Page 144 of Finding Our Reality

He doesn’t like that I’m talking. He grips me with renewed fervor. His eyes turn black as night. His face glows red like the coat of Satan. “I did what I had to do.”

Chapter 47

CRUTCH

I’m miserable.

I just got engaged/married to the love of my life this morning, and she’s not even around. I’m in her childhood home, surrounded by Holt’s dirty laundry and babysitting her crazy-ass, former friend.

Kristie leans in the doorway to Holt’s room.

I sit down on the couch and rub my eyes. “Kristie, don’t even think about going in there. You promised not to touch any of Holt’s things.”

“This used to be Carrie’s room, you know?”

Of course, I know that. I don’t even respond to her.

“Carrie’s disappearance was good in some ways, wasn’t it?”

What the hell? “What are you talking about?”

She wobbles back over and tries to sit next to me on the couch. I clear my throat and point to the loveseat instead. Scowling and hiccupping at the same time, she flops over on the loveseat. Her blood-stained dress rides up, revealing purple panties. I shudder in disgust. She doesn’t even notice when I toss a blanket over her legs.

“What I mean is, you and Ella wouldn’t have met if it weren’t for Carrie’s disappearance. And y’all meeting was a good thing. I mean, look at you, you’re married now.” She starts scratching at invisible bugs on her face.

“Lulu and I were meant to be together. We would’ve met one way or another. Somewhere, sometime. She was meant to be mine.”

“But you got together because Ella went to that gas station looking for Carrie.” Kristie’s head lobs back. “So that’s good. Something good came from it. It makes it better. It makes it a little better.” She makes a weird snorting noise, and I can’t tell if she’s about to laugh or sob. “Remember, y’all told me that you met in a coffee shop. That story was so lame. I knew she’d been to the gas station.”

The tone in her voice sends chills down my spine. The hairs on the back of my neck stand. My brain starts churning.

Being a good detective means listening to your intuition. Intuition can lead you down the unseen road. It can lead you to the hidden pot of gold—the evidence. People always say, ‘follow the evidence’. Well, guess what? Intuition is the compass that puts you there.

“Kristie, what are you talking about? Do you know something about Carrie’s disappearance?”

She moans.

“Kristie!”

Her head bobbles forward and she stares at me. “What?”

“I asked if you know something about Carrie’s case. Do you know what happened to Carrie?”

She covers her face with her hands and makes an unusual sobbing noise. I can’t tell if she’s really crying or just fake crying. With Kristie, either is a real possibility. Eventually, her hands drop. Her smeared makeup has smeared even more, giving her large raccoon eyes. Clear snot shines on her upper lip. Looking down at the floor, she tries to stand up. “I’m going to bed.”

Hell no, she’s not. I grab her arm. Probably a little too hard. “So, help me, Kristie, if you don’t tell me what you’re talking about, I’m gonna flip my shit and haul you into the drunk tank right this second.”

I let her pull from my grasp. Taking a large gulp of air, she swallows. The sound is eerily loud, bouncing off the corners ofthe room. “I thought giving her the pictures would help. She needed to know what happened to her. I thought it would scare her, scare her into getting help. I thought she would get clean and get back together with Caleb. I was trying to be a good friend.”

My heart races. “It was you? You gave Carrie the pictures? The pictures of her sexual assault?”

She nods. “I printed the pictures and gave her the memory card too.”

Theory after theory swirl in my brain, churning like a hurricane in the sea, a typhoon of fucking epic proportions. “Why didn’t you speak up? I know Lulu told you we found the pictures. She told you we were interviewing everyone about them.”

Her lip trembles. “I was scared.”

“Scared of what?” I growl in frustration, rubbing my jaw. “Not of what. Ofwho, right?” I continue thinking aloud. “If you gave Carrie the pictures, that means you were there that night. You were hooked on pills all the way back then? You hung out with the same people as Carrie? Not only did you know Trey, and most likely my brother, you knew the supplier. He was the person who assaulted, Carrie, right?”

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