No One But You

“I’m going again!” he announced but got distracted by a shovel and pail a little girl, maybe six, was using near the swings.

As soon as Sadie felt confident his new friend was willing to share and that the mother didn’t mind, she returned her attention to Sly’s text. If she didn’t respond, he’d only call her or come over later.

Yes, I went, she wrote.

Are you fucking kidding me?

She blanched at the profanity. She could hear him screaming that at her...

Please tell me you didn’t take the job, he wrote.

I need the work, she wrote back.

That’s a yes? You took a job from a killer????

Her phone rang. It was Sly, of course, anxious to shout at her. Texting ugly things wasn’t nearly as satisfying; he craved a full verbal assault.

She pressed the Decline button, but after the ringing stopped, her phone pinged again. Answer, damn it!

When she didn’t respond to that, either, he kept calling.

Finally, with a sigh, she picked up. She figured she might as well get this over with while Jayden was distracted. Why subject her sensitive child to another argument between Mommy and Daddy if she could possibly avoid it? “Sly, what I do with my life is up to me,” she said in lieu of a greeting.

“That’s bullshit. Don’t let Dawson Reed fool you. He’s dangerous. I won’t have my wife anywhere near him, especially out there on the farm alone. Do you know how many places he could hide your body?”

Ducking her head so that her voice wouldn’t carry, she murmured, “I’m not your wife anymore.”

“Yes, you are. The divorce isn’t final.”

“That’s a technicality.”

“So? You’re the mother of my child. That means I should have some say.”

“No, it doesn’t! I’m taking proper care of Jayden. If you’re concerned that he’ll be at Petra’s too much, you can watch him yourself when you’re not at work. That would be a great way to make sure he remains safe.” She wasn’t convinced spending so much time with Sly would be good for Jayden, however. She’d hate to subject him to more of his father’s disapproval. Sly was so disappointed that their son wasn’t the rough-and-tumble boy he’d expected that he couldn’t help making snide comments: What do you mean, you don’t want to watch basketball with me? All boys—real boys—love sports... Why do you let him put on your lipstick? Are you trying to turn him into a fag? On and on it went. One time when Sly had taken Jayden for a few hours, she’d arrived to pick him up only to find him in time-out—for telling his father he preferred dance lessons to Little League.

“You’d like to turn me into your babysitter, wouldn’t you?” he said.

Not really. But she had to make the offer. No judge was going to deny Sly visitation rights. He was a police officer! And it wasn’t as if she could claim he was physically abusive. “I’m saying it’s an option.”

“So you can go off and make money you’ll use to keep our family apart? Screw that! Why would I help you when I haven’t done anything to deserve what you’re doing to me?”

“You’ve never done anything to cause the divorce?” she echoed, shocked that he could even make such a statement. “What about the day you nearly ran me over with your squad car?”

“For the millionth time, I didn’t nearly run you down. I didn’t see you standing there.”

That was what he said, but she was fairly certain he had seen her...

“Besides, I’ve apologized for scaring you.”

“So that makes it better?”

“What else can I do? I didn’t know you were there, yet I apologized anyway. That’s nice, isn’t it? I’ll make everything else up to you, too. I’ve told you I would, but you won’t give me the chance!”

“Because I’m done, Sly. I can’t do it anymore.”

“This time will be different. I promise. You’ll be happy. I’ll make you happy. You don’t need to work for some murderer!”

He couldn’t make her happy. Any chance of that had been extinguished long ago. “We don’t know he’s a murderer.”

“Who else killed those people? The mysterious hitchhiker he claims he met earlier in the night? The one he claimed was tweaking and acting irrationally?”

“Maybe. Was his story ever really checked out?”

“His story was ridiculous! What are the chances that some stranger—a drug addict—he had an altercation with is going to be able to find the Reed farmhouse and kill the Reeds before Dawson can even get home?”

His story did sound rather far-fetched... “I don’t know. But his attorney claims the homicide detective settled on Dawson right away, that he never even looked at anyone else.”

“Dawson told you this?”

Jayden was laughing with the little girl who was sharing her bucket. He didn’t seem to notice that Sadie was on the phone, let alone having an argument, which brought some relief despite her frustration. “No, I saw it on the news, like everyone else,” she told Sly. “But maybe he was right. Maybe they focused the investigation too soon.”

“No, they didn’t! I’m part of the police force, Sadie. Are you saying we don’t do our jobs?”

“You weren’t involved in the investigation, Sly.” He hoped to reach detective; his superiors just hadn’t promoted him yet. She’d heard him fume when another officer was promoted ahead of him. “So that comment had nothing to do with you.”

“You’re talking about my friends and work associates.”

“I’m telling you the truth—that we don’t know!”

“Does that even matter?” he cried. “Do we have to know? Why take the chance?”

For the sake of freedom! She’d do almost anything to escape him. She’d gotten involved with Sly when she was still in high school. It didn’t seem fair that a decision made when she was so young and naïve could have such long-reaching consequences. “It’ll be okay. Dawson seems nice.”

“Are you a total idiot? Ted Bundy seemed nice!”

Sadie stiffened. He treated her like she was stupid whenever she didn’t agree with him. “There’s no point in fighting about it. I’ve accepted the job. I’m going to work there. You have no say.” She considered bringing up the fact that he’d tried to sabotage her by visiting the Reed farm ahead of her and all but threatening Dawson, but she knew that would only cause the argument to explode into something uglier, even more emotional. His attempt to intimidate Dawson hadn’t been successful. She’d leave it there to protect Dawson from any backlash he’d receive for telling her.

“You’d rather work for a murderer than come back to me,” he said.

“I’d rather accept a job that will enable me to remain independent.”

“God, you’re such a selfish bitch!”

There wasn’t any way she could be more selfish than he was. That much she knew for sure. “I don’t have to listen to this, Sly.”

“Someone needs to knock some sense into you.”

Squeezing her eyes closed, she drew a deep breath. “Who? You?”