Chapter 10
"Candace, make sure you tell him- move, Kelly!- to get there fifteen minutes early."
Mrs. Hanover turned away, waving her husband off irritably. "Uh huh- Think we should meet at six forty five just to be safe?" she conveyed into the phone. She paused a moment and then smiled. "Fantastic. We'll see you soon."
Kelly flattened herself against the wall to avoid colliding with her foster mother as she stormed by. Though it Mrs. Hanover who wasn't paying attention, she was stressed, frustrated with her husband, and even an accident on her part was to sure to get innocent Kelly a harsh reprimand.
She caught a strong whiff of perfume as Mrs. Hanover blew past her and made a face. She could taste it, it was so overwhelming. Her foster mother was wearing entirely too much, but as always the woman lived to impress.
Tonight's opportunity was a dinner engagement with another couple and at the moment, plans weren't going as scheduled. Hanover had come home late, forcing them to call their friends to reschedule and because of her need to impress, Mrs. Hanover was absolutely livid. Since Kelly was the only other person in the house, she had taken out all her frustration on the poor girl. From the moment Kelly had come home from school she'd been yelled at, scolded, and swatted each and every time they were forced to cross paths.
Kelly, who'd decided after an hour that she'd be safer hiding in her room, had just been driven to the kitchen by hunger a few minutes before Hanover returned. Her caretakers were going out for dinner and, though she'd only known them a little over two months, she wasn't naïve enough to think they would either bring her along or make any other arrangements for her before they left. So, because Mrs. Hanover wasn't as strict as her husband was when it came to opening the fridge, the girl had taken the opportunity to find something to eat herself. Unfortunately, no sooner had she sat down at the table with a ham sandwich when Hanover came bursting through the front door, cursing everything from co-workers and traffic, to the kid next door who rode his bike in the street.
Mrs. Hanover immediately intercepted him in the living room leaving Kelly to quickly bolt down as much of her dinner as she could while they were busy arguing, before tossing whatever didn't fit in her mouth to the trash can and making her escape. Mrs. Hanover might be mean and nasty when she was stressed, but Mr. Hanover became an abusive monster. And if he was in a bad mood, she didn't even want to be in sight.
But luck was not on Kelly's side. Her foster had parents stormed into the kitchen, still bickering angrily at each other, and blocked her path, trapping her while Mrs. Hanover got on the phone and pushed back their meeting time.
After the quick call, she forcefully hung up the phone and stomped over to her husband, shouldering Kelly aside as she did. "Well, you're lucky they were flexible!" she snapped at him, her tone shifting immediately back from sugar sweet tones to its previous hostility.
Hanover sighed. "It's just an hour."
"A whole hour, Jim!" his wife shot back. "Do you know how bad that makes us look!"
Hanover frowned. "They rescheduled." he said, annoyance clear in his tone. "Everything is fine now."
"It would have been fine if you had just gotten home on time!" Mrs. Hanover shrieked. "God! Sometimes I just can't believe you!"
"Hey, I tried my best!" Hanover shouted back in anger. "Stop nagging me! You're not even ready yet!"
His answer infuriated his wife and darkened her entire face in anger. "I'm not ready because I was busy trying to get a hold of you!"she screeched.
Hanover groaned in frustration. "You've reminded me every day about this goddamned reservation, how could I possibly forget?"
"Oh, don't give me that! You forget everything!"
Her husband looked outraged. "Since when-" he started, but quickly seeing the pointlessness of arguing, his face softened in defeat. "Alright fine, I'm sorry. Go finish getting ready and then we'll go."
But Mrs. Hanover had too much frustration yet to be vented for a simple apology to settle her down. "You're going like that?" she sneered, giving her husband's wardrobe a distasteful once over.
Hanover made a face. "What's wrong with this?" he asked incredulously.
His answer was a look of utter disbelief. "What's wrong with that?" she echoed in disgust. "What's wro-?" She threw up her hands. "You know what? Nothing's wrong. It's perfectly fine. I just dressed up just so you could sit next to me looking like a fool."
"Candace, don't be- Fine, I'll change."
"No. That's perfect. What you have on is perfect." she continued, storming towards her bedroom. "I'm going to finish my makeup. Don't get comfortable, we're leaving in ten minutes."
The slamming door echoed loudly into the kitchen, ushering in the awkward silence that followed. Kelly, a still and silent witness to the heated argument, now found her exit blocked by only one person. She lingered in the corner, hoping he would leave and allow her to go back to her room.
