The Boiling of the Bones

28. Visiting Alix

I woke around eight and flicked on the TV by force of habit.

They were talking about me. An anchor at the news desk was interviewing a reporter—a woman whose face looked familiar. It was Carrie—the woman who came to my work.

"Would you say Oliver was being evasive in his answers to your line to questioning?"

"He was squirming--definitely uncomfortable."

Yeah, I was reluctant to be cast as a hero, not because I was hiding anything. OK, maybe I was hiding a few things, but they were twisting and distorting the truth to make it look even worse, speculating about things that were dead wrong. I shut it off.

I casually walked out the door. The crowd around me sprang to life. Reporters pressed in and unleashed a barrage of pointed questions. Someone shoved a microphone right into my face three inches from my nose.

"Did you kill Sophia Calabrese?"

They were trying to provoke me. They wanted to upset me. If I unleashed a fiery rebuttal, it would be great TV. And it would make me look guilty. Ironically, the more passionately I denied it, the more people would think I did it. As Simon and Garfunkel sang, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. They weren't interested in facts. All they wanted was a scandalous story.

I ignored them and pushed my way through the crowd to my truck. I got in and started up the engine. I moved slowly to give the crowd time to clear a path. I pulled onto the street and a dozen news vans followed me slowly to the hospital.

I went up to Alix's room and closed the door behind me. Thankfully, the hospital staff stopped the swarm of reporters at the lobby.

"I'm here, I promised I'd come visit."

"Thanks."

We made small talk for a few minutes. We talked about the weather and hospital food and other mundane stuff. After ten minutes I was anxious to leave. I sheepishly tried to part ways.

"Well, I guess this is where we say goodbye. I hope your recovery goes well and you're back on your feet again soon."

I was getting ready to walk out and planned to never see her again.

"Can you stay a little longer?"

"I really should get going."

"Don't go. At least not back to that mountain."

She saw right through me. How did she know?

My face twitched as I lied.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You saved me, but I think I may have saved you too."

I don't know how she knew, but she knew. She saw right through me.

I broke down and shared the truth with Alix. The entire story. Then I said goodbye.

"You can't go."

"I can't ever show my face in public ever again. I'm getting death threats."

"You can't let them win."

"It's too late, it's over. My life is ruined."

"Don't go back to that mountain."

"I never said I was."

"I get the feeling you're still planning on going up there."

"OK, I admit it. I am going back. I have to finish it."

Her voice trembled and came out barely above a faint, but piercing whisper.

"Please don't. You have nothing to hide. You're an incredible guy. You can't let them tear you down like that."