Page 89 of Ms Perfectly Fine
Autumn
BY WEDNESDAY MORNING, there was still no news about the partial print. Autumn spent half the night tossing and turning, trying not to wake Elijah, hoping someone would confirm it had been Heather sending the roses before she faced her at the station.
After forcing down what she could of the breakfast Elijah made for her, Autumn arrived at the police station with Elijah following close behind. Sasaki had messaged to say he wanted to come, but with final rehearsals, there was no time to spare. Nina had agreed to help him handle the fallout; the press had somehow learnt that an unnamed culprit was harassing the returning child prodigy, Autumn Adler. She hated seeing her full name in print; it made her feel more like a product than a person.
Aiden greeted them outside the station before leading them through to his office. At his desk, Autumn eagerly took the cup of coffee on offer as the detective prepped her for seeing Heather.
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait until Aiden gives us more news?” Elijah asked, but Autumn squeezed his hand. If she didn’t go in now, she didn’t think she would ever sleep again.
“It’s fine. I want to get this over with,” she said, and he kissed the back of her hand, reassuring her.
“This won’t be easy, and she’s still maintaining her innocence, so please don’t get your hopes up about getting the answers you want,” Aiden said, a file laid out before him.
“Does she know I’m coming?” Autumn asked, glad she had Elijah’s hand on her knee to stop her leg from shaking.
“We told her this morning. She’s been asking to see you since we brought her in, but we didn’t think it was wise until we had more evidence. Since you want to speak to her, we can give you fifteen minutes.”
It wasn’t much time, but she was grateful for anything. “I don’t think she wants to hurt me. I think she just wanted someone to see her, listen to her. She had plenty of opportunities to hurt me and she never did,” Autumn said, though part of her wondered why Heather didn’t just confess.
“If it’s too much, there’s still time to back out,” Aiden said, guiding her towards the interview room.
“I have you and Elijah on the other side of the door, I’ll be fine,” she promised. “Heather wanted my attention, and like you said, when she saw Elijah move in, it tipped her over the edge. She must have thought I was moving on and forgetting about the accident. As much as I would love that to happen, it never will.”
“I could be wrong, but I think she just wanted to be close to someone who had been in the accident. Someone who understood her pain. It might have been the threat of losing that that spurred change,” Aiden mused. “Heather claims she tried to talk to you numerous times about the accident. I wanted to confirm with you that she never talked to you about the accident, never tried to tell you who she was?”
Autumn hesitated. “I’m not very open about my private life. I don’t remember, but if she had brought it up, I probably would have brushed her off,” she admitted. If she had been more open, not so obsessed with her bubble, would she have recognised Heather?
“Can you tell us about your relationship with the culprit before and after the accident? She gave us some details yesterday and I want to corroborate them.”
“Lena and I didn’t really have a relationship since there are four years between us. I was best friends with her older sister Mollie, but sometimes, Lena would come to movies with us. We didn’t have much free time; we went to the same school, and both of us were accepted into the same orchestra. We were doing our first tour that winter when the stage collapsed. You know the rest.”
“Heather said you didn’t attend Mollie’s funeral?” Aiden asked.
Autumn cleared her throat to stop herself from choking on her guilt. Elijah squeezed her hand.
“I was too sick to attend. I had to have multiple surgeries on my back. I spent months in St Helen’s Rehabilitation hospital, and by the time I had a chance to even think, my parents told me her parents had got divorced. To be honest, I was pretty wrapped up in my recovery, and I didn’t notice much else around me. Our mums were close, but when we moved, I don’t think they kept in contact.” Autumn glanced at Elijah; he hadn’t known that part of her story. But he didn’t look at her with pity, only admiration. If she hadn’t loved him before, she did now.
Aiden gave her a sympathetic look, but Autumn was distracted as two officers led Heather by the window. She was pale, her head hung low; with her glasses on the table, Autumn saw how much like Mollie she had become.
An officer came into the office and whispered something to Aiden before handing him another file.
“All right, she’s ready for you. She’s handcuffed, so she can’t harm you. If you need something, there’ll be cameras on you and I’ll be right on the other side of the glass,” Aiden said, leading them from the office.
“Have you called her parents?” Autumn asked before heading in.
“We couldn’t get hold of her father, but her mum is driving up now. She shouldn’t be too long,” Aiden said.
Autumn watched Heather through the window. Hunched over the table, she looked broken. She turned to Elijah, who looked like the last thing he wanted to do was let her go in alone.
“I’ll be outside when you’ve finished,” he told her, giving her one last squeeze. Her resolve weakened in his embrace, but she took a shaky breath and stepped away from him, gathering the last of her strength.
“Fifteen minutes,” Aiden reminded her.
Autumn nodded in agreement, stepping through the door before she was left alone with the person who had been watching her for the past three years.
“I’m so glad you agreed to see me,” Heather said softly, resting her cuffed wrists on the table.
Autumn took a seat, leaning away from her. “I just want to say something first,” she said, taking a shaky breath.
