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“I don’t know how to tell you this, don’t even know where to begin.” That sounded ominous as fuck to Ryan, who was starting to sweat. “Just tell me, does this have anything to do with me losing my freedom again?” At the moment, that was the only thing he cared about. He’d never realized how precious a man’s freedom was until he’d almost lost his.
It didn’t matter that he’d been innocent; that too is something that was sticking in his craw, the fact that someone had tried to destroy him and had done it in such a way that no one would believe him, which brought his next question to mind. “How did you guys figure out that it wasn’t me who sent those messages? Who was it?”
“That’s the thing, shit; I’m just gonna come right out and say it. Both your wife and your stepdaughter have been arrested. Well, technically, only your wife has been; Detective Sparks is working with the D.A. to see what should be done about your stepdaughter.”
“Are you saying that both of them sent the messages?”
“No…Misty, your wife has been arrested for murder. Connie is the one who sent the messages.”
Ryan stared at him in silence for a few seconds as the words worked their way through his brain. Nothing Pete was saying made any sense. “Who did she kill?” As pissed as he was at her for drugging him, he didn’t think she was capable of killing anyone. But then again, he didn’t really know her, did he? He was even more confused when Pete revealed the name.
“You mean the one you guys asked me if I knew? Why would she kill her?”
Pete had to be careful with how much he gave away. This was a working case, after all, and he was not free to share certain things, or he could jeopardize everything, so he chose his words carefully.
“We’re still trying to find that out. Right now, the most important thing is Connie though she has no one. Her mother is in jail, and her father…well, you know the story there I imagine.”
“Actually, I don’t; we’ve never really had that conversation. I’ve heard a few whispers after we got married but nothing hair lifting.”
“I think it’s best if we talk down at the station.”
“Why do I need to go there?” Pete didn’t have an answer for that one either. He knew what he was about to ask was pushing it, but the memory of that broken, scared little girl wouldn’t leave his mind. He, too, would be pissed if she’d pulled the same stunt on him, but the kid was genuinely remorseful it was obvious to see. And she has no one.
“She heard you telling her mother that you didn’t want to be her dad didn’t want her even calling you that. It was one last rejection in a long line of many, apparently. You don’t know, since you grew up in the town over and was gone by the time all of this went down, but the man that’s supposed to be her dad never had anything to do with her. There was a lot of talk and speculation at the time about what went on there, but nobody really knows.”
“She’s had a hard life here in this town. I don’t know why Misty never left, why she stuck around even after years of gossip and being shunned because she was a teenaged single mom. According to Connie, her mother told her that you were going to be her new dad, and I guess for a kid who’s been dying to have one her whole life…”
“So you’re saying that it’s okay that she almost fucked me over for good? Almost cost me my freedom, my reputation?” Ryan was getting heated because it sounded like his old friend was siding with the enemy. He didn’t care what sob story she had, the girl had fucked with his life, and that’s not something he could easily overlook.
“I’m not saying that no, but I’m saying… she’s a kid who made a mistake. She never expected things to go this far. She thought Marissa would read the message and distance herself from you. She was jealous of the attention you gave the other girl, the way you seemed to like her more than you liked her. Try to understand.”
Pete chose his next words as best he could because he knew it was a hard sell. But hearing that kid talk about standing outside her dad’s place looking in from the outside had almost broken him. He was mad at her, sure, for what she’d done to his old friend, but his heart wasn’t hard enough to ignore everything else.
“It couldn’t have been easy for her all these years being the only one amongst her peers who came from a broken home. You know how small towns are. Once you’ve been labeled with something, it sticks. Sorry.” Pete realized that Ryan was now labeled as a predator in the eyes of many and will be until the truth comes out. He’s been around enough to know that even with his release, there will still be some who question his innocence.
