Forever Crimson

Chapter 37

A ROBBERY GONE WRONG.

That's what everyone kept saying. Scarlet couldn't begin to understand the rotten luck. She lived in a decent neighborhood where safety was never an issue, but even then it wasn't like there was much to steal from her home. They had a few possessions worth someone's while, but she figured it would be worth nothing in comparison to the other side of Hales Bay.

Nothing seemed right. Nothing made sense.

And her mother paid the price for the one time some robber decided to check on their house.

Scarlet wrapped herself in a blanket at the police station, sitting right next to Jake, who held her. Had he not been there, she probably would have descended into madness by then, but he kept her from falling off the cliff.

The precipice was too close for comfort.

A kind female officer brought her a pair of oversized sweatpants and a sweater for her to change into since her dress was drenched in her mother's blood. She contemplated throwing the dress away, but then stuffed it in a bag and kept it at her side while she snuggled into Jake's side, wanting everything around her to melt away into nothing.

"Are you Scarlet Turner?"

She looked up at a buff male officer. He stood well over six feet with shoulders wider than any she had ever seen. Soft brown eyes greeted her, eyebrows furrowing over them. A bushy mustache bristled as he pursed his lips. Thinning dark hair swooped over his head, looking like he had run his fingers through it about a million times that night.

A nod was all she could manage.

"I'm Sheriff Merlo," he revealed. Her eyes blinked several times. "I'm sorry for all that has happened. This... is uncommon in these parts."

Reading his name on his badge, a shiver ran down her spine. "You're Sheriff Merlo?" Her voice came out as a whisper, as if unready to speak after screaming too much hours before. "The Sheriff Merlo?"

Jake squeezed her shoulder. "He's the only sheriff in town, love."

Scarlet shut her eyes tight, forcing the world to stop spinning. "You... you knew her." Sheriff Merlo stared down at his shoes. "You had history."

"Biggest crush in high school," he admitted. "I moved on after, I'm guessing, your dad put his foot down. Nevertheless, this was not how I expected Christine to go."

She held down her grimace. "What's going to happen now?"

As if on cue, two detectives walked up to Sheriff Merlo, each holding a tiny foam cup of coffee.

"Uh, Scarlet, these are the two detectives assigned to your mother's case. Faulkner—" he pointed to the man sporting a suit a smidgen too tight "—and Barry over here." The other detective raised his foam cup in greeting, offering a smile that appeared odd during the circumstances. "If you have any questions right now, they might be able to answer you."

The world swayed around her as she heaved. "I want to know what happened."

Detective Faulkner shrugged his shoulders. "Whoever did this thought the house was empty, and when they found your mother, they did what they thought could save them a few extra minutes."

Jake tightened his grip around her after those words. Taking in the fact that her mother was subjected to the horrors of a robber's impulse to stay on the run threatened to rip her apart from the inside out. Her mother was much more important than to have been mercilessly slaughtered so someone could leave unnoticed.

"What's messed up is that they were right," Detective Barry piped up, sipping on his coffee. Scarlet sniffled and tightened the blanket around her body. "We still have no clue who did it."