Page 48 of Inherited Light
“Tell me what they’re doing and I’ll get ahold of your dad and have him send a lawyer. Are they booking you?”
“No, they’re checking my alibi right now. I’m just in the interrogation room while Noah does his thing. I might be here for a few hours.”
“No problem, we’ll stay with Cat. Call your dad if they decide to book you and he’ll send the lawyer he used for Tabitha.”
“Aren’t you going to ask me?” I asked, setting the icepack on the table. “Aren’t you going to ask if I killed him?”
He laughed, the sound disbelieving. “No, Lorenzo, I don’t need to ask if you killed him. I know even when you’re angry you would never hurt anyone.”
“You sound so sure,” I said, hating the position I found myself in when I’d done nothing wrong.
“I am sure, because I’m staring at the reason why. She’s told me all the things you used to do to help her. You’re a caregiver, not a killer. You said he’s checking your alibi?”
“Yeah,” I sighed, leaning back in the chair. “I told him to check with the alarm company and gave him times I armed and disarmed the alarm. I also told him to contact the gas station where I bought the ice. They should have me on camera there. I pray to God I’m on camera there. If I can’t prove where I was, then I’m going to be on the hook for this.”
“No, Lorenzo. At the very least, the clerk will remember you. Be patient and this will be over before you know it. Once they release you, come straight back to Cat’s. She’s not dealing with all of this well.”
I sat up straight in the chair. “Is she okay? Do you want me to talk to her?”
There was silence as I waited for him to come back on the line. “Cinn almost has her asleep. She’s massaging her back to help her relax. Hopefully she’ll fall asleep and you’ll be here before she wakes up. The cops showed up and scared her, but in her defense, she didn’t remember you had gone to the store until we reminded her about the cinnamon rolls after they left.”
“It’s not a problem, Foster. She’s mentally compromised and they know it. I can’t believe this is happening. Do you know what I found when I got to the gallery for her van?”
“She had a flat? Were they able to fix it?”
I laughed sardonically. “It sure was flat, because someone slashed the hell out of the tire. I don’t know what’s going on here, but when Noah clears me, I’m going to show him the tire. I think someone may be after Cat, and if it’s not Xavier, then I don’t know who it is.”
“It could still have been Xavier since all of this happened before he died.”
“I suppose, but either way, I’m going to report it. I should have reported the toolbox like Cat wanted me to.”
Silence stretched between us while he stepped outside onto the ramp. “Wait, Lorenzo. If someone stole the toolbox and then killed Xavier with it, whoever this is has been planning it. You coming into the picture probably helped because they took your toolbox, giving them an easy way to pin the crime on you.”
“Exactly what I’m thinking, too. The question is, who? Who, besides Xavier, wants Cat? It doesn’t make any sense.”
“I agree, but we can let the police worry about it while you worry about Cat. I don’t think she should be alone until this is sorted out.”
“Hell no, and she won’t be. I just need to decide what to do with her when I’m working at the animal shelter. I need to get the project finished before the carnival.”
“When you get back here, we’ll work it out. One step at a time,” he reminded me.
We said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone, laying it on the table. I didn’t know what was going on or why, but I found myself involved by association. I wouldn’t let anyone hurt Cat, though. If it meant I was her bodyguard until this was solved, then so be it. Her business and her ankle complicate matters, but I can’t do anything about it from here. I pictured her face in my mind, scared, worried, and wondering why I wasn’t there with her when the police came knocking. I wondered what expression was on her face when they told her Xavier died. Maybe shock? Maybe relief? But then there must have been terror when they told her I was their main suspect. She had to have been freaked out, scared, and unable to process half of it from her head injury. Assuming she cares about me the way I care about her, anyway.
I’ve always been able to read other people’s feelings. When I was little, it scared me when I had strong reactions about people I loved. Then I learned there’s a name for it. They call me an empath. It took me a long time to embrace the name and the gift, but I’ve learned to integrate it into my life. Now, when someone I love is hurting, I feel what they feel and it doesn’t always feel good. Once I’m connected with someone, like for instance my deep connection with Cinn, I can’t ignore the emotions the way I usually can. Last night when the light didn’t come on, and she was scared, or when she woke up on the ramp and was terrified of the intense pain, it broke my heart. I could feel her heart pounding and the confusing jumbled thoughts racing through her head.
I pounded the table with my fist and stood, pacing the length of the room a few times. If they couldn’t find proof of my innocence there would be little even a lawyer could do to help me. Tabitha got off easy, but she killed a dog, not a human. I bent over and took several deep breaths. All I could see in my mind was Xavier on the ground, his skull caved in from the force of the hammer. What a horrible, horrible way to die. I didn’t like the guy, but I would never wish such a horrible death on anyone. He was a jerk, but he didn’t deserve to be bludgeoned to death with a hammer.
I paced some more. I should have listened to Cat when she told me to report the toolbox stolen. How would I have any idea someone intended to do such carnage with it? My gut churned with anxiety over the events of the last week. This past week has gone by in the blink of an eye, but seeing her in pain last night lasted longer than a lifetime. When I found her lying upside down on the ramp it broke something in me. In a split second, I lost the rest of my heart to her. These are the instances where my gift is both a blessing and a curse. I didn’t know everything about her, but I did know her emotions, because those were the things she couldn’t hide from me. Everything else I could, and would, learn.
First, it would be important to learn everything I could about what caused her illness, how I could make things easier, and how it would affect us as a couple. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind we would be a couple once I held her in my arms again. I planned to tell her too, just as soon as I got the hell out of this room.
I strode to the door to open it when Noah pushed it in from the outside. I stepped back and he joined me, motioning for me to take a seat. I wanted to yell for him to let me go, but I didn’t. I sat across from him and his trusty notebook. His face held somber confusion. It made me wonder if my alibi didn’t check out.
“Your alibi checks out down to the minute, Lorenzo,” he said and I sank down in my chair.
“Thank God,” I whispered, closing my eyes for a private prayer of thankfulness no one else could hear.
“I’ve never had anyone who could give me exact minutes to check before,” he said chuckling a little. “The clerk also remembered you and how you were buying the ice for a friend who had been injured. “