Hanover groaned to himself and rubbed his face with both hands. He turned to go and started at the unexpected sight of Kelly, just realizing she'd been there the entire time.
"What the hell are you looking at?" he snarled at her.
Kelly immediately looked away. "Nothing, sir."
"Why are you down here?"
Before she could respond, Mrs. Hanover's sharp voice rang out from down the hall.
"If you're going to change, you need to do it now!"
Hanover rolled his eyes and then glared back down at Kelly, as if his wife's nagging was her fault. "Clean up that mess." he ordered, gesturing to the few dishes in the sink. He turned on his heels and stomped off toward his bedroom, leaving Kelly alone in the kitchen.
She listened to his retreating footsteps reverberate down the hallway and heaved a sigh of relief. He was in a horrible mood, had just been emasculated in her presence. That considering, she had gotten off easy. Though there was still one obstacle separating her from escape. Without wasting anymore time, she hurried to the sink and began washing the dishes as fast as she could, hoping to be safely out of sight before they left. But, luck continued to evade her, and just as she dried off the last dish, both of her foster parents bustled back into the kitchen, again blocking any chance to slip away unnoticed.
"Move, Kelly." Mrs. Hanover snapped, pushing past her to get to the counter. "I don't see it, Jim!" she cried, looking frantically around the counter.
"It's there. I saw it."
With both adults distracted, Kelly decided to take this golden opportunity to sneak away. She slipped by her foster mother and was aiming for the gap between Hanover and the refrigerator, when he suddenly stepped forward, bumping right into her.
"Get out of the way!" he growled, pushing her to the side.
Kelly stumbled back, but quickly regained her balance and resumed her retreat.
"Kelly, have you seen my pearl necklace?"
The harshly toned question stopped her in mid step and she bit back a scream of frustration. Why couldn't she just get out of here?
"Um- no Ma'am, I haven't seen it." she said quietly.
Mrs. Hanover rolled her eyes. "Then help look."
Unbelieving how bad her luck was, Kelly sighed miserably and unwillingly stepped back into the kitchen. It would be wise to keep her search limited to the table so as to stay out of her foster parent's way, but the kitchen was small for three people and she would have to be careful.
"Just go without it! What does it matter!" Hanover grumbled, irritably pawing through a pile of bills.
"I need a necklace, Jim."
"Then wear one of your other ones!"
But his wife ignored him. He cursed under his breath and whirled around, intending to go upstairs to grab another of his wife's many necklaces and hurry her along.
Instead, he backed right into Kelly.
"Goddammit!" he shouted in frustration, shoving her away angrily. This time, she stumbled into a chair, sending it sliding backwards with a metallic scrape. Before she'd even regained her footing, Kelly hands were shielding her face, fearful of one of the harsh punishing slaps that had become more and more frequent the past few weeks.
But, a scrap of luck finally was tossed her way and she was spared.
"Leave her alone, we don't have time for that!" Mrs. Hanover snapped.
Muttering curses, Hanover glared at his wife, but lowered the raised hand he had intended for Kelly's face, glowering at her before turning away to aid the search. Kelly sighed in relief and, though it hadn't really been concern for her health that led Mrs. Hanover to stop her husband, sent a grateful smile to her back anyway.
"Well, we don't have time for this either!" Hanover shot back, gesturing toward his wife's frantic search. "Candi, let's just go, we can find it later."
"But I had been planning to- Oh! Here it is!" Mrs. Hanover squealed, holding up the missing necklace exuberantly.
Hanover rolled his eyes, and started walking towards the front door. "Great. Can we go now before we're la-"
The rest of his sentence dissolved into an animalistic cry of frustration. Once again, Kelly had made a break for her room, and once again Hanover had walked right into her. This time though, the man lost his temper. With a bellow of rage, he grabbed Kelly by both shoulders and hurled her out of his path as hard as he could.
Hanover was a powerful man, and Kelly was small framed and skinny. The shove was enough to send her flying across the room and into the kitchen table. With a shriek of pain, Kelly's ribcage smashed into its edge with enough force to send it skidding into the wall, bowling over the chairs behind it with a loud crash.
The force knocked the wind out of her, but the split second ride wasn't yet over. She felt her speed abruptly checked by the sudden impact with the wall, and with nowhere else to go, her momentum sent her sliding under the table and swung her straight down to the ground.
