Page 20 of One Night Years Ago

Natalie’s head was spinning. Her mind finally took her to the obvious conclusion.

“But if you and your brother didn’t do it, that means you let the man who raped me go free.”

He clenched his teeth so hard his jaw went white.

“I know. And I’ve been living with that for the last twelve years. I’ll never forgive myself for that. Nothing happened while I was in prison, so I thought he’d gone. I thought you were safe. But that girl whose picture you showed me yesterday …”

“Her name is Lanie.”

“I’m sorry,” he repeated shamefully.

“Sorry? Sorry is when you drop an ice cream cone on someone. Sorry isn’t going to cut it here, Hunter. Do you know what that animal did to me? It’s your fault Lanie’s dead.”

#

Hunter

Whoever said confession was good for the soul had never seen the look on Natalie’s face as she came to terms with the truth. Hunter felt his heart breaking into a thousand pieces.

He raised his eyes to look at her. He was done hiding. “I know what that man did to you.” The pictures had come up in the trial. He looked at the beautiful woman in front of him and remembered the pictures the sheriff had shown him, remembered the doctor’s description of her injuries at the trial.

“You waived counsel so nobody ever bothered to analyze the semen. But it wouldn’t have matched.”

She seemed to be talking to herself. He waited, hating himself for causing her this pain but knowing he owed her as much time as she needed to come to terms with what he’d just told her.

There was nothing he could say that would excuse what he did. He stood up but didn’t get close to her.

“I was young. I wanted to protect my brother. He wouldn’t have survived in prison.”

“I’m not going to feel sorry for you,” she said, staring at the scars on his arms.

“God knows I’m not asking you to.”

“I need to get back to my investigation. Somebody killed Lanie, and it now seems like we’ve had a rapist on the loose this entire time.”

Hunter could see the wheels turning in her mind.

“He waited until you were out of prison to strike again. He knew I’d come after you.” She looked at her watch. “I need to get to the hospital.”

He knew he should remain silent but couldn’t help himself. “Natalie? You need to be careful. This man … he could be after you.”

“You don’t tell me what to do. I still haven’t decided what to do about you and your brother, but don’t even think of going anywhere.”

“I told you last night, I’m staying here.”

He watched her get up and walk to her cruiser, waiting until the sound of the engine died off in the distance. He went to find his brother, found him sitting on the porch, throwing pebbles at a stack of cans.

“Is she gone?” Jesse asked.

“She’s gone.” He sat down beside his brother and took a pebble from him. He missed.

“She was really mad at you.”

“Natalie’s okay. She’s just trying to figure out a difficult problem.”

“I remember her, you know? She’s the girl with the yellow sundress.”

Hunter nodded but didn’t say anything. It made sense that Jesse would remember that night. They’d never had a chance to talk about it.