Bones of the Demon King

Chapter 29

David Wilson was the roommate of Christopher McDaniels.

Eva was shocked. For a moment she thought that perhaps there was another David Wilson who graduated from the same college as her David Wilson with the same degree and in the same year.

“Impossible,” Eva whispered to herself. Eva felt like she was in some sort of bad Lifetime Movie. She started to think about this. Why would David not mention that he was in the fire with Christopher McDaniels? Why would he keep this a secret from her when he knew she was working on the Demon King’s story and Tom McDaniels was the lead suspect? Did he keep warning her to stop working on the case because he didn’t want her to find out some secret about himself? What could he possibly be hiding?

If she thought about it rationally, she could tell herself that perhaps he thought she would get carried away if he told her the truth. All he did was lie about something that happened in his life. It wasn’t even a lie…it was an omission. It’s not like he lied about who he was to her. Or did he?

“Could it be?” Eva began to process everything again in her head when her doorbell rang.

She went to answer it and there was David, smiling, “Hey sweetheart, what’s up?” He leaned in to kiss her but she dodged his advances and walked away from the door.

David seemed confused, “Did something happen, Eva?” He assumed she didn’t want to kiss him because of her hurt cheek. He purposely made a point not to bring it up so that he wouldn’t upset her.

“Maybe. Why were you upset earlier?” Eva asked. She was trying to carefully have this conversation with him.

“Look, I’m sorry Eva. Things have been really weird for me lately. I told you about Gonzales. I just lost him and I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you because of this Demon King case. I was worried.” David explained.

“Cut the crap, David. I want to know the truth,” Eva said. She hated having to press the issue since she too had been shocked about hearing that Jerry Gonzales was dead. She knew David and Jerry didn’t get along but they were still partners.

David was taken aback, “What crap? Eva I am worried about you. You put yourself in dangerous situations and it’s like you’re oblivious to everything around you except the next story you’re going to write.”

Eva laughed, “That’s not true David. I’m not oblivious. If I was, I wouldn’t have found out the truth about you and Christopher McDaniels.”

David let that soak in. He was quiet for a moment before saying, “Did…did you look into my past, Eva?” He would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a little betrayed.

Eva ran her hands through her hair, “And if I did? David, I think it’s time we had a courageous conversation.”

David laughed, “A courageous what?”

“I don’t know why you’re trying to hide your past from me David, but I can’t be involved with someone who lies to me.”

“Lies?” David started laughing, “Oh that’s rich. This coming from the woman who goes off traipsing into a stranger’s home, gets tied up, and gets attacked by criminals. You have a black eye right now and I didn’t even know about it except you told me by mistake!”

“Stop trying to throw this back on me. I told you what happened at Vincent McDaniels’ home as soon as I could. Besides, we discussed this already and your job is even more dangerous!”

“I’m a trained detective, Eva. I can protect myself. What about you? You’re just a woman with a pen and a lack of common sense. What if that McDaniels guy had really hurt you in the woods that day?”