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She stiffens before she says, softly, “I haven’t heard from him. Mia said he took a leave of absence and went back home to sort out some legal matters.”
That’s not suspicious, I think to myself, wryly.
She narrows her eyes at me.
I immediately pretend to look innocent. “Oh? When does Mia say he’ll be back?”
Halley watches me with unnerving stillness, which is something I’ve discovered she does when I know I’m about to get into trouble. Finally, she says, “She just got a message from him, saying he’ll be too busy to call her and she’s not heard back from him since.”
I find the whole situation odd but choose not to comment on it.
We haven’t uncovered anything else so far and the frustration is getting to Halley. Her fingers, which were moving on the keyboard, stop and she stares at the screen before sighing. “Uncle Raymond came over a few days ago.”
Raymond still doesn’t know about us and I’m grateful, because I know he won’t be happy about me dating his niece when she was my intern. “What did he say?”
Halley doesn’t speak for a minute, and then she finally says, “He thinks I should take the money and leave. That I should sell the house and go abroad.”
My fingers tighten on the arm of the sofa I’m sitting on and I deliberately keep my voice calm as I ask, “Are you considering it?”
“I don’t know.” Her voice is small.
My heart clenches in my chest. “Come sit with me.”
She closes the laptop, and setting it aside, she sits down next to me, her eyes troubled. “I talked to Detective Felix. He wanted to know if I had heard from that other detective. His partner was kicked off the case, the one who kept harassing me, and he didn’t show up to work the day after Cameron took a leave.”
I curl my hands around her small ones. “You’re sure?”
“I don’t know what’s going on anymore, Jace. I’m starting to think that Uncle Raymond might have a point.”
My heart sinks at her words. “You’ve already decided, haven’t you?”
She looks at me, sadly. “I can’t keep doing this. I have so many questions and no answers. On one hand, I think Jet Stalinski may be alive. But if he is and he is my father, why did he kill Hashem? What was his relationship with my mother? And what does Cam have to do with all of this? I found Jet’s brother’s email address and I sent him an email this morning, with my number and yours. Maybe he might have some answers.” She leans her head against my chest.
I bury my fingers in her hair, not able to take the defeated expression on her face.
“My nightmares are becoming worse,” she whispers. “You saw how I woke up screaming last night. That woman’s voice in my head, it doesn’t stop. I don’t recognize the voice. Is that a memory or just a nightmare?”
I freeze at her words, and cup her face to lift it so that her eyes meet mine. I study her, my blood running cold. “You think it could be a memory?”
She nods, reluctantly, there’s a fission of fear in her beautiful eyes. “I- I don’t want it to be one, Jace. Because the woman in my dreams, the way she screams, it’s like someone is ripping her apart with their hands.” Her skin is cold as she reveals this to me and her eyes shimmer with tears. “I don’t want to imagine my mom dying such a gruesome death. I think I just want to leave now. I don’t want to look into this matter anymore.”
I recall the way she tensed up when we had gone down the road near her house, the way she nearly screamed to turn around, and I have a very bad feeling that Lily never managed to turn the car around. “When did—How long have you been thinking this?”
Halley gives me a stark look. “Ever since we returned, my nightmares have grown worse. It makes no sense because at some point they should stop, and then I just started thinking, what if these are not just nightmares but my memories from that night?”
I caress her cheek, tenderly. “Why didn’t you say anything, Halley? You didn’t have to go through this alone.”
She bites her lower lip, and her words are hoarse, “I thought—Saying them aloud would have made it all the more real and I
didn’t want it to be. Oh, God. I don’t want that to be true.”
I firm my jaw. “Fine. When do you want to leave? I’ll make my arrangements.”
“You’ll really leave everything and come with me?” a sliver of wonder vibrates in her tone.
I nod, feeling exasperated. “How am I supposed to live here when you’re not here? There’s no point.”
She takes a shuddering breath and leans her forehead against mine. “I’m going tomorrow to pack up the house with Uncle Raymond. He said he already has a buyer waiting who’s been vying for the house for a few years.”
