Page 19 of Deception and New Direction

“Anyway…”Shelooked back up at the room. “Abouta year afterImoved out,Malstarted showing up at the hair salon whereIworked and asking me out or having flowers delivered.Redroses.”Hervoice quieted a bit but was still full of disgust. “Heused to say exactly what was on the note.Beautifulroses for my beautifulRose.”

Her body visibly shivered as she said that out loud.

“My boss at the salon was really supportive about it whenItold herIkept trying to turn him down but he wasn’t getting the hint.Shemust have had a word with him or had the police do it because a month later he stopped coming around.Allhe did, though, was switch to my apartment.Ayear afterImoved into my apartment, my roommate moved in with her boyfriend, soIlived by myself.Iswitched units soIonly had a one-bedroom, which was more affordable, butIgave my brother a key just in case he ever needed it.Malmust have swiped it, because several months later,Icame home to nicer gifts like jewelry being left with the roses on my kitchen counter with notes fromMal.”

“The hell?”Igrowled. “Hebroke into your apartment?”

“Let her talk,”Archerinterrupted me.

“He claimed he got the jewelry for practically nothing at the pawn shop and he wanted me to have nice things.Ifinally told my brother thatMalwas creeping me out and to tell him not to come to my place anymore.Hejust brushed it off, butIhad the locks changed anyway.”

She shook her head as though she was upset by the memory. “Theystopped for a little bit, but thenIfound some more jewelry hidden in places around my apartment.Inmy medicine cabinet, my silverware drawer—” she paused and then whispered. “—and my nightstand.”

The fact that he was by her nightstand meant he was close to her bed, and that made my blood boil.

“This happened over the course of a few months.Itook all of them and put them in a bag and plannedto drop it all off at the pawn shop whenIknew only my brother was around and notMalor my father.Afew days later,Iwas at the salon when theTVscreen in our lobby had the local news on.Theywere showing a robbery at a jewelry store a few days before that, and they showed a picture of the missing jewels.”Shepaused.“Theywere all the onesI’dfound in my apartment.”

Curses came from multiple people in the room.

“He gave you stolen jewelry?”Catgasped, sounding affronted onRuthie’sbehalf. “Alreadyhated this creep, but nowIhate him even more.”

“Calm down, babe,”Vincesaid, smiling and pulling her closer to him before turning back to me. “Itake it this is whereArchercomes in.”

“Yes,”Ruthiesighed. “Ipanicked.First,Iwas livid, but thenIgot scared becauseIwas afraid if the cops found them in my apartment, they would thinkIwas the one who stole them.”

She looked over toArcherand paused. “WhenIwent to the police,Archerwas the responding officer.Afterhanding over all the jewelryIhad and explaining everything, he asked me to look at some photos of a few other people to see ifIrecognized any of them.WhileIwas waiting forArcherto come back with more mugshots, my dad called me.Heasked me whereIwas, andItold him at the police station.Hetold me not to say a word without an attorney, not to give the police anything.”

She groaned and looked to the ceiling, shaking her head. “Atthe time,Ithought he was concerned for my welfare and trying to protect me.Hewasn’t.HeassumedIwas being questioned.WhenItold himIwas the one who had turned in the jewels afterIsaw them on the news and explained they’d come fromMal, he became livid.Hedidn’t yell, per se, likely because he knewIwas in a police station, but his anger was clear in the way he hissed his words at me.Hewas pissed—because now the cops would be looking into their whole business.”

God, her dad was a dick of epic proportions.

“I told himI’ddo it all over again if that was whatMalwas involved in.Hetold me not to say a word and fuck this up for him andJason.Hehung up on me asArcherwalked in with another cop to ask questions about my father and brother.That’swhenIrealized the cops suspected my father knew exactly whatMalhad been up to.”Shestopped and looked atArcher.

“We suspected they were behind a string of robberies—jewelry stores, electronics stores, homes—and were reselling the stolen goods at the pawn shop for profit,"Archerexplained. "ThankstoRuthie, we had enough evidence to bookMal, but not her father or brother, though we brought them in for questioning.”

This story just kept getting worse and worse.Iimagined it would get even more complicated, though, since we hadn’t even gotten to the part about why she changed her name or moved fromLasVegasto here inGeorgia.

“WithMalin custody for the night, my father and brother still at the station being questioned, and the police telling me even if they went home, there would be a cop who watched their every move,Ifelt safe enough to go back to my apartment,”Ruthiesaid, taking a deep breath. “Thecops had already been there to do a sweep of the place in caseI’dmissed anything hidden, but they didn’t find any more.Iwasn’t sure what to do next, soIdecided to sleep on it.”

She stopped, closing her eyes and taking a few small breaths.

“Do you need a break?”Iasked her, putting my hand on hers where it rested onDash.

As much asIwanted to hear the rest of this,Ididn’t want her to push herself too far.

“No,I’mgood.Ijust want to get this all out once and for all,” she said, brave as ever. “Myplan was to sleep on it, but in the middle of the night, someone broke into my apartment.”

I heardCatgasp from the other side of the room, butRuthiejust powered through.

“BecauseIwas restless from the events earlier in the day,Ihadn’t been sleeping well, soIheard someone moving around the place, moving furniture and breaking things.Iimmediately called 911 on my cell next to my bed.Ihad been on the line just long enough to give them the basics and my address, and the door to my bedroom opened.Idon’t know whyIhadn’t moved off the bed and hid, butIguess in my panicked stateIdidn’t think about it.”

“It’s called tonic immobility, or the ‘freeze response,’ and it’s very common in stressful situations when you are in a state of panic,”Archersaid to her.

“Yeah, well,Ifroze nonetheless,”Ruthiewent on. “Isaw a man in a mask, his hand holding a pillowcase that looked weighed down with stuff, and at first, he didn’t see me, but then our eyes met.Hesaw the phone in my hand.Justthen sirens started to blare, and he realizedI’dcalled the cops.Hecursed and then said, ‘Ishould have listened to your father and killed you first beforeIgrabbed this shit…you fucking bitch.’Andthen he lifted his other hand, which had a gun in it, and aimed it right at me.Thankfullymy frozen whatever you called it must have unfrozen, becauseIleapt off the bed.”

Her breathing started to pick up again, andIwas just about to tell everyone she was done and needed a break whenArcherspoke.

“I had just finished my shift and was on my way over to her apartment to let her know we didn’t have enough to hold her dad or brother yet, butIwas going to give her my card in case she had any issues with them, or she thought of anything else.Iwas literally a block away when the call came in about the intruder.Ithrew my lights on and came in to find her bleeding on the floor next to the bed,”Archersaid, and there were a few curses in the room.

---