After I hung up the phone, I called Vincent. When I told him what happened he said he had to speak with his boss about it. He had never had that response to anything I said before. I knew that whatever just happened was a big deal if Vincent had to consult an authority before moving forward. 

Kimberly had just gotten home from work when I was heading out. She had a tiny purse around her shoulder, her hair up in a claw clip in an effortlessly beautiful style. She let out a small, surprised yelp as we almost collided. She placed a hand over her heart, her long eyelashes batting as she blinked away her distress. 

“I thought I saw Vincent parked outside. Are you going out with him?” she asked, as she hung up her things on the rack. She must have seen how my cheeks reddened because she swiftly clarified. “I meant going out like meeting him to go somewhere. Not that I would judge you if you went out in the other sense. He seems nice.” 

I laughed my embarrassment away. “We have a work thing.” 

“Oh, okay.” Kimberly lingered and did a bad job of subtly taking in my attire. I hated that I had been caught putting more effort in getting dressed than I usually did. I had done my makeup for the first time since the wedding and had properly dried my hair so that my waves weren’t frizzy. I had done it more in the hopes of giving myself the confidence I needed to speak with Vincent’s boss about the case than to impress Vincent but there was no way for Kimberly to know that. “See you later?” 

I flashed her a smile as we traded places in the doorway. “See you later.”

The ease of being able to leave the house without question was refreshing. Even with the chaos that seemed to be insuing around me, I appreciated how good Kimberly was to me. I wished I had more Kimberly's in my life.  

Vincent was standing outside his car when I arrived downstairs. He had his hands tucked into his pockets, swiveling his head around the area in that lifeguard-like fashion I had observed weeks before. He opened the passenger side door for me and I realized the radio was on. I imagined that he had sung the whole drive over. I would have given anything to hear him sing again but it just wasn’t the kind of thing you could simply ask for. 

I breathed in and out the familiar scent of coconut and pineapple, watching the buildings blur past us in an array of colors. When a particularly bitter breakup song came on, my wish came true. Vincent sang along vindictively, harmonizing with the woman’s vocals to create a dark underbelly to an otherwise pop style song. 

I couldn’t help but think that when he sang about defacing the vehicle of an unfaithful boyfriend, he was actually singing about Darren. When he nudged me with his elbow around the second chorus, trying to convince me to join in, I was positive this was about Darren. When the lyrics got even more brutal, I couldn’t help but sing along despite my voice being nowhere near as beautiful as Vincent’s. 

“Therapeutic, right?” he asked, smirking at me as the last chorus faded out. 

“Almost as therapeutic as it would be to actually destroy his car.” 

“Hey, be careful, you're speaking to a detective here.” 

The police department wasn’t as busy as it was the last time I was in it. I followed Vincent to the back, where it smelled like sugary treats and coffee, into a private office. He knocked but didn’t wait for a response before entering. Inside was the familiar face of Detective Lennon, the man who first announced that Adonis was dead. He sat behind a muscular looking desk, papers in hand. He dropped them upon our arrival and fidgeted with the wedding ring around his finger. 

“Mickey, thank you for joining us.” 

As the door shut, I spotted Mac and Kyra sitting on the window ledge in the corner of the room. Mac lifted up a hand in greeting while Kyra lifted her coffee cup. 

Vincent and I took the seats across from Detective Lennonn’s desk. The cushion was hard on my back. 

"We’ve brought you here to discuss the advancement of the case. From what Vincent has told me, it seems like it's time to wrap this up as quickly as possible."

Inside, I was shouting in agreement. I wanted nothing more than to put whoever was responsible for Adonis's death in jail but that was what Vincent and I were trying to do the whole time. 

“How are we going to do that?” 

Lennonn gulped as if he was expecting a big reaction to whatever he was about to say. “Darren is our primary suspect. The financial records of the company that you got us are a little suspicious but nothing concrete. Since you two have had a relationship in the past, we want your help to take a more active approach to solving this case.” 

