Author's Notes

Hope you enjoy the chapter and thanks to everyone who joined the Discord server. It's been amazing to talk to some of you and hear what you think of the story and characters.

If you missed the previous chapter's author's note, the Discord link is there.

Chapter 90

Investigating

The next day Hedy didn't have school. She was still on medical leave from the university. Professors and friends flooded her email wondering where she was, so instead of sleeping she spent her morning after work replying to emails and letting the right people know she was taking time off and to send her the assignments she could work on while on leave.

She leaned back when finished, absently rubbing her bare feet as she was curled up on her couch. She glanced at her new wheelchair. This one had coppery red accents. It looked nice.

She twisted a bit and froze at the shooting pain that ran up her spine and tingled her toes. Hedy waited for the pain to pass, pressing the side of her head into the couch cushion and squeezing her eyes shut.

"Spasm?" she heard Jeremy ask.

She nodded. She felt him pick up her legs to move them out of the way and sat down next to her to wait it out.

"I'm good," she said.

Jeremy didn't respond. "Did you take your medicine?" He was nursing a cup of tea, which was weird. He hated tea.

"Yep."

"Did you clean the stitches?"

"And changed the bandages. I'm not a child, Jeremy," Hedy scolded.

"Let me worry about you," he shot back, rolling his eyes.

They were both quiet for a moment.

"Amelia and the kids are still sleeping," Jeremy said. "We're thinking of heading back home tomorrow. I don't think your roommates like us."

Hedy snickered. "Sarah left to stay at her boyfriend's."

"Ah, that's why I haven't seen her."

"Rena likes kids," Hedy said, "She has siblings, so she said the twins don't bother her."

"Hmm..." Jeremy hummed. "Do you think we should stop by the pizzeria to say goodbye before we leave?" He kicked his feet up on her coffee table, pointedly smirking when she frowned at the dirty smudge from his shoe. Ah, the joys of siblinghood.

"Yes," Hedy said, but added nothing. She stared at the off television with a thoughtful expression, still absently rubbing her feet as she tried to make the tingles disappear. Her other hand reached up to yank at her hair, a few strands pulling out.

"Hedy?"

"Hmm?"

"Is something wrong?"

Hedy glanced at her brother as he stared at her with a concerned expression. She hated when he asked that question. It reminded her of their age difference and how Jeremy had been her mother and father and brother all at once. "Did you ever look into the accident? Ruby and her parent's?"

"I only learned about it last week."

"That wasn't what I asked," Hedy said knowingly.

Jeremy shot her a brief glare but sighed. "I looked at the case file. That's it. I was more preoccupied by our case, but I want to go over it when I can, just for my sake, you know?"

"Did the files mention survivors?"

"The only one who survived was Ruby," Jeremy said. "That was a big part of the file."

"I mean...like surviving family," Hedy said. "From the other car."

Jeremy blinked, his eyes distant as he tried to remember. "There was a daughter. I can't remember the name. I only looked at the pictures before I had to put the file away." His eyes looked pained and Hedy looked sad, sympathetic for her brother. It had been years since she outwardly admitted it, but she adored Jeremy and always hated when he hurt.

"It's still fresh," he admitted. "It's worse than looking at the murders because there's barely anything in the files there. That makes me sick in a whole other way. But that accident...the police took so many pictures." He swallowed and stared at the tea he hadn't even sipped yet. "They checked every minor thing. Something like that involving someone I care about is a lot different from something I've spent fifteen years numbing myself to, and any other case I work that isn't personal."

"I understand," Hedy said, not hurt that he said Ruby's accident hurt more than the murders. "It was a shock."

"Why are you asking about survivors?" Jeremy asked.

Hedy hesitated, seriously debating telling Jeremy. If Ruby was keeping it to herself, she had a reason. Then again, this was Ruby. She kept a lot of things to herself-things she sometimes shouldn't.

"I answered Ruby's cell phone last night," Hedy said. She told Jeremy about the call, relaying it back to him as closely as she could to word for word.

Jeremy frowned, immediately switching to cop mode.

"It sounds like she's done this before," he mused, not liking it. This sounded awfully like a stalker but Ruby wouldn't tolerate that kind of thing.

Would she?
"Hey Hedy? You know Ruby better than I do. What's the chances of her defending herself if someone blames her for that accident?" he was getting a terrible feeling about this.

