Sweet Like a Psycho

by Ivy Smoak

  So much for not talking. “Now?” I asked.

  Damien was perched on the side of his desk with his arms folded across his chest, like he was scolding me. “No, actually. Five minutes ago. She’s going to be pissed.”

  I glanced at the clock on the wall. “Sorry. The drop-off line was a little backed up.”

  Damien’s eyebrows rose. “You took the kid to school this morning?”

  “The idea of doing it was making Violet anxious. I was just trying to help out.”

  “So…you were there this morning?”

  I shrugged.

  “You slept with her,” he said way too loudly.

  “Would you keep your voice down?” As usual, he was being horribly annoying.

  “Well…did you see any scars?”

  I hadn’t even thought about it until he asked. Her skin was perfect. Flawless like the rest of her. “No. I don’t think she had any at all.”

  “Probably not abused then.”

  “That’s not necessarily true.” I lowered my voice, hoping he’d do the same.

  “Oh you mean like verbally instead of physically? Poor chick has been verbally abused for years. The question is whether or not she deserves it.”

  “You know she didn’t do what people say. You spent time with her yesterday. I don’t think she could hurt anyone, Damien.”

  “She was pretty good at taking care of me.” The smirk on his face made me want to punch him.

  I stopped outside the captain’s office. “I’m being serious. I think we could help repair her reputation. She doesn’t deserve any of this.”

  “You don’t know that for sure. Just because she’s nice to us doesn’t mean she’s not an ax-wielding murderer.”

  “Violet’s innocent. And you know it.”

  “Are you talking about Violet Clark?” asked our captain. I hadn’t seen her come into the hall.

  Damien suddenly decided to close his big mouth.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said.

  “I know you two have already met. She was your lead suspect in the Adeline Bell case, right?” She turned on her heel and walked back into her office without waiting for an answer. She didn’t need one, she already knew it.

  Damien and I followed her in.

  “Close the door,” she said as she sat down behind her desk.

  Damien shut it and then we both took a seat across from her.

  “Violet Clark.” The captain opened up a file on her desk. “You are correct, she’s been ruled out by the FBI. However, her property has not.” She opened up another folder, pulled out a picture, and put it down in front of us. “The FBI uncovered a tooth in the woods behind Adeline’s house. They’re expanding their search throughout the entire woods, including Violet’s property. They’re still doing forensics on the tooth, but the original opinion on the scene was that it had been there for several years. Adeline only lived in that house for a few years. I’m pretty sure it’s not related.”

  “What are you saying?” I knew what she was hinting at. But I didn’t want to believe the pit in my stomach. Was I the only person on the force that didn’t believe in rumors? I thought she was going to call me out for sleeping with a suspect. This was worse. This was so much fucking worse.

  “The FBI is waiting it out, thinking the timeline on the tooth will change. So I think we should let the FBI have their unsolvable case. In the meantime, we have a real opportunity to close a cold case. The FBI will think they’re unearthing evidence for themselves, when really it will only benefit us. They’re going to do all the leg work and we’ll be able to take all the credit. Serves them right.” She looked so pleased with herself. “Violet Clark isn’t Adeline Bell. But that doesn’t mean she’s innocent.

  “I know you’ve kept on the case without my permission, Reed. You ignored direct orders. But…in this one instance…you were right. So I’m going to let you take the lead on this cold case. You’ve earned it, she was your suspect first.” She handed me the file. “Don’t mess this up.”

  I didn’t want anything to do with this case. But I grabbed the file from her. She was trusting me for the first time since I got transferred here. For just a second, I let myself think about the opportunity. But for just a second. The whole thing was ridiculous. Violet was innocent. “It’s just a tooth.” My words didn’t sound convincing, though. “It probably belongs to some kid that was out in the woods playing.”

  “It’s an adult molar, Reed.”

