Page 26 of Dead Man's Wish
“No,” I relented. “But that’s not an easy win. They don’t have a solid list of suspects yet.” My yogurt turned sour in my stomach, and I set the bowl on the counter to clean later. Mari didn’t push more questions as she followed me out and into the living room.
Jaiden and Kel pulled out the couch last night to play video games and keep an eye out for anyone shifty lurking around the yard. This morning, I found them in a puddle of blankets and thrown about pillows, snoring.
“They enjoyed their slumber party,” Mari said.
“I don’t know how they’re still asleep. It’s almost ten.”
“When Kel doesn’t have work in the mornings, he’s a pretty heavy sleeper.” She ran a hand down his cheek but it didn’t disturb him in the slightest. “What do you have to do today and what can I help you with?”
“Not necessary, it’s my admin day,” I explained. “I just need to look through emails and file papers away.”
“I can help with papers.”
“Mari,” I pleaded.
“Let people do things for and with you. You don’tneedmy help, you’re right, but . . . ,” she trailed off and walked around the couch to where I stood. “You need my company and we’re not going to let you slack while it happens. Fuck that guy. Go kick ass at your job.”
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am,” I said with a mock salute. I led the way to my office, and she followed with a plan of attack already forming.
* * *
“Email status?”Mari barked an hour later, whiteboard marker in hand and at the ready.
“Caught up. Emails have been discarded, responded to, or flagged for later.” I closed my laptop as she scribbled through her to-do list. Mari’s way of coping and moving forward wasto do.
“Filing status?” She pointed at me now and I huffed a lighthearted sigh to keep from laughing.
“All patient files have been sorted by date and put into folders for Jaiden to handle on his next workday.” I folded my hands together and rested them against my face to cover my mouth. A smile was breaking out and I didn’t want her to see she was winning just yet.
“Any other files?”
“I have organized the consultation requests, and any approvals are in their own folder for Jaiden to contact later.” She gave me a satisfactory nod and scribbled more lines on the board. I snorted a laugh, catching her attention once again. “Am I funny, Mrs. Wells?”
“Yes, Mrs. Bellevue. You are the funniest ray of sunshine in this cloudy place.” I tidied my desk and caught sight of the evidence box on the floor. Looking at Mari, I saw she was preoccupied with a stack of novels on the side table.
I reached for the box.
“Mari,” I called out, my voice struggling with hoarseness. “Do you want to know more?”
Her eyes widened.
“Absolutely, I do.” She hurried across the carpeted floor and stood on the other side of the desk. Being dressed in our pajamas made this feel like a true crime amateur hour hobby. I lifted the box’s lid and let her look around at its contents.
“This isn’t everything, but Noah said this is where he wanted me to start. His team has all sorts of theories, but he’s confident I can find the answer here.” I gathered the journals and organized them by year, and the photos I laid out in rows.
“Wait, I recognize this,” she said, tapping an older photo of us. “Yeah, what was this, freshman year of college?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Her eyebrow quirked up at my displeasure. “In the journals, there are very detailed confessions of his inner thoughts and day-to-day behaviors.” My skin crawled just thinking about what I’d read the other day.
“What do you mean, confessions?”
“Where Brent was concerned, outside of murder, was there anything abhorrent in nature that you thought him capable of?” I would do anything to spare her of what I was about to reveal, but her quizzical and curious nature wouldn’t let me keep it to myself.
“That piece of shit came off as harmless as a fly. I wouldn’t have considered him capable of any violence with the charade he pulled off.” Her lips twisted in disgust for a brief second, and her feelings were spot-on.
“The day we went to that mall just before the start of fall semester, he followed us.” Her eyebrows rose and her eyes shifted as she sorted through her memory of that day. “I know. I had the exact same feeling, and no matter how many times I go over it, I can’t place him anywhere.”
“He was disgusting.”
