“And?”
“And Michael was already there,” Elijah said.
“How do you know that? Because he said he hadn’t seen her since that morning.”
“He was waiting for her at the door,” Elijah gritted out. “I followed her home and when she pulled up, he was stood in the doorway waiting for her.” He looked up at Paul. “I know it sounds like bullshit, I know that. But he’s lying, not me. You have to believe me.”
Chapter Fifteen
Elijah
Elijah walked out of the station and into the sunshine beyond.
The day was already hot and humid and it was barely noon. Paul had let him go. There was no evidence to suggest he’d harmed Delores, there was nothing to hold him on, barring to stay close in case they had further questions for him.
He headed home, planning on a hot shower, clean clothes and some food before he would be doing anything. He couldn’t think right now. His head was banging and crying for relief after his drinking session last night. His stomach grumbled loudly, crying out for food.
He’d been offered a lift home but had refused, needing the walk into town to clear his head. So he opted to take a cab instead. He blamed himself for her disappearance. There was no denying that it was his fault. In fact, this whole mess was his fault, and the crushing guilt was nauseating.
*
‘Ma’am, is everything okay?’
Elijah had bumped into Delores one Thursday afternoon five months ago. She was sat at the bus stop, her face red and blotchy from crying.
‘I missed the bus,’ she’d sobbed, dropping her face into her hands. The bags by her feet had fallen, her groceries spilling out over the sidewalk.
Elijah turned the engine of his cruiser off and climbed out. He picked up her groceries and began loading them into the car. Delores continued to cry, oblivious, until he reached out his hand.
‘Let’s get you home,’ he replied.
In the back of the cruiser, Delores stopped crying, her gaze drifting to the blur outside her window. Elijah watched her in his rear-view mirror, wondering why he had never seen her before. She was attractive and slender, long hair, full lips.
He pulled up outside of her home; a beautiful two-story property with sprawling lands around it and a white picket fence. He turned the engine off, before getting out and opening the door for her. Delores continued to stare out of the window in a daze.
‘Ma’am?’
She jumped at the sound of his voice, her eyes focusing and un-focusing. ‘I’m sorry,’ she replied and began to unbuckle her seatbelt, her hands shaking.
Elijah moved to the back of the car and retrieved her groceries and then he followed her up the small steps to her house. She fumbled with the keys and finally opened the door, walking inside without either inviting him in or turning to take the groceries from him.
Elijah walked inside, nudging the door closed behind him with his elbow and following her through the house towards the kitchen. He looked at the photos adorning the walls, happy children hugging their father or playing, a handsome husband pictured with trophies and certificates, huge fish from his fishing trips. But none of the woman.
The house was immaculate. The smell of orange disinfectant in the air. The kitchen was much the same. Clean, tidy, organised.
The woman stood by the sink, a tall glass of clear water in her shaking hand. He placed the groceries on the kitchen worktop and waited for her to say something. When one minute turned to two, he moved around the kitchen and towards where she stood.
‘Ma’am?’
Once again she jumped, as if she had forgotten that he were even there. When she turned around to face him, it took only 1.5 seconds before she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest to cry.
‘I can’t do it anymore,’ she sobbed. ‘I’m so scared of him.’
*
Elijah sat under the shade of the awning outside of the cab office. By now he was famished, his hunger growling louder and louder to get his attention. But his attention was somewhere else.
He thought about Delores and the changes he’d seen in her; the way she had been becoming more and more distant the past couple of weeks. Her thoughts scattered, and her mind confused. She hadn’t been acting herself, yet, in those quiet moments when it was just the two of them wrapped around one another, she looked at him like he was the only thing that mattered. Her pale eyes stared into his, stealing his breath away.
