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She’d known, but it was hard to hear it. Kim had been important to her, someone that she’d felt safe and happy with. To have others think she could have ended Kim’s life, to believe even for an instant that she was capable of that level of violence, of betrayal, was enough to make her sick.
“Here’s my card.” The detective handed over a thin white business card with the police station logo and a name emblazoned on the front. Detective Amanda Chen. “Call me if you think of anything else that might be helpful.”
“Thank you, Detective Chen.”
“Once your friends are done giving their statements, you can all go home. We’ll take care of notifying the family.”
“They live here in New Orleans.” And when Detective Chen merely lifted a brow, “Her parents.” Eloise had never met them, but she knew from talking to Kim that they were close. The kind of parents that called often and expressed genuine interest in her life. What would a loss like this do to them? A dead child and no answers?
She was still pondering that, the depth of the tragedy and the inability to find closure, when Chloe and Sarah waved her over. They were alone and apparently done with giving their statements.
“We told them the truth, you know? That we hadn’t seen anything,” Sarah said. Her hands were shaking, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she spoke. “Not until after we came down and found you.”
“They asked if the two of you had any problems,” Chloe added. “I told them you didn’t, of course.”
“Detective Chen admitted I’m a person of interest for now, but she seemed more interested in Kim’s job. She seems to think it might be related to her position in the auditing department, but I told her that was extremely unlikely. How would anyone even know she was going over their accounts?”
“I’m sure she’ll figure that out soon enough.” Sarah reached out and wrapped one arm around Eloise. “I’m sorry they’re even considering you as a suspect. It’s ridiculous to think it could be any of us.”
Chloe shrugged but she still looked uneasy. “I guess they really have to consider all of us, at least to some degree. It seems so strange, doesn’t it? That it might be someone we know?”
“How are we supposed to look anyone in the eye anymore, not knowing if they did this?” Sarah shuddered, the force of it wracking her whole body. “There’s plenty of people here I’ve never liked, but to do this? Who? I guess, I don’t know if I'd quite put it beyond Dwayne, but I always thought of him more as just a sexist ass than a murderer.”
“They’ll look at everyone and I’m sure they’ll still go over her accounts,” Eloise mused. “Just to be sure.”
Chloe watched as Detective Chen and her partner stood beside the body and talked to the medical examiner. “Do you really think they’ll go that far? Will Sun Valley even let them?”
“I’m sure they’ll have to if there are no other leads and that detective seemed like the kind of person to get a search warrant for every receipt that’s passed through Kim’s hands in the last five years. I feel better knowing she’s taking it seriously enough to follow up on every possibility.”
“Of course.” Sarah squeezed her tighter, a quick look passing between her and Chloe as she did so. “Chloe’s going to stay at my house tonight. Do you want to come over? I’d hate to think of you being alone.”
“Thanks, but I think I’d feel better at home.”
“Be careful,” Chloe warned. “The roads are still wet, and you’re upset.”
“I will,” Eloise promised. Maybe it would have been smarter to leave her car there and take an Uber, or ask Ethan to come and drive her home, but she needed the time and the quiet to start putting her thoughts together before she could explain to anyone else what had happened.
Sarah and Chloe seemed to understand, and they didn’t argue when she let them walk her to her car. They all held on a little tighter when she hugged both of them before she drove away.
The storm had blown out as quickly as it had rushed in, leaving no trace behind except the smell of damp soil and a humidity level that made it feel hot even with the car’s air conditioning turned up all the way. The sun had fully set by the time she exited the highway and pulled into her neighborhood, the stars a blanket of flickering lights on the milky dark blue of the sky.
She had mostly stopped shaking when she pulled into the driveway and the only sound that greeted her when she opened the door and stepped out into the night was the incessant chirp of the crickets and the odd, echoing screams of the cicadas in the trees.
If she could just get inside and close the door behind her, she could text Ethan, tell him what happened and explain that she didn’t feel like having company tonight. Maybe she’d lock herself in the bathroom and draw a tub of hot water. Fill it with lavender bath soap and let the warmth and the smell calm her. Hope it carried away the ache in her chest and the stinging pressure of tears behind her eyes.
She was on the porch when a flash of headlights let her know she wasn’t alone on the street anymore and the familiar rumble of a car’s engine had her pausing with her key in the lock. There was no way Ethan hadn’t seen her, and it would only cause more questions if she tried to run inside now. Better to stay here and face him, get the questions out of the way now instead of texting him.
“Hey, you’re getting home late. Have you eaten …” He stopped halfway up the stairs, the question unfinished as he caught sight of her face in the yellow porch light. “You okay?”
Her resolve dissolved under the steady weight of his gaze and the first fat tear slipped over her lashes onto her cheek. “I went …I saw …” She hiccupped, a sob pushing its way up past her defenses. “Kim was there, and she was dead. She was just there on the ground, and someone had hurt her, and I couldn't help her, and I was so … so scared.”
It wasn’t clear how much of it he understood through the sobbing and the fingers she had pressed to her mouth, but he didn’t ask for any further explanation before wrapping her in his arms and tucking her head under his chin. He let her cry until she was able to control it enough for him to fumble with the key and get them both inside, and he stayed, without having to be asked.
“Have you eaten?” His lips skimmed her ear as he guided her to the couch, tucked a blanket over her shoulders and brushed the hair back out of her eyes.
“There wasn’t time.” She closed her eyes and tried not to picture the scene on the sidewalk. The detectives and their questions. Kim and her staring, vacant eyes. “I’ve been with the police for hours.”
“Why don’t you go upstairs? Run a bath while I make you something for dinner.” He was searching her face with worried eyes and she knew he was trying to figure out how to fix something unfixable. Feeding her was probably the thing he could think of to keep his hands busy and provide some comfort.
