“The fuck stick got involved with a loan shark to pay off another loan shark, didn’t he?” Marianne asked, shaking her head.
“Something like that.”
“So Jeremy’s broke and after Cassidy’s money to get himself out of trouble. That’s great. But that doesn’t explain who… who... “
“When the police went to the property rented in Jeremy’s name, the neighbor mentioned the guy next door was a bit weird and she was afraid of him.”
“There’s a fucking shock.”
“The police went in and found Steven.”
Marianne looked at Kellie, then looked at me. “When you say found…”
“He’s dead.”
“Oh.”
“He’d overdosed in the middle of his lounge room floor.” They didn’t need to know that they believed he’d been dead a couple of days before they found his body. They didn’t need to know he’d been recently beaten and had a broken wrist, a few broken ribs and a lot of bruising. They didn’t need to know about some of the other atrocities his body had been subjected too. Marianne and Kellie had enough on their plate right now without being exposed to all the gruesome details.
“How do you know then…”
“How do I know it was him who killed Cassidy?” I confirmed giving voice to the question they were too afraid to ask.
“When they got into his place, Cassidy was everywhere. Pictures. Ticket stubs. He’d followed her all over the country, including Chicago where Skye met him, and Philadelphia where he’d robbed her hotel room.”
“Oh.”
Marianne looked heartbroken. She had tears streaming down her face. And there was nothing I could do to ease her pain.
“Do we know why?”
“I don’t think we’ll ever know the whole truth,” I lied.
Some of the things they’d found, I’d never share with them or Skye. Part of me wished I didn’t even know. But Dickson knew me and knew I’d keep pushing until I had the whole picture so he’d shared every gory detail with me. How he’d even gotten his hands on some of that stuff made my skin crawl. He’d even taken the bracelet I’d won for her at a carnival. A cheap, plastic two-dollar thing that Cassidy insisted on keeping and refused to toss out. She’d worn it to the country music awards with the fifty-thousand-dollar loaned diamond earrings some hot shot designer wanted seen.
It was the photos that struck me the most though. There were photos everyone had seen. The ones of her walking the red carpet or performing on stage. But it was the ones of her laying on a lounger in her purple bikini by the pool in our backyard that made my blood run cold. Our home was private. It was our place. Cassidy’s safe place to be herself and not have to worry about anyone or anything. Yet somehow there were photos of us playing in the pool. Snuggling by the fire pit. Even one of us dancing in the middle of the kitchen in our pajamas. A complete and utter invasion of our privacy that made me glad he was dead. Because if he wasn’t, I don’t know that I would be able to stop myself from putting him six feet under.
Steven had been stalking Cassidy for years. Ever since she’d broken through and made it big on the country music scene. It seems Steven was tracking everything she did and everywhere she went. Her face was plastered all over his walls. Even images from our private engagement party were found in a pile on the table.
“I can’t believe it,” Marianne whispered.
Skye, who was now standing beside me as she nursed Cassie, spoke for the first time. “They found the guitars that’d been stolen from us in Chicago as well as shoes and a bag and a few other things in his apartment.”
“How could he do this?” Kellie asked as she stared at me, unblinking.
“I wish I had the answer for you, Kellie. I really do.”
“At least it’s over now. It is over now isn’t it, Hayden?” Marianne asked warily.
“It’s over,” I confirmed, letting out a huge sigh.
I felt like I’d run a marathon. I was completely exhausted. Drained.
“What about Jeremy?” Marianne asked after a silence.
“What about him?”
“What happens to him now? He wasn’t… he wasn’t part of this… was he?”