  I don’t know why I was forming a rebuttal on the tooth theory. It didn’t even matter. I had hard evidence. “She didn’t do it.” I pulled out my phone and typed J.J. Walker into Google. I slid her my phone. “Her ex-boyfriend is alive. He just changed his name when he moved to Hollywood.”

  She looked disappointed. “Have you talked to him?”

  I shook my head.

  “Get him on the phone so he can confirm his identity. There’s still the issue of her stepfather and mother so make sure to question him about that too. I’ll let you know when I get the results for the tooth.”

  I just stared at her. All I wanted to do was tell her to go fuck herself. Instead, I swallowed down the words. Being at the top of this case meant I’d at least have control over it. There had to be a way to clear Violet’s name. Getting my badge taken away from me right now would just make that harder.

  She cleared her throat. “You can go.”

  The folder felt heavy in my hand as I followed Damien out of the room.

  “Do you want me to call the ex?” Damien asked. “I can’t believe you managed to track him down.”

  “Violet tracked him down, not me. She showed me those articles this morning.”

  “Trying to prove she’s innocent? That seems guilty as hell.”

  I grabbed his arm and pushed him into the bathroom.

  “What the hell?” He pushed my hand away from him.

  I ignored him and bent down to see if all the stalls were empty. “She’s not guilty. This is a fucking witch hunt. I need to fix this. You have to help me fix this.”

  “Take a deep breath, man.” He smoothed his shirt back into place. “You know I’ve just been messing with you. If you’re 100 percent sure she’s innocent, then I believe you. Just tell me what you need me to do. I've got your back.”

  It was nice to know he had at least one serious bone in his body. The only problem was that I wasn’t 100 percent sure. There was no such thing as being 100 percent sure of anything. And I knew that I was too far gone to take a step back and try to see the case from a new point of view. Asking him to do anything could put his career at risk too. I just needed to ask Violet a few questions before I figured out what the best plan of action was. “I need to go talk to her. Can you cover for me?”

  “You heard the captain. We’re supposed to be calling her ex to try to get some answers. Running to her and telling her about the tooth isn’t going to help anything. The best way to get her out of this mess is by solving the case. Prove her innocence.”

  I didn’t want to prove anything. I wanted to pack her and Zeke up and get the hell out of town before it was too late. She was being targeted because of some stupid housewives’ gossip. A tooth found in the woods? Were they freaking kidding me? Anyone could walk around back there. I had just done it the other day.

  “Right,” I said. “Starting with her ex.” I didn’t feel comfortable talking to Joel. He was a piece of shit. He’d abandoned his child to chase fame. He’d left Violet to the vultures. As much as I trusted Damien, I didn’t want anyone else to hear what Joel had to say. Because if it was bad, I needed to be the only one that ever heard it. I’d already buried one secret for Violet. I was willing to do it again if I had to. “I’ll call him as I head over.”

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Go over the file.” I tossed it at him. “Try to see if there’s anything to help get her out of this.”

  “You want me to stay here?” He didn’t look down at the file. “I think I should come wit
h you.”

  “I need you here to tell me if they get that report back about the tooth.”

  He shook his head. “She’ll notify us even if we’re both out. I’m coming.”

  I didn’t have time to argue with him. Even though I knew Violet was innocent, there was this fear in the back of my head that no matter who that tooth belonged to, she’d be tied up in it. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I was running out of time. “Okay, let’s go.”

  Damien was able to find Joel’s number before we reached the car. He hit the speaker button as I pulled the car out of the lot.

  This morning Violet had seemed off. She had been talking about regret. She had been asking whether or not I believed people could change. I just thought she was nervous about taking Zeke to school, but now everything felt wrong.

  Damien was following our captain’s orders to call Joel. At least this way I’d overhear what Joel had to say. I’d be able to see Damien’s reactions. I’d know if I could trust him. I pressed down hard on the gas.

  I thought the call was about to go to voicemail when someone finally picked up.

  “Hello, Joel Walker? This is Detective Damien Torres. I have a few questions for you pertaining to Violet Clark.”

