If It Walks Like A Killer (The Carolina Killer Files #1) (33 page)

Chapter Sixty-Six

Caide

Caide awoke from a morphine-coated slumber to a nurse standing above him.

“Mr. Abbott, can you hear me? It’ll hurt to move so just blink once for yes, twice for no.”

Blink.

“Good, I’m Kyleigh, one of the doctors on your case. You had a few head injuries but we believe you’re going to be just fine. You’ve probably noticed your jaw is wired shut. We had to put stitches in your left cheek and we wired you shut so you wouldn’t rip the stitches trying to talk. We’re going to have to keep it that way until you’re completely healed. Do you understand?”

Blink.

“Is there anything you need?”

Blink.

She handed him a piece of paper and a pen. “Can you write it down for me?”

Wife Kids

She looked at the paper. “Mr. Abbott, I’m sorry to tell you this but your wife was convicted of Blaire Underwood’s murder. She’s in prison.”

No. No.
He shook his head frantically, pulling wires and IV’s out.

“Mr. Abbott, please calm down. Please. Calm down or we’ll have to sedate you again.” She lunged across him, reattaching wires. He tapped the word ‘kids’ sharply. “Your kids are staying with a very nice family, just until you’re better.”

No. No, none of this was right.
Caide jerked, pulling himself up from the bed, despite the immediate pain he felt. His head felt heavy.

“Mr. Abbott.” The doctor tried to restrain him as he flailed and shook, trying to get up. Suddenly, a nurse came in, rushing to her side. She had an injection in her hand. He wasn’t able to see where she stuck it before everything went fuzzy.

***

Rachael

Rachael prayed in between pills. Her pillow was now soaked from tears as she continued to gag on each pill. She had nothing to help them go down. Her cellmate was snoring above her.
Please help my children. Let their new family love them more than anyone else. Let them be smart. Let them be kind.
A loud buzzing interrupted her prayer. The lights flickered on.

“You can’t just barge in here. It’s after hours.”

“Rachael? Rachael Abbott?”

She recognized that voice.
Argus? Could it be Argus?
She stood from her bed, letting the pills fall from her hand. “Argus?” She shouted, rushing toward the door. She squeezed the bars, tears rolling down her face.

“Stop. I said stop. You can’t be here.”

“Rachael?” His voice grew closer.

“Argus, I’m here,” she yelled, her heart pounding.

And then there he was, standing in front of her, his hair disheveled and his clothing rumpled. There were tears in his usually stone-cold eyes.

The guard finally caught up to him, grabbing his arm. “Sir, you can’t be here. Visiting hours are over.”

“I’m not visiting,” Argus said, not taking his eyes off Rachael. He thrust a paper into the man’s hand. “Read it. You should’ve gotten a call.”

The buzzer sounded again, another officer approached the group. “Simmons, he’s fine. They called earlier, I was on the phone when I let him in.”

The officer released Argus’ arm, his eyes examining the paper.

“What is going on?” Rachael begged.

Simmons looked up at her from the paper. “Rachael Abbot, you are no longer in the custody of the state of North Carolina. Your conviction has been overturned due to new evidence.” He slid the cell door open. “You are free to go.”

Rachael stood in disbelief, staring at the open doorway. Argus scooped her up into his arms, kissing her firmly. Their tear soaked faces rubbed together as he held her hair. They pulled apart finally, her feeling dizzy from a combination of the pills and his kiss.

The second officer spoke up. “The court was arranging transport for her, by the way. She would’ve been sent home in the morning.”

Hampton shook his head, still holding her close, his eyes never left hers. “She didn’t deserve a single moment here. I wasn’t going to let her spend another second, let alone another night. Let’s go home.” He held her hand, their fingers intertwined. She felt safer than she had felt in months.
Home.
She felt at home.

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Rachael

Three Months Later

Rachael stood at the door to Caide’s hospital room. He was being released today. She opened the door. He sat on the edge of his bed. “Rach.” He held his arms out, seeing her.

She hugged him.

“You didn’t bring the kids with you?”

“They’re with Corie. We needed to talk.”

Caide grabbed her hand. “I agree. Over dinner?”

“No, Caide, now.”

“Okay.” He patted the bed beside him.

She shook her head. “I’ll stand. These past few months, I’ve been here daily. I’ve watched you heal and I’ve taken care of you. I’ve been your wife. Today, that ends. I allowed you to heal in peace, a courtesy that was never extended to me.”

“Rach, please don’t. I know where you’re going with this. I cheated on you. I hurt you. I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through because of me. But, we can move past this. We can be better. When I was in that car, I thought I was going to die and all I could think of was you: how much I love you, how sorry I am, how if I ever got the chance to make it better I’d never stop trying.” He rubbed her cheek, pulling her to him.

She pushed his hand away. “Screw you. Screw you for cheating on me, screw you for reducing it for the word ‘cheating’ like you lied during a game of cards. I was the one on trial for murder, Caide, but as far as I’m concerned it’s you who’s the killer. You killed this family. You killed this marriage. Everything we’ve worked for, everything we’ve built is gone and that’s on you.”

