Dancing with the Dead ✔

Chapter Twenty-Three - Promises

"How long have you been standing there?" I ask, my voice shaking.

"Long enough to know that you seem to believe you're talking to a girl who's been dead for twenty-six years," the detective replies, his voice deeper than usual. His eyes scan around the room as he steps closer towards me.

"I..."

"I guess Cap was right, huh?" He pauses and runs one hand through his hair. "You know, when she first told me, I didn't want to believe it. I really don't. I mean, a girl who's kind enough to save cats from some lunatics couldn't have been a cold-blooded murderer."

Huh? Cats? Murderer? What is he talking about?

"Then, when you said what you said earlier tonight, I thought hey! That actually makes sense! She's not a murderer, she's probably just a bit insane. Everyone got stressed sometimes, right?"

Even though that somehow makes me feel a bit better, I still pout in return.

"But now?" He throws his gaze across the room for a while before returning it to my direction. "I don't even know what to believe anymore! Maybe you are crazy enough to have killed someone!"

"Wait a sec..." I stand up as I interrupt with anger in my voice. "What the heck are you talking about?"

"You're a fucking suspect, Alexis!"

My jaw almost drops the second I hear the word. Words cannot describe how shocked I am right now.

"If it wasn't for me who spent hours arguing that John Doe is a more believable suspect, you would've been our prime suspect!"

"W-wh-what? Hang on," I pause, trying to process the information. I'm partly thrilled – and largely surprised he would fight for my innocence, but... "WHAT?"

"Do you really think we wouldn't know?"

"Know about what?" I raise my voice out of annoyance and sheer anger.

"About your past!" he shouts angrily. "Although we didn't know why you were committed because of that damn doctor-patient confidentiality, we know you spent three months in a mental hospital!" He takes a short breath, his broad chest going up and down with every breath.

"We're cops, Alexis, that's what we do. The moment you got yourself into this mess, we had to do a background check on you. And when Cap found out about your past, you are most likely to be our prime suspect!"

"So... you were stalking me on Captain Morris' order?" hints of anger and—God knows why—disappointment fills my voice.

He doesn't reply right away. Instead, he looks away, trying to hide the tiny bit of guilt in his eyes by avoiding my gaze.

"But... Even so, what does my history got anything to do with Jill's murder? That doesn't make any sense; I don't even know the girl!" I try to defend myself.

"Don't you realize it? You know much more than you should!" his loud voice makes me flinch. "How you got a hold of Jill's phone, how you knew the exact crime scene, the burial place... everything points at you as the killer!"

"But if I'm the killer, why would I give up the body's location, huh?"

"90% of murderers come back to the crime scene for reasons only God-knows-why!"

Then, we just stay silent for a couple of minutes. Disappointment and regret are the only things filling my head right now.

Why did I choose to help John? Why did I follow June and Jude here that day? Why did I decide to call Lucas that night?