Page 81 of Sweet Like a Psycho (Secrets of Suburbi 2)

“You saw three homicides occur. You’re not guilty of anything and I’m not going to let you go to prison for the rest of your life for something you didn’t do.”

“I’m so sick of living in fear every day. You asked me why I never moved. I’ve been terrified that if I left, someone would come along and go snooping where they shouldn’t. I thought someone would find the bodies. I had to stay and make sure my secret didn’t come out. Now that it’s out…”

“I’m the only one that knows. Your secrets will stay buried for as long as it takes to skip town.” I hope. “We’ll go get Zeke and then we’ll just drive. As far away as we can get from here.” We finally reached the top of the hill.

“Stop,” Damien said as we stepped out of the woods and onto her driveway. He was holding his gun up, aiming it at Violet. “Drop his hand, Violet.”

I wrapped my fingers more securely around Violet’s to prevent her hand from slipping. “Drop the fucking gun, Damien.” I pulled Violet toward my car, knowing full well he wasn’t about to shoot either one of us.

“They found a match for that tooth. It belonged to a John Fredrick. Joel’s foster father. He went missing six years ago too. Just like her parents. That’s too much o

f a coincidence.”

“I’m sorry,” Violet said.

She was not making this easy on me. Apologizing made her sound guilty. “It’s a misunderstanding,” I said. I shielded Violet’s body from him as I helped her into the passengers’ seat and then slammed the door closed.

Damien was pointing his gun at me now. “A misunderstanding? She just apologized for us finding the dude’s tooth in the middle of the woods. She clearly killed all three of them. You’re too infatuated with her to see it.”

“She didn’t. She told me the whole story. She saw them die, but she didn’t do it.” Even the gashes in the doorframe and flooring in her childhood home lined up with her story. They were the right size to be from the sharp end of a shovel. I could picture the scene so vividly in my head. I glanced at her truck. All the inconsistencies around Violet weren’t as inconsistent as they seemed. She kept the truck because she was worried about evidence. She stayed in these woods because she was worried about her secrets being unearthed. She’d done everything in her power to protect her son. She wasn’t the monster everyone made her out to be. And I wouldn’t let her be labeled as one because of a few rumors.

I walked back over to my side of the car. “I’m getting her and Zeke out of here so they can’t lock her up for something she didn’t do. The bodies are in the lake. I’m leaving this one to you. Clear her name for me.”

“The lake? What?! You can’t help her escape! Are you freaking insane? You can’t just believe anything that comes out of a beautiful psycho’s mouth.”

“She’s lied about a lot of things to cover it up. But she’s not lying about what happened.”

“You don’t know that.”

“She was young and scared and didn’t have anyone to help her out of it. She has me now. Would you lower your fucking gun? We both know you’re not going to shoot me.”

Damien slowly lowered his pistol. “She’s killed at least three people, Tucker.”

At least? Were they going to pin every death in this town on her? “She hasn’t killed anyone.” And I wouldn’t blame her if she had. Her stepfather had deserved a fate far worse than he got. A quick death after years of abusing her? I would have made it slow and painful.

“What if you’re wrong? What if she did it?”

“I’m not wrong.” I’d seen the way her face crumpled when she told the story. How guilty she felt for her actions. How much it had haunted her all of these years. She wasn’t a monster at all. She had a sensitive soul. She developed a nervous tick, reminding her every day of the secrets she kept. If she had murdered three people she’d be completely lost.

“But what if you are?”

“I’m not.”

“Are you leaving me here?!” he yelled at me as I opened the car door. “These woods are fucking cursed!”

I tore away from the house as fast as I could. If Damien thought I was going to bring him with me he was the crazy one. This was career suicide. There was no reason for him to make it too. Especially if he still thought she was guilty.

Violet’s lips were more purple than blue now. I didn’t know if that was a good or bad sign. I turned up the heat, knowing it wasn’t enough to dry our clothes. Stopping for dry ones was the first on my list after getting Zeke. Violet’s teeth were starting to chatter.

“I’m sorry about what happened with your stepfather. I’m sorry about all of it.” I didn’t know what to say to her to make it better. She’d been raped for years with no one to turn to for help. She’d witnessed the unthinkable. Her life had been a living hell for the past six years. Yet she was still beautiful. She was still standing. She was still breathing. She was still strong.

“You can’t change the past. I know that better than anyone.” She looked up at me. “I appreciate you doing this for me…but you shouldn’t be. The last person that tried to help me ended up dead.”

I shook my head. That wasn’t going to happen to here. What better person to run from law enforcement than law enforcement? I knew how to think like a criminal. And I knew that I had just become one five minutes ago. There was no going back now.

“Why are you? Doing this?”

She had just confessed everything to me. Why sugarcoat things now? I took my eyes off the road for a second. “I think I’m in love with you.” No, there was definitely no going back.

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