“Rachael, please—”

“No. It’s my turn to talk. When my best friend was being murdered, I was somewhere believing she may have been the one who killed Blaire. I believed she framed me. I was somewhere hating her, while she needed me. I was so angry with her, while she was dying just for knowing me. I have to live with that. Every day for the rest of my life I have to wake up and know that. I sat in jail for so long wondering what went wrong, wondering how you could’ve done what you did. I grieved for our marriage publicly and humiliatingly. I watched you defile our marriage in front of a crowded room and had to maintain my composure when all I wanted to do was rip your head off. I know I’m not perfect in this. It takes two and maybe I quit giving us my all, but I could never do what you did, Caide. And then to go on TV and say what you said.” She trailed off.

“Rachael.” Tears streamed down his cheeks.

“No, let me finish.” She wiped a single tear from her face. “See, I’ve spent so much time hating you and being mad at you, but it’s exhausting.” She exhaled exuberantly. “I’m exhausted. So, I’m done with it. That’s what I came here to tell you. I’m done arguing. I’m done fighting. I am done hurting. We have two beautiful little kids who depend on us and who look up to us. They need us. You know, I always swore that I would never let my kids be from a broken home, but I’m starting to realize that we are more broken together than we could ever be apart.” She handed him the yellow envelope.

“Divorce papers?” he asked, his jaw dropping.

“I love you, Caide. You gave me the two best gifts I’ve ever gotten. Now, I’m giving you one.”

“This is not what I want. I want you. I want us. I want our family.” He stood up, towering above her.

She stood firm. “Maybe this isn’t what you want right now, but once the dust settles you’ll realize it is. It’s what you’ve always wanted. I think we stayed together for the wrong reasons: because it was easy, because it seemed right, because the kids deserved a whole family, but the truth is that sometimes marriage brings out the worst in people. Our marriage brought out the very worst in us and we deserve better.”

He sat back down, his face devastated. She wiped a tear from his cheek and he wrapped his arms around her stomach, pressing his head to her chest. “How can this be right if I love you so much?”

“Maybe it’s right
because
we love each other so much. I want us to end on good terms. I want us to move on and live the lives we deserve. That doesn’t mean that I’ll ever stop loving you, or that I’ll ever stop wanting you to be happy.”

“Rachael, I’m so sorry. Please don’t do this. Please. You’re so good. You didn’t deserve what I did to you. You’re good, Rachael. Bad things always happen to good people. I did such a bad thing. God, I’m so sorry.”

She pulled his head from her chest, looking into his eyes. She thought of Abby then, her words of wisdom that Rachael had held onto.

“No. I’m not a good person. I’m not a bad person, either. Neither are you. There aren’t good or bad things happening to good or bad people. We’re just people. We’re just people and we have this one life and things happen. You deal with it and you move on and life goes on and the world keeps turning. You just keep living because…because not everyone gets to do that. Not everyone keeps living.”

Caide sighed, wiping his eyes. She kissed the top of his head and stepped back. “I have to go.” She left the room, without looking back. She had more living to do.

***

They pulled up to the cemetery. Rachael held the flowers in one hand and the urn in the other. The urn was plastic, generic. It was the kind of urn that the state gives to people who don’t matter too much. She sat it down and walked to the freshly dug grave where her best friend lay. She laid the flowers on Audrey’s headstone and sat down on the dirt mound.

“Hey, Aud.” Tears filled her eyes before she could even speak. She hugged her knees to her chest.

“It’s spring. I picked you some tulips from your garden. The yellow ones didn’t bloom this year but I brought you some of the pink.” She sighed, choking back tears. “I just want you to know that I forgive you. You know, for the whole sleeping with Caide thing. Of course, I forgive you. I wish you were here so I could tell you that. And I’d tell you that I miss you. God, I miss you so much. You’re my best friend, Audrey Marie, a little bit of death doesn’t change that.” She tried to laugh. “I’ll bring the kids by to see you soon, they don’t really understand any of it yet. Oh, and John visited me yesterday. He’s doing well, considering. I thought you’d want to know that.” She kissed her hand, placing it on the stone. “I love you, Aud. I love you so much. I’ll miss you every single day.” She laid her head down on the dirt, feeling a tear run down the side of her nose. She heard approaching footsteps. She didn’t have to look back to know it was Argus’ hand who rubbed her back until the tears stopped falling.

She stood up, walking to pick up the urn. They walked back to the tree line, away from any of the other graves.

“Should we say something?” Argus asked, filling the silence. Rachael thought for a second, twisting the top off of the urn. She took a few steps forward.

“I’m sorry, Elise. I’m sorry I never got to know you. I’m sorry we never got to fight over who was the oldest or who was the prettiest. I’m sorry that you ended up where you did and that your life was as awful as you thought it was. I’m sorry I never got to hear you laugh or braid your hair or be your friend. I’m sorry I never got to hold you when you were sad or protect you when you were scared. I’m sorry you never got to meet our Dad—” her voice caught. “He was amazing. I’m sorry you never got to learn that life is worth living.” She held the urn out, letting the ashes blow into the woods. They were silent until the last bit of her sister had blown away. “I hope you find your peace, little sis.”

She sat the urn down, feeling the wind blow through her hair. She laced her fingers through Argus’ and they walked to the car. He smiled at her, making her heart jump in a way Caide never had. Rachael would bring her children here one day when they were older, when they’d understand, and she’d tell them all about the aunt they’d never gotten to know. She didn’t know if she’d ever truly forgive Elise, but there was one thing that she was absolutely certain of—Rachael had found her place, her family, her happiness, and her home and she had a series of very bad things to thank for that.

BEFORE YOU GO…

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