Page 105 of One More Chance
"Levi, baby, it's okay." Her tone was coddling, as if she were soothing a frightened animal. She held her hands out, but didn't come closer. "Icould pay for everything for us this time. Not with Daddy's money, either. I made my own."
The Angie I knew had no marketable skills and only syphoned from her family's wealth. Part of me was curious about what the hell she meant, but not enough to engage.
"No," is all I said.
She shook her head, the hints of a frown souring her face as she started spiraling, her words bursting out in a barely comprehensible blur. “You will be so proud of me, I know you will, so I have to tell you. When I woke up and realized what happened, realized the pandemic was coming, I thought of our first time in Key West, during the initial quarantine. I recalled the specific companies you said you'd have invested in if you'd had a crystal ball; do you remember saying that? I remember exactly which stocks you pointed out, because I believed in you, I've always believed in you, Levi! So I borrowed some of Daddy's money and bought shares of the companies you picked and, oh baby, you were so right!"
The fact she remembered the specifics of an idle conversation we'd had nearly twelve years ago unnerved me almost as much as her crazed eyes.
I tried to subtly scan the tree line, hoping to catch a glimpse of the police, while she kept rambling.
"Daddy never believed me. Never believed in me. Said I was chasing fantasies. But he lost three businesses. Three! Then when the stocks I'd bought finally took off, he lit up like Christmas morning!" Her voice broke up and it sounded as if she might cry, but I didn't care. "He told me he was proud of me. First time ever. You see, Daddy owes money to some really scary people. Despite how much he has, he's always saying it's for the Coven.”
Where the fuck were the police? I wanted them to hurry up and grab her.
Then give them a reason to act. Poke the bear, big guy.
"Angie, I don't give a fuck about you, your dad, or your money." I looked down at her and with as much malice as I could muster I spat, "You wanted to see me to say goodbye. So? Say it."
"No," she said with confidence, "I told you. We're soulmates. Now? I know we are. Before we died? I was only pretty sure we were… that's why I got so furious when Raymond showed me those pictures of you and Sloane together.
"Who the fuck is Raymond?"
"The private investigator I hired to follow you after we broke up." She said it so matter-of-factly, as if I was expected to know that she'd paid somebody to keep tabs on me. "He showed me pictures of you and Sloane having coffee together to celebrate your birthday."
The little cafe at the corner of 7th and Spring… the one that doesn't exist yet.
"Coffee with Sloane?" I took two steps back as the enormity of everything she said hit me. "Angie, you and I… we had been separated for over a decade by then."
"Not a decade, baby," she said as she crept forward, keeping the same distance between us. "It had only been nine years, three hundred and forty-seven days. Don't pretend like you didn't know that."
Fuck, fuck, fuck, this crazy bitch.
She held her hands out again, imploring me to embrace her. "Baby, I never stopped watching you, I never stopped keeping other women away, I never stopped waiting for you to come back to me."
"For ten years?"
"True love doesn't have an expiration date, Levi. And once I woke back up here, once I knew we really were soulmates, I carved your name into my skin." She pulled down the collar of her coat, briefly showcasing her collarbone where red angry welts stared back at me, in a feeble attempt at my name. "I am yours in body and soul, baby."
"Good fucking god, Angie!" I stepped back, revolted. I felt dizzy and sick. This needed to end, I needed to get away. I didn't know where Harlan was or the rest of the police were, but it was obvious that I was on my own out there.
Just kill her. There's nobody around. There's nobody who will miss her. Fuck, you'd be doing the psycho bitch a favor, her mind is so far gone.
While I fought the urge to break my promise to Sloane and choke Angie to death, she continued to rant.
"After her husband killed himself and you started seeing Sloane again? I knew it would only be a matter of time. I saw you running into her open arms and I knew she'd forgive you eventually."
Angie's ranting became screaming. "It was as if you had forgotten about me! About us!" Her nails dragged across her cheeks, leaving angry red trails as if she were crying bloody tears. "I did the only thing I could to save you from her… I killed you."
Then her revolting smile returned, odious, ghastly, and now bloody, as the crack in her mind grew from a fracture to a canyon.
She killed me?
I asked, "The truck? That was you?"
She nodded.
"If you loved me," I struggled to say, "why kill me?"
