“Thanks. You’re one of the good ones,” she stated when she stood and headed for the door.
She had no idea how far from the truth that was, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. Instead, I wished her farewell. “Have a safe trip, Waverleigh. See you when you get back.”
“I’ll see you around,” she called before walking out the door. Romance was the last thing on my mind, and that was a conversation that I wasn’t willing to have. I was glad that she was leaving after that comment.
After Waverleigh left, I downloaded the Kindle app to my phone. I spent twenty minutes looking at book descriptions and trying to figure out the one that was right for Sevyn. AlthoughWaverleigh had told me all those things about Sevyn, I still didn’t know her.
“I hope you like this book,” I stated in a low, gravelly voice.
Coming here helped me keep my mind off the fact that we buried Lena today and that she would never be coming back.
I stared for several minutes at the woman before I read. She had a tiny frame, and lying in the bed, I couldn’t tell how tall she was or how much she weighed, but I could guess that she was just under five-five, and just over one hundred pounds.
Despite the fact that she had been in the hospital for almost a week, her honey-brown skin was still rich in color and tone. That told me that someone had been attending to her grooming, and I suspected that was Waverleigh. Sevyn had long, curly eyelashes, thick eyebrows, and a cute, Nubian, upturned nose. Full, round lips had a thin sheen of gloss on them, and her round face hinted at a youthfulness that affirmed Waverleigh’s statement of her being twenty-five. There was a tiny hole in her left nostril that hinted at a nasal piercing.
Shoulder-length blonde hair was cut in a bob, and I along with Waverleigh brushed it often. On my third day visiting, I saw Waverleigh brushing her hair and watched how she did it. Whenever she wasn’t around, I found myself doing the same thing. There was something satisfying about the act. Waverleigh had come in one day and noticed me doing it and thanked me for my attentiveness to her best friend.
I shook my head trying to stop my mind from going down paths it shouldn’t. I turned to my phone and read the first story that I downloaded.
ONE WEEK LATER
“You knowthat you’re not supposed to be in here, Fullwood. Make sure that you don’t make me regret it,” Officer Hanson warned, leading me through the last locked door.
When it slid open, I walked into the room and took a seat at the table. I had to play this out carefully to make sure that I didn’t end up in here myself on the other side of the table. I rolled my shoulders and neck, trying to loosen the tension that had my body coiled tight like a viper.
It had taken an entire week to get myself under control enough to make this visit. Anger had driven every action through the last week, and I had to talk myself down. The only time thatI hadn’t allowed anger to drive my actions was when I was with Sevyn. We hadn’t had a single conversation, but she brought me calm and peace. She eased my troubled mind whenever I grew anxious or became overly emotional.
The door on the other side of the room opened, and a man shuffled inside. His light brown skin was ashen, and his large, dark brown eyes were sunken. His face was battered and bruised. I knew that was more than likely the result of my brothers’ work because he was a cop killer. The hair he normally wore in loose dreads was pulled back in a ponytail, and his shoulders were stooped, giving him the appearance that he was shorter than his six-foot, two-inch height. The minute his eyes spotted me, he stopped and turned back to the door. But the door slammed shut and locked from the other side.
“Sit your ass down, Ward,” I commanded with all the authority my position allowed me.
“I didn’t approve you to be on my visitors’ list.”
“I don’t give a damn what you approved and didn’t approve. Your punk ass should realize that the minute those cuffs went on, you ceased to have any rights.”
“You think because you wear that badge and gun your ass can come in here and threaten me?”
I sat back in my chair and folded my arms over my chest. “Nah, you’ve got me mistaken. I didn’t come here to threaten your ass. I came to let you know that every single person involved in this case is going to make sure that you get buried and burned for what you did to Lena. She was a sweet girl who worked hard to protect the citizens of Cherokee Springs. She hated seeing DV victims and how they often took up for their abusers. We know why that was such a sensitive spot for her.
“And because you made it that, I’ma make sure that she gets the justice she deserves. We’re not backing up off your ass. You will feel the wrath of the entire police department come downon you. Your ass will be beaten every day that you’re in here. If I could come on the other side and do it myself, trust me, I would.”
“You always did have a thing for her, didn’t you?” he asked, chuckling. “All she ever saw out of you was a partner, but I could tell from the look in your eyes that wasn’t good enough for you. You wanted more, and she wouldn’t give it to you.”
“I respected her and admired her. That was a hell of a lot more than you gave her. She was never happy as long as she was with you. The times I was around, I never heard you speak one kind or loving word. All you had was ridicule about her weight, her shape, her hair, her clothing, and anything else you could think of to make her feel less than who she was. You weren’t satisfied until you took the life from her body. But you know what? You can’t escape the reality of what you tried to run from through your abuse. The reality is, you weren’t good enough for her. You weren’t shit. You don’t deserve to be living, breathing, or walking on this planet. You’re a muthafuckin’ waste of space.”
He sneered. “Yeah? Then tell me why I’m still here, and she’s not?”
The last bit of restraint I had went out the door. I jumped over the table and punched him in the face repeatedly, knocking him out of his chair. My hands were around his neck, trying to strangle the last breath from his lungs before I felt several hands on me, pulling me away and shouting my name.
“I fucking warned you, Deuce!” Officer Hanson shouted at me through clenched teeth.
“Man, get out of here. We’ll fix this,” Officer Emmanuel stated, nodding his head at Paul Ward who lay on the floor with his face a bloody mess.
When one of the other officers reached for him, he kicked out at them. I wasn’t sure what happened next, because Officer Hanson and another officer, Brigham, escorted me out of the room.
So far,the only person to visit Sevyn in the last week besides her coworkers, was a man who claimed to be her brother-in-law. He obviously wasn’t the one who was strung out on drugs, and from the questions he asked me about the investigation, I could tell that he assumed I was a cop assigned to the case.
I had gone to work that day and returned to the hospital straight from work. I was still in my uniform when he came. Although it was wrong, I was content to allow him to believe what he wanted. I kept my answers strictly professional, explaining that we couldn’t discuss matters related to the case since it was still an open investigation. He mentioned that the only reason he’d shown up was to get answers from Sevyn herself, but since she wasn’t awake, there was no need to waste his time further.
