Page 58 of Falling for a Killer

The brief moment of silence that follows tells me the answer before she says it. “No. Under normal circumstances the answer would be yes, but I know this system. My focus needs to be on the upcoming trial, so Killian asked me not to waste time fighting the bail decision. I have to respect his wishes, and I also happen to agree with him.”

It hurts to know they’re right. I’m tempted to hire five more lawyers to do the shit like this, but there’s no guarantee it’ll work anyway. “Okay,” I say softly. “What can I do?”

“I’d say nothing, but I already know enough about you to know you’ll do something anyway, so stay on top of the media.Find out what they’re saying, and do whatever you can to stall any misinformation. Donotoutright lie for him on camera, do you hear me? Donotdo that. But if someone comes out and says he’s crazy, find two people who say he isn’t. If they say his favorite color is red, find evidence his favorite color is yellow. If they say he hates dogs, find a home video of him playing with a basket of puppies. It’s important that we don’t let the media crucify him before he ever has a shot at a fair trial.”

I can do that. I was already planning on it. “Is it illegal to cast a spell on a judge?” I muse, but her barked laughter brings a smile to my face.

“They can’t prove what they don’t know, Miss Moran. Hang in there. I’ll call you when I have an update.”

The line goes dead. She knows what she’s doing, and she knows what the real end goal is — Killian free, not just out on bail. So I have to wait a little longer to see him again, it sucks but it’s necessary.

It’ll be over soon.

In the meantime, I do what she suggested and head home to find out what’s going on in the news. Social media has been overtaken with thirst traps again but this time they’ve got my boyfriend’s face, his tattooed body, videos of him smiling, laughing. The comments make me boil with jealousy that I have to shove down. This is good, even if I hate it. If they want him, they can’t hate him. And it’s clear right now from the anti-Killian posts that the ones who don’t love him are just mad they’re not him.

The news, however, that’s a different story. I watch day-old interviews with his first high school girlfriend who says she doesn’t think he did it but refuses to comment further, friends from back then who can’t seem to decide if he was a loner with a short temper who would go from laughing to hitting people in a heartbeat or a generally happy guy who was always quick tohelp a stranger. There’s even a blip of someone suggesting they think he hurt a cat when he was younger, but I remember that story. He told me all about it. His family cat climbed a tree and wouldn’t come down, so he climbed up there after it. A squirrel on a nearby branch spooked the cat and she got cut on the bark. He didn’t hurt her, it devastated him that he couldn’t get to her fast enough.

I really hate people.

But those day-old interviews are nothing compared to the one they show next.

“Speaking out for the first time is Krystal Thomas, long-time girlfriend of Killian Rhys Blake, the suspect in the brutal murder of Idaho Senator Jack Lawson. Krystal, you recently shared a letter you received from Blake on social media. Can you tell us a little about that?”

She makes an annoyed scoff and flips her dark hair over her shoulder. “I was hoping we wouldn’t go into that, I only gave it to the police to prove he’s a psycho and provide a handwriting sample. See, Killian puts a little loop when he connects his K’s, just like that Karma thing they found at the scene.”

She clears her throat as a copy of the letter plasters itself on the screen, and that dirty bitch reads it aloud, each word pissing me off a little more.

Krystal,

I know this isn’t the letter you hoped for when you asked me to communicate this way, but I can’t do this. Finding common ground has been impossible and it’s obvious neither of us are having fun anymore. I’m done with the games and all the drama you hide behind while pretending you’re innocent. Why put off the inevitable? We’re two different people going in two different directions, and you can have all the fun you want going backwards by yourself. I’m moving forward. Have fun torturing the next dude.

Killian

“Bold words from a bold man,” the interviewer says. “Was he always this... over the top?”

“Yes and no,” she admits. “He was either too much or nothing at all, hot and cold to the point I got whiplash and never knew which version of him I’d get. The whole reason I wanted him to write me a letter at all was because I could not get him to communicate. He was always reading some weird book twenty-seven year old guys shouldn’t be into and angry about the state of the world. Like how are you so concerned about the government and not the woman standing in front of you? Priorities, much?”

The Killian I know is an excellent communicator and he wouldn’t have taken his attention off me if the government threatened to maim him, but she’s got me on the books. He always has had a taste for literary revolution.

I hate her already.

“It seems like he only had one thing on his mind,” the interviewer agrees. “Did you... love him?”

“Of course I did. I mean, have you seen him?” She laughs, soaking up the spotlight they’re giving her. “I just didn’t care for all that came with him. That’s why I denied his proposals. He asked me to marry him like a hundred times, and I knew I couldn’t. Not until I trained him, and he was untrainable.”

The remote slams against the wall before I even realize I threw it. What a load of shit. I know Killian, and everything that just came out of her mouth is a lie. “God, I hate people,” I hiss, stomping over to snatch the remote and turn it off, but the interviewer piques my curiosity.

“What made him so untrainable?”

“Well, communication for one. It was like trying to get a toddler to express themselves — he just didn’t care. He never wanted to have sex or be intimate in any way, which is a hugered flag. I know he never cheated on me of course, but he was so wrapped up in his head I had to beg him to touch me. He used to pull away from kissing me and complain if I touched him too much. Touch wasn’t his thing, and if I pushed too much, he’d disappear at night and go on these long drives. Common ground my ass, he never once met me halfway. He was probably already plotting to kill someone, but I guess that car accident years later is what set him off. I had already cut ties with him by then, especially because I was pregnant with his child and knew he wouldn’t be a good dad.”

My knuckle pops from squeezing the remote so tightly. “Pregnant my ass, you lying little shit. You clearly know nothing about him.”

Rage has me turning the tv off and pacing the living room, ready to scream at the top of my lungs until they pop.

She needs to feel special so she went on tv and lied about Killian, painting him out to be a freak when in reality, he probably just didn’t like her all that much. Physical touch is his love language, and he’d be the best dad I’ve ever met.

How dare she? And what’ll happen now when he’s tried in the court of public opinion?

---