Page 39 of Such a Quiet Place
I made myself stand my ground, not showing my discomfort. He wasn’t a cop anymore; I didn’t have to follow his instructions. “Or what?” I said. “People will talk?”
He frowned, suddenly another step closer. “She tried to get in my house yesterday morning. When I was out for a run. I know it.”
I shook my head, but I understood. The paranoia had taken hold of him, taken him over. “She was gone all day yesterday,” I said. “Until dinner.”
“Says who. Her?” When I didn’t respond, he continued, “Look, I left the garage open, and someone tried to jimmy the inside lock—who else could it be? She’s dangerous, Harper, and you don’t even see it. You always wanted to protect her, and sometimes I wonder why.”
The space between us had disappeared, and I was aware of his size, his anger. “You need to keep out of this,” I said, my voice low. “She could get a restraining order.” Reminding him who was at fault here. Who was really the danger.
He took a step back. “No, she can’t. I’ve never threatened her. I’ve never laid a hand on her. I’m going to be cleared. Everyone knows it. I did everything by the book. Where was the lie, Harper?”
There hadn’t been a lie. It had been the way it was handled. The lines we all knew we were walking. All in the name of self-righteousness and good intentions.
“I heard you,” I said, so he would know. “My house is right next to Tate and Javier Cora’s. You hear everything.” Through the fences and open windows, voices carrying in the night. I’d heard him talking to Javier during the investigation.
Chase looked at me closely, the only sound his breathing. “What are you talking about?” Head tilted to the side.
“You were discussing the strategy. That everyone needed to keep it simple.Don’t complicate things.” That was the one specific that stuck in my memory. Like he was telling them what pieces of evidence would help and which would not. “So tell me again, Chase, how you’re going to be cleared?”
“That’s not…” He scratched the back of his head. “I don’t know what youthinkyou heard, but you’re wrong. She was a suspect, and we worked the case. A jury found her guilty.” His gaze flicked to the side. “When we found them, she didn’t come out. You know it.” His voice had lowered, as if he were seeing that same unspeakable scene.
I squeezed my eyes shut, chasing away the image. “Ruby was sleeping. She sleeps like the dead,” I said. She’d been out, after all, until two a.m. “She said someone else was out there.”
“You’re seeing what you want to see,” he said.
“Or you are,” I countered. “We all knew there were cameras everywhere on the street.” This had always bothered me; it must’ve bothered him, too. What I should’ve said on the stand if given the chance. What I should’ve explained to the police in the first place. Our cameras had caught Charlotte’s husband cheating.They’d trapped package thieves. Why would Ruby waltz right by them, knowing she would be recorded, if she was committing a crime? If she had killed the Truetts?
Chase flicked his hand at the air as if swatting at a bug. “Don’t put this on me. You were the one who testified that she came home at two in the morning through the back door, that you heard her in the shower. She moved fast, and she tried to hide what she had done, washing away the evidence. She knew it was a mistake. Killers, Harper, they aren’t always thinking clearly. They’re not always methodical or logical. A crime is chaotic. Sometimes it’s just the heat of the moment, but they’re still a killer. They may not be master criminals, but they’re still guilty.”
“The lawyer said…” I began, because hadn’t he watched the same program? Heard the same implied threat of her statement? “She said there was evidence that would’ve exonerated her.”Someone else was out there,Ruby had insisted, and maybe there was proof—
He spread his hands in front of him as if unveiling the end of a magic trick. “Do you see this mysterious evidence?” he asked. “You think, if it really existed, they would have waited until now to show it?” He shook his head. “They’re playing a game for money. They want to sue the police department, to get everyone doubting. Before they decide to retry her. Look, she’s been out less than a week, and they’ve already got you.”
“They don’thave me. She’s innocent until proven otherwise.”
His head jerked to the side, like he thought someone was listening. Then his focus turned back to me. “Don’t you think it’s weird that she came back here? That she came back toyou?”
I did. I’d thought she’d take the money and go. But she was still here. Still waiting for something. “She trusts me,” I said. “I was the only one who spoke in her defense.”
His expression twisted up in confusion. “You can’t possibly think she trusts you.”
“She thanked me. After I gave my testimony.” I shrugged, remembering that final communication as I stepped down from the witness box. The last time I’d seen her.
“She…” He trailed off, shook his head. “That’s not at all what she said.”
“You weren’t there,” I said. He had testified earlier in the trial, so he couldn’t watch the rest.
“I know, but plenty of my friends in the department were there. They sat through the whole trial, and it’s all they could talk about after. What she said when her roommate stepped down.” His eyes widened, the whites glowing in the moonlight. “They were legitimately worried for you, Harper. If she hadn’t been found guilty.”
I blinked rapidly. “What—”
“How she turned to you, clear as day, with everyone watching, and mouthed:Fuck you. Like she didn’t even care if the jury saw.”
My mind was scrambling, trying to make sense of the scene. I shook my head, stepped back. “No, she didn’t,” I said. I was there, and he was not. But I couldn’t stop my mind from returning to that day, the way my head was light and dizzy as I stepped down from the witness box—all those eyes on me, and the questions, and Ruby sitting rightthere. I’d felt ungrounded and removed, everything distorted through a filter. And this time, in my memory, as I passed Ruby, I saw her teeth catching on her lip at the start, her message becoming something else—
“Seriously, Harper,” he said while I was still caught on my heels. “Be careful.” I closed my eyes, trying to see. The memory morphing each time:Thank you. Fuck you.“Hey,” he said, hand on my shoulder. “You have my number, right?”
But I shrugged him off. Ruby had known this would happen—that there would be someone else out here. Someone else watching. Chase had ruined his own career, his entire future, and now he was desperate to get it back.
