AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Thronson’s claim came back to her, but her stomach twisted because it was a lie. She had wished them dead, and they’d died. “Didn’t anyone see anything?” she forced out. “Someone walking by? A car out of place or . . . ?”
“The investigation’s just starting. Why don’t you tell me what you and Detective Thronson discussed. Give me a replay of what you said to each other.”
Elizabeth nodded. Their conversation was still so fresh that she could relate it practically verbatim, but she only told Maya about wishing Court and Mazie dead, not Officer Daniels or GoodGuy; she could see Maya thought she was crazy enough as it was. She also left out her challenge to Thronson to go ahead and arrest her. It just seemed prudent. She finished with, “. . . and after that, she left. That was it. I didn’t hear from her again.”
“Detective Thronson was scheduling you for a polygraph.”
Elizabeth could easily read between the lines on that. She’d just told Maya that she’d wished people dead, and though she hadn’t elaborated on her statement, it was the kind of comment reserved for crackpots, she was certain. A lie detector test was a good start to separate truth and fiction, at least about what someone truly believed. “I still want to go through with it,” she assured the officer.
“Mind if I sit down?” She was already perching uneasily on the ottoman directly in front of Elizabeth.
“My daughter’s sleeping and I don’t want to wake her.”
Maya nodded and said quietly but with an edge, “The crash at the restaurant. How did you know it was coming?”
She’d explained already, but Maya, like Thronson, wanted answers. “Like I told Detective Thronson, I heard it coming. I saw the car speeding out of control, aimed straight for the restaurant.”
“No,” Maya disagreed. “You were in the car’s path at least half a minute before the car plowed through the glass. You saved that kid’s life because you knew the crash was going to happen.”
“I just reacted,” Elizabeth insisted, her head beginning to pound.
“Well, see, that’s the problem. I think you acted. Not reacted. It was impossible for you to see that car coming.”
Elizabeth’s back stiffened. “Did you come here to tell me about Detective Thronson or was that just an excuse to badger me? I reacted to a situation, a calamity I saw coming, and that boy and his family are alive because of it. I’m not going to feel bad about doing what anyone would have.”
“People are asking who you are. They know I spoke with you at the site. I haven’t given them your name.”
“Media people?”
Maya nodded slowly.
“I appreciate that,” Elizabeth said shortly.
“I don’t want this turning into a circus any more than I imagine you do, but I intend to get to the bottom of it. And I intend to find out who killed Detective Thronson.”
“I wish you the best of luck in that.”
Maya studied Elizabeth’s face, looking for signs of guilt, she suspected. “If there’s anything you’ve left out, something you remember later, call me.” Maya pressed a card into Elizabeth’s hand.
“I’ll do that.” Elizabeth got to her feet and ushered the officer outside. Once she closed the door behind Maya, Elizabeth threw the dead bolt, exhaled a long breath and leaned against the panels.
Detective Thronson’s image swam before her eyes and she swallowed hard. From fear. From grief. From not understanding what kind of vortex had caught her in its deadly swirl, trapping her. People around her were dying ugly, tragic deaths. Some of those deaths were presumed to be accidents. Mazie’s single-car crash. Court losing control due to road rage. Others were not. Someone had definitely shot Detective Thronson, like Officer Daniels had been shot. Yes, Thronson’s and Daniels’s homicides could have been brought on by someone not connected to Elizabeth. They were both po
lice officers, and Thronson was a homicide detective, investigating murders. Her line of work was dangerous. But the timing of her murder was directly after she left Elizabeth, if Maya could be believed. Elizabeth didn’t think the officer would get it wrong. It seemed more than coincidence. A lot more. Elizabeth felt sick inside. And someone had definitely gone out of their way to kill Channing Renfro, GoodGuy, dousing him with gasoline and setting him ablaze. That took a certain amount of planning.
As she leaned against the door, she saw them all . . . the victims, each face appearing in her mind’s eye, distorted and pained, eyes accusing. One image replaced by another, those victims included Detective Bette Thronson. Would there be no end?
Not as long as you keep becoming enraged with people.
Elizabeth felt a serious lurch of her stomach. She ran to the kitchen sink where she heaved up most of the little she’d eaten during the day. Clutching the edge of the counter, leaning over the sink, her nostrils and mouth smelling of bile she dry-heaved a second time.
Rinsing out her mouth, she splashed water over her face and told herself to calm down, to think rationally as she cleaned the sink. No such luck. The shaking started in her fingers, but soon involved her hands and arms, crawling up her body until her teeth started chattering and she wondered if she was literally falling apart, not only mentally, but physically, as well. She slid down the cabinetry to puddle on the floor and dropped her face into her hands. What was happening to her? Tears burned in her eyes and it was all she could do to keep from breaking into full-fledged sobs.
Don’t do this.
Pull yourself together.
You can’t let whatever’s happening steal your sanity. You can’t fall apart. What would Chloe do without you? Get a damned grip! Do it. Your daughter needs a strong, sane mother, not some sniveling weakling who’s confused and feeling sorry for herself. Get the fuck up!
