Blood On Her Hands

Chapter 43

Kyra helped me hide the wire underneath my faded orange button up. The mic resided at my chest, ready to capture any guilty phrases. If Darren did happen to confess, what was recorded would be used in court. A jury and a judge would listen to the rustling of the fabric against my skin in order to catch the reprehensible story that led to a man being murdered. I would have to be present to confirm that it was I who lured the information out of him. I would stand only a few feet from a handcuffed Darren just as I stood a few feet from my handcuffed father nearly twenty years ago. 

Oh, how history repeats itself. 

"Okay, you're all set," Kyra said, giving both my shoulders a firm squeeze. Mac, who had been on the other side of the room, strolled over. His socks were Scooby-Doo themed. 

"Ready to be an actress for a day?" Mac brushed the air with his hands in a whimsical fashion. Then he was creating a small square with his fingers and pretending to frame me in a shot. "I can tell you'll be a natural." 

Kyra and I chuckled at Mac's jesting. I could tell he was working extra hard to deflate any of the tension that may have been building up. Kyra didn't look the least bit stressed, just focused. Vincent, however, was acting differently. 

He had on the same expression he did last night - as if he was holding something back. On our drive to the station together, he was polite but our conversation that had lately been amicable was reduced to stiff chit chat. It reminded me of how he treated me the first time we met in the elevator. He wasn't being mean. He wasn't being anything and that was the problem. 

Since we had worked together for weeks on end, I thought he would have wanted an active role in helping me prepare for my confrontation with Darren. Instead, he let Kyra and Mac run over the script with me while he ran around doing little office errands. It was like he was avoiding me. 

"So, what's the plan?" Kyra asked as she secured the rest of the equipment into a box. They were constantly checking in to see if I was clear on what to do. It didn't feel like they thought I was incompetent but more like they wanted to prove to me that I was prepared. It was helping with my nerves. If I knew what to do and did it exactly as planned, then I knew things would go well on my side. 

"I'm meeting Darren at a park. I'll tell him that while I have been upset about all the friction between us, I want to turn over a new leaf. My priority is to make him feel comfortable and convince him we can make it work as long as he's honest." 

What disturbed me the most about the plan was that I could see a world where I went crawling back to Darren despite how he twisted a knife into my back. The version of me that would do that was the one who let herself get battered down. It was a version of me who would be convinced that this was the best things could be. Only Darren could love me and therefore, I had to accept his treatment. 

I was glad that this wasn't where my head was at anymore but I knew that it wasn't a far off possibility. It disgusted me that I had thought that way. It made me swell with a boiling heat. 

Vincent emerged from the corner where he had completed the latest task he had used to avoid me. He had his hands stuffed in his pockets as he sauntered over. His gaze was cast low, hardly meeting mines. It felt like he was addressing everyone but me. 

"It's nearly time. We should get going so we don't risk being caught setting up," he said, monotone. 

Kyra's voice overlapped with Mac's as they both exclaimed in very different tones, "Let's get this show on the road!" 

I waited for Darren on a bench in a secluded area of the park. Every time a tree rustled, my head whipped around in search of him. It was usually a squirrel darting across the autumn colored field or a bird landing to rest for a moment. It took a lot of self control not to face the direction I knew the van full of detectives were parked and even more self control to stop myself from fidgeting with the wire that slithered around my torso and out of sight.