“You lied to me!” I scream at him. “You told me nothing came back!”
“That isn’t a lie, Arianna. They couldn’t test it, so it was disposed of. I didn’t get the case until after that incident, and I only recently figured out it was never tested. The cop in charge of transporting it was fired, so…”
“That was the proof!” I yell tearfully. “Why the fuck are you here then? There is no goddamn proof!”
“This is a pinky finger bone,” he says calmly. “Yours, I assume. That means they know where you live now. They knew when to show up and probably know that you know who they are.”
“I don’t…”
“I’ve been doing this a long time,” he says. “I know you do, but you’re scared. I get that. You do not have an obligation to tell me, but knowing will give me somewhere to start.”
“You don’t get it,” I say. “You don’t fucking get it.”
“You don’t think I’ve seen this before? You think I haven’t gone to a crime scene because a rapist went after their victim again? Arianna, he is not leaving this alone. He kept the damn finger for God’s sake.”
“They,” I say quietly. “They kept it.”
“Jesus. How many?” he asks.
“At least two…”
“I don’t care if I have to personally stand guard to make sure you are safe; I can’t get you justice if you don’t talk to me,” he says.
“I don’t want them knowing I’ve said anything until there is proof,” I say. “They will come after me again.”
“They will find out when I have a warrant. Until then, I won’t approach them unless I approach everyone on that team,” he says.
“Conrad and Ethan,” I say quietly. “Sutter was their alibi, but… I know it was them. I told Sutter and Landry when I walked in on them raping a girl in the locker room. I thought I was doing the right thing… I went and did inventory for a few hours. I thought I was alone, but they came to my office to talk about what I saw. Ethan gave me water from the water cooler, and I was dumb enough to drink it. I tried to play it off, but they knew. When I ran, I made the mistake of cutting through the rink to get to the other exit. I ended up slipping, and they got to me. I tried so hard to fight… I don’t know why they looked like that… maybe they wore a mask. I don’t know. But it was them. I tried to apologize… They said that if I ran my mouth again, they would kill me. I know it was them.”
“We have a game there on Friday night,” Ray says. “We will be on the ice with them. The team knows she was hurt by one of the players, and we are going to make sure no one gets her alone. She is friends with a few of them still that do not know who it is, but we’re not even going to let her be alone with them.”
“Fuck,” Rogers says with a sigh. “Conrad’s father is the chief of police in Toledo.”
“Fucking wonderful.” I laugh dryly.
“What about Sutter. Why would he lie?” Kip asks.
“Not sure,” Rogers says. “I’m going to find out, though. In the meantime, don’t be alone. Ever. I don’t care if it’s in the house or at the rink. Don’t be alone. Okay?”
“She won’t be,” Jovian says simply.
“We have practice all week, but we will leave for Toledo on Thursday,” Ray says. “We will take a bus, so we will be together.”
“Good. Okay. I’ll talk to my boss. I can get by with more since I work for the state,” Rogers says.
“I’m glad you advocated for the state to take over,” Mom says to Ray.
“Did the camera catch anything?” Rogers asks.
“Uhm… Yeah. I was waiting to talk to you alone, but…”
“What?” I ask. “Let me see.”
“Ari… they’re wearing full-face devil masks,” Hunter says.
“I want to see,” I repeat. He hands me his phone, and Rogers steps over to see the screen. We watch as two men walk up the driveway with the envelope. They prop it up in front of the door before turning to look at the camera. They stare at it for a fewseconds before turning and walking off the porch. Once they disappear, I hand the phone to Ray and sigh.
“Thoughts?” Rogers asks me.
