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I knew I got hit by a car, and I sure as shit felt it, but for some reason, I was nervous to say it again, as if I thought I was trying my luck. Say it three times and the magic was broken. If I say it so much, whoever hit me might come back and try to finish the job.
Was it an accident? Was it Ray?
“I’ll let the nurse know,” the blonde one spoke. “I’m Officer White, and that’s Officer Melendez. We’re going to be investigating your case, along with William Briggs’s case. You two know each other, correct?”
I nodded. My body was sore, but didn’t feel too pain-filled. Whatever was dripping into my IV must’ve been helping with that. I was sure once I wasn’t hooked up to it, the pain would be full-force.
“How is he?” I croaked out, just as the nurse returned to the room, poking her head in as she carried a tray…full with a teeny, tiny cup of water, some gooey-looking Jell-O, and some crackers. Right. Yummy. Couldn’t eat a full meal, I guess. I went right for the water, gulping it down in one swallow, before the nurse was even gone.
“I’ll get you more,” the nurse said before leaving, once more closing me in with the cops.
“Mr. Briggs is recovering. He had to have surgery,” the brown-haired cop, Melendez, answered. “He’s currently unable to answer our questions, so we were hoping to ask you about him, and then get into yours. Does that sound like a plan?”
Sounded like that’s how this was going to go whether I agreed to it or not. I doubted I could roll off this bed and run away, anyway. I was stuck here, stuck answering their questions, stuck feeling guilty, as if all of this was my fault.
It was my fault. What happened to Will was my fault. The car hitting me…not exactly my fault, but I was kind of freaking out at the time, hyperventilating and all that, so in a weird, roundabout way, that was my fault, too. Should’ve listened to mommy and looked both ways before crossing the street.
Stupid Ash. You could be dead right now. You could’ve gotten away from Ray only to die on the hood of a car—
Ray.
I remembered him leaning over me, telling me I was going to be fine. I remembered trying to reach up and touch him, not knowing whether he was truly there or not, if my mind had imagined him. I turned my head, half expecting him to be standing in the hallway, gazing steadily inside, waiting for me.
But he wasn’t there, and the only people I saw were nurses walking by in the hall.
Was he there, or was he a figment of my imagination, since I had the Midtown Strangler on the brain?
Officer White was leaning back, whispering to her partner, “Maybe we should give her more time—”
I snapped back to attention, refusing to think about Ray and what he did. What he made me do. “That’s fine,” I said. “You can ask me about Will first.”
“Are you aware of what happened to Mr. Briggs tonight?” Melendez shot right into the questioning, earning herself a shake of the head from White, who clearly thought they should let me rest.
Fuck that. I’d rest when I was dead…which might actually be sooner rather than later.
“He was attacked,” I said, my eyes falling to my lap. The nurse had set the food tray—if you could call it a food tray—beside the bed. Despite myself, I was kind of hungry. “Stabbed,” I added, causing Melendez to nod to herself.
“How well do you know William?” White asked, cocking her head. Her blonde hair was pulled back in a bun, and heavy bags sat under her eyes, as if she hadn’t gotten sleep all night. If she was here, I didn’t blame her. I felt exhausted, and I just woke up.
Bruised. No broken bones. I guess I was lucky, but I sure as shit didn’t feel lucky. A part of me knew it was never going to be a car that did me in. My own choices, my past, were what would do it.
“He’s my roommate’s brother,” I answered.
“Declan Briggs,” Melendez clarified, and I nodded. “We’ve spoken to Declan about it already, and he doesn’t seem to have any ideas as to who could’ve done this to his brother. The odds are looking like a random attack, but from what the doctor said, the attacker knew what he was doing. He was smart. He wanted to inflict the most pain while leaving him alive. Do you know anyone out there who might have it in for William?”
Ray. Ray had it out for William, because Ray didn’t want me with anyone else.
Then again, the same could be said of Travis, but I knew Travis didn’t do it. Travis was looking less guilty by the minute, although the jury was still out on what happened to Sabrina. In the moment, I wasn’t worried about what happened to Sabrina. Ray was on the forefront of my mind, and it would’ve been smart of me to confess it all right then and there.
But I didn’t.When it came to that man, I was weak.
I didn’t, because I couldn’t. Ray had a part of me no one else could. He’d taken me, twisted me, and spat me out unwillingly. If I told them about Ray, they’d ask why Ray was so obsessed with me, and then I’d have to tell them everything. I rarely got ashamed of anything, but when it came to my ex-boyfriend and what happened, I was beyond ashamed. I was downright mortified, afraid.
So I simply spoke a soft, “No.”
Melendez and White glanced at each other, a look passing between them. Whether or not they thought I was lying, keeping the truth from them, was beyond me. I didn’t care what they thought. I just had to get out of this hospital as soon as I could…and visit Will, once he could have visitors.
Fuck. Or maybe I shouldn’t go see him. Maybe seeing him would only paint a bigger target on his back…