Hedy stared straight ahead as her own ill feelings churned. "She puts all her energy into making sure other people don't blame themselves when it's not their fault. But with herself, she's a hypocrite. She's not letting go of Michael getting to me."

Jeremy's eyes narrowed as he thought.

"And if we bring it up, then she'd immediately go on the defensive and argue with us until we're so mad we forget what we were asking." he sighed. He was learning how to deal with Ruby but she still walked circles around him sometimes. Hedy could handle her better, recognising what she was doing faster than he did. "She's so good at acting like she's okay...we wouldn't know something was wrong until it was too late."

A hundred worst-case scenarios was running through his head. Logically, she shouldn't have a problem if it was a stalker. She was on brilliant terms with all the cops in the area. But then again, this was Ruby...she didn't tell others when something was wrong.

"We need more information," Hedy said. She was silent as they both thought about what to do. They couldn't jump to conclusions. They weren't even sure if this really had anything to do with the accident and they didn't know why Ruby wasn't retaliating, not really.

There were footsteps coming from the stairs.

Amelia glanced into the living room on her way to the kitchen. "Oh, you're back. How was last night?" She seemed tired, despite having gotten sleep.

Whatever bug Ruby caught had hit Marcus too. Jeremy and Hedy hadn't mentioned it, but the poor kid was crying from a fever all day yesterday so Amelia had stayed at Hedy's house to take care of him.

Jeremy remembered the hell of a night and shuddered unconsciously.

"Ruby is awful when sick." he rubbed his forehead, also thinking about the information that she'd accidentally dumped on them about her previous coping methods. "Show her the picture Hedy. It pretty much explains the night."

Hedy grinned, not caring about Ruby's threat to her and Goldy and showed her phone. She laughed at Amelia's shocked look.

Amelia couldn't help the laugh. She didn't know Toby that well, but the poor robot's face told the entire story.

"Don't tell Ruby I showed you this," Hedy said.

Amelia rolled her eyes but was still smiling. "How on earth do you manage with her?"

"Practice," Hedy said.

Amelia sighed and shook her head. She pushed Jeremy and all three of them squished together on the couch, annoying Hedy as they encroached on her personal space. "What do you two look so serious about? I thought you'd be sleeping by now."

Jeremy and Hedy shared a look. They didn't think they were outwardly showing they were upset when Amelia came in.

"Something about Ruby," Hedy said.

"Not surprised."

"I'm being serious," Hedy said. "I picked up her phone while she was asleep and got cussed at by someone Jeremy thinks is a stalker."

Amelia didn't get it. "I'm sure Ruby has many people who don't particularly like her, especially rude people. She doesn't seem to be the kind to appease them daily just to avoid conflict."

"This is different," Hedy said. "Ruby doesn't let anyone disrespect or attack her. But she doesn't seem to do anything about this person."

"Is this something you should worry about? Seems invasive to concern yourself with a bully if you know Ruby will handle it."

"Says the woman who tagged along to her workplace to 'supervise'?" Jeremy snorted, immediately getting a glare.

"I wasn't supervising," Amelia insisted. "I was just...curious."

Jeremy looked far from convinced but was wise enough after years of marriage to not mention it.

"It's still...something's not right about this." He frowned as he thought over the information. "If someone made these kinds of calls to Ruby, I'd expect her to answer them, track down the signal somehow and deal with them in person. But ignoring the calls? It seems so...unlike her."

Amelia hummed. "If you're so concerned, why don't you ask her guardians about it? She lives in an orphanage right?"

Hedy blinked. Surprised it hadn't occurred to her. "What?"

"If this has happened before, then they should know shouldn't they?"

Jeremy hadn't even considered that idea. He knew of them but hadn't ever thought of trying to get information about Ruby from them.

He turned to his sister for her opinion. "What do you think?"

Hedy hesitated. "I never met them before. I have their numbers though..." She thought for a minute. "Ruby should go to school soon. Knowing her, she's still going regardless of how sick she was last night. I'll call and ask if we can stop by."

"She'll murder us if she finds out." He grimaced. But this might be their only chance to find out the truth WITHOUT something disastrous happening first.

Hedy gave him a weary half grin and dialled the number after checking what time it was.

Someone picked up.

"Uh hello hello," Hedy said, a bit nervously. She tugged at her hair a bit. "Is this Clint?"

"Yes?"

"We've never met but I'm Hedy. I work the night shift at Freddy's with Ruby?"