The floor rushed up to meet her before she could brace her fall and her forehead bounced off of the hard linoleum with a loud, solid crack. The blow was hard, echoing loudly in her ears and teeth, jarring her senseless. Every nerve in her body fired off at once, screaming it's protest, before going completely numb. She lay quietly, stunned and dazed, unable to even cry out in pain. Her head felt like it was going to explode, the pain was overwhelming, inescapable.
There was frantic yelling, movement, cursing going on around her but she didn't understand it. Meaningless noise. Moving was impossible, getting up a laughably unthinkable task. Instead, she stared straight ahead at the toppled kitchen chair lying in front of her, watched it's image swirl and spin lazily, distorted and hazy, until finally dimming mercifully into blackness.
She came to half an hour later, tossed haphazardly on the couch, in a dark, empty, and quiet house. Even opening her eyes made her wince and she closed them almost as soon as she had.
Her head throbbed, so much pain it made her nauseous, and she wished she hadn't eaten her ham sandwich. It took two attempts before an experimental touch revealed a large, swollen knot right below the hairline of her forehead.
Kelly moaned and let her hand fall back to her side. It was uncomfortable on the couch, drafty and cold. Her eyes remained closed, but she knew there was a blanket draped over the opposite arm of the couch by her feet. That would help with the chill.
She took a deep breath and pushed herself up on her elbows. The movement was deeply regretted an instant later. White hot pain seared through her entire skull, pounding in her ears and behind her eyes. She yelped and let her tired body fall back into the couch. Her arm fell limply to the side, knocking into something hard and cold. Kelly ignored it, focused only on somehow willing the shooting pain in her head to dull. When it finally subsided enough for her to think, she carefully swiveled her eyes to the floor beside her.
Her hand had knocked into a glass of water left on the floor by her side. Kelly sighed and closed her eyes again. Water would be nice. Too bad she stupidly spilled it on the carpet. But, it didn't matter. She felt herself slipping away again and decided not to fight it. As she drifted off, the image of the watermarked carpet kept her company, worrying her behind her closed eyes. The last time she spilled a drink, she had been beaten, hit so hard in the stomach that, for the rest of that week, there was a sharp sting in her side every time she took a deep breath. She had time to clean it up, but moving seemed an impossible feat. It hurt too much.
Oh well. She'd deal with it when they got home, she decided tiredly. Until then, sleep sounded good.
Kelly sighed and opened her eyes.
That had been the first time Hanover had really hurt her. She unconsciously raised her hand to her smooth forehead, remembering all too well the deep purple bruise, dull ache, and random headaches that had stayed with her the next few weeks after that incident.
It had been worth it though, strangely enough.
Knocking her unconscious seemed to have given her foster parents a frightening reminder of her mortality and just how easy it might be to kill a little girl. They might not have loved her, but they knew well enough, at least then, that there were consequences for murder.
She hadn't been punished for spilling the water. When her foster parents arrived home from their evening out, they had been almost nice to her. Mrs. Hanover woke her, carefully walked her up the stairs to her room where she helped her lay down in bed, even going so far as laying a cold compress on her bruised forehead before leaving her alone for the night, in and out of consciousness, only Lilibet to comfort her. There were no apologies or acknowledgement of the accident the next morning, but they had both been careful with her awhile, as if touching her would cause her to break. The next week had been relatively abuse free and as much as it hurt, she'd been glad for the reprieve that her injuries had given her.
As she reminisced, a fleeting shudder of panic clutched at her chest and immediately evaporated, a strange, but hauntingly familiar sensation to her. The sudden flash of outrage, terror, and abject horror that seized her every once in awhile, a split second of realization that was gone just as soon as it came. The briefest instant where she separated from herself, became an outsider, just long enough to become aware of how traumatic her upbringing had been. How her childhood might be viewed by someone with a much more appropriate definition of normal.
But as years of abuse had trained it to do, her mind batted it away, refused to dwell and refused to deal. Instead, she glanced at her watch.
Half past seven.
Kelly parked the rental car in the closest spot to their motel room that she could find. With a weary sigh, she jerked the sticky gear into neutral and sat quietly, listening to the idling engine and staring absently into space.
Was Hanover capable of murder?
