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It got so bad after the tenth or so phone call and the fifteenth text, calling her every name in the book, that she herself started doubting whether or not she’d accused an innocent man. When she met with the cops, she’d been honest about the fact that the coach had never approached her sexually, had never so much as touched a hair on her head, and had, in fact, seemed to go out of his way not to be too familiar with the female team members.
Something that struck her as odd now that the initial panic at receiving his message had passed. Could he have meant to send it to someone else? No, he’d called her by name and had even mentioned the way she looked in her track shorts and tank.
But her friends were all ganging up on her and calling her a liar because he’d never done anything like this to any of them. She felt torn and afraid. Afraid that no one would believe her, and even more afraid that she might be wrong. The cops had taken her phone, so there was no way for her to reread the message again, but the words were burnt into her corneas anyway.
Connie spent the morning hidden behind the door of her room, still faintly traumatized by the night’s events. She’s been afraid to be alone after her mom had left to go to the station, but her mind had been too preoccupied with other thoughts for her to worry too much. It’s not like it’s the first time her mother had up and left her alone.
She was worried about Ryan, her upset at him for denying her swiftly forgotten in the face of what he was now dealing with. She wondered about how their lives would change now. Would they go back to being almost pariahs in the town? She’d only just started to get used to their new status in town after years of living in the shadows.
Everyone seemed to accept them because of Ryan, who had been long gone before she was born. It was nice having people acknowledge them while out and about with him, though those same people still seemed to treat them coldly when he wasn’t around. Will things go back to that now? Will people go back to whispering behind their hands when they saw her and her mom coming?
Her mind went to her dad. The man who’d never once acknowledged her, not even when their paths happened to cross, which wasn’t often since he seemed to make it a point to avoid her and her mom. She wondered not for the first time about the unfairness of it all. Why did he love his new family more than he loved her?
She saw his daughter in her mind the way she’d looked the last time she’d seen them together. Her mom doesn’t know, but she sometimes sneaks around to their house and hide in the shadows to watch them through the large bay windows into their dining room.
She has no idea how many hours she’d spent standing under the neighbor’s big magnolia tree, hidden by the hanging branches, watching the family, a real family. Thinking about them only reminded her of what she’d overheard Ryan saying about her calling him dad only the day before, and she was back to being miserable.
She pulled a pillow over her head when she heard her mom’s phone ring beyond the door. It’s been ringing nonstop since they woke up, and she knew from her mother’s tone that it was nothing good. It wouldn’t be long now before her friends all knew she was sure.
Celia had no idea of what was going on around town. She was too busy worrying about what the heck was going on with her suspect. She couldn’t for the life of her figure out why a seemingly healthy adult male would just pass out like that. As far as she knew, there were no existing medical issues with the guy, so she was stumped.
This isn’t New York, but she was sure it wouldn’t matter where they were; the headache of having a suspect fall suspiciously ill while in custody will still be the same. He hadn’t looked so good when they were wheeling him out of here earlier, so she was sure it wasn’t an act. It was fine either way since Pete had gone along to keep watch over him while she stayed behind to do damage control.
She contacted the night sergeant who’d left not too long ago to find out what if anything had transpired the night before, but all he had to say is that Ryan had been fine except for his refusal to eat or drink anything while in custody. She figured that could have something to do with it, but it didn’t add up for her. A man with his constitution should be able to go for one night without food surely.
