Off the Deep End (61)
“Was his mom in on it?” someone asked from the back. It was the guy who brought the doughnuts every morning and always made sure the door latched behind him whenever he left the house.
Detective Hawkins shook his head. “According to Billy’s mom, she wasn’t in on it and had no idea what was going on or that he wasn’t telling the truth. She swore up and down that she never knew he was lying, and if she’d even had the slightest inkling that he was, she never would’ve brought him in to give his statement. She kept apologizing over and over again. Officer Logan took her statement, and he said she seemed credible.”
“What happened then? Did someone talk to Billy? What’d he say?” A woman on the other side of the room rapid-fired the next round of questions at him. It was like being in a room full of reporters.
“I’ll be going down to the station immediately to speak with them both, so I’ll have a much better idea afterward, and you can all expect a more complete briefing from me then, but according to Officer Logan, Billy explained that his mom had been really mad at him lately and they’d been fighting a lot. He said that she always seemed disappointed in him, so he wanted to do something that would make her proud of him again. Apparently, his parents recently divorced, and she’d also been very sad lately. He kept saying, ‘I just wanted to make my mom happy again.’”
Poor kid. It made perfect sense. What better way to get your strong boss mom to notice you than to get away from a serial killer using the skills she taught you? And then go on to provide clues in an investigation that would help save other innocent kids? His plan had worked beautifully. Everyone fell in love with him over what he’d done.
“Any reason for him to be lying about it?” This time the question came from the corner of the room.
Detective Hawkins shook his head.
“What do you think made him come forward now?” My voice joined the mix.
“Ms. Pierce, Billy’s mom, found him crying in the garage last night and couldn’t get him to stop. She was scared because he kept saying that he’d done something really bad and was afraid she’d be mad at him if he told her. It took some convincing, but eventually, he confessed to what he’d done. He told Ms. Pierce that he never meant for it to get this far. He said the same thing to Officer Logan. Said that he liked being famous, and he got caught up in it.”
The media had followed him around like a puppy after the story went viral. People had sent flowers and gifts to their home from all over the world. Someone had opened a college account in his name, and it had been fully funded within a week. He wouldn’t have to worry about paying for college or much else for a while. What would he do with all that money? It couldn’t have been his intention all along, could it? Twelve days ago, I never would’ve considered someone doing something so horrible, but it hasn’t taken long for me to grow cold and hardened toward humanity and the awful things people can do.
We didn’t know anything about the killer. Not a single detail. We didn’t even know their gender. Billy’s descriptions were one of the reasons we’d never considered Jules as the killer. She could pass for a lot of things, but there was no way she could pass for an overweight and bald white man, which left only one alternative—she was playing a copycat. But anything was possible now. Maybe she’d put her car on the tracks because she was a killer and couldn’t live with herself anymore. Maybe it had had nothing to do with Gabe.
Except her being an actual serial killer was a stretch. It always had been, even without Billy’s bogus confession. Not that I was an expert, but I’d done nothing but listen to all the conversations happening around me for the past eleven days, and I’d done my research. Female serial killers were sadistic. They weren’t former heads of the PTA. And besides, they almost always followed patterns. None of the other families had reported a grown woman grooming their son like she’d done with Isaac.
The killer could be anyone.
I was more confused than I’d ever been with this latest development, and I turned to the one person who’d always been the one to help me make sense of the world when I felt like it was falling apart. But Mark wasn’t beside me anymore. He’d slid down the counter and stood at the end, leaning against it with his head in his hands. His back was to me. I couldn’t see his face, but it didn’t matter anyway because I’d lost the ability to read what he was thinking.
He knew more than he was letting on. He always had. Last night I’d watched him pour potential evidence down the drain. He wasn’t who I thought he was, and something about that sent chills down my spine. I didn’t have any answers. Only questions leading to more questions, but I did know one thing: I didn’t know my husband at all.
CASE #72946
PATIENT: JULIET (JULES) HART
Dr. Stephens just stepped away for a phone call, and he was so nervous after he saw the number on his screen that he almost forgot to shut the door behind him. I can’t help but wonder if it has something to do with the case. Do they have a new lead on Isaac?
I’ve heard nothing from him since we FaceTimed while he was walking Duke over three weeks ago. Right before Amber ripped him away from me. I’d been afraid of her doing something like that for weeks since all Isaac said was how much she was on him about hanging out with me, and I could see how it was impacting him. He’d already started to pull away from me because of it, and that, coupled with this huge school project, was cutting into our already limited alone time. It’d been hard on me, and things had been strained between us, but it felt like old times that night.