was all alone then. This guy sounds like a certified psychopath, but he doesn’t sound stupid. In fact, he seems far from it.”
I finished getting dressed and shifted my worried gaze between the two of them.
“When I tell you that Sawyer is obsessed with Ollie, I don’t think you understand just how perverse and twisted he is.”
I hadn’t even known the level of his depravity until I overheard her pleading with our landlord earlier. I wanted to say that nothing about my half brother could surprise me anymore, but I was wrong. He hadn’t just gone off the deep end; he was drowning in a sea of blackness and sinking underneath waves of unchecked mental illness. I was horrified I never realized what he was doing to Ollie’s mother. I’d always called him evil and told myself he was a monster, but it was more than that. It was clear his wiring wasn’t right, and no one in his life had tried to get him any help. He was sick, but the people who surrounded him enabled him, sheltered him, coddled him; they were the ones who had a special place in hell waiting for them.
“I think Sawyer was okay watching from a distance when she was on her own. He probably thought she would fail. I’m sure he assumed I would turn my back on her because it was no secret how hurt I was when she turned on me. Once she was under the same roof as me, I bet he lost what little is left of his mind. There’s no way he could handle the two of us rekindling any kind of relationship. If he had someone watching her before and feeding him information, he would need to know for certain what was going on between me and her. He’d have to see it himself.” Nothing else would suffice. “Ollie said he was watching her before as well.”
Harlen shook his head. “We would’ve noticed a dude in a wheelchair hanging around. This is a small town and a tiny campus, all things considered. Ollie, especially, would be on alert for anyone who reminded her of Sawyer. She’s scared, so she is extra cautious. She’s jumpy as a cat, and I can’t believe she doesn’t have a neck sprain from the way she’s constantly scoping out her surroundings.”
I grunted as I shoved my hands through my hair. I looked out the window to see if it had stopped raining. I was planning on walking to class, but I didn’t want to spend another hour wet and miserable. The storm had died down some, but it was still drizzling enough that I was going to call for a ride. The current conditions meant Ollie was more than likely going to stay put with her friend for the rest of the afternoon. I was relieved. I wouldn’t have left the quirky little store if I thought she was really going to run again, but I was glad to have a bit of assurance that the weather would keep her grounded.
“That’s why I’m wondering if I’ve been worried about the wrong situation all along.” What if Sawyer wasn’t as hurt as he wanted everyone to believe? What if he faked his injury just to get rid of me and keep Ollie on a leash? I tilted my head and gave Vernon a serious look. “How hard would it be to hack into a hospital and access medical records from around the time of our car accident?”
His unusual eyes widened as he rocked back on the bed, flopping backward, so he was looking up at the ceiling. “Not the hardest hack, but not the easiest either. You don’t really think that guy faked it this whole time, do you?” He sounded bewildered and slightly scared.
He sounded bewildered, but Harlen and I shared a knowing look. We both knew all about the long con. One surefire way to fool all your enemies was to make them believe you were no longer a threat. Appearing injured and harmless was the easiest way to lure prey into your trap. It was entirely possible Sawyer had tricked everyone and decided it would be best to play at being partially immobile in order to get all the pieces of his diabolical plan to fall into place. Any kind of major injury would keep Ollie by his side out of guilt. It would make my father and his mother even more willing to give him whatever he wanted.