Page 8 of Into The Rabbit Hole

But he got what hedeserved.

This.

This is what happened to people like him. Guys like him who ruined people’slives.

The sound of a commotion drew his attention away from his thoughts. He thought he could hear his father’s voice down the hall. He looked over at the cell opposite him and saw a muscular, tattooed guy sitting in his cell staring at the wall opposite him. Pretty much doing the same thing Wade wasdoing.

The voices grew and Wade straightened up when he did, indeed, hear his father’svoice.

His father walked up to the cell door and glared at him with wide, extremely worried eyes. Next to him was the surly officer who guarded the jail cells. The man had led Wade in hereearlier.

“Open the damn cell,” his father balked at the guard who was actually already in the process of opening thecell.

Once it was opened, his father charged in and went straight over tohim.

“Leave us,” he ordered theguard.

“I’m not really allowed to, Mr.Vanderville.”

“I am the state’s attorney; you will allow me,” his father snapped. Wade had only ever seen him look this enraged a handful of times in his life. All of those times were to do with Wade. A response to something he’ddone.

Likenow.

Wade just stared athim.

“I’ll just be here,” the officer said uneasily, but with a firmness that showed them both that he was just doing hisjob.

Never having been in jail before—which may have surprised most people—Wade wasn’t familiar with the procedures of how things worked. But he’d imagined that his father must have had some leeway with hisposition.

Wade continued to stare at his father and wondered how this whole thing would look on him and his plans to be governor. Having a son who’d just been arrested for murder couldn’t be a good look forhim.

He’d managed to keep Wade’s previous drug addiction and reckless behavior out of the press, and it was obvious that he’d managed to keep Wade’s five-year absence out of the media’s eyes too. This, on the other hand, was different. Wade had seen reporters earlier and he’d caught a glimpse of himself on the news while he was beingbooked.

Hours had passed since, so he was sure the world would know soon enough. He hadn’t been questioned yet. That was to come and he wasn’t looking forward to it because he didn’t want to talk toanyone.

He didn’t want to talk about what happened and say he didn’t kill Merissa, because it was his fault why she died. He didn’t want to excuse his guilt, or make it seem like there was anything innocent abouthim.

He opened his mouth to tell his father to leave but his father held up his hand, silencing him. He shook his head and kneeled on the floor beforeWade.

“Don’t you dare tell me to leave,” he hissed. “Don’t you dare do it, Wade. Don’t.” His father held his gaze with his steely gray eyes. His face stern andserious.

Wade held his breath, then released it into a slow sigh. “Let them do what they want withme.”

His father shook his head. “Whathappened?”

Wade pressed down on his back teeth as his mind conjured up the images from his final moments with Merissa. He couldn’t talk about it. He just couldn’t. It was toohard.

“I can’t. I don’t want to talk about it.” He started breathing heavily as emotion overwhelmedhim.

“Wade, you’re going to haveto.”

“I don’t want to,Dad!”

“Son, please, you have to. We have to know what happened. Tellme.”

“It’s too painful, Dad.” A tear ran down his cheek. “It’s toopainful.”

“Tell me what happened, son.” His father rested his hand overhis.