He'd been so remorseful, but she'd experienced enough of his abuse to think so. He lost himself sometimes, blinded by a cloud of fury, and had come close to killing her on more than one occasion. If he hadn't purposely murdered that girl, was it too far fetched to think he may have over done his abuse? Hit her a little too hard? Pushed her down the stairs?
Yes. Of course it was possible. Hadn't it been a miracle that she had survived his brutal assaults?
The man was a killer, there was no doubt about it.
Speaking to Hanover's colleagues all afternoon, hearing what a fantastic guy, what a hard worker, and what a perfect gentleman he was left her brimming with a turbulent mixture of disgust and anger that she didn't know what to do with.
But it was exhausting, that much she knew. Mentally, emotionally, whatever it was, she simply did not have the energy to get out of the car. The thought of sitting down, talking, and comparing notes with Sabrina and Jill made her want to turn the car around and drive away.
She continued sitting for several more minutes, working up the will to get out, until the darkening sky reminded her that she'd already been an hour late when she parked. Now she was probably worrying her friends in addition to lying to them.
Perfect.
With a groan of disgust towards herself, Kelly shut off the car, climbed out and walked briskly toward the motel door. Three feet from it, it suddenly opened, spilling the pale light of the motel room out onto the cracked sidewalk. A shadow obscured it a second later and Kelly found herself staring at Sabrina's mildly surprised face.
"Hey, there you are." Sabrina said with an uneasy grin. "We were starting to get worried."
Kelly forced a smile and jogged up to the door, as if rushing the last three feet of her journey would make up for any lost time. "Sorry, Bri." she breathed. "Lost track of time."
"Is that her?" Jill's strained voice came from inside. Footsteps thudded over the thick carpet and Jill's worried face popped up behind Sabrina's shoulder, startling her so that she jerked her head into the doorframe. Jill didn't seem to notice.
"Kelly, where have you been!" she demanded hotly.
A wave of defensive anger bubbled up into Kelly's chest, and she took an unconscious step away from her. "I said I lost track of time." she answered irritably. "Can I come in please?"
Jill narrowed her eyes, but stepped aside to allow her friend to pass. She watched her angry friend move past her, watched her dump her things on the table and sink onto her bed, her rigid posture daring to be challenged further. The shutting door made her turn and her eyes caught, but refused to keep Sabrina's gaze. The look her dark haired friend was giving her clearly said to let it go. But that was not on Jill's schedule at the moment. Not by a long shot.
"It's almost seven thirty. Why didn't you call when you saw you were going to be late?" she asked, with more animosity than she felt.
Kelly looked up, but the irritated, defensive scowl on her face was gone, quickly replaced by the same cool and collected manner that she was so good at conveying.
"I'm really sorry, Jill." Kelly said innocently. "I got caught up and I didn't realize how late it was." She stared expectantly at her angry friend, her green eyes glittering victoriously, more than aware that the winning hand had just been played.
Jill gave a loud mental curse. She'd walked face first into this trap. With the calm façade Kelly had somehow summoned, her own anger now seemed out of place and unnecessary. Any further pushing would only serve in making her look foolish.
Kelly had done it again. Or so she thought.
If Kelly wanted to lock horns in a battle of manipulation, then so be it. She wasn't the only one capable of it.
Jill took a deep breath and forced herself to relax her stance.
"Maybe you should keep better track of time, Kell." she said solemnly. "We were really worried about you. This is a new city for us. What if something had happened to you? Bri was about to go looking."
The dark look Kelly sent shooting her way almost made Jill smile in triumph.
"I said I was sorry." she conceded quietly.
"It's fine, Kell. Glad you're ok." Sabrina interrupted quickly, sweeping her gaze over both friends. Jill and Kelly bickered frequently, but this wasn't an everyday argument, and though it wasn't likely, a brief glimpse of what would happen if her two friends decided to start trading blows flashed through her head. Neither looked angry, but she recognized the confrontational stance their calm exteriors were hiding and, the mere fact that she was worried about them getting physical sent alarm bells clanging urgently in her head, screaming for her to step between them. .
"So." she continued, rubbing her hands together excitedly. "This is what I'm thinking." She stepped directly between them, separating them and forcing Kelly to take a few steps backwards to regain comfortable proximity. "I thought we'd order a pizza, then go over our notes together. What do you say?"
Jill and Kelly stared at each for a moment before seeming to mutually decide to let it go. They both turned toward Sabrina and the tension in the air thankfully cleared.
"Sounds good, Bri." Jill chirped. "I'll go call it in."
