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Ackerman rolled his chair over and read the messages, frowning in response. “Did she lose it?”
“Must have.” He stretched his aching muscles. “Or maybe she never was.”
Webb kept reading. As he got closer to the night of the murder, the text messages between the two became more angst-ridden, almost as if one of them knew things were coming to a head. Nyleah seemed desperate to see him, because she’d be leaving town for the summer, and Bobby seemed pressed about doctors’ appointments and Nyleah’s health. He even begged for a picture of her stomach, which would have still been quite small if the dates were accurate.
And finally, on the second-to-last page were texts from that night. Webb sat up and grimaced as he read them, knowing this was it, that if there was an answer to his question, it would be found in those last pages.
“Brad. We got him,” he said, a grin spreading across his face. “We got this piece of shit.”
NF:r u coming?
BG:Where are you?
NF:It’s a door upstairs. u can walk up from outside. Nbdy will c u
BG:Maybe
NF:Pls
There were others after that one, with one particularly angry message from Bobby, but this was it. This was the one.
Webb sighed happily. "We got him!"
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
Dr.Meriwethergotstraightto the point. “You been messing with that hand?”
Bria averted her eyes. “It reopened a couple of days ago.”
“It reopened? By itself?”
“Well…no. I scratched it by mistake.”
Dr. Meriwether looked skeptical. “Okay. Well, you should be more careful. We want healing. Right?”
“Right.”
She sighed. “How are you sleeping?”
“Better than I was, but not well. Like three to four hours straight before I wake up or have a nightmare.”
“Okay, so a tiny bit of progress. I’d like to see more. Have you reconsidered my offer for sleeping pills? Just say the word, and I’ll send you over to the NP.”
Bria shook her head. “Let me think about it some more.”
“Okay.”
Silence ensued, and for the first time since she'd started these sessions, Bria didn’t want to be there. Not that day, not ever again. But there was one more thing she needed to discuss to unburden herself.
“Do you remember when I asked you if everything I tell you stays here?” she said.
“I remember. Do you remember my answer?”
“I do. But I need to get this out.” She took a deep, shaky breath and went to dig at her palm before remembering she was being watched. Instead, she dug into her thigh and closed her eyes. “I think I might have been molested.”
Dr. Meriwether sat up and leaned toward Bria. “Go on.”
“It was a few months ago. We were at…it doesn’t matter. But this person kept telling me how pretty I was, and that he’s noticed me for a long time. He asked me if I have a boyfriend, and when I said no, he said it was crazy, and that boys my age are stupid. At first, I thought it was weird…but then it felt nice that somebody finally saw what I see about myself. Does that make sense?”
