One Step Ahead, Audrey Walker [best book club books of all time TXT] 📗

anything. I don’t know why you are doing this. I don’t understand. I just want to help you. You know you are like my daughter. I have always protected you, supported you, and cared for you. When you went missing, everyone on the task force went crazy looking for you. Every single person here just wants to keep you safe. That’s all we have tried to do from the very start. Just talk to me. Just let me help you.”

Robin felt her heart wrench in pain, but she knew there was nothing she could do. There was nothing she could say. She looked away, and the Captain rubbed his eyes.

“Help me, Robin,” he said. “I keep blaming myself and thinking, why didn’t I see this. Why didn’t I help you? Please, just help me. Help me make some sense of all this.”

“The murders have stopped,” Kyle said softly. “It’s been two weeks since you were arrested, and all the murders have stopped. I know you don’t believe it. I know it wasn't you who did it. Your other side did, and you probably don’t even remember it. I know the guilt of it all is so strong within you, but if you accept it, we can help you if you talk to us. The Mayor is willing to lighten the sentence if you confess. Or at least, let us take a physiatric evaluation of you. You won’t speak in front of any of them, but this can help you. The fact that it was not a conscious crime will change the way the court sees this. The sentence will be lighter, and we can also get you the help you need. We will all get through this. We are all with you every step of the way. Just talk to us.”

Robin clenched her hand into a fist, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. She hated doing this to them, but there was no point in her speaking. It wouldn’t change anything.

Kyle sighed and started to pace the room; the exhaustion visible on his face.

“For the past two weeks,” he said. “I haven’t slept. I haven’t eaten properly, and I haven’t even been home! I have been working endlessly to find any piece of evidence that can extricate you. I have been going after anyone who might be your alibi. I have looked through every shred of evidence to find any hope, but I can’t. I am sorry I was ignoring you. I was jealous of James. I was jealous of how much you liked him. It was hard for me to bear it when I liked you so much!”

This made Robin look up, and she found herself gazing into his eyes. There was so much emotion, so much care that she found tears just flowing down her cheeks.

“I was jealous and ignored you, and I didn’t see. I didn’t realize what was happening to you! This is my fault! I am sorry, Robin. Will you ever be able to forgive me?” he whispered.

Robin wanted to open her mouth and tell him everything. She wanted him to know that she had always cared for him too. She wanted to hug him and kiss him and tell him she didn’t do it. But she knew that it would change nothing. It will just bring more agony to them all. So, she stayed silent.

__

“Who are you?” Robin whispered.

The hand just waited for her, and a pair of eyes gleamed in the darkness.

“I am scared,” the voice whispered back. It sounded like a child’s, weak and afraid.

“What are you afraid of?” Robin whispered.

“Will you help me?” the voice whispered back.

“Of course,” she said, looking down at the hand in front of her.“Why don’t you come out?”

“I can’t,” the voice whispered. “Why won’t you take my hand?”

“I can’t,” Robin said with a smile. “I am tied up.”

“So, if I set you free, you will take my hand?” the voice whispered.

“Of course, we can be friends,” Robin said. “Would you like that?”

“A friend? the voice whispered. “What’s a friend?”

“A friend is someone who cares for you and helps you and loves you,” Robin said.

“What’s love?” the child-like voice resonated in the room.

“It’s hard to explain,” Robin said. “It’s something you feel in your chest. In your heart.”

“I want to feel it too,” the voice said.

“Then let’s be friends,” Robin said. “We will both love each other then, okay?”

“Okay,” the voice whispered, and the hand withdrew back. “Friends.”

Chapter Nineteen

“Robin,” Abby said. “How? How did this happen?”

Robin looked up. When they told her she had a visitor, it hadn’t occurred to her it would be Abby. Now that she thought about it, who else could it have been?

“How did this happen? What drove you to do this?” she whispered. “They are telling me all these things that don’t make any sense. The alternate personality that surfaced when the Butcher tortured you. Unresolved trauma that caused you to become unhinged. They keep asking me questions about your mental health and how you seem and how you act, and I am scared, Robin. I don’t understand any of it.”

“I didn’t do it,” Robin whispered. They were the first words she said in weeks, but she couldn’t sit silently any longer. Not when her sister was in front of her.

“Don’t,” Abby said. “Don’t say that. James explained everything to me. I don’t understand it, but I can’t deny it either. He told me all the evidence they have against you. Robin, if you don’t talk to them, they will put you away for life. He said the only chance you can be saved is if we get you certified by a psychiatrist and plead mental illness. He said, then we could get you to a nice institution where we can have you looked after, and we can help you become better. Why won’t you talk to them?”

“But I didn’t do it,” Robin whispered. “I promise you, Abby. I didn’t do it. I am not insane. I don’t have any