Sabrina watched her flounce over to the phone before sighing in relief and taking a seat next to Kelly.
Crisis deverted. For now.
"Any luck on your end?" she asked.
Kelly wearily shook her head in response. "Only if about thirty character witnesses and throwing a great barbeque will get him off." she reported glumly. Her interest in the subject at hand seemed forced, and Sabrina was quick to pick up on it. Though seeing how defensive Kelly had been towards Jill's mother hen-like concern, she decided to let it slide for the moment.
"That's better then what me and Jill got." she sighed. "I see why the cops were so quick to point the finger at him."
Kelly's eyebrows drew together with genuine interest.
"Oh? What do you mean?"
Sabrina cocked an eyebrow. Her interest now was just as noticeable as her disinterest had been. Later, though.
"Well-" Sabrina started slowly. "-I talked to a bunch of people at that bar he was at. Regulars said he came in quite a bit."
"So he drinks. Lots of people drink."
"It's not that." Sabrina continued, her expression suddenly somber. "They all said he was just- just seething mad at his foster kid the day she disappeared and- uh-" she scratched her head in agitation, obviously disturbed by her findings and grasping for a way to reveal it.
But Kelly wasn't in the mood to wait for Sabrina to handpick her words.
"What, Bri?" she pressed.
Sabrina sighed. "He- he made threats against her." she admitted grudgingly. She studied her friend's face carefully before going on. News of a violent father was not something she felt comfortable sharing with Kelly, especially if their job was to protect him. But Kelly wasn't saying anything, so she plowed forward.
"Pretty violent and- um- detailed threats of what he was going to do to her when he got home. It's not what I was hoping to hear."
Kelly looked away. Sabrina had spared her details out of consideration towards her past, but given the circumstances, she didn't need to. "Well, that- that doesn't mean anything." she stammered lamely. "Parents threaten their kids all the time, right?"
Sabrina raised an eyebrow. "Not like this, Kell. Trust me."
Kelly nodded absently. Trust wasn't necessary. She had been the recipient of Hanover's violent and graphic threats many, many times. And he had very often followed through.
"It didn't look good." Sabrina repeated somberly. "Not at all."
She studied Kelly as she spoke, waiting to see if her face would give away any additional information. But Kelly looked distracted and her blank expression gave away nothing. Before she could think of anything else to say, the sound of the phone being dropped back on its hook caught her attention and she looked up to see Jill walking back towards her.
"Dinner will be here in about twenty minutes." she announced cheerfully.
Sabrina nodded her acknowledgement and motioned for Jill to sit next to her, if only to keep her away from Kelly. She chanced another hopeful glance at her moody friend, but Kelly was still staring absently off into space and the sight of her was suddenly frustrating.
Sabrina rubbed her face irritably, Kelly's listlessness somehow spreading to her. Why did every step of the road now feel like such a struggle? Suddenly even talking about the case seemed taxing and exhausting, and for a brief moment, she felt like putting it off until the morning.
But, regardless of their individual levels of interests, they had a job to do.
"Tell her what you got, Jill." Sabrina said wearily.
Jill flopped down on the bed beside her with a thoughtful look on her face.
"I got to talk to a few of Rebecca's teachers and friends." she started. Her features darkened, and she cleared her throat softly, suggesting that what she was about to say was important. It was enough to snap Kelly out of her trance.
"And?" Kelly asked.
Like it was after most of their squabbles, all trace that her and Jill had been butting heads minutes before was gone from both of their voices and demeanors, and Sabrina finally relaxed. The three friends turned and leaned towards each other, readying themselves for Jill's news.
"And-" Jill continued. "-none of her teachers had met her foster parents. None of them. They all said she was a quiet kid that kept to herself, didn't cause any trouble, did enough to pass. "
"One of those kids that just floats by unnoticed." Sabrina mused to herself.
"Exactly." Jill said with a nod. "And none of her friends had ever met them either. They had never been to her house, never even seen it."
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, and Sabrina and Kelly unconsciously leaned closer. "This is where it gets kinda weird." Jill went on, dropping her voice even though the girls were alone. "The kids I talked to said that Rebecca avoided talking about them, that she even seemed scared of them. They also said they always noticed bruises on her body during gym class. She told them she got them from soccer."
Sabrina and Kelly shared a dark look, before turning their attention back to Jill.