  There was a long pause. “Is…is she okay?”

  I was surprised by his response. He was worried about her now? What about when she needed him?

  “She’s fine. We were hoping you’d be able to answer a few questions.”

  “I don’t think I can help you, detective. I haven’t heard from Violet in six years.”

  “Fortunately for both of us, my questions have to do with six years ago.”

  “Am I in some kind of trouble here?”

  There was the Joel I imagined. Worried about Violet for two seconds and then putting himself first. It reminded me of what Violet had said, about people showing their true colors when it mattered.

  “No, not at all, Joel,” Damien said. “But we are aware that you two dated. We were wondering if you have any idea what happened to her mother and stepfather?”

  “Um. No?”

  “You don’t seem so sure about that.”

  Joel cleared his throat. “I mean, yeah, I heard about their passing. But I don’t know the specifics.”

  “Violet didn’t tell you what happened to them?”

  “No, we weren’t on speaking terms. When I say I heard about it, I meant I read about it. I thought about reaching out but…” his voice trailed off. “I was finding my footing out here. I was trying to keep the past in the past.”

  Ass face. She needed you.

  “Do you think it’s at all possible that Violet may have played a role in their deaths?”

  “What? No. Absolutely not.”

  “So you don’t think that Violet’s OCD ever trended toward violence?” Damien asked.

  “OCD? Violet doesn’t have OCD.”

  “Maybe that’s the wrong term. I’m referring to the compulsions she has. The obsessive counting.”

  “I think you have the wrong Violet Clark. Vi didn’t have compulsions.”

  I gripped the wheel a little tighter at the mention of her nickname.

  Damien spouted off Violet’s birth date and a brief description of her and of Zeke.

  “I mean…I guess that sounds like her, yeah. But she didn’t have OCD. Not when I knew her.”

  Damien glanced over at me. I didn’t know what to think of the information either. She must have developed it after he left. Sometimes trauma brought things like that to the surface.

  “It was a boy?” Joel asked. “She had a boy?”

  I grabbed the phone away from Damien. “You’d know that if you stayed around, you piece of shit.”

  “Stop it,” Damien hissed and pulled the phone away from me. “Sorry about that, my partner isn’t having the best morning. What he meant was why didn’t you stay? To help with the baby? What made you decide to leave?”

  “There was no reason for me to stay. There was nothing left for me there.”

  I wanted to throttle him through the cell phone.

  Damien put his hand out like he was afraid I’d steal the phone again. “Being part of your son’s life didn’t seem important to you?”

  “My son? That kid isn’t mine. We never…” his voice trailed off. “It would be impossible for him to be mine. Did she tell people I knocked her up and left?”

  Damien glanced at me and then back at the phone. “I think there’s a lot of rumors about why you left. But I’m not calling to discuss rumors. Violet’s in trouble. I need to know if there's anything you can tell us that would prove Violet didn't kill her parents.”

  He sighed. “I thought the Violet I knew would never hurt anyone. But she gutted me. So what do I know?” He cleared his throat. “Is there anything else I can help you with? I’m in the middle of work.”

  “No, that’s all. Thanks for answering…”

  Joel hung up the phone before Damien finished talking.

  Damien looked over at me as we turned onto the road that led to Violet’s house. “I think we should take a minute to go over what he just said before you do whatever it is you’re planning to do.”

  “I’m not planning anything. I just need to talk to her.” I was planning something and I didn’t have time to think about what Joel had to say. I didn’t believe anything that spewed out of his mouth.

  “She lied to you, man. Didn’t she say that Joel was Zeke’s father?”

  “She implied it.” I put the car into park and started to unbuckle my seatbelt.

  “Tucker, she cheated on Joel. Zeke isn’t his kid. He doesn’t even look like him.” He showed me a picture of Joel.

  I already knew they didn’t look the same. But that didn’t mean anything. He just took after his mom. “You believe him over her?”

