He holds up her foot, threatening to tickle it.
She looks at him, head cocked to the side, and she stops clicking. Not only that, but she throws the pen across the room, followed by the crossword puzzle. The opposite of what he thought she’d do. Wes was sure she would continue clicking, continue annoying him, because that’s what she always does. Instead, she had given up.
Ivy doesn’t give up.
He spends the rest of the evening trying to decide if it made him happy that she was trying to be kind, or if it made him even more upset because she was acting different. Not in a good way, either.
63
Sunday morning, Ivy makes brunch. She goes overboard, as she does with everything. Eggs Benedict with turkey slices, and thick pieces of toast to mop up the hollandaise sauce. Freshly squeezed orange juice. Even her coffee is better, stronger—just the way he likes it.
She keeps the TV on ESPN, avoiding all the local stations. Still, Wes has seen the coverage. He checks it on his phone when she isn’t looking.
Great. Everything she does is great. And it’s getting a little disturbing.
“This is great,” he says, eating all the food he can, just short of making himself sick. “Thank you.”
Ivy smiles, looking proud of herself, and pats his hand. It’s supposed to be reassuring, but it feels patronizing.
She clears her throat, which reminds him of Siphon’s CEO, the way he always did the same thing. Wes never thought he would miss that, but he does.
“I’ve been thinking,” she says. “We may not be able to go to Vegas, but we can still get married.”
He laughs a little. “How would we do that?”
“Right here,” she says, gesturing to his house. “We can bring in someone to perform the ceremony.”
Standing in his living room, saying those sacred vows, sounds like the saddest, most pathetic wedding they could have. Ivy would try to make it nice, of course. She would decorate with flowers and all sorts of wedding stuff. It would still be horrible.
But the fact that she is willing to do it means something. He just isn’t sure what.
“You’d really do that? Get married here?” he says.
“Of course I would. We can always do it again later, after all this is over.”
She puts her hand on his cheek. He hasn’t shaved all weekend and the stubble is getting thick, so maybe he will grow that beard.
Or maybe not.
* * *
—
For once, Ivy couldn’t wait to get to work on Monday morning. Couldn’t wait to get out of Wes’s house. Not because of him. Not exactly. He’s depressed and upset and all the things he should be, given what’s happening. She has tried to stay positive, keep his spirits up, help him do all the things he can’t because of the ankle monitor. At the same time, she shoves aside her own worries, trying not to let them show. And she does it all while thinking about how to make a wedding at his house better than terrible.
Then there’s the guilt. Wes is adamant about Ivy keeping her mouth shut, at least for now. Until they know what kind of evidence the police have. He keeps saying that if she confesses, it will make everything worse.
Ivy is not convinced he’s right. He doesn’t know how much worse it has already gotten.
After Joey died, she couldn’t drive at night without thinking about him. Or without having a panic attack. Her heart pounded so hard it would make her dizzy. More than once, she had to pull over and calm down before she could get back on the road. Because of this, she was late a lot.
Wes blamed it on her lack of time management. She let him.
It was easier than admitting the real reason: Ivy thought they’d made a mistake. No. She knew they’d made a mistake not calling the police. She should’ve confessed what she’d done on the night it happened, but she’s never been willing to say that out loud. Not with Wes, and definitely not with a therapist.
To this day, she hates driving at night. The panic attacks have subsided, but the memory of them lingers. Like her brain is constantly on alert, waiting for it to happen again.
Ivy sits back in her desk chair, covering her face with her hands. Everything about this is exhausting. As it should be. And she deserves it. She wasn’t the one killed in that crash.
Unfortunately, punishing herself hasn’t made anything better. Maybe confessing would, but Wes told her—begged her—not to do it.
Work was supposed to give her a break, a chance to decompress and think about something else. Hasn’t worked out that way so far.
And she can’t help but check the coverage about the case. Obsessively, in fact. She pulls up the website for the local newspaper, where they’ve reprinted the original story about Joey’s death. Another article is about Wes’s arrest, and it mostly sticks to the facts.
A 30-year-old Fair Valley man, Wes Michael Harmon, has been charged with vehicular homicide in connection with the death of Joey Fisher in a hit-and-run accident in 2015. Mr. Harmon has worked in sales for Siphon, Inc., for seven years and has no history of criminal behavior.
Ivy couldn’t argue with any of it. The facts were clear. She checks another local news site, and the headline is like a punch to her stomach.
EXCLUSIVE: Interview with the detective who may have solved a 7-year-old case
Karen Colglazier.
Her picture is right next to the article. Karen stands in front of the police station, the sign visible in the background, and she is smiling. Ivy’s inner pettiness comes out before she can stop it.
That outfit is heinous and doesn’t even fit well.
Needs to bleach those yellowing teeth.
Has she ever heard of YouTube? That makeup.
Once she is done mentally shredding the way Karen looks, Ivy settles down to read the interview. That’s one good thing: The interview isn’t on video. At least she doesn’t have to watch Karen.
The article starts with Karen’s background, how long she has been a detective, blah, blah, blah. Ivy skips past it.
Let’s start at the beginning. How did you come to investigate a seven-year-old case?
I was working on another case, one that was quite recent, and it led me back to Joey Fisher. Wes Harmon ended up being the link between the two. He hasn’t been charged in the second case, but we’re still looking into it.
So there may be additional charges coming for Wes Harmon?
I can’t comment on that.
When did you know he was the number one suspect?
Obviously, I can’t talk about specific evidence in this case, as it remains ongoing. But in general, detectives have to be very careful not to speculate or make assumptions about who committed a crime. Our job is to follow the evidence, which is exactly what I did.
You said you can’t talk about specific evidence, but can you tell us anything about why or how Wes Harmon became your leading suspect?
Joey Fisher died in his car, which was parked on a quiet street. There weren’t many vehicles driving in the area, which we already knew. In general, the timeline of events is crucial to police work. What happened before and after. You never know what will be important. The smallest, most inconsequential thing might end up being the missing piece of the puzzle. That’s where witnesses come in. Sometimes a person can see something and not even realize it was important.
Witnesses. There may have been someone from the club who saw their argument, but there weren’t any witnesses to the accident. If there were, Ivy would’ve been the one arrested.