"Soccer. Right." Sabrina echoed sarcastically, distaste obvious in her voice.
"That was my thinking too." Jill agreed. She sighed glumly and tucked a loose bit of blonde hair behind her ears. "So far, it seems like all we've done is supported the reason the cops arrested James Hanover in the first place."
Sabrina shook her head and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "We're missing something." she insisted stubbornly. "There's got to be something out there for us to find."
"And if there isn't?" Kelly spoke up quietly.
Both Jill and Sabrina turned to her, took in the blank, slightly unnerving expression she had been wearing since her and Jill's argument.
"There's got to be, Kell." Sabrina refuted.
Kelly let out a short, almost contemptuous laugh. The faint smirk shadowing her features was the first emotion to cross her face since discussion on the case had begun.
"Not if he did it." she said shortly.
Her words hung in the air, heavy and ominous, challenging either of her companions to disagree. Sabrina shook her head first.
"I know it all looks bad, but why would he be going along with this if he knows there isn't any evidence to be found?" Sabrina wondered aloud. "I mean, why make his wife pay for this?"
Kelly scoffed derisively. "Murderers aren't usually the most considerate people, Bri."
"Well, they hired us because this is the same conclusion the police jumped to." Jill piped up. "It sounds bad, yeah, but its speculation." At Kelly's doubtful look, she sighed heavily and prepared to launch herself into the rapid and animated explanation tugging at her logic.
"Kid's bruises might have really come from soccer. She might have been scared of her foster parents because it had only been a few months and she still didn't know them-" she listed off quickly. She paused and made a face. "- and let's face it, that lady isn't the nicest woman in the world. Maybe she didn't invite people to her house or tell her parents about things at school because she was embarrassed. Maybe- uh - "
She stammered for a moment, racking her brain for more and would have continued, had Sabrina not put a quieting hand on her knee.
"We get it Jill." she interrupted. "We'll keep looking." She gave her a final pat and then straightened back up. "Ok, well I've gotten all I'm going to get at the bar." she reported, her tone now business like. "How about you two? Need to go back for seconds tomorrow?"
Jill nodded her head immediately. "Yeah, I do." she said quickly. "There are more kids I need to talk to."
"Kelly?"
Kelly took a moment to answer. When she did, her words were deliberate and very carefully chosen. "I'm done with his work. There are a few neighborhood places I didn't get to."
As she hoped, Sabrina tilted her head, her expression betraying the line of thought Kelly had been expecting. "Yeah? What places are those?"
"The neighbors that live around them and the drugstore."
"Drugstore?" Sabrina echoed, a raised eyebrow asking for clarification.
Kelly nodded her head. "Yeah, one of Mr. Hanover's coworkers said he mentioned going by there the day Becky died. Who knows if he did, but maybe we'll get lucky and someone can place him there."
"Alright, good idea." Sabrina agreed casually. "Why don't I take the neighborhood then."
"I'll go with you." Jill offered. "I won't be long at the school. We can split it."
Sabrina shrugged easy going acceptance of the idea and Kelly smiled to herself. There it was. That was the result she had been hoping for. Better, even. Not only would she be alone for the majority of the day, but Sabrina and Jill would take care of the part of her assignment that worried her most.
"Sounds good." Kelly said lightly. "I'll talk to the manager, see who was the afternoon shift that day and go pay them a visit. It shouldn't take too long, I'll join you two after I'm done." She looked expectantly at her friends as she spoke, and just as she thought they would, the two voiced their agreement with her plan.
Of course they did. Why would they doubt her?
A twinge of guilt forced Kelly to lower her eyes in shame. Of course they agreed with her, they had no reason to think she was operating on a deceitful and manipulative agenda. The guilt continued to gnaw at her as her two friends spoke quietly, just as it had been doing all week.
But it wouldn't be forever. Just until this case was over, she told herself.
Then the lying could stop and she could go back to normal.
Because if she was honest with herself, the only thing that bothered her more than having to speak with, look at, be touched by James Hanover was lying to her two best friends.
Kelly swallowed the tight feeling in her throat and for the next fifteen minutes halfway tuned in to the conversation Jill and Sabrina were engaged in. She jumped in once in awhile to maintain the illusion of interest, but wasn't completely following.
The pizza arrived shortly after and while Jill and Sabrina ate hungrily, she was barely able to force a slice down her dry throat. She'd had no appetite to begin with though, so this wasn't completely unfortunate.
