Page 17 of Haunted Prey

He studied me closely, tapping his pen on his pad. “What was it?”

I wrung my hands as if suddenly nervous. “I feel guilty because…” I took a deep breath, remembering by law, he wasn’t allowed to say a word. It wasn’t so much the fear of what he would think. I had been ready to run away with Emery. In fact, the police would have already seen the letters on my laptop. No, it was saying it out loud and knowing it was going to sound crazy in my own ears that scared me. The rose-colored glasses about me and Emery’s relationship would slip off and I’d have to face reality. I focused on my chipped nails. “I feel guilty because I wanted to stay with him.”

There was a brief pause, then he said, “Care to elaborate?”

I licked my lips and swallowed. “I was going to leave with him. We were going to take my dad’s boat and sail down the Mississippi to the gulf and disappear. And I wanted to.” I clenched my hands. “He hurt my friends and scared the shit out of me. Yet I felt things for him I shouldn’t have…Even if he’s…”

Leo shifted in his seat. When I looked up, I was surprised to see that his eyes weren’t wide with shock. Instead, he looked contemplative. “Stockholm syndrome is also a common thing to happen…but something tells me that’s not the case for you, is it?”

I shook my head.

“I read your file. You were…treating him at St. Agnes, weren’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right,” I said quietly.

He tapped his pen some more then leaned forward. “You started to develop feelings for him there?”

“Yes.”

He nodded. “And he loved you back?”

My eyelids fluttered. “I think so. Yes.”

“You tried to help him. But he still hurt you.”

A sharp ache hit my chest again. “He was…damaged. He saw his dead sister and a monster who got into his head and made him do…bad things. At first, he gave in to them but eventually he fought them.”

“Good for him and good for you for helping him. But that doesn’t make what he did to you okay.”

The statement was like a hit to the gut. I tensed, ready to get defensive. “No, it doesn’t,” I said. “But like I said, it wasn’t all him.”

“Still, he could have killed you. They say he hunted you down, hellbent on just that.”

“He changed his mind.”

“Did he?”

First, I was shocked. Then, I was pissed off. “You weren’t there.”

He put up a hand. “You're right, but just hear me out. Someone with violent tendencies and mental illness like you’ve mentioned is highly unpredictable. Their thoughts sway easily. Domestic abuse is one of the highest forms of violence in this country.”

“He wouldn’t have—”

“Are you sure?”

I opened my mouth, ready to say yes without question. Then memories of those nights in the house came swarming back.

Emery locking me away. Emery angry about the necklace. Emery ready to blow a bunch of cops away to keep me. Emerycontemplating setting the house on fire with us in it. Emery being threatening in the woods.

It had all been from the bad thoughts in his head.

But it had still been him.

I wanted to fight that thought. I wanted to get up and tell Leo he was wrong and that he could fuck right off. I didn’t want to think about this now. I didn’t want to see the reality of it.

Emery had been a dangerous man. I wasn’t going to defend that. But I had gotten through to him, I had helped him beat his demons. He could have changed. He had been changing.

But I knew the question on Leo’s mind.

---