She didn't know where to begin, not exactly. She could start at the beginning, but her beginning began closer to the end of the full story, and she didn't think they'd want to miss out on those details. On the other hand, she had no claim to the other victims' tales. It wouldn't be right for her to try and explain those girls, because she was not them, and they were not her. They were gone and she is not.

Sovay looked across the room to the two men, one sitting in the desk chair across from the bed where she sat cross legged, and the other feigning relaxation by leaning against the wall, both sets of eyes on her. So she began to tell them the story of how her life changed forever, her own eyes meeting intense blue ones hiding behind a mat of shaggy hair. "My ex took the breakup hard, so much so that he began stalking me a bit. Calling all the time, in the middle of the night, or popping up in places he'd never bothered being before. But I just tried ignoring him and move on. That's why we didn't think anything of it when things started getting weird. We thought it was just Tomas taking it up a notch. But..."

She trailed off for a moment, allowing Rick to slide in with his first question. "Why'd you break up?"

Her eyes flicked to his in confusion, wondering why he'd bother asking that. It wasn't necessary to finding The Butcher, but she answered him anyway. "I walked in on him making a deal with one of his sellers. Turns out, I spent a year of my life dating one of the biggest drug and gun runners in the Midwest."

"Tomas Suarez?" the grungy man asked. "Ain't he got 25 for possession 'n 'tempted murder?"

She nodded. "He was arrested but then stuff kept happening. Notes left around the house or in our room, sometimes gifts, flowers and stuff, sometimes jewelry. Personal items missing. So when he was put away we realized it wasn't him. We just assumed...didn't even occur to is that it was about Kelsey. I just thought he was either trying to get me back or keep me quiet."

Rick spoke again. "So you didn't report any stalking to the police?"

She huffed. "He was a professional criminal with millions in drugs and guns on the line. I would've disappeared before my car even left the station's parking lot."

The men nodded thoughtfully. "Where's all tha' shit at?"

"Threw it away. Didn't see a point in keeping it at the time. Except for the jewelry. I pawned it and gave the money to this fundraiser they were having on campus. Something about the art departments."

"What about from after Tomas was arrested?"

She looked down then, her hands fiddling with the ends of her shirt. "There weren't any. He got picked up on Tuesday and she was dead by Friday."

"But you said strange things were still happening."

She met the detectives eyes again then, and he could see the emotions swimming there, that she really hadn't wanted them to see. "Things kept disappearing. Pictures we had in the room, a couple of notebooks, underthings," she said with a blush rising to her cheeks, "one of my necklaces,-"

"Yer necklace?" Dixon cut in, and she nodded again.

"I lent it to her when she went on a date a few days before Tomas was arrested. My aunt gave it to me as a graduation present."

"Wha'd it loo' li'?"

"Um. Silver, diamonds in a rectangle setting. There's a picture of me wearing it somewhere in the case file. I gave it to the police when..." they could see that she was forcing herself to say the words, "when she died. When she was killed."

The men took a few minutes to collect their thought before sharing a look, and then Rick started his questioning again. It was amazing how much they could tell each other in just a quick look, even after only a short time of working together. They agreed that she was still hiding something, but Daryl didn't think she was lying. You couldn't ask him why, but he didn't doubt her story. She still had secrets, however. Rick was a little more skeptical, but he trusted his partner, trusted his gut, and would see where the rest of this conversation would take them. He had a strong feeling that this wouldn't be their last.

"That sounds like an awfully expensive necklace to be lending out," he said prudently.

"She was my best friend," she said before she paused and look back down into her lap. "We were roommates for two years in the sorority house, and lived across the hall from each other before that. We did everything together, parties, clubs, classes. She was majoring in psychology and that had a lot of overlay with education majors. There was at least one class a semester we shared. We'd go home with each other on holidays and breaks. She practically lived at my house last summer when her parents were splitting up. There's no one I trusted more. There's no one who knew me more than her except maybe..."

Curiosity rose in both men then, wondering why she chose to drift off. "Than who?" Rick asked.

"Sam," she said, lifting her head again. "I've known him forever. He's basically family."

Rick nodded and Daryl just gave a small smirk, glad to know that his assumptions were right. "Take it 'e's tha' reason yer 'ere then?"

She shifted her head from one man to the other nodding. "He called, finally. Said there was something important he needed to tell me. In person. So I drove down, and now here we are."

Daryl's eyebrow shot up. "'E called ya 'bout tha murder 'fore i' 'appened?"

"No," she denied, "he wanted to tell me about Beth. I guess he's going to ask her to marry him."

This bristled both men quite a bit. Beth Greene was like a little sister to Daryl, and a daughter to Rick. They were fine with her dating whoever, as long as he checked out, but marrying some tourist she'd only known a few months? Especially when she was only 18 and the man in question was quite a bit older? There was no way either men were going to let that happen.

"That so?"

"Mhm," she nodded. "That's what he says."

The men shared yet another look, completely unsure on whether to believe her story or not for once. So they chose to stare her down for a minute or two, to see if she'd get uncomfortable and crack. What they weren't expecting was for her to sit there and stare right back. Either she was telling the truth, or she was a phenomenal liar.

"So your telling me, you dropped everything and drove to a town in the middle of nowhere, based on a call from an old friend, and when you arrived you found out about a suspected murder that happened to have similarities with another set of murders, from the town in which you live, also to which you are closely connected, not only as a friend of a victim, but as a potential suspect, and the only thing in your favor is a story about a stalker that can neither be confirmed or denied due to lack of any sort of evidence to collaborate your story, and the only other witness was the victim you are suspected of killing. Do I have that right?"

She took a moment to study the men. They didn't seem like complete idiots, which was a surprise to find in a small town like this. But as she knew, looks could be deceiving. Nevertheless, she decided that for the time being, she's cooperate. At least until they gave her a reason not to. So she nodded. "In a word, yes, that's correct."

Rick gave her another look, head to toe. She certainly didn't look like a killer. But she sure as hell didn't look like a victim either. He looked to his partner who was doing the same thing, however Daryl had a look in his eyes that Rick had never seen before on Daryl. Something similar to pure curiosity with an undertone of wonder. This'll be interesting, he thought to himself.

"Well alright then. Looks like we're going to need those old case files."