Two days of calm felt wonderful. Cam knew she’d never take for granted a boring day ever again. Never think of one in a negative light either.
There was no calm at night though. Not with Ian staying with her, and right now, she wouldn’t want it any other way.
Calm days, exciting nights. Yeah. That was a good routine to get into. A good habit too. Not that she’d voice that to anyone. It was her little secret for now.
One she was holding close to her chest.
But that calm was going to be put to the test today. Today she was going to come face to face with David Arrow.
Could he or his family be responsible for terrorizing her state of mind? Were they that devious? That power hungry to get their way? Would her testimony even make a difference?
She wasn’t sure she’d find out today if it was Simon Arrow or not doing this to her, and honestly, it wasn’t her job to do that. That was in the chief’s and captain’s hands. Ian’s hands. She had every faith in them. She just wished they’d move a little faster.
She walked into the jail, handed her bag and credentials over to be passed through security. Captain Taylor was meeting her here. He, the DA, and the prosecutor would be behind the glass during the meeting.
Twenty minutes later she was in the room where David was already seated in his orange jumpsuit and cuffs attached to the table with a guard behind him. David turned his head and barely glanced at her. Almost dismissing her and she was fine with that.
She took a seat across from him, waited until he looked up and acknowledged her, and when he didn’t, she said, “How are you feeling, David?”
“Why do you care?” he asked, his voice almost a whisper.
“I’m here to make an assessment of your mental state of mind.”
She wanted to add he could rot in hell, but she never would. She kept all those thoughts to herself, pushing them aside, hardly letting them creep in.
“I feel like shit,” he said. “Are you happy?”
“Why do you feel that way?”
“The beds are uncomfortable and the food sucks.”
The guard by the door snorted, but Cam looked straight ahead. “Aside from your physical discomfort. How do you feel about Amanda’s death?”
He glanced up this time, his stare as hard as his father’s had been earlier in the week. “She was misinformed. I tried to tell her it was just a rumor. That I wasn’t cheating on her. She didn’t believe me. I hated myself for that. I hated she thought that of me. I hated her. I wanted to kill myself. I told her that, but she didn’t care.”
“So you killed her instead.”
“I didn’t mean to do it. It just happened. I just snapped,” he said, his voice cracking, her stare never wavering, never changing. “If I stay in here any longer, I’m going to hang myself. I’m telling you right now. I don’t want to live if I have to stay here.”
She jotted a few notes down, then looked up. There was no sorrow, no regret, no fear. No feeling in his eyes at all. No desperation either. It was a rehearsed speech that he’d said hundreds of times through his childhood. It scared his mother, and she sought help for him, but everyone that saw him said it wasn’t a cry for help, but rather one for attention. He’d never had any intention of harming himself.
“What about death makes you want to take your own life?”
His head snapped up straighter, his eyes narrowing now. He wasn’t expecting that question. “It’d beat being locked up in here.”
Nothing about not feeling any pain. Nothing about not being able to deal. About an overwhelming need to end it all. It was just “better than being here.”
“Is there anything you want to add to our conversation?”
“Nothing more than you’re a bitch,” he yelled. He stood up and spit at her. She jumped back, almost falling out of the chair as he tried to lunge. The guard was on him fast and holding him in place, not that he could have gotten far being attached to the table. She was backed against the wall, blocking everyone’s view from the window, but not the sound.
She wasn’t sure she’d ever been assaulted like that before and hoped never to be again. “You know what I think?” she said, as calmly as she could. Her heart was racing, but damn it, she wasn’t going to let it show. “I think it’s always been all an act. You aren’t getting your way. You were told what to do just now. You were told to act in different ways. Unstable. You want me to think you’re unstable, but you and I know the truth.”
“What’s the truth?” he asked, looking at her. It was there, in his eyes, honesty for once. She was on to him and he knew it.
“Only you know the truth, David. Not me.”
“Everyone thinks they know me. No one does. No one ever will. Do the right thing, my father told me yesterday. Make them all believe it.” He laughed. “Want to know what everyone should believe? The bitch had it coming. No one tells me no.”
Her hands were shaking. She’d come in contact with a lot of mental illnesses over the years, but she’d never been in with someone that was just pure evil. That just thought he could have what he wanted, when he wanted it, damn the consequences or the law or any concern for another person’s life.
“We’re done here,” she told the guard, then sat down when David was led out.
A minute later everyone from behind the mirror came in to see her. “Are you okay?” Gary asked.
“Yeah. I just need to catch my breath. It’s a good thing my heart is so strong as it’s being put to the test lately.”
“This case is going to be locked up tight,” Phillip said, all but drooling and even rubbing his hands together. She could see he was eying that judge post now.
“I just want it over with,” she said. “You heard what he said, right? Do the right thing. His father told him that.”
“I heard,” Gary said. “We’ll be talking to Simon again. Trust me.”
***
“I wish I’d been there with you,” Ian said later that night to her when he’d walked in her door. He couldn’t remember ever feeling the amount of pressure in his chest when he’d heard how the interview with David Arrow went earlier today. He wanted to be there but was told there was no reason.
His reason was to protect her. Hold her when it was done. Try to calm her.
“I was fine. Tomorrow I’m giving my testimony in court and with any luck, we’ll have a verdict by the end of the day. I’m the last witness.”
“I’ll be there tomorrow with you.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I want to give you my moral support.”
She stopped unloading the dishwasher. “Awww, now that is what a boyfriend does.” Then her hand flew to her mouth. “I didn’t mean to say that.”
“But you did.” He was thinking they’d have this discussion when everything died down. When she was no longer in danger, but now she brought it up.
“I did. And we don’t need to talk about it.”
“I didn’t think you were an avoidance type of woman, Doc.”
She walked over to him. “Cam,” she corrected. “Doc just gets my hackles up.”
“Doc is the same to me as Cam,” he said.
She tilted her head and eyed him strangely. Reading him, but not really. Or not saying. “We met under odd circumstances,” she said.
“How many people meet under normal ones?”
She squinted one eye at him. “More than you realize.”
He laughed. “Let’s table this conversation for now. I’m not going anywhere until I know for sure there is no threat against you. And when that is done, then we’ll talk about if you want us to go somewhere or not.”
She opened her mouth, but he put his fingers in front of it and shook his head. She nodded, then moved away. “No talking about it then.”
He wrapped his arms around her waist. “I can think of something else to do other than talk.”
“I like your thinking.”
“Then you’re going to love my actions.”