Dark Destiny by Avelyn Paige

Delilah

Leaving the jail,my mind plays back my conversation with Rhett over and over again.

He’d trusted me with something today that he had never told anyone before. That means something to me, just as I know it meant something to him, too. The weight of what he’d revealed was so very heavy. I don’t know how he’s shouldered it alone for so long. And what did it mean that he’d shared it with me? And why did it feel like that talk had changed absolutely everything?

Because it’s Rhett.

It wasn’t playful flirting or innuendos, but a real and deep conversation. The first one we’ve had since we met. He’d trusted me with that. He’d given me a piece of himself that only I could lay claim to.

Rhett Darby is a hard man. He rarely smiles, doesn’t say much, and considering the fact that he’s in jail, he doesn’t necessarily always do what’s right in the eyes of society, but I know there’s a good man there.

Under all that pain, anger, and guilt, love and goodness still reside. He may not see it, but the way he treats Buddy shows me it’s there. After today, I have zero doubts that maybe the feelings I’ve been developing for him could mean something. That we could have a chance. That he may feel the same way about me.

My mind swirls as I go through the motions of my evening, analyzing every detail of our relationship and our talk. I go to the rescue and take a shower, then head to the van and cook myself up a veggie burger on my portable grill.

It’s not until I’ve sat down with my burger and sweet potato fries that I realize Rhett had said his sister was murdered, but he’d never told me by who, or even how.

I glance at my MacBook lying on the bed. Should I look it up? Surely there’s something about it online.

Guilt washes over me for even considering the notion. If he had wanted me to know, he would’ve told me. Right? A nagging sensation to find out for myself pokes and prods at me until I make a snap decision. I have to know.

Snatching up my computer, I flop down on the bed, open it up, and click on the browser icon. As soon as the Google search page loads, I enter the words “Reba Darby murder.”

Instantly, a series of links pop up. The first result is an obituary listing from a funeral home in Alabama, dated nearly eighteen years ago. I click the link, and a photo pops up at the top of the screen of his sister.

Her features are so different from Rhett’s. Feminine and perfectly proportioned. You’d never guess they were related, unless you looked at her eyes. Her eyes are identical to her twin brother’s. A deep hazel with flecks of green.

I stare at that photo for a few moments, pain tearing at my heart for this poor young girl who never had a chance to be a woman. And she would have been a beautiful one.

Scrolling down, I scan the brief obituary.

She was only eighteen years old when her life was cut short. My heart breaks for her and her brother. And the names of the people who had died before her... Rhett was all she still had in the world. Her other half, and the piece he’s still missing.

I’ve read stories about the connection that twins sometimes have with each other. How they can feel each other’s pain, and sometimes intuitively know what the other is thinking or feeling. It makes me wonder if it had been that way for Rhett and Reba.

Clicking on the tribute page, I find a few comments from fellow classmates, each one more heartbreaking than the next, but it’s something at the bottom of the page that draws my attention—a slideshow of photos. Pictures of her and her brother as children fill the first few minutes as a song takes place in the background. Just the two of them smiling together or playing. Not one of the photos include anyone else.

My family may not be what you would call conventional by any definition of the term, but we were happy, and we were always together. Our home was, and still is, filled with love, hippies, and pot smoke, but it was still a home. I still had my parents.

I can’t imagine growing up the way they did. Alone. Their mom always working, their dad just a faint memory.

Neither one of them could’ve known what a real loving family was, and losing Reba had broken the only tie he had to anyone. It had left him alone.

A tear slips down my cheek as I watch the pictures change every few seconds. The last one nearly shatters me to my soul.

In it, Reba stands next to him in a long, formal dress, beaming from ear to ear, and a smaller, younger version of Rhett stands stoically next to her in his military uniform. You can see how much they loved each other in the color image. Pride radiates from her smile, and she leans into his shoulder like he’s her security blanket.

I know that feeling all too well. Even with Chad and others in the room, I’ve never felt safer in my life than I do when Rhett’s near. It’s definitely an odd feeling to have when you’re in a jail, but somehow, I know he’d do anything to keep me safe, and it looks like Reba felt that way too.

I back out of the funeral home’s website and return to my search.

The next three headlines are similar.

Police Search for Missing Fairhope Student.

Alabama State Police Requests Help from DNR to Find Missing Woman.

State Police Ending Search for Missing Woman.

It’s the next one that hits me like a bucket of ice-cold water to the face.

Boone County Remains Identified as Missing Fairhope Woman.

I suck in a deep breath before clicking on the link.

“Human remains found in a local creek bed have been identified as Reba Darby, an 18-year-old Fairhope Community College student who vanished more than two months ago, state officials said.

Miguel Ramirez, a representative of the state coroner’s office, said the remains: a partial human skull, femur, and several other bone fragments found by a mushroom hunter, exhibited signs that the victim's body was burned prior to her remains ending up in the remote creek bed.

The state’s investigation into her disappearance is still ongoing.”

A lump burns in my throat.

She wasn’t just murdered. Her body had been desecrated and thrown away like garbage. An act only a true monster could inflict on another human being. Yet the article didn’t mention any arrests. All Rhett had told me was that her killer was in the jail.

Was her case still open?

Returning to the search page, I scroll down further until the title of an article rips away every ounce of air left in my lungs. “Man Charged with Murder of Fairhope Woman.” My hand trembles over the mouse and it takes two tries to muster enough strength to click the button. The page loads slowly while my heart beats like a hummingbird inside my chest.

“Six months after identification of human remains, a suspect has been arrested in the murder of Reba Darby after a tip from the Crime Stoppers line led police to arrest an eighteen-year-old man.”

The name on the next line freezes time and space.

“Chad Elscher, the ex-boyfriend of the victim, was formally charged this morning in Boone County Superior Court with the aggravated murder of Reba Darby. His arraignment date is pending.”

My stomach boils, and through tear-filled eyes, I scramble from the bed and out into the yard. Bending forward, I heave and heave until there’s nothing left of my dinner, leaving my head spinning in a dizzying haze.

Chad had killed Rhett’s sister, and Rhett intends to kill Chad.

I have to stop him. But how?