A Valley of Shattered Hearts

Chapter 6

Chapter song - Willow Tree March by The Paper Kites

April felt as if she was getting nowhere in this case. Everything was happening so fast yet nothing at all. She had to do something and it had to be quick or else this case would get lost in the files and April Wren would not let that happen to Ruby.

So with the press of her thumb, she texted him.

Red, I have to know the truth. I am going to figure this out with or without you. I have a feeling about this case, something isn't right. Please write back.

This wasn't right. Ruby Jones just disappeared.None of this made any sense, she had to tell Evans Golding.

Everyone knew. Everyone knew that Ruby Jones had enemies. It really could have been anyone. That's what made this case far too hard to bear... to solve. But if anyone could do it, it would be their local, aspiring detective.

And so she set off for the day; a couple shots of espresso later and she was ready for her first interview.

She had a witness. A witness that was wrongly accused. The witness being Red Fitz, the loving boyfriend. Hiding away in an abandoned house, the wrongly convicted, though that didn't change the fact that his alibi wasn't going to cut it for April Wren.

Perhaps he wasn't entirely innocent.

Once the sun set over the horizon, she was escorted into a private room, one where her and Red could talk.

Of course she was documenting the whole thing, along with Evans and Rhye waiting patiently in the car- well not if they didn't kill each other first. Neither of them really wanted to come rather than they thought they should, Rhye being the friend of the victim and Evans well- April didn't really know why he came.

"Correct me if any of this information is wrong," I tell him.

"Your name is Red Fitz."

April looks up at the man in front of you and can't tell whether she likes what she sees.

"You are twenty years old."

He nods.

"Your guardian is Brienne Fitz."

He nods.

"You do not live with your birth parents."

He nods.

"Do your parents know your whereabouts?"

He shakes his head.

"Do you know their whereabouts?"

He shakes his head.

"Do you have any concerns?"

He shakes his head.

"Not really."

"Do you care to share your thoughts?"

"People like you don't care about thoughts."

"Do you care to expand?"

"Journalists. People out for information and not the story. They never want to know the story."

"And why not?" April asks him.

"Because they believe they already know what happened?"

"And what did happen, Red?"

"The truth happened."

"And what is the truth?" April asks him intently.

"There are many fragments of the truth."

"Would you care to expand on any of them?"

"Perhaps, April Wren. Perhaps."

He sighs before asking, "if you're not a journalist and if you do in fact want to learn the story- is that why you're here?"

"I don't believe you're innocent." April states.

"For that matter, I don't believe anyone is innocent. Including myself."

"Perhaps we're all the villains here, so tell me, Red Fitz, what do you remember?"

"I'm tired of talking to rats like you."

April is quick to respond, "I don't work for anyone, I work for myself. And if that isn't enough to convince you, let me tell you that I had a connection to the victim."

"Had. Victim." Red repeats. "She's not 'had' and she's not a victim, okay?"

"You are the only one who can prove my theory, Red."

"And that is?"

"Ruby is alive. She's not a victim of murder. She's alive."

"And who is going to believe us?"

"We need proof and you are going to help me find it."

"Now," I clap my hands together. "Take me back to the scene of the crime."

"Um- are you okay?" I ask him after a long discussion on theories and motives.

His appearance looks scruffy, his hair disheveled and his face covered in dirt.

"Yeah. Busy day," he says.

He talks in a deep voice almost like an animal, he sounds very unreal.

"Are we going to do this or not?"

"We need to find a way to shut the rumors down?"

Suspicious.

"We need to stop the government."

"How?"

"That's the question, isn't it?"

"Basically," I say.

"Do you really care about her?" He asks her.

"This could be a really serious situation so yes, I'm short, she was my best friend, I do care."

"This is way bigger than Greyspire."

"April, this is way bigger than the States." He tells me.

"I know," I let my head fall into my hands, "I know." I repeat.

"Our government has always been corrupt," he says.

"Yeah, but this is murder, Red." I say.

"If you really think this is- if you think she's really out there- we should probably tell someone, April."

"Yeah, probably." I say, I don't mean it though.

"What is wrong?" He asked me.

How can someone you just met know you so well?

"Listen, just think about it, alright?"

"Yeah, okay." I responded.

"You know everything, don't you?" I ask him.

"No, I just know what to say at the right time," he says.

I feel that he is evolving conversation wise. When I first met him, he sounded childish, now he sounds more mature.

Maybe it's the dystopian reality?

"I wonder what's going on in your head Red Fitz."

I left the house with a strong feeling in my mind, Red Fitz is not a murderer.

I suddenly have this horrible realization that this case is just a ruse and it has been playing me this whole time. Whenever I get paranoia, I usually just occupy myself with something else. Right now, I can't think of anything else. I sleep. I think that I will just forget how to love at some point. I know it, I'm odd. I swear. One of these days, I am going to fall asleep and never wake up.