Flawless Liar

Chapter Six

The doctors came and went throughout the night and every time the door opened my eyes were locked on the person entering the room. My paranoia was higher than normal and I couldn't help but feel as though I needed to protect my protector. I unlocked my phone to see the the time 4:45am looking back at me, I sighed and laid my head back down against the hospital bed. 

"Alana, if you need to go home and get some rest you can." Zayne's voice was rustic like a man who had just awoken from a 10 year long deep sleep. I smiled up at him in the dark and could feel his eyes gazing down at me. 

"Honestly, I feel safer here with you than I do by myself." 

"I could understand that. You must be paranoid out of your mind." 

"I am. Someone is clearly aiming for me, but I can't figure out who it is, what they want or why they're doing this to me." 

"I hate to clue you in on this, but have you ever considered that you are quite an elite in this town. Everybody knows who you are and where you come from, your family is one of the many that represent this town. Anybody with jealousy and a violent streak could be the culprit." 

"Don't you think it's a little drastic that they're resorted to murdering people and not until after I discovered Jay's long term infidelity." 

"Wait. Alana. I think you may be onto something. What if someone is protecting you?" I was confused at first, but I realized that it could be true. 

"As humbling as it is that someone is killing people for me, why would they be threatening me and your life? For lack of a better term, I understand why they would murder Jay's flings to get back at Jay for cheating on me, but what did you do?" 

"Secret stalker? Don't want you to get close to anyone. I know it sounds ridiculous, but we have to consider all the possibilities." 

"I won't disregard your ideas, you are a detective so I would think you have an idea on how to do your job." 

"Well, Alana. Fun fact, most murder cases result in similar outcomes. The killers all usually have some type of emotional motive; anger, jealousy, betrayal and those emotions have been amplified. Most people go through the stages associated with the emotion and move past it, murderers let the emotions consume their lives and thus, a murder. Very rarely do you see someone murdering just because they can; it's usually always related to emotion." 

"Thank you for that wonderful insight on how a murderer thinks." I chuckled which was an automatic reaction despite the topic of conversation. 

"Just be careful until we can figure this out. That means don't go on any spontaneous camping trips into the woods alone, or leave town without telling anyone where you're going." 

"I definitely won't be doing anything like that so no need to worry about me."

"Good." Zayne squeezed my hand and settled into the hospital bed grunting as he felt the pain in his ribs. 

"Are the pain meds wearing off, I can get you a nurse?" 

"I'm fine, Alana. I promise." 

"Just because you're a guy doesn't mean you're not allowed to feel pain." 

"It's worse, I'm an officer which means I really can't show any pain." 

"Zayne, go to sleep." I nudged his leg and laughed to myself before falling back asleep. 

The silence was short lived, my phone erupted into sound in my bag notifying me of a text message. I cringed at the thought of who it could be as I reached for the phone. I made contact with Zayne's gaze as he watched me check my phone with hesitancy.