Page 16 of Killing Me Softly

“Maybe not, but you need everyone to believe you have a stalker, that you’re not crazy, don’t you, Beatrice?”

I shake my head again, more violently than before.

“You’ve needed that since you were in high school and shunned because you were weird.”

“Where are you getting this from?” I ask. “I never—“

“Your friend Lily told us all about it,” she says. “How you were bullied and ridiculed for seeing things that weren’t there.”

“I…I…yes I was, but it wasn’t so bad, and I had Lily, it was fine,” I say.

“And a roommate of yours in San Diego was almost strangled,” she goes on. “The man they arrested for it has recently been released because there wasn’t enough evidence and he continued to claim it wasn’t him. Only her and your DNA was found in the room.”

All this is news to me, and I know I’m goggling at her.

“You think I strangled her?” I manage to choke out. “And that I made up the intruder.”

I’m shaking now and I can’t stop. It’s not just from the cold, it’s from everything she’s saying. All these wild accusations are making about as much sense to me as listening to someone speaking Chinese.

“Do I need a lawyer?” I ask, only because I know that’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re being accused of something.

“We’re not charging you with anything today,” she says and it sounds like they will very soon.

“So I can go?”

She nods.

“Is Ash…Ashton, still here?”

She shakes her head and closes the black folder back up. “He left hours ago.”

Probably for the best. What kind of mess did I get him into? What kind of mess am I in? He’ll probably never want to see me again. It’s amazing that of all that’s happened, this the thing that hurts me the most. But none of the rest of it makes any sense. I’m innocent. I didn’t do anything like that detective just accused me of. I never even thought any of those things. And someone has been watching me for years. It’s not true that they’ve never made themselves known. It’s just that no one saw it. And that’s been fixed now.

The thought of Aaron being dead makes me sick to my stomach, so I can’t focus on it too long or I’ll throw up. And coupled with the wild accusations this detective just tossed at me, I don’t know if I’ll make it much further than the police station exit.

I want my mom. I want Ash. But I think that ship has sailed now, never to return. And the worst part is, I can still feel all that rightness and belonging I felt just before my life came crashing down around me.

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