A Twisted Love Story(96)

“Ivy,” he says, “I never stalked you. I never sent you any of those things.”

“Of course you did.”

“I thought you had done it. Faked it.”

She shakes her head. “No.”

“Then who?” he says.

Even as he asks, he knows the answer.





EPILOGUE


SIX MONTHS LATER

    MILO: Welcome to episode 127 of the Broken Men podcast. I’m Milo, and I’m here with my cohosts and two of the best guys ever, Brock and Diego. We have a very special guest with us today. But before we get to him, let’s talk about Wes Harmon and Ivy Banks. I know everybody remembers them.

BROCK: Hard to forget. How many people died? Was it two or three?

DIEGO: Two. Joey Fisher and that woman from Siphon. Abigail. Plus the detective who ended up in the hospital.

MILO: Karen. She lived, though. That was right before they disappeared.

BROCK: Wes and Ivy are like our own Bonnie and Clyde.

DIEGO: Except they didn’t rob banks or gas stations.

BROCK: That we know of.

MILO: Indeed. I suspect there’s a lot we don’t know about Wes and Ivy. Which brings us to our guest. Heath, welcome to the show.

HEATH: Thanks for having me.

MILO: I first saw Heath interviewed on a local news show after everything went down. Heath was a friend of Ivy’s, so I reached out and eventually convinced him to join us on the podcast. Heath, thanks so much for doing this.

HEATH: No problem.

MILO: Full disclosure here. A while back, I met Ivy Banks in a bar and we had a drink together. Let’s just say I wasn’t too happy when she posted a picture of us online. It caused a huge problem with my fiancée.

BROCK: You mean your ex-fiancée.

HEATH: I actually remember that night, when Ivy met you at the bar. That’s the kind of thing Wes and Ivy did all the time. Always trying to provoke each other.

MILO: Believe me, I know that better than anyone. But we’re not here to talk about me, at least not today. Now, you’ve known Ivy since you were kids. Is that right?

HEATH: Yes, we were neighbors and grew up together.

MILO: Since you knew her so well, do you have any idea where they are?

HEATH: No, not at all. The police asked me the same question, but I really don’t know. She and I are both from Humboldt County and Wes is from Michigan, but I can’t imagine they went to either of those places. They would’ve been found by now.

BROCK: And you haven’t heard from her at all?

HEATH: Not a word.

MILO: She came to you that night, didn’t she? When she ran her car into the detective?

HEATH: She did, and she was a mess. Seriously out of her mind. I told her she had to go to the police, even loaned her my car. I had no idea she was going to disappear. But I probably should’ve guessed, because she didn’t want me to go with her to the police station. I trusted she would do the right thing.

MILO: At least she left your car behind, right?

HEATH: Yes, I got my car back.

MILO: Let’s go back to your relationship with her. What was it like growing up with Ivy?

HEATH: She was definitely the closest friend I had, but everything changed when she met Wes.

DIEGO: When was that?

HEATH: In college, when she was at UC Davis. I met him when she brought Wes home for Thanksgiving. They were seniors, if I remember correctly. He came with Ivy for the holiday because he was too broke to fly home to Michigan.

Anyway, they were pretty nauseating at that point. All smiles all the time. Wes was polite to her parents, even offered to help wash the dishes or take out the trash. He seemed nice, but appearances can be deceiving, can’t they?

MILO: They sure can. Ivy definitely had me fooled.

HEATH: That’s the thing. The truth is, I didn’t even know Wes. I knew Ivy, and I knew she didn’t act the same when she was around Wes. On the Friday after Thanksgiving, I joined her family for dinner. What I saw stunned me.

DIEGO: You have to elaborate on that.

HEATH: It was the way Ivy tried to take care of Wes. Making sure his glass was filled or asking if he needed another roll or whatever . . . It disturbed me. I was sitting there thinking, “Really?” She would sooner punch me in the arm than refill any glass I ever had. Wes showed up, and all of a sudden, she became June Cleaver.

MILO: That doesn’t sound good.

BROCK: I can’t lie. A girl who acts like June Cleaver isn’t entirely bad.

HEATH: It wasn’t good for Ivy. I didn’t know what he was doing to her, but she wasn’t the person I had grown up with. She wasn’t my Ivy.

BROCK: Sounds like you were kind of into her.

HEATH: Not at all. She was like a sister to me.

DIEGO: Sure she was.

MILO: So did you do anything? Did you talk to her about it?

HEATH: Not during Thanksgiving, I didn’t talk to her. But, yeah, I did accidentally spill a glass of red wine in Wes’s lap. And I took his phone for an hour or so, making him search all over until I dropped it behind a cushion on the couch. But I didn’t interfere in their relationship or anything. Because at that point, Ivy was still in college. I figured, how long could it possibly last? Another month? Nope. Ten years.

BROCK: Long time, bro.

MILO: So is it safe to say you were never a Wes fan?