a long crack down it, but everything else looks fine. Even the plexiglass has already been replaced.

I quickly give the woman my name and my ID, hoping to get out of her before that dickwad returns.

It costs me $800 that certainly don't need to be spending, but when she runs the card it miraculously goes through. The money transfer from the estates must have come in.

I breathe a sigh of relief.

One good thing to be happy about today. I'd been told it could take weeks before it would all go through.

I don't even know how much there is currently in my account, but I'm just thankful there was enough to get the car out of this place.

I walk back outside and wait for my car to be brought around. A man drives it up to the gate and gets out to open the gate and pass me the keys.

I take one look at the car in the light of day and that little happy feeling vanishes. The back bumper is barely hanging on. Dented and scratched. I don't even have a police report for the accident for the rental insurance to cover it, and if I tried to get one it would say I was driving under the influence so the point is moot either way.

I just get in.

I don't look at the backseat to see what it looks like with it's missing upholstery. I just toss my bag into the back and drive towards the police station.

I park down the road and walk over.

I get dirty looks as I walk inside but I ignore them. I go straight to the front desk and ask the officer about Aries.

"I'm not giving you any information." The woman crosses her arms over her chest.

"I'm just asking if he's still here."

"Unless you're family or his wife, I can't tell you anything." She presses her lips into a hard line and tilts her head. "Now are you a wife or family member?"

"Yes." I lie but she rolls her eyes.

"Jacobs." She groans. "Don't you find enough trouble without trying to go sniffing it out?"

"I just need to know if-."

"Go home." The lady groans again. "You can sit in this lobby all damn day for all I care but we aren't giving out any information."

"Fine," I huff, turning to sit in one of the chairs. "I want to see Officer Gillians."

"He's not-."

The door pushes open and Gillians walks in with a cup holder of coffees in one hand and a box of something in the other.

"For fuck's sake, what now?" He groans when he sees me and I jump up from the chair.

"Why did Aries get brought in?" I demand.

"What?" He snaps. "The Carter guy?"

"We people do have first names you know?" I say. "Like Frank?"

"Offic-."

"Yeah, Officer Gillians. I know!" I throw up my hands. "Yes, the Carter guy. Why did he get brought in?"

"That's classified police information."

"But he's-."

Gillians slams the box down on the counter. "Jacobs!" He snaps at me. "I'm fucking tired of seeing you every damn day. I'm busy. I'm trying to do my job. Stay out of it!"

I want to argue but I know he won't budge. "Fine." I drop my eyes and turn towards the door.

I figured this was the reception I'd get here, but it seemed like the best place to start. Right at the source. But if the source won't cooperate, the town rumor mill will.

"Hey, wait." Gillians catches my elbow. "Listen to me carefully." He say, leaning towards me ever so slightly. "He was released early this morning, but stay away from him."

"I just want to make sure he's ok," I say. "He didn't do anything."

Gillians chews his bottom lip for a second before speaking. "I don't trust him, Missy. Neither should you. Just do yourself some good and go home. I don't want to see you in here again."

His eyes bore into mine for an uncomfortable second before he turns, letting me go.

I walk back out into the snow and make my way back to my car but as I'm rounding the corner I think I see someone squatted down looking into my car.

The person stands and I jump back beside the corner to not be seen. When I glance back around, no one is near it.

I walk slowly down the sidewalk, scanning the faces of the few people who pass by. I step slowly around the front of my car and look up and down the road but I don't see anyone or any signs that someone was messing with the car at all.

"Missy!"

I jump and turn to see Mrs. Statham, bundled in a hot pink coat and hat walking my way with an older man beside her.

I glance back at my car and then walk to meet her. If anyone is in the know around here, it's her.

"Hey." I say when I meet her on the sidewalk outside of the bakery. "I was actually just about to call you."

"You charged that phone?" She grins and I nod.

Well, someone did.

"You heard about Aries?" I ask and she frowns while her friend lets out a huff.

"Always knew that boy was strange." He says. "He just runs off after his old man dies and then he shows back up here right when them girls go missing? Doesn't sound like a coincidence to me."

I'm about to argue when I catch something he'd said. "Wait, did you say his dad died?"

"Yeah he over dosed gotta be about ten or eleven years ago now." He says. "Took off out of town right after. Whole thing seems suspicious now, doesn't it? Like maybe his dad didn't really die on the drugs, you know?" He looks from me to Mrs. Statham for support but he doesn't find it with either of us.

"Roger, why don't you go in and order for us?" She says instead, patting him on the shoulder. He frowns at his dismissal but complies. "I'm sorry about that." She says, reaching over to place her gloved hand on my shoulder. "You know how wrapped up people can get."

"I didn't know." I say quietly. "About his dad, I mean."

"You had a lot going on yourself at the time, dear."

My stomach turns and the pills in my pocket feel hot.

His dad had overdosed? I knew he'd had a past but he was clean. He wasn't using anymore. There had been a couple years where Aries had lived basically alone in that trailer out passed my house. He'd told me how his father would be gone for months and then show up looking for money and disappear again.

But he'd cleaned up.

He got help and got better and they moved out of the trailer park...I thought everything had been ok.

I can't believe his father died and he never told me.

"It's just awful what people are saying." Mrs. Statham shakes her head.

"What have you heard?"

