Stay

Chapter 16

"Well, he's not saying much. There's nothing we can do." Aralia claims. I shake my head no in dismay.

"Think of something. We need to get him to talk." I beg of her. I can feel my body begin to rise in temperature, so I calm down a bit. I take a drink out of the glass of water I took in here with me.

"Don't let him leave yet. Make him talk." I demand of her then I walk out of the room. I wonder around the police station, trying to think of ways to break Nathaniel into telling the truth. Swearing on a bible won't do anything with this man.

Suddenly, an idea came to mind and I feel accomplished for thinking of such a thing. I rush back into the interrogation room where Aralia is making small talk with the offender.

"Up for a polygraph?" I directly ask him. His facial expressions change, from depressed, to happy, then straight to angry. He knows I'm the one snooping my nose in his business and he doesn't like it.

"Whatever you want, babe." I can hear him grinding his teeth. I smile and turn away to grab the lie detector. A few others help me with the machine, and we all got it set up in the room that Nathaniel is chained in.

Aralia hooks him up to the machine and turns it on. Paper starts to move as the needles draw lines.

I grab the questions and read through to pick the ones that hasn't been asked yet.

"So, you knew these two women?" I ask to start out.

"Duh." Nate remarks. I don't let it bother me and continue on.

"Are you aware that both women were brutally murdered in their homes at exactly 2:15 AM?" I ask him. I raise my voice a little, but not loud enough to disturb anyone in the room.

He hesitates to answer. He's trying to think of a lie, but if he does lie we'll catch him. He only agreed to do this to throw us off.

"No." I look down and noticed that he's telling the truth. I leave the room and back into the other room to watch. My body fills with anger as I watch Aralia finish up the job. My phone begins to ring and it's Peyton.

~*~

"Do you suspect him?" He asks me over dinner. I shrug my shoulders. I'm really confused about the situation with my now ex-husband.

"I think he's the killer, but he's told the truth during the polygraph. It's just a messed up situation." I admit. I take a bite out of my pasta, then wipe Carson's face off with a Napkin. He doesn't seem to mind me doing that.

"The divorce was finalized earlier today, which means I'm a legal guardian of him." I point at Carson who's completely oblivious to what's going on around him.

"That's great to hear,darling." My heart skipped a few beats after he called me darling. That's the first time he's really ever called me a cute pet name. I hope this relationship will going on to more than just bud dating.

"Right? Anyways, he's being held until we can crack him. We only have 48 hours though." I continue on with our other conversation. We are eating at Olive Garden at 9 at night. I can sense that Carson will fall asleep on the car ride home, which is good.

He's almost five, and will be starting school in kindergarten. It's going to be impossible to let him go on his first day of school.

"Want to rent a movie?" Peyton asks to cheer up the mood. I smile and nod yes. We all quickly finish eating so we can get home and into bed. I get paid tomorrow, and the money I have in my savings can go towards a three bedroom apartment or maybe a small house out in the suburbs. I need to stop getting my hopes up because I'm the end I'll just be crushed. I glance over at Peyton and automatically smile. He's not paying attention to me, but that's okay because that's the man I fell in love with.

We rented the Croods and are all sitting on the couch. Carson is laying across Peyton and I, asleep.

We watch the movie until it's over, and we both gently stand up, careful not to wake up the growing boy.

I wash a few dishes, while Peyton sweeps the kitchen floor. Tomorrow, I'll vacuum and wash some laundry and the bedding. Once all the clean dishes are on the drying rack, I turn the tv off and cover Carson with his favorite blanket. I change into my comfortable pajamas and pull my hair up, as always.

Peyton isn't shy and changes in front of me. I can't help myself but to watch him. I quickly look away before he notices that he's been putting on a show for me.

"I need to get some sleep. Hopefully I'll sleep better tonight." I mention. Peyton doesn't reply, and I don't expect him to. I crawl under the blankets and get comfortable. Peyton leans over me and smiles, then plants one on me. I don't hesitate to kiss him back.

"Thank you." I whisper. He smiles then walks away, turning out the light, leaving me to fall asleep.