Obsession With Murder Read online

  Elise let out a quick laugh and rolled her eyes. “I’ll leave you two alone. The guys have turned the waiting room into a sort of command center, so I’ll go fill them in and let them know they can start to head back to the station. I’m sure the hospital staff will be happy to get the room back.”

  Rilynne felt slightly awkward when she left. She knew that of all people, her mother would be one that she was closest too. Even with that, she still didn’t know this woman. She was sure that Amber’s head was filled with images and memories from the years they had spent together, but Rilynne didn’t have any of that. Other than a noticeable likeness, the woman sitting beside her was nothing more than a stranger.

  “Don’t worry,” Amber said, breaking the silence after a long, tense minute. “I’m not going to sit here and try to force this uncomfortable reunion on you. I’m not going to lie, it would be a little fun to watch you squirm if I tried to play the overbearing mother that can’t accept that there isn’t some part of you that remembers me. I’ll spare you, though. You’ve been through more than enough last two days.”

  Rilynne let out an involuntary laugh as she felt much of the tension within her vanish. That was the last thing she expected to hear, but it was probably the best she could have gotten. It was a nice change not to be treated like she was going to break. It left her feeling more relaxed than she had felt since this whole thing had started.

  Rilynne slammed a door and folded her arms in front of her as she dropped down on the porch steps. A fire was burning in her chest. She was so angry, more so than she felt like she was able to hold in without erupting. When the door opened back up behind her and a shaggy haired man walked out, she wanted to get up and walk off. She was too upset with him, but she stayed where she sat. He stood behind her for a moment, not speaking or moving. After letting out a deep, frustrated sigh, she stood and walked to the car.

  “Let’s go,” she said. Her tone was harsh, mirroring what she felt inside. “We’ve got several stops to make and I want to try to get all of this done today.”

  When the room came back into focus, Rilynne felt her chest tighten and she kicked with her feet to move her further up on the bed.

  “What just happened?” she asked. She turned wide-eyed toward her mother. She ran her hand quickly over her face before she started reaching for the call button. Something was wrong; she needed the doctor. “What’s going on? What was that?”

  Chapter Six

  Amber jumped up and ripped the remote from her hand as soon as she reached it. “Calm down,” she said firmly, but there was a panic about her that was undeniable. “Rilynne, you need to stop and listen to me.”

  Rilynne reached again for the controller, but Amber moved it further away. She looked up at her, confused and scared.

  “Baby, listen to me,” Amber said. Her tone was more soothing than it had been moments before. “You can’t call them in here. Nothing is wrong. Just calm down and I’ll explain everything.”

  Despite her mother’s words, nothing about her was calm. That wasn’t just a memory coming back to her. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but that was something different. As she continued to panic, Amber reached for her phone and pulled it up to her ear. “I need you,” she said moments later. “Come alone.”

  Rilynne didn’t need to ask before she saw who she had called. Only seconds passed before the door swung opened and Elise stepped in.

  “What happened?” she asked as soon as she saw the state Rilynne was in. She made sure the door was shut and the curtain blocked the window before walking to the other side of the bed to help Amber try and calm her.

  “She had a flash,” Amber said.

  Her statement didn’t make sense to Rilynne, but recognition hit Elise’s face and she turned to her.

  “It’s alright,” she said. “Don’t freak out. We can tell you exactly what’s going on. You need to calm down, though, or you’re going to attract the attention of someone else. Trust me, you don’t want anyone else in here. You don’t want to tell them what just happened.”

  Whether from exhaustion or their calmness, Rilynne felt her fight start to wane. After another few moments, she finally relaxed and sat back on the bed. “What’s going on?” she asked, shifting her eyes nervously between them. “What’s happening to me? I know that can’t be normal.”

  “Baby,” Amber said, outwardly fighting to choose her words. She sat down on the bed and brushed the hair from Rilynne’s face. “You’re a special girl. You always have been. What just happened is something that you like to call a flash. You’ve been having them since you were a child. The best way to describe them is they’re glimpses you are given about people or things you’re connected to.”

  “What? Like a psychic?” Rilynne asked. She had hoped their explanation would give her some comfort, but it was having the opposite effect. “There’s no such thing as psychics. That stuff is just not real.” They were either crazy or trying to convince her she was. She glanced at the edge of the door, which was just visible behind the pulled curtain. She wondered if she would be able to get to it before they could stop her, but knew it wouldn’t be possible with the level of pain she was still in.

  “Our dad was the same way,” Elise said, pulling her attention back in. “The way he always liked to explain it to me was by saying that the universe decided to pick a few people who could even out some of the badness in the world. You told me that what you could do is what led you to becoming a detective. You use what you can see to solve crimes and get murderers off the streets. You might have qualms with it from time to time, but you love your gift.”

  Rilynne was certain they must be messing with her, but they both looking only caring and serious. She tried to consider that they might be right for a moment, but it was too crazy.

