Page 61 of Vicious Hearts

"Such as?"

"Hillard is new to this area. He took control of his current precinct just as The Dollmaker murders began. Before that, he lived upstate somewhere with his mom."

"I already knew that."

"Congratulations on once again being the fucking oracle of knowledge." I can hear the venom in her voice. "Did you know he went a bit crazy, and that's why he was transferred? His dad was a rich real estate guy, but his parents were estranged, and his father stopped communicating with him a few years ago. Then his mom died, and Hillard locked himself in with her body for three days. He wouldn't come out until his colleagues threatened to break down the door. He was talking to her, writing her letters, bringing her food."

That's fucking weird.And doesn't sound like something a sane person would do, but grief is a mindfuck.

"How does Lois know that?"

"Gossip travels. Lois had a friend on the force who told her the whole tale."

"So why the fuck am I sitting here like an idiot, keeping watch over your cunt of an ex?" I snap. "You distracted me and got me thinking Graham was The Dollmaker when it may, in fact, be the cop in charge of the whole case."

"Don't give me that," Roxy says. "I want the killer caught because I care about justice. You don't care about anything. You just want to mark your territory and make sure everyone knows what's yours. Wouldn't it be simpler to just piss on me and call it a day?"

I'm surprised at how much this gets my back up. Ofcourseit would be easier to obsess over her instead of...whatever this is. But I can't have this conversation now. I need a clear head and can't let her fuck with it.

"Just take Lois to the psych hospital and find out once and for all what's going on," I say.

"I called them. They say I can't see Farraday because he took me off his approved visitor list. Apparently, he's in isolation anyway as punishment for yelling at me, and he's being crazy again, so even Lois isn't allowed in for the time being."

"So they forced some so-called 'medicine' down his neck." I pause for a moment, unsure of what to do. "Look, I need to think about this. Just take Lois and the baby to Leo and Ali's. At least I know it's safe there."

"Okay, fine. Whatever you say."

Dead air on the line.

Roxy sees me for what I am. Just as I'm finding my way out of the mess that is my own head, she's pulling away because I lashed out like the impulsive, angry bastard I am.

"Rox, things aren't adding up,” I say. “Let me know if Oliver calls you to say Graham has left Always Home. I'm gonna try and find Hillard."

She sighs deeply. Then she speaks.

"Please be careful." A click, and she’s gone.

Leo was right. Idolove her. Always have.

I was lost from the moment I met her. I buried it under my neuroses, afraid that I would hurt her, but she's strong as fuck. Totally capable of standing up to me.

Now it'smewho's hurting. And I’m not used to it.

22

The Dollmaker

Where would any of us be without Alexander Graham Bell? My namesake and the man who gave us the telephone. Without him and his innovation, there'd be no way for me to have got the valuable information I needed.

That dodgy Russian fucker must have used his connections to find Lois. I can't believe it never occurred to me before.

So the lovely Mrs. Farraday is going to save the day. Ride on in to see her precious idiot husband and, with the power of true love, bestow on him the confidence to tell all. Too bad he's in a rubber room now, but he won't be there forever.

Living Roxanne has resources and brains I didn't count on. She's not intelligent, but she's undoubtedly smart for a blonde. I should have torn that whoreish hair right out of her scalp when I had the chance.

She started this whole chain of events by not accepting her fate. If she'd given herself up to me in the first place, maybe I wouldn't have gotten so riled up.

The wheels have come off now. I see it in my mind's eye as though it has already happened. Farraday's attorney will get involved, the case will be reopened, I will be arrested, the works.

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