Page 58 of Finding Our Reality

I sit forward in my seat. “Carrie’s case was never closed. It’s been open this whole time. I took over as head investigator from Lieutenant Marcum a couple of years ago. Some new information has recently come to light, so we are interviewing everyone again. Sometimes the fog of memory clears as the years pass.”

“I’ll be happy to help. Carrie was a wonderful girl, one of my dearest friends. Just tell me how I can be of assistance.”

I lick my dry lips. Yeah, we’ll see about that. “Why don’t you give us a little information about yourself, just for reference. Give us the highlights of your life since graduating college.”

She smiles brightly. She must love talking about herself. “Well, obviously, I’m married.” She pretends to be shy about flashing the large diamond on her left hand. About as shy as a stripper spread eagle on the pole. “Edward and I met at a charity function for the hospital six years ago. He had just gotten out of a horrible marriage. She just didn’t understand the caliber of man she was married to. Neither of us were looking for something serious. He’s quite a bit older than me, you know? But we justfell in love.” Her eyelashes flutter in fake desire. “What is it they say? The heart wants what the heart wants.”

She stares at us, waiting on a response. Is she really wanting us to answer that rhetorical question?

Lulu’s voice is cold and sterile. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you, Ella. That’s so sweet.” She sighs. “Anyway, we married, and we have two beautiful children now. Our son, Elliot, is five, and our daughter, Marisol, is three.”

“Where are your children now?”

“They’re at preschool, a wonderful program at one of the private schools here in Birmingham. They tested in. My brilliant little babies.”

I glance at the clock on the desk. “What time do you have to pick them up?”

“Oh, the nanny does that.” She leans forward, raking her eyes across my body. “So I’m all yours, Sergeant.”

Hell no, you’re not.

Lulu’s voice cuts through the innuendo, slicing it like a sword. “You don’t work, Dakota? What about your degree? Marketing, wasn’t it?”

Dakota’s eyes turn to small little beads. “Ella, running a household like thisiswork. The kids have so many extracurricular activities—ballet, karate, swim team. And I have to make sure the staff does everything just to Edward’s liking. He works so hard to provide for our family. Things should be exactly the way he wants them. The housekeepers, the gardeners, the handymen. You know how hard it is to find good help nowadays. Now that your parents have passed, you’re responsible for running a large household yourself. I’m sorry about that, by the way. It must be hard to be all alone now.”

She’s not alone, bitch. I’m here.

Dakota has turned into the kind of woman Lulu hates. The kind of woman she spent her whole childhood resenting. Dakota has become Lulu’s mother.

Lulu looks up from her notebook. Her knuckles turn white, holding her ink pen in a death grip. Palpable anger hums from her body, deafening the silence in the room. I can’t speak aloud words to calm her, that would make her appear weak. And My Lulu is anything but weak.

Instead, I lower my hand beneath the table and quietly sneak it across her leg. Her bare skin is warm and smooth. Immediately, my dick stirs in my pants, making me widen my legs into a more comfortable position. I squeeze her knee. My throat clogs with emotion, taking me back to twelve years ago. Turning me into a young kid. A young kid who’s madly in love with the girl—this woman—sitting next to him.

I always do what I shouldn’t do. And touching Lulu? It makes me want things I have no right to want. I want the life I should’ve had. The lifeweshould’ve had.

Lulu’s face softens and she glances over at me. Her long black eyelashes fan against her face, slowly shading the chestnut and caramel swirls of her eyes. Nodding once, letting me know she’s fine, I pull my hand away. Her body shivers when my calloused fingertips leave her thigh.

Our moment didn’t go unnoticed by Dakota. Her brow furrows in confusion and her eyes dart between the two of us. “Is there something I should know about?”

I ignore her question and ask one of my own. “Let’s go back, tell me what all happened when Carrie went missing.”

She tells us all the information that we already know. That Carrie was supposed to show up at the girls’ apartment for a Fourth of July party but never did.

“And do you think her drug activity had anything to do with her disappearance?”

That catches Dakota completely off guard. Her smile falters for one split second. “Excuse me?”

Lulu sits back, folding her arms across her chest. “We know about the drugs, Dakota.”

Dakota clicks her long fingernails against the marble top of the table. “Pardon? I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about.”

“We know that Carrie was an addict and that she was selling drugs. To Catie. To Hannah.” Lulu pauses for effect. “To you.”

Dakota’s lips purse into a thin line.

“Catie didn’t tell you?” Lulu presses. “She didn’t tell you that I knew? I confronted her. Threw her stash down the drain.”

---