She glances up and down the street and then steps in closer to me. "Apparently a few people came forward saying they saw him in that alley where they found Courtney. Poor sweet girl. She was friends with my niece. It just broke her heart." She frowns. "Anyway, people saw him there and I head the police brought him in because of that and then they apparently matched his boots to some prints they had at the scene. That's all hearsay though, I don't have anything concrete. They let him go home for now, but he's not allowed to leave town. Right now he's a serious person of interest but he's got a good lawyer, I made sure of that. He got him out of there real quick."

"You got him a lawyer?"

"Yes, honey, I don't buy anything they're selling around here." She waves a hand around. "I've known that boy since he was a kid. I can't believe he'd be mixed up in all of this."

"Me either." I nod, thankful to have found at least one other person who isn't ready to convict him without reason.

"Look," she says, rubbing her hands together in front of her. "I've got to run in here and eat but why don't you meet me later at the diner and we can get an early supper. On me."

"You don't have-."

"I won't hear it." She holds up her hand. "You keep that phone charged and meet me at four, ok? We gotta eat early with the lockdown. Everything is closing up early."

I'd promised Kelsea that I would leave, but it doesn't feel right knowing everyone is turning on Aries and it would be wrong for me to turn down Mrs. Statham after everything she's done for me.

I can go check on Aries, then meet Mrs. Statham for a quick meal on my way out of town.

I hug her goodbye and promise to see her later then turn to go.

I swear I see someone duck around a corner, like they'd been watching. I run down the sidewalk and look into the alley but there isn't anyone there.

I sigh, deciding I'm letting my paranoia get the best of me.

I get into my car and pull out my phone and dial Aries again, but it still goes straight to voicemail. Again I hang up before the beep. I don't even know what I would say anyway.

I check the time.

Way to early to just wait around for Mrs. Statham at the diner so I reluctantly drive back home.

I turn off of the main road and down the long driveway and my heart slams to a stop as my foot hits the brakes.

My car lurches and my seatbelt jerks me back into the seat again.

There are two police cars parked in the yard, their lights on and three officers on my porch walking inside of my house.

I'm freaking the hell out.

This cannot be happening right now.

I want to yank the car into reverse but I can't...I can't remember...

My stomach sinks and I swallow hard around the knot in my throat.

I can't remember if I'd closed the hiding hole.

How could you be so stupid!

I lift my foot off of the brake and slowly let the car drift forward.

They're here to arrest me, they have to be. But running won't do me any good now. It'll only make things worse.

The officer in front has his gun drawn as he pushes into my front door that doesn't appear to have been closed all the way.

The two behind him hear my approach and the one furthest back walks over to my car.

"What's going on?" I ask, jumping out of my car and rushing towards the house.

"We got a call from you about a break in." He looks at me with the same puzzled expression I'm sure I'm giving him right back.

"I didn't call anyone!" I shout. "You don't have to be here. You can go." I'm up the steps and pushing into the hallway. "I don't know who called, but it wasn't me."

"Well, we will just have a look around and get out of your hair." The man with his gun says. "Just check things out and then we can go, ok?"

I can't argue.

There is literally nothing I can do or say that won't make them think I'm hiding something...which I am.

I pace the living room and then it happens.

The officer doing the search stops in the doorway of my parents room and he peeks his head inside.

"What's this?"

I feel the vomit rising up in me as I walk feeling like my feet are dragging cinder blocks behind them.

I follow him into the room, and my eyes, as well as his, are on the floor.

I didn't move the dresser back and I had not covered the floor. For the millionth time, I hate myself. I hate that I took those pills I found. I hate that I couldn't just be a little stronger than they were.

He crosses the room and pulls a flashlight from the hook on his vest and peers down into the hole.

"Got yourself a hideyhole" He says. "You thinking of taking the carpet up and redoing the floors in here?"

I grip the footboard to hold my balance.

"Uh, maybe." I nod, feeling a bead of sweat trail down from my temple. "Mrs.Statham is selling the property so I...I pulled up the carpet to see how the wood looks below it."

He crouches down and takes the missing plank and replaces it over the hole. "Despite this spot, it looks good still. Would still have a contractor come out and see how sound the foundation and everything is."

"Right." I nod, my whole body on vibrate.

That's when I turn my head to look at the wall and I choke trying to swallow my own spit.

I lean over, smacking a hand against my chest trying to breath, hacking and eyes going watery.

"You good?" he asks, walking over to me and placing a hand in the center of my back.

"Yup," I sit up, still trying to breathe. "Just swallowed wrong or something."

He laughs as he starts to walk away. "Hate it when I do that."

As he walks out of the room I turn back to face the wall but it's white. Starkly white. There is no word written in red over the bed. It's just gone.

Maybe it was never there to begin with.

I close the door and go into the living room where the other officers are waiting.

"Everything looks good to me." One says to the one who had been in the bedroom. "You noticed anything?" He asks, turning to me.

"No, sir." I shake my head.

"Alright, just make sure you're keeping your doors locked." He says with a shrug, turning to walk away with the others. "Just give us a call again if you notice anyone creeping around."

"Will do." I nod too hard, too enthusiastically, too suspiciously.

He stops for just a moment, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly at me.

"Alright then." He says before he turns to follow the others up the hall and out the front door.

I close it behind him and watch through the peep hole until I see their squad cars pull away.

I run back to the bedroom and yank the plank away, tossing it to the side and stare down into the hole.

It's empty.