chapter fourteen

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she smiled into the mug, taking another sip. she still looked into his eyes. his small compliment hatched a thousand butterflies in her chest. it did numbers to her mood improvement.

"i mean it," he leant over the kitchen table, so that he could get closer to her. with a steady hand, he tucked a stray hair behind her ear, their eyes so caught up in each other.

"i think you deserve an explanation," amalie whispered and chewed her lip, placing the mug down on the countertop. he slowly backed away.

"only if you want to, love." cam was gentle and tender. they were alone. just the two of them. at three o'clock in the morning.

"i want to, i need to. and please, just--just listen." amalie shut her eyes, her eyebrows turning the expression of her face into a pleading praise. "i know what i'm about to say is like, borderline mental institution..."

cam was intrigued.

"well. i guess i should start by saying why i came here to australia in the first place..." amalie started, retelling the past few dark weeks she'd faced. but this time, when she told the situation, she felt guilty. when she told it, she felt no emotion. like it was just a story she'd read over and over again. when the sentence that revealed everything came out of her, cam didn't know how to react. who knows how to react to something like that?

"i thought you were staying home? when did you get back?" cam asked, after she had reached the part where they had met initially at the airport.

"well, i was at home, and i just literally just got back a few hours ago. because, when i went home, i met with the investigation team and the information they gave me was--um--very, very unexpected."

she told him everything that the detectives told her, hiccuping occasionally, and he couldn't help but feel bad for the girl. for once in his life, he didn't know what to say and especially not to the blubbering, blabbering beauty in front of him. no podcast, no livestream, no youtube video could have ever prepared him for something like this.

"and then, i had this really fucked up thought. cal got pissed that i said it, but i don't know. i had a revelation--i feel like something isn't right with my uncle glen. the sheriff seemed a little like he could be a possible suspect of the case," she put her head down, squeezing her tired eyes shut. her voice had risen a pitch while saying that. bringing her hands to her face, she turned her palms so her knuckles could rub underneath her sockets, along beneath the waterline. "i don't know. i'm crazy."

cam's electric eyes widen with surprise.

"i don't think you're crazy," cam said gently. "but why do you think?"

"i just have this weird feeling, i guess. i might just be paranoid--or something. but he's the only one that's supposed to have a key to our house."

cam nodded slowly, squinting his eyes and focusing on something in the distance. he tried to harness his thoughts together for a possible solution.

"sheriff maloney was really sus about him," amalie licked her lips. they had now gone from their purpling color back to their pale pink. "but i denied her little accusations. i want him to be innocent. i really want him to be. like i said, i just have this terribly odd feeling--"

"okay, so let's make a game plan," cam gestured. "you said you weren't sure what your uncle was up to on the night of...um--"

"it's okay, you can say it."

"uh, okay. the homicides. so let's find out."

a lightbulb almost appeared above the man's head, a bright idea flashing through his mind.

pretty when she cries ; fitzWhere stories live. Discover now