The Truth Hurts

67 │reconnecting

Marc sets up his laptop on the long dining table, which appears to be far too large for the narrow room. He pulls open the screen and runs his fingers across the touchpad, waiting on the computer to boot.

Standing in front of the dining room window, Millie lifts the thick curtain with her finger to peek out at the street that crosses in front of her house. Alongside the curb, she can see Deputy Bennett sitting in his squad car. He types a message on his phone before tossing it into the glove compartment. Looking around the neighborhood, he props his arm up along the rolled-down window as he scans the street. Suddenly, his head quickly turns to face her house and she quickly pulls her hand away, allowing the curtain to drop back to its normal position.

Unsure whether or not he caught her looking, she shrugs it off as she turns to face Marc and leans her arms on the tabletop. "So did you ask her?"

"No." Marc says, not taking his eyes off of the laptop screen just as it lights up. By moving his finger, he drags the cursor over to scroll through his documents.

Expecting a more elaborate answer, she stares at him. "Why not?"

Sighing, his eyes flick over to her. His tone is annoyed, but more at the situation and not so much directed toward her. "What am I supposed to say? Hey, I'm suspect that you and your friends killed a kid and left another person to die. Is that true?"

A frown settles into her cheeks as she straightens her position. "Well you don't have to say it like that."

"Millie, I may be a writer but I can't think of a nice way to word it." He focused his attention back to the computer. "But if you can think of something better, then by all means..."

Noticing that he is far more bitter than usual, she gets a vibe that something more must have happened earlier with Taylor. He just told her that they 'reconnected' and left it at that. But she knows, if that were the case, he would be lit up with joy right now. There's something he is not telling her.

Marc double clicks on a folder, a prompt popping up for him to enter in his password. He quickly types a complex mixture of numbers and letters—something that he created that no one can guess. It's amazing that he is able to remember it.

"Did something happen?" An inquisitive Millie continues to peer at him.

He shakes his head, answering instantly. "Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Okay, fine." He sighs, knowing that she has a talent of being able to easily break him. Lowering his laptop screen, he makes sure not to shut it as he looks across the table at Millie. Waiting for him to continue, she looks at him blankly as he attempts to gather his thoughts. Again, he can't seem to find a proper way to word his thoughts so he just lets it out. "We had sex."

Looking away, Millie throws her arms up. "Okay, never mind. TMI. Sorry I asked."

"And it was great." He continues, apparently not sensing the discomfort she feels in the conversation. "But afterwards, in the morning, she was acting really strange. Like she knew."

"Knew what?"

"Knew that I knew."

"But you don't know."

"I know." He looks aside, the wordplay strangely not confusing either of them. Reaching into his messenger bag, he pulls out a lime green folder. He sets it on the table and slides it over to Millie. "But I think she saw this."

Hesitant, she looks at the folder before reaching for it. For a moment she thinks, or hopes rather, that it is empty and Marc is just messing with her. However, judging by his tone, she can tell that he is dead serious. Her fingers brush against the tip of the folder before pulling it closer to her. Slowly, she plucks at the folder's upper edge and pries it open.