His Love

It took a couple of days for them to track down Elaine’s brother, but finally, they found him and Jay went alone to talk to him. With the knowledge that Oscar would soon be released from the hospital, Emily decided to take another shot at him and already had a good idea of how to make him talk.

“Hi Oscar,” Emily greeted as she entered his room, acknowledging April’s presence with a smile and taking a seat, “Can we talk?”

“I already...” Oscar began, but Emily ignored him and continued.

“I don’t want to talk to you about what happened to you, I want to talk about Elaine and what happened to her.”

“Elaine?”

Despite his initial refusal to speak, the mere mention of Elaine elicited an immediate response and something in the boy’s eyes piqued Emily’s curiosity.

“You were friends, right?” Emily inquired, earning a nod in response, “Elaine’s family mentioned that she had a falling out with someone, was that you?”

“I thought... we were so close and I found the perfect ring, but she said that she didn’t see me in that way.”

“Did that make you angry?”

“She was so beautiful,” Oscar said as if he hadn’t heard Emily's question, “She’d steal my hoodies and hold my hand in public, most other girls wouldn’t even look at me... she wasn’t like most other girls though.”

Oscar fell silent and Emily spotted Jay, excusing herself as she left the room to speak with him.

“What did Elaine’s brother have to say?”

“Not much, he apologized for coming to the hospital though,” Jay told her, glancing over at Oscar, “Apparently, Oscar used to live a few houses away from them with his mom and, despite Alex’s warnings, Elaine befriended him.”

“Oscar was the person that Elaine fell out with before her death, he proposed to her and she rejected him. There’s something off about him, Jay.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s refused to talk to me every time I’ve tried, but as soon as I mentioned Elaine it was like something in his eyes shifted... something almost primal.”

“Funny you should say that because Alex said the same thing, described Oscar as possessive and unstable,” Jay added with a frown, “Hey Will, how has Oscar been towards the female staff?”

“Cold, speaks to them only when he has to and never makes eye contact,” Will explained.

“Has Dr. Charles spoken to him or done any assessments?” Emily asked.

“He hasn’t yet, but I can put in a request for a full psych evaluation as part of his discharge plan if you want me to.”

With a nod, Emily felt the sudden sensation of being watched and turned to find Oscar staring at her. The chill she felt was involuntary, but the look in Oscar’s eyes was a familiar one and was usually staring back at her during suspect interrogations.

Unable to shift the uneasiness, she pulled her gaze away from his and made her way over to where Maggie was standing. She had her own ideas about Oscar’s involvement with Elaine’s death and she was sure that Dr. Charles would corroborate her thoughts, but Emily knew that it wouldn’t be enough to do anything.