“Mommy?” Riley called, effectively interrupting my thoughts and scaring the shit out of me.
“Yes?” I croaked and cleared my throat.
“Nana told me to come check on you. She said you’d been in the shower for a long time. Are you okay?” she asked.
Upon hearing her words, I noticed the water had run cold and my body was shivering. “Thanks for checking on me. Tell Nana I’m fine and I’m getting out now.”
“Okay, Mommy,” she replied and closed the door. Then she yelled, “She’s fine and getting out now, Nana!”
I quickly dried myself off and wrapped my hair in a towel before diving under the covers of my bed to try and get warm. Within minutes, I fell asleep.
I woke to my father gently shaking my shoulder. “Avery, you need to get dressed and come downstairs.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” I asked.
“There is a police officer here to speak with you.”
My forehead wrinkled in confusion. “How long have I been asleep?”
“I’m guessing around four hours, and that’s not counting the hour you were in the shower,” he said.
My mouth dropped open in surprise. I hadn’t meant to sleep that long. Actually, I hadn’t meant to fall asleep at all. “Oh, okay. Give me a minute to get dressed and comb my hair, and I’ll be right down.”
He nodded and closed the door behind him. I quickly got up and pulled on a long-sleeved T-shirt and a pair of yoga pants. My hair was a lost cause, so I ran a brush through it and pulled it back into a messy bun. After a quick swish with mouthwash, I made my way downstairs.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” I said to the officer. “If this has to do with this morning, could we speak in the kitchen or outside so my children don’t overhear our conversation?”
“Of course, Ms. Parker, whichever you’d be more comfortable with,” the man I recognized as the Sheriff said.
“Kitchen it is. Would you care for a cup of coffee?” I asked and gestured for him to follow me.
“Please.”
Once I had the coffee started, I joined the Sheriff at my kitchen table. “So, what brought you all the way to Devil Springs?”
“I have a few questions about Mark Pruitt I was hoping you could answer.”
“Well, I didn’t know him very well, so I’m not sure how much help I’ll be,” I said sharply.
He cocked his head to the side. “He wasn’t a close friend of your family?”
“I thought he was, but he obviously wasn’t. Close friends don’t attack you and threaten to kill you. And they damn sure don’t try to kill your boyfriend and your children,” I spat.
“I have to agree with you there,” he said and cleared his throat. “So, you didn’t know Mark Pruitt had an obsession with you?”
“No, sir. Not until this morning.”
“How long had you known Mark?”
I didn’t even have to think about it. “For almost ten years. I met him the same night I met my late husband, Ian. Mark was Ian’s best friend, so he was always around. He was Ian’s best man at our wedding and he gave the eulogy at Ian’s funeral. He was like a member of our family. Or so I thought.”
When the coffee pot chimed, I rose from the table and poured a cup for each of us. I placed his cup on the table in front of him and reached into the fridge for the creamer before taking my seat. I was thankful to have something to do with my hands—even it was just to wrap them around my mug.
“After your husband died, how often did you see or speak to Mark?”
“At first, I saw him every day and spoke to him several times a day. He was a big help to me and the kids. After a month or so, he would call or stop by to check in once a week. When I moved to Devil Springs, he came to visit maybe one weekend a month until the beginning of the summer. I didn’t notice it at the time because I was sick and ended up being admitted to the hospital several times, but that’s when the phone calls from him stopped, too,” I shared.
The Sheriff cleared his throat and shifted in his chair. “We did a search of Mark’s house earlier today and we found enough evidence to support everything you and your boyfriend told us this morning.”