Luckily, the day had been long and tiring for all three girls. Conversation was sparse and thankfully the topic of tomorrow's mission didn't come up anymore during dinner. After Jill had picked the last bit of dried cheese out of the box and finally allowed Sabrina to throw it away, the three settled down to relax and tuned in to the mindless gameshow playing on the only channel their old television could pick up. Every so often conversation turned to the case and Sabrina and Jill would talk some trivial detail out amongst themselves, but Kelly ignored it.
She had managed to put on a convincing show for her two friends earlier, but found it difficult to keep up. Her part had already been played and played quite well. Not that she cared much. It didn't matter what they did tomorrow, or how and when they did it.
Because there was nothing to find.
James Hanover was as guilty as they came, and she knew in her heart that no matter how thoroughly they scoured the entire city for evidence, how many witnesses they grilled for information, it wasn't going to come. She'd do her job tomorrow and she'd do it right, but ultimately she, along with Sabrina and Jill, would come up empty handed.
The only question plaguing her mind was how long would they stay on this hopeless goose chase of a case before giving up and flying back to Los Angeles.
She could easily make that happen. If she could tell them what she knew. To tell them that their endeavors were fruitless, that they were looking for evidence that didn't exist. She wanted to go home the most out of the three, and she alone had the prior familiarity with their client to know that he was guilty. How she longed to just stop the illusion, drop down beside their bed and babble out everything she knew so they could be on the earliest flight to California tomorrow morning. But however convenient that would be for all of them, whatever relief it would give her from the emotional torment she was subjecting herself to, it was impossible.
There was a touch of irony somewhere in there, but Kelly wasn't in a position to appreciate it.
Completely unaware of the passing time, she stayed lost with her unhappy thoughts until she noticed that Jill and Sabrina had both stopped talking. She glanced over at the bed they were lying on and realized they had both fallen asleep.
Kelly sighed and craned her neck to the side to catch a glimpse of the clock on the nightstand between the two beds.
11:15
She cursed softly to herself and pushed herself up on the springy mattress to get a better look at her friends. For reasons she was pretty sure had to do with their argument earlier, Jill had chosen to fall asleep on Sabrina's bed tonight. Kelly shook her head and got up to turn off the noisy television. She should feel guilty for upsetting Jill, but she and Sabrina looked comfortable enough, and right now she couldn't help but feel relieved that she finally had some peace.
Jill's worrying and prying questions were wearing her down, and now even Sabrina had begun mirroring the concerned and confused looks Jill had been giving her all week. It was maddening, like she was losing her mind.
Her hand was on the dial, but the now familiar percussive news music distracted her, and as it was designed to, the anchor's urgent voice caught her attention.
For ten minutes she stood quietly, staring down at grainy image of Carson City's news program, growing more and more disgusted by the second. Followups to reports she'd seen earlier headed the crime portion of the broadcast. Questions remained about the community center vandalism, an artist's rendering of the would be kidnapper flashed across the screen along with the number of a tipline that she was doubtful would get any calls, followed by a mugshot revealing the suspect of the brutal murderer of the woman in the ditch. Kelly frowned and shook her head. It was highly likely that neither man would be caught. So much crime. Not nearly enough punishment. And she was helping it stay that way
The blonde anchor suddenly brightened and smiled charmingly as he segued away from the dark, ugly crimes of the city and promised much brighter content after the commercial break.
But it was time for bed.
Turning the T.V. off cast the entire motel room in complete darkness and Kelly let out a frustrated sigh at her lack of foresight. She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust to the faint streetlights that were seeping in through the curtain until she began to grope her way blindly back to her bed. The price for her carelessness was one banged shin, and she rubbed it gingerly as she climbed back into bed and slid under the cool sheets.
For the next two hours, she stared at the ceiling in the dark room and listened to Jill and Sabrina shift in their sleep or the occasional car drive by their motel room, sometimes streaming headlights through the window as it passed, sometimes not.
Sleep would not be easy, that much she had expected. But insomnia was nothing new to her. In a few short hours, she would be up and working on a case that she had no chance of succeeding at, prowling around the drugstore she had so often frequented, maybe risking being seen by the one person in this city that would know her face.
Kelly sighed in frustration. This was all pointless.
Hanover had murdered that girl. Maybe not on purpose, but without a doubt, he'd caused her death.
And it was only a matter of time until Jill and Sabrina realized it too.