Awakened

11. ..and so it's him

A few weeks or so had passed and your bruises had begun to fade enough that they were either gone or you could cover them with make-up. You weren't in pain anymore, although you ached a bit more after your shifts than you did before. The joy of being on your feet all day.

Lee had been wonderful, checking up on you and making you dinner. He'd seen that you had a few odd jobs around the house that needed doing and taken it upon himself to sort them for you. You were blown away, but he just shrugged it off saying he was happy to help.

You had finally gone on that date together and had a lovely time. There was a moment where you were laughing in the restaurant, sipping wine and wearing a nice dress – when you realised how happy you were for the first time in a long time. Despite everything that had happened, despite feeling shaky when you saw the police cruisers around town, you felt hopeful, optimistic. Life could be good again.

The town knew you were dating, news spreading quickly as always. But overall people had been nice, the grocery store cashier had even said she thought you were a cute couple. After everything that had happened, idle gossip no longer seemed as important as it used to.

Being intimate with Lee again after what happened had been a challenge, but you were getting there. Lee was very patient and understanding, happy to go slow. He had gone down on you in the kitchen once and made it all about you, gentle and loving. Your orgasm was intense, helping to wipe away Davey's invisible touch and reset, make your body yours again – once again an instrument for pleasure rather than pain and fear.

You were more attracted to Lee than ever, every touch of his felt electric and you still felt butterflies in your tummy when you saw him. You still felt that raw lust you did in the beginning, but now with the added domestic glimpses of life with him, it had just intensified your feelings towards him.

Things weren't quite as peachy for everyone. Deputy Davey had disappeared without a trace. His car was found parked on a random street, but there were no clues as to where he went. Nobody had seen him, and the police were looking into it. Lee had shared that he was known for extramarital affairs and visits to streetwalkers so the two most popular theories were that he'd ran off with another woman or had fallen foul of a pimp. Others thought he had gotten drunk and had an accident but nobody had found him yet. You didn't really care, you were just glad that he'd gone. After what he'd done, you almost hoped something awful had happened to him.

You did care about Julie, though. You'd seen her around town with watery eyes, wandering in the same bewildered daze you had after Arthur's death. She'd even come over to Lee's place late one night in floods of tears while you were there, desperate to know from the sheriff what the latest development was. You'd made a pot of tea and sat in the kitchen with her, holding her hand like she had held yours after Arthur. Lee went through the same apologetic spiel, telling her that they were doing everything they could but had no leads yet. The next day you'd dropped off a casserole on her doorstep so at least dinner that night was one less thing to think about.

It was at least a relief not seeing Davey around. You couldn't have coped with his horrible shark eyes staring at you. You certainly couldn't have coped with sitting in a courtroom, testifying as you sobbed, while a room of disinterested men sniffed at the idea of a well-respected, happily married man of the law doing such a thing.. And you were sure the little library incident would be used against you. The poor widow, hysterical and driven mad by grief, making up stories, hellbent on smearing the hard working police force.

You were in the station with Lee having lunch when he got the call. You'd brought him some sandwiches from home and were chatting away when the phone rang. You could see it was bad from the way his face fell. He had told you to go home and then ran out to gather the other cops.

The call was to say a corpse had washed up about thirty miles away, it was wearing a police uniform with Davey's name on it.

You had gone to work, bussing tables and wiping down counters as your head swam. You didn't know how you felt about it. On the one hand, Davey was a terrible man who had done terrible things and deserved a nasty ending - if this was him. But you wouldn't wish death on people. And what about Julie? You knew better than anyone how painful it is to lose your husband. You wouldn't want your worst enemy to go through it.

Gina interrupted your thoughts to curtly asked you to cover her section while she went on break. She was frigidly cold to you now you and Lee were dating, but at least you didn't have to watch them flirt in front of you anymore.

As you stacked the dirty plates from one of Gina's tables you overheard the unmistakable hushed tones of someone sharing juicy gossip behind you.

"...and so it's him. He's got a bullet hole between the eyes and he must've floated downstream. They said it's been weeks so maybe he got stuck under a rock or somethin'".

Your stomach flipped and you gripped the table to support yourself as you strained to hear more. You suddenly felt dizzy.

"No! How do you know this?"

"My brother-in-law works at the station. All true, I swear. They also found his gun – unfired, so whoever done it must've surprised him or somehow got it off 'im. And he's in his cop uniform. They think it was from when he was last on duty on the 9th. They just can't figure out why he woulda been out by himself like that".

"Jesus Christ. Shot in the head like that? Musta been like an execution".

"You're telling me. Can't be a small time guy doin' that".

You felt waves of nausea overwhelm you. You thought of Julie. Of Davey's family. Of the guilt you felt for partly being pleased he was gone, and the horror of how he died. You thought of Davey's colleagues having to see their co-worker and friend's decaying body. You thought of Lee.

Lee.

The 9th, the day after it had happened with Davey.

The day Lee came over to find you, horrified and furious by your injuries, demanding a name.

The day you gave him Davey's name.

The day he had carefully put you to bed, then disappeared.

The day he told you he'd handle it as you drifted off to sleep.

And now, blasé about the disappearance and investigation. Quickly changing the subject if you brought it up, insisting it was probably the running off with another woman thing.

A chill ran up your spine and you froze on the spot.

Did Lee do this?

Could he do this?

Were you sharing your bed with a killer?

Gina interrupted you, returning from her break snapping her fingers in front of your face. "C'mon 'hon, hop to it. We got work to do!"

You nodded, continuing to stack the plates as everything crumbled around you.