  “The only part of it that you are afraid of is what would happen if people found out,” Amber said. “I know you’re scared and confused right now, but you need to trust us when we say that keeping it secret is what you want to do. It’s what you’ve always wanted to do. Now, I know it’s a lot for you to take in right now, but I need you to tell us what you saw. It might have something to do what happened to you and Ben, and we can’t wait for you to relax before getting into it.”

  “Ben,” Rilynne said, the fear pushing aside as something else took over. “I saw him, or at least I think it was him.”

  Amber quickly reached for her purse and pulled out a small album. “Was this him?” she asked, holding out a picture for Rilynne to see. It was a wedding picture. She recognized herself as the bride, then turned to look at the man standing next to her. She nodded.

  “I could feel what I felt. I was so angry with him.” She paused and looked at both of them. “I could see myself and I was wearing the same outfit I was in when I came here. I think it was from earlier that day. I was so mad. Did I do this? Did I do something to him? There was blood from him and a woman...”

  “No,” Amber said without needing a second to think it over. “Couples fight; that’s normal. There’s one thing I can tell you for sure, though, and that’s that there’s no way in the world, no matter how angry you were, that you would ever do anything to hurt Ben. I can promise you that. And as for the woman, I know what you’re thinking and you can stop. Ben wasn’t cheating on you. If you want proof, think back to the way you were feeling. You were angry, not hurt. I don’t know who this woman is or what she has to do with whatever happened, but there’s another explanation than that.”

  She was right about one thing. The only feeling Rilynne remembered was intense anger. Something had happened that upset her, but she didn’t seem to be suffering the way she would expect if she’d discovered he had betrayed her in that way. “But how can you be sure I didn’t do something to him? I was so angry,” she asked. Her mother’s assurances didn’t do much to convince her of that. She might not remember her relationship with her mother, but she did know that it was a mother’s job to protect and believe in her children. That would
undoubtedly include insisting they were innocent, even if they weren’t.

  “Rilynne, there isn’t a single person who knows you that would believe you would ever be capable of what you’re thinking,” Elise said. “What you and Ben have is what most people live their lives wishing they could have. There also wasn’t any trace of his blood in the samples collected from your hands. What was found on your clothes seems to be transfer. If you don’t believe us, trust that. Whatever did happen, the only thing we know is that the two of you were together. Right now, the important thing is to find out where you came from. Did you see anything that can help with that?”

  Rilynne shook her head. “We were at our house, or at least that’s what I’m assuming it was. It was only a few moments. I was angry and then we got in the car to go out and run errands.”

  “Well, there hasn’t been any report of an accident, so right now we’re concentrating on the notion that someone attacked the two of you while you were out. Everyone is at the station right now going over the list of anyone that might have a grudge with either of you,” Elise said. “Luckily, they still have the one from the last time someone went after you.”

  When Rilynne looked up at her curiously for an explanation, Elise just rolled her eyes and said, “I’ll tell you all about that one later.”

  “Well, what happens if someone did attack us?” she asked. Somehow she actually felt comfortable with the conversation, even the part about her vision. Although she wasn’t completely sold on their explanation of it, there were more important things to worry about. “How does this all work? How are they going to find out what happened or who’s responsible?”

  She felt foolish asking the questions. This was what she did for a living; she shouldn’t need to ask how it was done.

  “We will start by going over every piece of evidence collected and talking to everyone you know,” Elise answered. “We’ll see if anyone saw you during the day and use that, along with any credit card transactions, to try to put together a timeline. If we can pin down exactly when this happened to you, it might help us to figure out where you were. With that, we’ll be one step closer to finding Ben.”

  “And what if no one saw us while we were out?” she asked. She sank back into her pillow, finally letting her body relax again.

  “It’s a small town,” Amber answered. “Even if you didn’t encounter any friends while out, someone will have seen you. Since we know you were out shopping for your party, there are a few places that they can start looking. Between store employees and security cameras, it shouldn’t take long at all to figure out where you were during the day.”

  They seemed so sure and confident, but Rilynne couldn’t tell if it was genuine or simply a brave face for her sake. Neither really worked. She felt that if it were really so easy, they would have found something by now. Despite what they had said, she also wasn’t entirely sure that she didn’t have something to do with Ben’s disappearance. With her background and experience with situations such as this, if she were behind it, she would surely know exactly how to cover her tracks and make sure they wouldn’t be able to find him.

  Her thoughts hung on the possibility that she wasn’t simply a victim. No matter how she tried to push the notion away as ridiculous, it was something she couldn’t move past. There was too much anger flowing through her in her flash for her to dismiss the thought as easily as her mother and sister had. Though she hadn’t felt the desire to hurt him, something else could have happened during the day that pushed her to that point.

  Rilynne considered sharing her fears with her mother and sister, but she was scared. Although she didn’t feel like she was capable of actually hurting anyone, she still couldn’t remember anything about the person she was before the long walk to the hospital. The thought of having to face punishment for something she couldn’t remember doing was too much for her to handle.

