Haunted(34)

Chapter 27 – Roman



Beth and I were silent for the rest of the morning, even during the drive to the police station. Berg brought us extra clothes that he had. I wore a T-shirt and a pair of sweats, and Beth wore a T-shirt and baggy shorts. To be honest, with the two ball caps that Berg loaned us, we both looked homeless. Beth looked cute because her long hair fell through the hole in the back of the cap.

I wasn’t sure if Beth was mad at me are not. She hadn’t spoken a word since my tirade and I didn’t blame her. I had woken up emotional, and I didn’t need for her to tell me not to worry. Did she not even understand what I was going through? Did she not understand how dangerous this was? Fuck, Andrew had been living in her house for weeks and she expected me to be okay about it?

Maybe I should cut her some slack; after all, she did think she was schizophrenic. I imagined that was difficult for her, along with dealing with depression. She was always upfront and honest about it. It wasn’t as though she’d kept it a secret. She was right; who shared that kind of shit unless he or she had to? I probably owed her an apology, but she hadn’t said a word to me since we’d left the hotel.

I was out of my element. I’d never had a girlfriend. I wanted to make Beth happy. Because when Beth was happy, I was happy.

I drove toward the police station to find out what they’d found in the closet and in the crawl space in her attic. My imagination was already running wild. What the f*ck did he have? A hatchet, an axe, baby fetuses in jelly jars? I looked over at Beth. She stared straight ahead. I wanted to say something to her, but I was afraid she’d blow up at me, and I really couldn’t handle that right now.

I pulled into the police station and found a parking place near the front. I turned off the engine and looked at Beth. “You ready to do this?”

It was a rhetorical question, kind of an olive branch, but she didn’t feel like a dove today. Shit!

She opened her door, got out, and slammed it behind her. This was not how I wanted our day to go. I jumped out and ran to the front of the vehicle and grabbed her hand whether she wanted me to or not.

“Beth, stop acting like this.”

“Well, I’m sorry. How did you want me to act? Since obviously everything I do today seems to piss you off, I thought it would be better to keep my mouth shut.”

Oh, she is pissed. Note to self: When Beth didn’t speak, she was pissed. That’s just too f*cking bad. I’d already had a shitty morning now it was going to stop right here.

I grabbed her hand and led her into the police station.



Chapter 28 – Roman



Chief Moses was at the counter when Beth and I walked into the station.

“Mr. and Mrs. Reed, thank you for coming in today. Follow me back into our conference room where we can talk.”

Beth and I followed Chief Moses to a set of small conference rooms located in the back of the building.

“Mr. Reed, I hope you don’t mind, but I would like Lieutenant Myers to take Mrs. Reed into Conference Room One to take her statement on the events that happened after she was released from the hospital. I would like for you to follow me into Conference Room Two, if you don’t mind.”

Beth and I looked at each other. It was the first loving look she’d given me all day.

“I love you.” I leaned down to kiss her. It was chaste but sweet. What was even sweeter was that she kissed me back. I still had her hand in mine, and I squeezed, letting her know that I was there for her.

“I love you too.”


I watched her walk into Conference Room One. Then I followed Chief Moses into the next room. I didn’t know what I was expecting, but I wasn’t expecting what I saw in the room. There were several bagged items on a table. I guessed I was looking at the evidence from Beth’s house. I squinted my eyes, trying to see what was in the bags, but Chief Moses indicated for me to have a seat.

“Mr. Reed, I thought it was best for you to see all this without Mrs. Reed. I know from investigating on your case that she went through a terrible ordeal with the kidnapping. I know it’s difficult for both of you.”

I nodded.

“Mr. Reed, this might be difficult for you to take, so please try to remain calm. In the first evidence bag, we have a Polaroid camera. Hell, I didn’t even know they still sold them, but apparently Wal-Mart does. This camera has Andrew’s prints all over it, among other things.

“What do you mean ‘other things’?” I had a sneaky suspicion.

“Semen and fingerprints are on the camera. In the second evidence bag are the pictures he took with the camera.”

Without thinking I reached for bag two. Chief Moses held up a hand indicating for me to stop. He could tell I wasn’t going to obey him. I had to know what Andrew had taken pictures of. I knew they couldn’t be good, but it was like a train wreck and I couldn’t look away. Chief Moses pulled a pair of rubber gloves out of his pocket.

“Mr. Reed, I understand. I have a wife too. I’m not going to stop you from looking at them, but I’m going to tell you right now that they are not something you want to see.”

I nodded at him to let him know I understood what he was saying. I pulled on the purple rubber gloves. I opened the second bag. There were a ton of pictures. The picture on top was a picture of Beth sleeping in her bed. Her skin was pale and her covers were tangled up in her feet. She looked a tad bit heavier than she was now. I could only assume that this was one of the first nights she was home from the hospital. Beth had lost weight since then. I flipped through the pictures and noticed there was a new one nearly every night. Beth wore different T-shirts. The first picture that stopped me cold was a picture that Andrew took of Beth sleeping, but his hand was in the picture. Andrews’ hand was pulling up the hem of Beth’s T-shirt. I shuffled to the next picture and saw Andrew’s hand on Beth’s breast.