I tried to hide how stiff I became. It was news to me that the financial records were suspicious. I had been too panicked about getting caught to look over them while I was in the office and Vincent hadn't texted me any updates about it. I had figured it was a dead end like I had initially thought it would be. This changed everything. This meant Darren could be guilty. 

I was so wrapped up on that one part of what he said, I hadn't focused on the second half. Luckily, it was the half Vincent had latched onto. It must have been news to him too. 

“What do you want her to do?” he asked. 

“Well, I was speaking with Detective Mac and Detective Kyra, bouncing ideas off of each other and what not, and we thought that it would be best if Mickey tried to coax a confession out of him.” 

“A confession?” I was aware that I sounded like an unimpressive parrot but it was as if I had been transported into an episode of one of the many crime dramas I watched with Darren. I didn't think trying to trick a suspect to confess was a tool frequently used in real detective work. 

“We’ll devise a loose script for you and you’ll try to make him feel comfortable enough to be honest. You’ll be wearing a wire on you so that whatever he says is captured and can be used against him in court.” 

I wanted to hit pause on the conversation. I was still stuck on the idea that Darren could actually be guilty. After what he did with Nancy, I knew he wasn't a good person. He was cruel and vindictive and not the man I thought he was. But was he a criminal? Did he really let another man get murdered for his own crimes? A man he knew personally? 

“We are aware that we are asking a lot of you but we ask you to consider this. If you are successful, you can get rid of one third of the illegal drugs in this state. Many people would never have the opportunity to abuse illegal substances, many people will be forced to get clean. It would be a great accomplishment.” 

Lennon was trying to appeal to a nonexistent part of me that wanted to be a hero. It wasn't that I didn't want to see people living addiction free lives but I didn't have the desire to be the heroine who saved them. I just wanted to be a normal woman. A woman who wasn't being hunted, who had a healthy family dynamic, and an ex who wasn't a drug trafficking murderer. 

Mac jumped down from his seat on the window ledge, crossing his legs over one another. “And if Darren is innocent, he won’t confess. You won’t be manipulating him into saying something that isn’t true, so don’t worry about that.” 

“But if you don’t do this and he is innocent, he gets to walk away, unpunished," Kyra piped in. 

Immediately, I knew that Vincent talked a lot about me to his friends. These two seemed to know exactly how to reassure me and encourage me to take on the task. Mac knew that I worried about putting an innocent man behind bars and Kyra knew that I cared about the guilty party being brought to justice. Their arguments were compelling and despite the pit forming in my stomach, I knew I would agree. 

“This is very daunting," I said, only because I wasn't ready to say the words of commitment yet. 

Lennon seemed to sense that I was on the verge of agreeing. Gone was the tension in his shoulders. He spoke in a coaxing manner. “Mac, Krya, and Vincent will train you in what to say and how to act if things were to go south. They’ll be nearby listening in through the wire. You won’t be alone.”

Vincent was watching me, his fingers grazing his lips as if he were in deep thought. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought he looked more hesitant than me. 

I decided there was no point in delaying things any further. I said the magic words. 

“I’ll do it.” 

“Fantastic news!" Lennonn clapped his hands together and his ring caught the fluorescent light hanging over us. "We’ll also have police officers outside the apartment you are currently residing in for security until then. We understand that you have been at risk of attack.”

I almost wanted to snort. It was clear that I was being protected not because I was a person in danger but because I was a person who had become incredibly useful in solving the case. 

I glanced around to gauge the other reactions. Mac was smiling like I had agreed to let them throw me a party while Kyra looked exhausted on my behalf. Vincent was watching me with the same hesitance he had before but quickly altered his expression to a forced look of reassurance. 

When Vincent drove me back to Kimberly's, he pointed out the spots the police officers' cars would be to keep watch. He walked me to the apartment complex's door and hovered in front of it for a second too long. He wanted to say something, I was sure of it, but for whatever reason he was having trouble getting it out of him. I tried to smile in the hopes that it would encourage him to let it out but the action seemed to deter him further. He stepped out of the circle of light the bulb above us created with a sigh that made a white puff of air. All he said was a simple goodbye. 

