The room remained quiet. As she looked to each of them, she watched. They seemed to be having a silent conversation. Sadie turned back to Stone, whose eyes had not left hers, nor had his scowl. She mouthed, “I’m sorry.” She got no reaction from him.
“Look Sadie, I think you misunderstood our conversation. We…” Ethan started but was interrupted by Stone.
“Don’t lie to her,” Stone barked.
“Stone…” Ethan interjected.
“No! Don’t fucking lie to her.”
“Stone, son…I don’t…” His dad started to intervene but was shut down by Stone also.
“I want everybody out.” Stone’s eyes were penetrating through Sadie.
One by one everybody filed out of the study. T left first, followed by Ethan, Bogs, and finally John. When the door shut, they were alone, just Stone and Sadie. Her heart raced with fear. She wasn’t afraid of Stone but afraid of what she was going to hear.
****
He stared at Sadie. His Sadie. The only woman he had ever let see him. The only woman he ever let get inside. The only woman he ever loved. And this is how it ends.
Stone’s eyes still held hers as she stepped toward him.
“Do you want to know the real reason Ethan came by your house that day? Not what he told you but the truth?”
Sadie stopped immediately, halted by the tone of his words.
She nodded.
“He went to talk to you because I refused to lie to you, Sadie. I refused to look you in the eye and lie, so Ethan went to see you that day. He did what he always does; he smoothed things over with half-truths. He charmed you and you bought it.” Stone kept his voice calm and his eyes remained on Sadie.
“Then you saw T’s computer. You saw everything. I know what you told T. You claimed to have closed it when you realized what it was. That was a lie though, wasn’t it, Sadie? You read through as much as you could until you were caught. And you were caught. We saw you on the cameras.”
He watched Sadie jump slightly back and her eyes widened. Her eyes were horrified. He knew what she was thinking. Stone read her mind from the expression on her face. As if he’d ever let anyone but himself see Sadie naked. Over his dead fucking body. Her worried face looked at him expectantly.
“No, they were only turned on when we weren’t home. My room was shut down, T’s was not.” Stone watched as a little relief washed over her face.
“If not for those cameras, I might not have had to explain this now. You would have figured it out, eventually, though. You just didn’t have enough pieces to the puzzle at the time. When you questioned me about Cavanaugh and Shaw that morning at your place, I realized we were over. I couldn’t lie just to keep you. It would have been unfair to you. But I wanted to, Sadie, I wanted to lie. The thought of losing you ripped me apart but not nearly as much as actually losing you.” Stone paused and inhaled deeply. “That destroyed me. The only thing that kept me from going back to you was knowing I didn’t look you in the eyes and lie. Now, here we are.”
Stone walked to the window and looked out into the night. He couldn’t see much. It was pitch black out but he still focused out the window. Sadie stood silent in the same spot. He had no idea what was going through her mind but at this point; he almost didn’t care. All he cared about was telling her everything. He just wanted it all out. He needed her to know the truth, all of it.
“Cavanaugh killed Macey Donavan. He kidnapped, tortured, and raped her for two days. Then he murdered her. He was arrested and tried and ultimately, he was set free when he was found not guilty. They had evidence to convict him but he had an alibi and a witness, Barry Shaw, but you already knew that, Sadie, didn’t you?” He breathed and turned to face her. “Cavanaugh went into hiding after his release. The papers tracked the story for a while but it became stale. Do you want to know why they never continued to look for Macey’s killer?” His eyes blazed into Sadie, riddled with fury. Stone was showing her a side to him she had never seen. Sadie stepped back and he slowly stalked her, stopping just a foot away, peering down at her.
His jaw was tight and his body tense. Through gritted teeth he finished, “Because they already caught him. Cavanaugh, and he got away with it because Shaw lied for him.”
Sadie’s expression changed from intense listening to confusion. She shook her head slightly, not understanding what Stone was saying. Stone’s rigid body watched Sadie. She seemed to be piecing everything together in her head but she was still confused.
“But why would Shaw lie?” Her voice was soft and guarded.
He kept his tone composed, but the anger radiated out of him. “These two go way back, they grew up together. Barry Shaw, coming from a good, well-respected family and Bryant Cavanaugh…not. They were seniors in high school, last week before graduation they got into a car accident. They had been partying, drinking a shit ton. They had a head-on collision with another car. They survived with minor injuries. The other driver wasn’t so lucky. She died the next morning in the hospital. She was thirty-two, married, mother of two.”
Stone walked back to his dad’s desk, his back to Sadie. This part always ripped at his heart. “The police on the scene said when the victim was taken away, they searched her car. The back seat was filled with decorations for a princess themed party, for her daughter. She was