  “Honestly, yeah. She’s lived out here alone for years. She’s…”

  “Don’t say crazy.” Violet wasn’t crazy. She wasn’t. “And she hasn’t been alone. She has Zeke.” She had me too. I believed in her. She wasn’t what everyone said she was. She couldn’t be. I stepped out of the car. I had parked right next to her truck, so my mind flipped back to what Zeke said about Violet putting his father’s dead body in it. He was wrong. Clearly he was wrong. Zeke was right that the truck was insanely clean. But there was nothing at all suspicious about it.

  “And Zeke isn’t exactly normal,” Damien said as he climbed out of the car too.

  I was barely listening to him. When I had looked up from the truck, I had seen Violet in the distance. She was standing at the edge of the lake, staring at it. She had to have heard my car coming up the lane, but she hadn’t turned to start walking back. She was just staring. Transfixed.

  “The kid has dreads and wears boots with cargo shorts when it’s sunny out. He’s an odd duck. Which he gets from his mother.”

  Zeke wasn’t odd, he was adorable. But things did run in families. Violet had mentioned that she was worried about her mother committing suicide when she was little. She’d been terrified of being left alone with her stepfather. And the way she was staring at the lake…I suddenly knew how she felt. Jesus. “Stay here.”

  “Tucker…”

  “I just need a few minutes to talk to her alone.” He opened his mouth but I cut him off. “Just five minutes. Please.”

  Damien leaned against her truck. “Okay.”

  I starting running down the hill and into the woods. “Violet!” I yelled through the leafless trees. But she didn’t turn. Instead, she took a step forward into the lake. “Violet!”

  Chapter 27

  Violet

  I thought I saw a flash of red under the frozen surface. My mother had been wearing red the last time I saw her. I took another step onto the ice.

  What if I had imagined the whole thing? What if she was still alive? I took another step. I wanted out of this nightmare. I wanted to be able to breathe again.

  There was a noise behind me, but I ignored it. I had
seen her. Another step. She was trying to get out. I could still save her.

  “Violet!”

  Hearing my name made me freeze. What was I doing? I looked down at the ice under my feet. Why was I out here?

  “Violet.”

  My mother hadn’t even been wearing red the last time I’d seen her. Her shirt had been white. Perfectly pristine. Until it wasn’t. My heart started racing. It was easier when I blocked it out.

  “Violet I’m here for that talk. Please get off the ice. I want to talk to you.”

  I turned around to see Tucker standing at the edge of the lake. He was looking at me like I was crazy. Was I crazy?

  “How long have you been out here?” he asked. “Let’s go inside. It’s freezing.”

  I looked down at the coat, hat, and gloves that were still in my hands. I’d never put them on. How long had I been out here? I needed to get everything off my chest. I couldn’t breathe. “I need you to promise me you’ll believe me. I need you to promise.”

  “Just come over here first,” he said.

  His words made me see red again. “I don’t like being told what to do.”

  “Okay.” He held up his hands. “Okay. I promise I’ll believe you. But it’s barely below freezing, Vi. The ice is thin. It’s dangerous. Please come talk to me over here.”

  I shook my head. This is where I belonged. Tucker had come too soon for me to figure out a backup plan. This was the only choice I had. I’d know what it felt to be them. I’d always known this would be my final resting place too. “I lied to you.” God, it felt so good to say. I lied! I wanted to scream it.

  “That’s okay.” He took a step forward like he was about to get on the ice too, but he stopped.

  “It’s not okay.”

  “It is. Look, I lied to you too. We’re even. Please just get off the ice.”

  “We’re not even.”

  “We are, Vi. I lied too. I went to your childhood home. I saw the way the floor was scuffed up in front of your bedroom door. You used to look out your window at the woods right? You dreamed of escaping? Being out here feels safe?”

  I shook my head. I didn’t know what he was talking about. No one was safe out here. I certainly had never been.