Later in the night, Kimberly and I sat on the couch eating takeout from the boxes they came in. She had used my phone to order and alerted me afterwards that my voicemail was completely backed up. I had somewhat of an idea why. A few hours prior, I blocked both Nancy and Darren so that their calls would go straight to voicemail. I had a morbid curiosity about what it was either of them had to say for themselves and thus, we listened to them on speaker as we slurped down noodles. 

The first was from Darren. 

“Hey, Mickey. I have been calling and texting all week. You had me really worried - I thought something might have happened. I spoke with Nancy and she said you were mad at me but didn’t elaborate. I’ve showed up at your house multiple times but your family wouldn’t tell me where you were. Julio even tried to punch me so I guess he's mad at me too.” 

I deleted the message with a satisfied smile. I liked that my silence had caused him distress. I also liked that Julio had wanted to go to bat for me. It was like he was on my side again. 

The next message was also from Darren. 

“What did I do? Are you still mad about what happened before? I’ll apologize a million more times if you need. I love you so please don’t ice me out. Let me know if you’re okay.” 

Kimberly rolled her eyes with a groan. She scowled at the phone on the coffee table. 

"As if you don't know!" she hissed. 

Darren's voice had been gentle and sweet in the last two messages. When the next message played and showed it was also from him, I expected a similar pity party to ensue but what I got was different. He was annoyed. He sounded like he had when we had first begun to fight at his apartment. He was on the brink of an outburst. 

“You can’t just leave me like this! You can’t walk out without another word. You owe me more than that.” 

Kimberly tried to muster a scoff at the voicemail but something in her face had fallen. 

"Maybe we shouldn't listen anymore," she said. 

I shook my head and pressed the button for the next message. "I want to hear." 

“Mickey . . . I heard - I heard what you think happened with Nancy." His voice was distraught. His words sounded choked and like he was holding back sobs. "It’s not true. I swear, it’s not true! If you just let me explain . . . Please, I love you more than the air I breathe. I would rather die than be without you. Please, please, please. You’re killing me.” 

His begging had shifted something in me. It hadn't broken my heart like it probably would have weeks ago but instead placed a weight on my chest. There was something in the subtext of his words that felt like a threat. 

"This is low,'' Kimberly said. "So low." 

I decided to let one more play and suddenly I knew why the last message felt like a threat. 

I would rather die than be without you. 

As someone who had struggled with suicidal thoughts in my past, phrases such as that one set off alarm bells in my head. Darren knew that. He shouldn't have been so reckless as to say things like that to me. He had no right to try and manipulate me into worrying about him. If he was really struggling, which I highly doubted he was, he should have called a hotline - not my phone. 

“I heard you were at Kimberly’s," he said and my skin went cold. Kimberly glanced at me, a deep frown residing on her face. 

"If I don’t hear from you by the end of tonight, I am going to drive over there to find you myself." His tone was steely. He sounded like my uncle did when he scolded me. Then he was yelling. "Pick up the phone, Mickey!” 

Kimberly placed her hand over her heart. Her other hand grasped my shoulder. 

"Maybe we should call the police," she said. 

They're currently right across the street, I thought. 

And Darren would get exactly what he wanted. I would contact him before the night was over - not because he had scared me into it - because I needed to see him again for the plan to work. 

When Lennon mentioned that Mac, Kyra, and Vincent wouldn't be far from me while trying to get the confession, it was meant to assure me that I would be safe. I hadn't thought I would feel unsafe. It was Darren I was going to be talking to. The same Darren I let myself fall asleep next to, the one I kissed, the one who had rushed me to safety after the wedding was raided. At the station, I could still convince myself I would be safe speaking with him. 

This Darren, the one who spit thinly veiled threats into my voicemail and used my sister's body as a weapon against me, I didn't feel safe with. 

And to think, this Darren was the man I had been with all along.

Author's Note: Feel free to add this book to your reading lists! Thanks for reading.