Marcus broke the silence.“How did you get these?”
“What’s the matter?”Cheryl asked.“Need to know who betrayed both of you?”
Kate’s tongue finally loosened.“Cheryl, you need to tell us how you got these.Your life could be in danger.”
Rivera’s head lifted at that.He regarded Kate with a shocked and wary look.Once more, Kate’s behavior taken out of context was really problematic.Cheryl’s derisive laughter displayed the other side of that coin.“Oh my God, really?What, you’re going to tell me that a killer sent these to me because he’s stalkingme?These are pictures of you.”
“God damn it, Cheryl,” Marcus said.“Answer the question.How did you get these?”
“Whoever sent these to you knows your address,” Kate replied.“And they’ve been following Marcus and I for a long time.Some of these pictures are over a year old.I don’t feel like you hired a private detective to follow us for over a year.”
“See, that’s the thing, Kate,” Cheryl replied.She was smiling now, but her smile was trembling, and her eyes were moist.“I never hired a detective.I trusted you.Well, no, I never trustedyou, but I trustedhim.I believed him when he said he loved me.”
“Idolove… Ididlove…” Marcus pressed his palms together in front of his face and took a deep breath before continuing.“Cheryl, who gave you the pictures?”
“Someone who actually gives a shit,” she snapped.
“Cheryl, I know you hate me,” Kate said.“You have every right to feel that way, but I need you to listen.”
“No,” Cheryl whispered.Tears slid down her cheeks as she shook her head slowly from side to side.“No, I’m done listening.”
Kate told her anyway.“If you received these photos as an anonymous tip, then you likely received them from an associate of a serial killer.”
Rivera’s eyes widened.Kate wasn’t sure if he had made the leap yet, but he was definitely thrown off from whatever his previous assumption was.
Cheryl’s face flickered briefly.She looked uncertainly between Marcus and Kate.
“Someone followed us for over a year, then either found your number and texted these to you or found your address… Do they know your address?”
“No, these were texts,” Cheryl said.“And…” She frowned at her phone.
“We’re leading a major investigation,” Kate explained.“The subject of that investigation has developed a fixation on me.I believe it’s possible, even likely, that the person who sent you these photographs did so as an attempt to sour the relationship between me and Marcus so we’ll be less effective at our jobs.”
“Not to mention the fact that you’re in danger if this asshole has his sights set on you,” Marcus added.“Listen, you and I need to talk about this.Reallytalk.We might not be together anymore, but I still want you to be safe.”
Tears now leaked steadily from Cheryl’s eyes.“But wearetogether, Marcus.”She lifted her left hand, and Kate saw the wedding ring still there.“I said I needed time.I didn’t say I wanted to divorce.I called you as soon as I got these pictures, and you brushed me off.”
“What?”Marcus’s lips worked for a moment before he managed to blurt out.“I did call you!”
“Yeah, to brush me off.”
“I was working!”
“You’re always working.”She looked at Kate, and her face twisted into an ugly grimace as she fought off sobs.“I guess I know whatjobyou were doing.”
Kate opened her mouth to protest, but no sound came out.
“Cheryl—”
“No.”Her voice was firmer now.“I said I’m done listening.I don’t know who got me these pictures, but if they cared enough to let me know that my husband was screwing his partner during our entire marriage, then they did me a favor, and I’m grateful for them.
“I’m leaving you, Marcus.Except not really because I never really had you.”
Marcus fought to remain composed.“Cheryl, I understand that we’re through, but you need to—”
“I’ll send my parents to pick my stuff up from our apartment.I still have my key.I’ll have them leave a check for my portion of the rent for the remainder of the lease, and I’ll talk to the phone company to have our bills separated.”
“Cheryl…”
She took her wedding ring off, lifted Marcus’s hand and pressed it into his palm.She met his eyes and smiled.“I hope you’re happy with her.I really do.”
She spun on her heel and stalked out of the room.Marcus stood where he was, palm up, ring burning a hole in the middle of it, eyes wide and staring as his wife walked out of his life for good.
Kate stood where she was, frozen twenty inches away from him, trying to wrap her head around the revelation that Elijah Cox had someone following her and Marcus, possibly multiple people, for over a year, and they’d never known about it.
That person or people had Cheryl’s number.She was in danger.Marcus was in danger.The danger had never left Kate.Even in the bowels of the most secure prison in the United States, Cox could still reach her.
And those she cared about.
