Chapter Thirteen - Minerva

I sit in the seat waiting for the doctors to come out and give us some news, any news. I sit there hoping and praying that my sister will be okay. I can feel the tears silently falling down my face. It’s been three hours since the nurse told us that they had to operate to remove the bullet and we still haven’t been told what has happened yet. I am looking at the clock on the wall for the thousandth time when my phone plays its message tone. I quickly check it and see that it is from Taylor.

Hey Minerva, I heard about your sister, I hope she is okay.

I try to puzzle out how he found out what happened to Oasis and realise that he must have been there. That means he either saw Oasis get shot or he was the one who shot her. I quickly check in my pockets to make sure that I have the keys to Oasis’ truck in my pocket. I quickly send him a message back.

Can I come see you? Where are you at? I just need someone to talk to.

I send to him in the hopes that he will tell me where he is. I sit there waiting for a reply, when some police officers show up. When they see my family, they quickly make their way over to us.

“Hello, I’m Detective Carroll and this is my partner Detective Langford. We realize this may not be the best time to talk to you, but the sooner we learn these answers the better,” Constable Carroll says sounding very sympathetic.

“Let’s just get this over with,” my father tells the Detectives. “The sooner this is done the better.”

Just then my phone buzzes and when I look, it is a message from Taylor with a familiar address and a message saying that he will meet me there in fifteen minutes. I quickly put my phone back in my pocket and listen to the officers.

“Does she have any enemies? Has she had any issues with anyone lately?” Detective Langford asks.

“No, she doesn’t have any enemies. Everyone loves her,” my mother tells them sounding indignant.

Nick looks at me with a question in his eyes and I know that he wants to know if he should tell about Taylor. I give him a small nod and hope that this is the right thing.

“That’s not completely true, Olivia,” Nick says in a quiet and polite tone.

“What do you mean, Nick?” my mother asks sounding completely confused.

“Taylor Stokes, he verbal abused her on our date on Wednesday night. I told him to leave, but he wouldn’t, I eventually had to ask my father to remove him from the restaurant,” Nick tells the officer in a calm voice, but I can see in his eyes that he is very angry.

“Your father?” asks Detective Carroll.

“My family owns the Red Grapevine restaurant,” Nick says quietly. “My sister had to check on her because she ran into the woman’s toilets. Once she came out, she told me the story of what happened between her and Taylor to cause this incident.”

“What did happen between the two of them?” Detective Carroll asks inquiringly.

“I think that is up to her to tell you or maybe Minerva could tell you because she was involved as well,” Nick says with a nod towards me.

“I was dating him for two and a half years, when we broke up and yes it was slightly messy,” I tell the officers with barely controlled anger. I look over at my father and he nods at me to continue. “We broke up 14 months ago when my family and I were out at a dance recital, Oasis stayed at home to work on an essay for school. Taylor showed up looking for me and when she told him I wasn’t there he tried to kiss her. She pushed him away. He tried again and she flipped him. She told him that she wouldn’t hold back and that she would tell me. He left and told her that he would deny it all. When I got home, she told me what happened, so I called him and talked to him about it and he denied it all. I didn’t believe him and I told him it was over. He got upset and told me that he wouldn’t let this go. He threatened Oasis and I told him to leave her alone or I would make sure that he would.”

“Has anything else happened?” Detective Langford asks looking back and forth between Nick and myself.

“He showed up at my house on Thursday afternoon and was talking to my father, Oasis was out at her riding teacher's practicing for the competition and she talked to him on the phone, I heard her tell him to leave herself, her family and Nick and his family alone or she would tell our father what happened and then go to the police,” I tell them, as I glance at my phone.

“Does anyone know where he is now?” Detective Langford inquires.

“I do,” I say glad to tell them what he said to me. “He messaged me before you came and I asked to meet him to see where he was. I was going to meet him to see what he had to say, as he hinted at knowing what happened today.”

“Would you be willing to meet him still?” Detective Carroll asks. “If you meet him, we can pick him up for questioning.”

“No. I don’t want her near him,” My father says forcefully.

“I’ll do it,” I say quietly.