Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
So, to keep her happy while I watched, I left the sound blaring, even though it hindered my ability to hear not only the conversation on the other side of the glass but also the conversation happening in the room with us.
Nobody seemed to mind, though, leaving me to watch the interrogation closely.
There was another woman in the room with Tally and Hadley. The police officer who had originally taken Hadley’s statement accusing me of rape.
She looked pissed off and I wondered why.
“What’s wrong with that officer?” I asked bluntly.
“She’s mad that she looked stupid in front of two entire police departments for pushing Hadley’s case so hard,” Big Papa murmured. “Even when we told her the accusations were false.”
“Hmm,” I hummed. “That’s interesting.”
It wasn’t, not really.
Everyone knew that the female officer was a serious bitch. She came off as a hard ass, and she was always trying to prove herself when, in actuality, she really didn’t need to prove anything at all. Hopefully one day she’d figure that shit out.
“I hate you.”
Hadley’s words had me turning to see what else she had to say, and her next words had my fists tensing.
“I’ve tried to kill you thirteen times this year.”
I looked over to Big Papa, who nodded and started writing stuff down.
“Ms. Dunston, I’d like to remind you of your rights that have already been explained to you, namely that you have the right to have a lawyer present and that anything you say can and will be used against you.” The officer interrupted.
I wanted to punch her in the face.
“Shut the fuck up and let her talk, officer,” I growled.
“Uh, uh, uh!” I looked over to see Tallulah at my legs, pulling at my shirt tail.
I picked her up, and then settled her on my arm before turning back to Tally.
Hadley had just finished waving her hand at the officer, and relief poured through me.
“The first time I tried to kill you was the first night you left Tallulah with me.”
Fear shot down my spine.
Oh, God. How many times had these two people who owned a huge piece of my heart nearly seen their deaths at the hands of this crazy woman?
Tally’s spine stiffened. “I thought you were my friend. What did I ever do to you?”
Hadley studied Tally with soulless eyes.
“You stole my life.”
She blinked. “I might’ve done that in the end by bringing light to the fact that you were off your rocker, but I surely didn’t do it in the beginning.”
“You had a baby when I didn’t,” she said simply. “I had to watch you with your child while mine was in the ground.”
Tally froze.
“You…you had a baby?” Tally whispered, taking a step forward.
“Two weeks before you.”
Tally look confused and then her eyes widened.
“That’s why you gained all that weight, and then missed the last three weeks of class and had to make up the days with me?” she gasped. “I always thought it was because you caught the flu.”
“It was because I caught the pregnancy,” she grunted. “And my baby died, while yours lived. Why couldn’t it have been your baby?”
That’s when Hadley started crying.
Tally started crying, too.
When she took another step forward, Officer Stephanie held up her hand and shook her head.
Relief poured through me.
This might all be the truth, but even handcuffed Hadley could still harm Tally if she got too close.
Tally nodded that she understood, and then took a seat across from her waiting for her to stop crying.
Tallulah brought her hand up to my beard and started to sift her fingers through it, playing quietly so I let her do it.
All the while my eyes stayed on Tally and the woman crying.
I couldn’t imagine how that felt, but I realized rather quickly that it was likely Hadley was suffering from postpartum depression.
Most cases only lasted a few months after childbirth while the mother’s hormone levels slowly returned to normal. But there were some extreme cases where it lasted longer, sometimes years.
And to have lost a child on top of that would definitely push an already depressed person over the edge.
Hadley’s depression clearly was on the very extreme end of the scale, and probably even crossed over into psychotic.
The rest of their discussion consisted of more accusations from Hadley of non-existent wrongdoings on Tally’s part.
Apparently, Tally lorded the fact that she had a child over Hadley’s head, purposefully making her life worse. Then Tally had the nerve to get better grades in nursing school, in some convoluted plan that existed only in Hadley’s head where Tally was trying to make Hadley’s life more difficult.
Each time Tally performed better than Hadley on a test or asked Hadley for help with Tallulah, Hadley would then try to plot her murder, luckily coming to her senses just in time.
Luckily.
One heart attack-inducing hour later, Tally finally made her way out of the room.