Page 81 of False Idols

The word comes to me so quick and fast it leaves me breathless and scared. It’s never going to stop, not until The Reaper is behind bars. Or I’m dead.

“You really think this is his fault? That killer was after her, not him!” Beau’s mother’s voice carries again. I know what she means by her. She means me. She isn’t wrong, and I hate that, because it means that I have to leave Beau. I can’t keep bringing danger into his life. I put him in prison because of The Reaper. It’s on me to face him, not Beau.

I stand and awkwardly make my way over to Beau and his parents. They’re arguing with the detective, but whatever is happening looks like it’s about to be over. Even if it’s not, I'll finish it. If they want to question anyone, I’ll go with them. It’s not like I have anyone waiting on me. Sunny is on her way to Texas and my mom still hasn’t contacted me.

“She’s with me and we’re fucking leaving. End of story.” Beau turns and when he sees me, holds out his hand. I don’t know what else to do, so I put my hand in his and he brings me close. “We’re not staying here any longer. There are witnesses to show we had nothing to do with what happened to Ali.”

“Then why was her murder called in saying you did?” One of the detective drawls. He’s got a mustache and a tired look in his eyes that tells me he wants to be anywhere else but here when Mrs. Du Pont starts in on him.

“Are you dense? The person who called the murder in was obviously trying to incriminate my son and you all fell for it. Again!”

The other detective raises their hands. It’s a woman and she looks more interested in what’s going on. She’s younger than her partner, so maybe that’s why. “Even so ma’am, we’re going to have to take them down to the station for questioning. We’re doing our due diligence with this homicide. There’s been quite enough blood spilled in your community and they’ve called us in,” the detective shoots back. When everyone starts to yell again, I hold up a hand and interrupt.

“I’ll go,” I say. I see glass doors the Du Ponts just stormed in open as I’m talking and I recognize Pastor Mike hurrying in with a worried look on his face. “You can take me if you want someone for questioning.”

“See,” Mrs. Du Pont says and waves a hand at me. “She’ll go. You don’t need Beau.”

“You aren’t going anywhere without me, Nevaeh,” Beau snaps and steps in front of me when I move toward the officers.

“Beau, this is the easiest way,” I try, but I can tell from the stubborn look in his eyes that he’s not going to go for it. “Please, let me do this.”

“What’s going on here?” Pastor Mike asks as he joins our group.

“Pastor Mike, what are you doing here?” Mr. Du Pont asks and Pastor Mike gives him a quick smile before he shoots me a look of concern.

“I’m here on Nevaeh’s behalf. You all right?” He asks me and puts a hand on my shoulder. “I came as soon as I was notified.”

“I’m fine, sir. Thank you. I was just offering to go with them for questioning. They want someone to ask about,” my voice catches, because it feels weird saying her name when I thought about how much I hated it hours before, “about Ali,” I finish quietly.

“It’s just Mike, Nevaeh. You know that,” he tells me with an easy smile, but I still can’t do it. I just mumble a quick Mike to satisfy him. He turns to face the detectives and the local cop with a frown. “From my understanding, Nevaeh has already had one run in with you, isn’t that right? I’d say she’s had her fill of this for the day.”

“I’m Detective Dans and this is my partner Detective Lucien,” the woman introduces herself and holds a hand out to Pastor Mike. “And you are?” she asks.

Pastor Mike shakes her hand. “I’m the local pastor of these good people and I’m seeing that Nevaeh has someone in her corner. Her mother is tied up at the moment. Asked me to come down on her behalf.”

Tied up. That’s a delicate way of saying what’s happening between us and I’m grateful he’s not telling them the full story.

Detective Dans nods at him and looks at me. “Very lucky to have such an involved pastor.”

“We all are,” I say quickly, because The Du Ponts are far more important than I am at Crown of Thorns. I’m surprised to see Pastor Mike, but he was the one to help move me in, after all. I bet my mother has told him everything and he’s too good to leave me out to dry.

“Now what seems to be the reason you want to take Nevaeh?”

“They think Beau and Nevaeh,” Mrs. Du Pont says and I’m surprised she only sort of chokes on my name, “had something to do with the girl that was killed. I’ve told them they have nothing to do with it just because someone called it in on them.”

“How are we not sure The Reaper didn’t call in the murder?” Pastor Mike asks and we all fall silent. “Clearly he’s after Nevaeh.”

Mrs. Du Pont snaps her fingers and points at Pastor Mike. “Thank you! Now that makes sense. Who else would know about the murder but the killer? We have a witness,” she points back to the door man being questioned, “that neither of them left their apartment, plus there’s security footage of what happened. It wasn’t them!”

“Oh, really? The Reaper made another appearance on camera?” Pastor Mike rubs a hand over his face. “All of this feels like a nightmare. All of this pain and anger isn’t right.”

“The Reaper was not identified on the footage, but we do have a side angle from one of the cameras of what happened. You can clearly see the victim in distress before she collapses and someone runs away on foot after a time.”

“What do you mean after a time? What was he doing?” I ask and everyone looks my way. Detective Dans looks like she’s going to tell me it’s none of my business but Detective Lucien doesn’t care much to keep quiet about it.

“He cut her heart out. Found it a block away with the K-9 unit.”

“Oh my god.” I grab onto Beau when I hear that. “H-he took her heart with him? For a block?” I whisper.

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