Page 132 of A Heart So Haunted
Sharp, firm voices from the front door. “Colleton County Police Department.”
“Mom, they’re here to help you,” I said, low. Hadrian grunted when she slapped a heel on his foot.
“No!” she spat. “You just wanna get rid of me! That’s all you’ve ever wanted, Landry, is everything foryourself!”
Her words bounced off me, one by one, and sunk into the floor.
The next thirty minutes were a blur.
One of the officers removed my mom from the house with Hadrian’s help while Emma and Sayer’s voices murmured from the front. Once the officers documented the items Mom tried to take, one of them spoke to me. One of them took pictures of my injuries while another took notes, another mentioned a restraining order—or maybe it was Emma, because she floated in and out a few times—another asked about us coming down to the station in the morning.
And still, like a gnat circling my head, all I could think about was the tooth. Here, in the room, on the floor,somewhere.
By the time everyone was questioned, statements given, and contact information collected, it was pitch black outside, not a star in sight. All the lights on the first floor were on. Sayer’s nose was crusted with blood. My cheek was swollen. The lone remaining officer scribbled in a notepad, forehead creased.
“I’m going to go get a pizza. We need it,” Emma murmured.
I wilted. It felt so long ago that I’d come home to the three of them in the living room.
Emma pointed to Sayer, then Hadrian. “Cheese? Pepperoni?”
“I’ll go with you. We’ll get a few, so it’ll be a surprise,” Sayer said. His glasses sat crooked, the frames cracked. A red welt had spread over the side of his neck where he’d been elbowed. “You good here?”
I hugged myself, closest to where the teeth had dropped. “I’m good.”
Sayer pointed to Hadrian. His only answer was a nod.
“All right, we’ll return.” Sayer gave a two-finger salute and followed Emma out into the hallway, leaving Hadrian and I with the officer. Their voices faded like a lantern in the night, followed by the click of the front door.
“Good people,” the last cop murmured. He scratched something else on his notepad. Hadrian rubbed his palm over his chin while theofficer jotted down the last of his notes. He was my height, stocky, with kind eyes. I tried not to think about the little piece of history in my possession, burning a hole in my pocket.
“Think that should be all, for right now.” He gave a soft smile.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Much thanks,” Hadrian said at the same time.
The officer turned to leave and rounded one of the covered end tables that I’d set to the side maybe a week ago. “I’ll get out of y’all’s hair, then. Just holler if you need anything, all right? We’ll keep you in the loop if she posts bail and—”
A crunch.
My hand covered my mouth.
The pit in my stomach turned into an open maw, unhinging wide, and dropped straight to my toes.
The officer paused, bent down. “Shoot. Done stepped on something. Sorry ’bout that.”
I wiped my hand down my neck. Glanced to Hadrian, who had turned still. He didn’t so much as inhale as the officer excused himself and left the room.
No one spoke. The front door opened with a light gust of wind. It rustled the strewn items in the foyer before a heavy click came, and the officer’s footsteps echoed down the front steps.
“Hadrian,” I whispered, hesitant. “We found the teeth.”
He grunted—again. A pained noise. I turned when the first chime came—as if the grandfather clock was ready and waiting. Midnight already.
I slipped around the furniture and bent to the floor. Sure enough, right by the floor-to- ceiling bookcase, was a broken tooth. A fully developed adult molar, all four points crushed and ground into the wide floorboards.
Tears welled again, but this time, they slid down my cheeks. Dripped from my chin. Pressure built from the base of my spine, all the way up and around my lungs. Something was wrong—I knew it, just like I knew it when I followed Mom into the house—
