Finding Beauty (Rewrite)

Chapter 43

~Beauty~

Carina's arm was slung around her shoulder as she coaxed her into the police station like a wounded deer. Tears were cascading down her cheeks like waterfalls and she trembled even though the station had clearly cranked up the heating to fight off the last of the late-winter chill. Her jeans were ripped and stained with dried blood from the Ryan Daniels incident, her hands and face covered in dirt.

She wanted nothing more than to rip off the blanket draped across her shoulder and go home but she understood that in order to protect Teigan this needed to be executed well.

"Can I get some help over here?" Carina pleaded. An officer got up from his desk, asking if she needed medical attention. Another one ran over to the secretary, demanding that she call Detective Brendan. She recognized his name from the news reports. He was the man in charge of her case.

Bethany and Carina had come up with a more polished plan on the drive there. Bethany said she wouldn't be able to keep up with too many lies. She needed something simple to account for why she wouldn't have much information on the Beast. They thought about saying she had been tied up and blind folded for the length of time she was away but had settled on something less refutable seeing as she was spotted out on multiple occasions. Bethany would pretend she was too traumatized to remember anything. She hated projecting such a serious and horrible condition onto herself when she had been fortunate enough to have been fine but she couldn't see any other options.

If she told the police that the Beast actually wasn't a murderer and that she had fallen in love with him they'd discredit her as traumatized either way.

Carina escorted her into a room an officer led them to. They asked Carina to wait outside and answer some questions about where she found Beth. It wasn't hard for Bethany to fake the tears, she just thought about never seeing Teigan again.

She sat in a chair in front of a desk. A detective introduced herself to Beth and asked if there was anyone she wanted them to call.

"Grayson Li," she answered immediately. She thought of how heartbroken and confused he must have been after he had found her at the masquerade, promised that would be the last time they were separated, and lost her again. She wished she had gotten a chance to explain to him the situation then. She'd have to make an exception and tell him the truth about what really happened. He was her best friend after all and she trusted him more than anyone.

"And my mother." It was a bit of an afterthought but she didn't let herself feel guilty about it. She had been the one to get her into this in the first place. Her heart fluttered a bit when she mentioned her, half afraid that the detective would tell her she overdosed while she was gone.

"Okay. We'll give them a call. Detective Brendan might want to get some questions in while you wait though. Would that be okay?"

Beth shrugged, letting her lips tremble. "Okay."

A little over an hour later, Bethany had run out of tears to cry. She shouldn't even put much focus into acting distraught because of how fascinated she was with Detective Bredan's questioning.

"So you would agree that even if your memories came back to you they might be muddled? Not entirely accurate depictions of who the Beast is or where he resides?"

She nodded her head slowly.

"I need a verbal answer for the recording."

"Yes. If I do start to remember - it might be obscured. Like right now, all I have is the image of this monster with fangs." She tried not to scoff at the irony. Detective had the opposite reaction of going stone-faced.

"Very well." He clicked off the recording and sat back down in his seat across from her. The detective looked at her in a very distinct manner that made her feel as if he knew something she didn't. He could have, seeing as he had been investigating the Beast since the very beginning. He may have known him from a standpoint of the law but Bethany knew the Beast's heart.

She rubbed her eyes. Teigan. His name is Teigan.

An officer knocked on the door and then stepped inside. "The victim's family is here to see her."

Detective Brendan motioned to the door. "You're free to go."

Beth shot up from her seat, following the officer down the hall with a pep in her step. He clarified that it was her mother waiting for her and instantly her imagination was thrown for a loop. Her mind played images of her mother in her head. Her sunken cheeks, her pale skin, her extreme thinness, her empty stare . . . She didn't know if she could face that after the day she'd had. She so desperately wanted her mother from when her father was still alive. She wanted to be able to hold her - for her to understand with clarity what was going on - to be fully present.

She took in a breath, squeezing her eyes shut and then opening them.

Their gasps overlapped.

Her mother stood a few feet away from her. She was wearing black dress pants, mary janes, and a freshly pressed button up under a wool coat. Her hair was brushed and trimmed, make-up adding an extra flush to her cheeks and color to her lips. She had gained weight, her cheeks were full and her fingers less bony. When her eyes looked over Beth they weren't glazed over and dull but alive and filled with emotion.

"Mom?" Bethany felt like she was speaking to a photograph.

"Yes. I'm here."

They met each other halfway for a hug. She smelled clean and when she held her she didn't feel like she was about to break. Bethany was crying all over again, this time harder.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry . . ." She cradled Beth against her, rubbing her thumb over her cheek. "I'm going to be better. I swear on my life. I haven't used since you were taken and I would sooner die than pick up another -"

"Mom!" She held her mother's shoulders. "I forgive you. Don't feel guilty just - just keep clean. You look good."

"It's because of you. This moment right here - this was why I did it."

Beth was waiting for her mother to finish speaking with the detectives when the station's doors burst open. The wind rushed in from outside and when she turned around to see what all the commotion was about, she was met with a kind smile.

Grayson.

He charged at her like he was going to tackle her to the ground - scooping her up in his arms and clinging onto her for dear life. She half laughed - half sobbed. Even though she could feel him, it didn't feel real. After everything she had been through Grayson was there and there to stay.

"I've missed you so much." As she said it, she felt how much she meant it.

"You have no idea," he mumbled into her hair. The weight and depth to his words were clear. The two of them stood there, holding each other in the middle of the police station. She wanted to ask him a billion questions, tell him a million things but she knew there would be time for those things. For now, knowing he was there was enough.

"Welcome home, Bethany."