“What she said,” Brian added. “We let her make the decisions for herself, and she suffered for it.”
“We weren’t proactive enough,” Jake added. “Neither of us. I was the deputy on record, but Brian loved her. We’re not going to make the same mistake with you. We’re not going to fail you, too.”
My throat seized up, and my hands started to tremble in my lap. They couldn’t know. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The lie hurt more than the pain Royal put me through, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let them in.
“You lied to Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department. When you told them you were mugged. Your hospital records don’t match that statement, and they were taken as part of the investigation, which you signed off on.” Jake tapped a manila folder on his desk, and I thought I was going to be sick.
“Lacerations on your wrist, like someone took a small knife to it, carving into scar tissue.” He opened the file, but Maya was the one who spoke. Like she’d memorized the file. “Lashes, like you’d been beat with a chain. Photographs, Kennedy. Ones that you didn’t want your father or brother to see. Ones that would destroy them. Blood-soaked clothes that had to be cut from your body. That’s not a mugging. That’s rage, pure and hot, and you’re lucky that you survived.”
“I was mugged,” I lied again, but there was no conviction in my voice. There was no commitment, nothing but pain at the truth being revealed.
“They don’t know, do they?” Brian asked gently. “Linc doesn’t know.” He scoffed quietly. “Of course he doesn’t. He’d have tried to kill the man.”
“I know I did,” Jake said quietly. “When Ray tried to murder Margot. When he trapped her in a burning building.” He leaned forward, closing the folder. “We’ve all nearly lost someone that we love, or have almost died at the hand of someone who wanted us gone. Our lives… I think they come with a price that not many are willing to pay, nor are they able to. But, Kennedy, you can’t let this go. You can’t let him get away with it.”
“I know you,” Maya whispered while she reached back over and took my hand. “I know you’re not going to recant your statement about what happened that night. I know you’re not going to implicate him. Because if you do, that folder becomes public knowledge here. But I want you to think about it,” she said forcefully. “I want you to think about saving the next woman who might become one of his victims. One who might not be lucky enough to survive like you did.”
I didn’t know when I started crying in earnest, or how long it had gone on for. I didn’t even care at that point. If Maya knew what was in the file, and Jake had seen the pictures, everyone would know.
Everyone.
“I’ve got to go.” I got up, but they had plenty of warning. Jake leaned back and Maya didn’t try and hold on to me as I let her go.
“Here,” she said. I paused and looked down to see that she was handing me the file. “Take it home. Remember what he did, from a clinical point of view. It’s something I wish that I had done. Instead of living in the memory of the pain he put you through, look at it… And think of what you’d tell a loved one who was in your position.”
I took the folder, with trembling fingers, and opened the door to go back to work.
“You’re on administrative leave for the next week,” Maya said to my back. I hadn’t flinched through anything else they said. Through any of the tears I shed. But that, being forced away from my work because of something like that, it broke me. “Not as a punishment, Kennedy. Take the time. Decide what you’re going to do. But I hope you do the right thing.”
I walked out without looking back. It wasn’t until I was locked in my house, away from everyone, that I finally broke down and opened the file. I had both of my machetes next to me on my bed, ready to use if I needed them.
Photo after photo spilled out onto my bed as I shifted the file around, and I mentally walked back into the nightmare that was that night, with eyes wide open for the first time.
Maya and Jake had been right. The story I fed the police about a mugging didn’t match. It had been no wonder that they kept all the evidence. DNA samples taken from the attack were documented in the file, and I knew what they would find if they tested it against Royal. I knew what they would see if they looked deep enough into his alibi.
My phone rang after I’d been staring at the photos for hours, and I’d almost dried my tears completely.
Linc.
“Hey.” My voice almost broke on the single word.
“Where are you?” He didn’t sound angry or frustrated like I thought he might. Not Linc. He sounded worried, like he didn’t want to admit it.
“I’m at my house.” I sniffled.
“Do you want me to come over?” He wanted to ask more; I could feel it through the other end of the line. “If not, it’s okay. I just… I could really use your company tonight if you’re up for it.” He didn’t mention the fact that we hadn’t spent a night apart since we became a couple.
“Linc.” I paused, still holding one of the photos from that night in my hand.
I didn’t know what to say. What to do. So I let the silence sit between us while I put my thoughts together.
If I didn’t change my statement, Royal was going to get away with Mallory’s murder. I knew enough about law enforcement to know that since they lived together, his DNA would be all over the place. I’d been her. I’d been the one he held under the water in the bath while he got off on my pain. I should have died.
And I was the only one who could keep it from happening to anyone else.
“Actually.” I cleared my throat and swallowed down doubt that I could already feel rising in my chest. “I need to talk to you. Can you meet me at my parents’ house?”
“Sure.” He hesitated. “Is there anything you need?”
“No.” I stared down at the photo. “Oh. You might want to tell my father that he needs to be there too. Since you’re probably still at the office right now.”
“Okay.” He paused. “And Remy?”
“Yeah.” I closed my eyes against the migraine I could feel forming. “Casper and Cole, too. Everyone. Except Emma. Don’t let Emma come over.”
“Kennedy?” For the first time since we were teenagers, there was uncertainty in Linc’s voice. “Kennedy, is everything going to be okay?”
“No,” I told him honestly. “It’s really not. But… I have to do it anyway. I’ll see you there, Linc.”
“Hey.” His voice cut through the phone, coming across a lot harsher than he intended. “Kennedy. I’m not there with you, so I can’t make you look me in the eye when I say this. I love you. I am going to spend the rest of my life with you. Nothing is going to change that. Nothing.”
I saw him, even with my eyes closed. He’d press his forehead right against mine and promise me forever. If it were anyone else, I’d think that they were lying to me. Not Linc. He’d destroy the world if it meant that he could save me.
But when I opened my eyes and stared down at the folder that held my darkest secrets, I wondered if I might be the one to destroy him.