“You say that like she’s going to believe me. Why the hell would she think that me talking to ghosts makes more sense than me being a secret serial killer or something?”
“I believed you,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, because we weredating. You knew me well enough to know the truth.”
“So does she, though. You said you’ve known her since you were a kid, right? No one in this town would think you hurt anyone, Alex. Even when word got out about what happened back in December, no one thought you’d done anything.”
“This is different!” Alex pushed himself to his feet, some of the anger I’d expected earlier finally breaking free. “It’s one thing for them to believe I wouldn’t hurt anyone. It’s something else entirely for someone who’s basically a stranger to believe I’m a fucking psychic!”
I got up, as well, putting us on a more even keel. “Bev Cornell is a smart woman. Give her some credit. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“You’re joking, right?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “The worst thing that could happen is I tell her the truth, she decides I’m clearly unwell and a menace to myself and to others, and she has me locked up in a psych ward to make sure I can’t hurt anyone.”
“That’s not going to happen. She wouldn’t do that.” I wouldn’t let her.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought about my mom and look where that got me.” The raw pain in his voice broke me, but Alex stepped away when I reached for him.
“Alex… I won’t let that happen. You’re not going to get locked up anywhere. I’m just trying to help you.”
“By asking me to put my faith in strangers when my own family turned on me for telling the truth? No, thank you,” he scoffed.
“This time is different,” I insisted. “Will and I know the truth. So do Camille and Raina. None of us thought for one second that you were lying. Will and I can tell her what we saw that day, too, and she knows about the people you found that died of natural causes, in ways that you couldn’t possibly have affected. She’ll believe you.”
Alex looked away, his knuckles going white where he gripped the sleeves of his shirt. He was wavering, so I pushed the slight advantage I’d gained.
“Just think of what that would be like. You could do what needed to be done and one of us would be with you the whole time. We’d get there and Will or I can deal with the body without you ever having to see it. No more anonymous 911 calls, no more having to hide and run all the time. If the chief knew the truth, it could even help us get justice for some of them. We could take what they tell you and actually act on it.”
I should have stopped there. Looking back, I wish I had, but now I was caught up in the idea, thinking of the possibilities. “If the truth is out, just think of the ways we could use what you can do. Every detective in the world wishes we could just talk to the victims and get answers. They’d kill to have a tool like that in the arsenal.”
It was exactly the wrong thing to say. The faint light of hope in Alex’s eyes sputtered and went dark. I wanted to call the words back, to shut my brain down before it got carried away and said those damning words, but it was too late.
“So that’s it?” he asked quietly, his voice completely devoid of emotion. He got to his feet and I scrambled to follow, but he took a step away from me. “You want me to tell the truth so you guys can exploit my power to help yourselves. Awesome.”
“That’s not what I meant. Yeah, it’d be nice to be able to help people, but that’s not—”
“No.” Alex cut me off neatly, shaking his head. “No, I really don’t want to hear whatever justification you’re going to try to come up with.”
“Alex, please.” I held out my hand again and again, he stepped away from me.
“I think you need to leave.”
My blood ran cold. “What?”
“I think you need to leave,” he repeated. “Go home, Donovan.”
“Will you at least let me explain?” I wasn’t above pleading, but I’d crossed the line and we both knew it.
“Not right now, no. I need you to leave. We obviously have different priorities, and I’m going to need some time to figure out what that means for us.”
“Alex…”
“Go. Home.”
Before I could say another word, Alex turned on his heel and walked away. A moment later I heard his bedroom door shut, followed by the faint click of the lock engaging, leaving me standing in the middle of the living room, alone.
Chapter 7
Alex
