Page 46 of Duress
“She’s okay. She was checked out when she was brought in yesterday and discharged this morning. She’s been taken to the station to give a statement.” Serena hesitates, like she’s unsure of how to continue. When she resumes speaking she’s using the soft, sympathetic tone she uses when notifying next of kin of an accident.
“Dane… Bryce is dead. He was found at the bottom of the stairs. Everly said he fell down them during the struggle. He hit his head on the marble floor and died from a brain hemorrhage.”
I didn’t think it could be possible to feel colder than I do already, but it feels like someone injects ice water straight into my veins when I hear that my brother is dead. Not out of grief, but fear.
Memories come flooding back. Me smashing my fist into Bryce over and over again. I was so angry about something. Consumed by hate for him. Everly stopping me from killing him. The fear in her eyes and bruises on her neck. Bryce taunting me. Mocking me about something… His words drift away before I can remember what he said. Then Bryce was on top of Everly, screaming at her. Saying hewas going to kill her. That’s when I tackled him and got him in a chokehold. Then pain…and nothing. Shit.
Did Everly kill him? Did I? Is she being arrested? Then the memory of why I was so angry hits me. Bryce killed my father. Bryce killed my father, and according to him, Everly knew.
“Everly called 911 at approximately 12:47 p.m. yesterday. She was in hysterics trying to get help for you. She said you were bleeding out, and she couldn’t get it to stop. She stayed on the line the ten minutes it took the ambulance to arrive. She held pressure the whole time, begging you to stay conscious.” Serena’s words mingle with the memory of Everly begging me not to die.
Wetness trickles down my cheek and my vision blurs with stinging tears. Pain unlike anything I’ve ever known grips my chest as her betrayal and sacrifice slices through me.
“You know what she didn’t do during that ten minute phone call?”
I shake my head, eyes squeezed shut, like it can protect me from what Serena says next.
“She didn’t mention Bryce at all.”
CHAPTER 42
EVERLY
The interrogation room at the police station is cold. So cold I keep my hands wedged between my thighs in a futile effort to keep them warm. If they lowered the temperature a degree or two, I wouldn’t be surprised to see my breath misting in the air. My jaw aches from how hard I’m clenching it to keep my teeth from chattering, but I can’t blame my uncontrollable shivers on the frigid temperature of the room. I haven’t been able to stop shaking since I woke up in the hospital and realized I killed my husband.
The moment Bryce stabbed Dane with that broken piece of glass, I lost all sense of reason. The only thought in my head when I saw the crimson stain spreading over his clothing wasno. Not him too.Everything after that is a blur. The only thing that stands in sharp relief is the memory of how hot and slippery the blood coating my hands was until it cooled and grew sticky on my skin.Thatmemory willnever leave me. I’ve showered and washed my hands dozens of times, and I can still feel Dane’s blood coating my skin. Now I understand why Lady Macbeth was driven to madness. I stare at my dry, cracked hands, raw from being scrubbed so harshly, wondering if anyone is ever going to come take my statement, or if they’re letting me sit here in misery until I confess to something.
When I woke up, groggy from the anesthesia they gave me to stitch up the cut on my head, I kept crying out, asking “Where is he?” The abject terror I had been experiencing at the thought of losing Dane before passing out came roaring back as soon as I regained consciousness. The poor nurse who was taking care of me thought I was asking for my husband. She told me tearfully that there was nothing they could do for him. He had a massive head injury in the fall and was unresponsive when the first responders arrived. My body began quaking as the realization of what I had done hit me, and it hasn’t stopped since.
My eyes begin to droop as I sit there, exhaustion from the last twenty-four hours pressing down on me. My head aches from the concussion Bryce gave me during our fight. The nurses kept waking me up every two hours last night to check on my vitals. There is a bald patch on the back of my head; they had to shave it to put in stitches where the glass from the picture frame cut my scalp. Briefly I think about how Bryce will hate the fact that I’ll have to cut the rest of my hair short to make it look okay, but then I remember Bryce won’t be around to care. He’s dead now. The fact that I forgot that almost makes me break out inhysterical giggles. The lack of sleep and emotional whiplash I’ve been experiencing is beginning to wear on my tenuous grip of my sanity.
The sound of the door opening snaps me out of the delirious path my mind is starting to wander down. I raise my bleary gaze up to find Serena standing there, out of uniform, a wary look on her face. Last I saw her, she was at the hospital, waiting for Dane to wake up from surgery. She had stopped by my room to make sure I was okay, but two officers had already arrived to take me down to the station forquestioning. I made her promise to stay with Dane and contact his mom as soon as he woke up. She tried to argue with her fellow officers about bringing me in, but the guilt clutching my heart in its unrelenting fist would not allow me to get her involved. Too many innocent people had been hurt already because of Bryce and his lies, and I didn’t want her to get swept up in my mess. I just needed her to stay there and make sure he was going to be okay.
I rise to my feet, tears stinging the backs of my eyes, afraid she’s here to give me bad news about Dane.
“Is he…” My words trails off, unable to voice my greatest fear.
“He’s awake. He’s okay.” Serena gives me a sympathetic smile, and my knees go weak, causing me to collapse back onto the cold, hard steel chair behind me.
“Oh, thank fuck.” I sob, burying my face in my hands, unable to hold back the relief I feel.
Serena’s arm snakes around my shoulders, pulling me into a hug as I weep, soaking her soft gray hoodie with mytears. I don’t know how long she holds me, letting me sob on her, as the exhaustion, adrenaline, and fear that has been building up inside of me finally pours out.
When it feels like I’ve been wrung dry, we finally pull apart. I expect to see judgement or pity on her face, sure she’s here to give me bad news about my situation. I know we are friends, but she’s also a cop, and I killed a man. There is no getting out of this for me. Dane will likely tell them about how I helped Bryce cover up the murder of his father, and I’ll be charged with something, I’m sure. I don’t expect anything less. I don’t deserve anything less. I know he said he loved me before losing consciousness, but I can’t expect him to be okay with my lies. No matter if I let Bryce manipulate me into believing they were justified.
“Why are you here? I thought I was supposed to be making a statement or being questioned or something…”
“Dane told me to come here and make sure you’re okay. He told me to make sure you don’t talk to anyone without a lawyer present.”
My mouth falls open in surprise at Serena’s words. “D-Dane said that?”
She nods solemnly. “Keep your mouth shut.” Her words are low, so only I can hear them, but there is a gravity behind them I can’t ignore. “Do you have someone you can call? A lawyer?” I let out a small, incredulous huff of a laugh at her question. Lawyers are the one thing I have too much of in my life.
“I can call my dad. He’s a judge, but he knows people. He has plenty of friends he can call on.”
“Good, then call him and tell him you need a lawyer. Donot talk to anyone until they get here. Do you understand me?” For the first time since Bryce stormed into our bedroom, I feel the faintest flicker of hope.
“I understand.”