  To her relief, the nurse walked in before she was forced to speak again and informed her she was ready to be discharged. With Amber and Elise both distracted by the process of getting her out of there, she wasn’t currently at the risk of being pushed to share her feelings.

  Rilynne concentrated on getting dressed and collecting what she had in the room while Amber and Elise took care of everything else. By the time they were finished, she was ready to leave.

  “I’m going to head back to your house,” Amber said as she grabbed her purse from where it hung on the back of a chair. “I’ll see you when you get home later. Elise,” she said, turning around to face her. “You make sure she doesn’t push herself too hard.”

  Elise grinned and nodded as she pushed an awaiting wheelchair to the side of the bed. Rilynne sat down in it and kicked her feet up. Before they had even left the room, Amber was already gone.

  “I didn’t want to ask with her here, but my mom isn’t...” Rilynne paused, twisting her face as she tried to figure out exactly how to phrase her question. “I mean, you and I...”

  “Don’t have the same mother?” Elise interrupted. “No, Amber isn’t my mother. Our dad left to keep the two of you safe when you were very young, and he met my mother a few years later. She died when I was born, so Amber really is the closest thing to a mom I’ve ever had, though.”

  Rilynne knew there was more to the story, but she didn’t feel like pushing any further.

  “Where are we going?” she asked when they reached the awaiting car in the parking lot. Despite being wrapped, her feet still ached when she stood and took a step. She pushed the pain aside as she climbed into the passenger seat. She would let herself feel it when this was all over. Right now the only thing she was going to let herself think about what getting her memories back and finding out what happened to her husband.

  “Matthews thinks it would be a good idea for you to go to the station,” Elise said. After checking to make sure Rilynne was buckled in, she whipped the car out of the parking lot and started down the road. Though she knew she had likely been in one countless times before, riding in the car was a strange sensation for Rilynne. The slight vibration under her seat accompanied with the swiftness of things passing by made her nervous. Not wanting to let Elise know what she was thinking, she sat quietly back and watched the buildings go by. “You practically lived there before you and Ben got together. Of course, marrying a man who loves what he does just as much as you do didn’t really change that much. We’re hoping that being in that environment will help to jog a few things.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” she said. She didn’t really know what to expect as they made their way to the station. It had been overwhelming enough just having the few visitors she’d had in the hospital. If she really spent as much time at the station as her sister claimed, there were likely to be dozens of people waiting for them who were going to be giving her the same sympathetic looks, accompanied by the same string of questions. Her chest tightened just thinking about it.

  “Shift change was an hour ago, so there won’t be many people in the lobby when we walk in,” Elise said. Rilynne looked over, shocked that she seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, and smiled. “We should be able to get in and to the homicide office without being stopped. Now, everyone is likely to be in the office. That’s not going to be that many people, though. Addison Valley is relatively small, so in addition to you and Matthews, there are only seven other detectives on the squad. That includes Detective Wilcome.”

  “I don’t suppose you can tell me what to expect when I get up there?” she asked, thankful to have someone she could actually talk to openly about what she was feeling.

  Elise chuckled before nodding. “Lori you know. Her partner is Brent Jerkins. He’s pretty quiet in the office, so I imagine he’ll leave you alone. Ernie Tylers and Jeremy Steele were at the hospital, but I don’t think you’ve talked to them yet. They look like brothers, but they’re not. Tylers is actually dating Steele’s sister. Now, I can’t really tell you what you’re looking at with those two. They’re likely going to try to lighten
the mood a little, and they will inevitably end up teasing you about something or another. You can either go with it or act like it really upset you just to get them back. Just make sure I’m around if you go with the latter. LaShad and Donovan will probably be out. They’re coordinating the search for Ben, so they’ve pretty much been spending all of their time on the streets. If they are in, you can expect something similar to Tylers and Steele, just not to the same extent. Detective Wilcome will probably treat you like it’s any other day. Although he cares greatly for both you and Ben, he isn’t going to coddle you or be the hugging type.”

  “Sounds like an interesting bunch,” Rilynne stated, not really knowing what more to say.

  “I know it’s a lot to take in, but these guys love you like family. It’s the same for Ben. There isn’t anything any of them won’t do to find him and help you get your memories back. You really couldn’t ask for a better bunch of people in your life.”

  Before she could respond, Elise stopped the car in front of a large building. Rilynne looked out and read the sign on the front of it. They were there.

  Like Elise had guessed, the lobby was relatively empty when they walked through. After climbing into the elevator, she watched Elise press the button for the third floor. The knots in her stomach grew stronger, twisting like a tornado was ripping through her as she watched the lights change from floor to floor. When the doors opened, she felt almost like she was going to pass out. The desire to get herself back pushed her forward, though, and she stepped off without hesitation after Elise.

  The homicide office wasn’t exactly the way she had pictured it, which was disappointing. If it had been, she would have thought it was memories pushing through. There were twelve desks in the room, three of which appeared to be empty. Across the room she saw a door leading to what she guessed was a conference room. There were several people in it standing around a large white board, one of which she recognized to be Matthews.