Remember This✔

Chapter Forty-Two

Sometime in the night Charlie is woken up by a loud gasping sound. Molly sits up, panting as she rubs her chest and stares around the bedroom. He blinks tiredly as he places a hand to her arm.

"Bad dream?" he says.

"Yeah," she says. She wipes her hands over her face and then her eyes. "It felt so real."

"It's okay, just lay back down."

He gently guides her backwards and her head nestles back into the pillow. She stares at the window and then flinches when some tree branches brush against the wall.

"What are you worried about?"

"Do you think it's possible that they have the wrong man in prison?" Molly whispers. "Sometimes, I still feel like I'm being watched. I know it makes no sense but I just have this feeling that he's still out there."

"Molly, he confessed," Charlie says. "They have evidence that links him to all of the crime sites. They matched his DNA there. He's not out there, I promise, he isn't going to hurt you."

"See, I know and understand everything you just said but I still have this. . . fear. Like a sixth sense. I can't explain it."

Charlie has been following the news reports for weeks because Molly refuses to. There's no doubt that this is the killer, that they have the right man. He's being transported to Florida after his trial in California ends and the prosecution want him dead. Molly hasn't spoken about it, she hasn't breathed a word, whatever they decide to do to him doesn't change anything for her. She can't bring herself to hear about the details of what he did to his victims and Charlie has never judged her for it, he wishes he never heard about them either.

"He'll never be able to hurt anyone else again," Charlie says as he strokes her hair. "It's normal that you don't want to believe it right away but you don't have to be scared anymore."

"You're right," she says. "I'm just being stupid."

"No, you're just being you." He smiles as he curls his arm underneath her back. She rolls into him and rests her face against his chest. Sleep takes them both a few minutes later.

The next day while taking Molly home Charlie becomes suspicious of a car that's been following them since they left the house. The car is a black BMW with tinted windows and the driver seems to be close behind him but won't overtake. Charlie slows right down and the car behind him slows down too. That's the first time a BMW driver has ever not overtaken him.

"What are you looking at?" Molly says as she turns and looks out of the back window.

"Nothing," Charlie says.

He turns right at the junction and the car follows again. Something is off, he feels it. He pulls up a few houses in front of Molly's.

"Why are we stopping here?" she says. "What's going on?"

Charlie is silent as he watches the car behind him. The driver pulls over too. "Stay here," Charlie says. He leaves the car and he locks it. "Hey!" he shouts as he approaches the BMW. The car pulls out and speeds past him. Charlie loses sight of it down the road.

He unlocks his car and Molly is narrowing her eyes as he opens her door. "Just thought I knew him," he says.

"You're weird, you know that?" she says as she grabs her bags from the back seat. "So I'll see you at mine on Christmas day?"

"Yeah," he says. "Can't wait."

"Okay then." She's standing right in front of him but he's looking past her, checking every inch of the road. "Thanks for last night it was perfect." She leans over and kisses him; it shocks him out of his focus. He touches her face for a moment before pulling his hand away and stepping around her.