"Oh yes, Ruby mentioned you." Clint sounded amused. "It was quite entertaining to listen to complaints about 'the new girl trespassing on my territory' change to stories about 'my mechanic'. How can I help you Hedy?"

Hedy sputtered a bit as Jeremy snickered, mouthing "my mechanic?" at Hedy.

She slapped him on the back of his head.

"W-well, my brother, his wife, and I were wondering if you and Alice had some time today to talk about something involving Ruby. Preferably while she wasn't around to be mad at me."

"Sure. Alice and I are home all day today," he told her. "Ruby's already left for school. Did she get into trouble?" he sounded concerned at the end.

"No. I don't think so. I just don't want to jump to conclusions or risk Ruby possibly having bugged my cell phone." Hedy deadpanned that last part. "Would you mind if we came around lunchtime? We can eat beforehand. I just need some sleep before I leave the house."

"That's not a problem." There was a moment of silence. "She's not bugging people's phones again is she?" he asked with a hint of exasperation.

"I just know she's bugged our boss's phone. But that's fine. I try to keep an eye on mine, but you never know," Hedy shrugged, not surprised.

Jeremy suddenly looked very concerned and took out his phone to get to the battery casing.

"That girl…" Clint sighed. "We'll see you later, Hedy. I look forward to meeting you."

Jeremy didn't find any bug. He did, however, find a sticker under the battery that most definitely hadn't been there before. It was a cute fox face with a mischievous expression.

"Me too. Goodbye," she hung up and looked at the fox sticker, immediately laughing.

Jeremy rolled his eyes as Amelia snickered. "Great. With that out of the way, I'm taking a nap."

"Ugh. The painkillers have hit," Hedy said. "I'm sleeping right here."

"Don't blame me if Mercy jumps on your head," Amelia warned and got up to go make breakfast.

Rena was delighted someone was cooking for the house. She, Sarah, and Hedy had such varying schedules that they couldn't eat together often.

Sarah wasn't a great cook, Hedy was much worse, and Rena barely ever had time. Rena would cry when Amelia left.

By the time it was lunch, it didn't feel like either Hedy or Jeremy had slept enough. They were both used to it for different reasons and at least woke up to the smell of food.

"Aunt Edy! Aunt Edy!" Mercy's voice hit Hedy's ears. "Mommy said lunch is done!"

"All right all right. I'm coming, love," Hedy said, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she reached for her chair and Mercy ran off.

She jerked back as she opened her eyes to Rena staring at her over the back of her couch.

"I will kidnap your sister-in-law," Rena said in a strange tone of voice, her dark brown russet skin seemed to glow with joy in the darkened gloom of the living room, with its closed windows and a single lamp.

Frankly, she just looked like a creep staring at Hedy over the couch.

"...what?"

"She's an angel."

Hedy snickered. "She can cook, Rena. It's not like she cured cancer."

"This coming from someone who literally burns water regularly?"

Jeremy happened to be walking past at this point.

"Who let Hedy near the kitchen?" he asked when he heard 'burns water'.

"She was trying to make ramen noodles," Rena sighed while Hedy glared at both of them as she followed into the dining room.

Usually, they ate at the kitchen table but Amelia was having none of that.

"It was one time," Hedy said.

"Yeah. This week. Then another time last week and twice before that..." Rena said.

"All right! I get it! Shut up."

Jeremy snickered at her. "You need to learn how to cook sometime Hedy." he told her. "Without burning everything."

She promptly threw a rag in his face.

"You can't say anything Mr. Fitzgerald," Amelia scolded.

"I can cook!" he retorted as he sat down next to a still very sick looking Marcus.

Poor kid looked exhausted and like he had a headache.

Jeremy gently brushed the hair out of Marcus's face.

"Only after we got married. I had to teach you," Amelia said, pointing a spatula at him.

"But I can cook now!" he maintained. "Hedy can't."

He really wasn't winning himself any points with either his wife or his sister.

Rena kept her mouth shut at that and eyed the pile of hot eggrolls Amelia was setting on the table. She was soooo sick of microwave dinners and ramen...

Hedy glared. "I don't have time for that."

"Mommy, I'm hungry!" Mercy whined while poor sick Marcus just groaned.

Mercy's demand cut through the women glaring at Jeremy and they all sat down to eat.

It was so much better than microwave dinners...

After lunch, Jeremy and Amelia discussed whether to bring the kids with them to the orphanage or look for a babysitter last minute (unlikely).

Rena would happily skip her classes to watch the kids, but none of the others were too keen on that.

It took a while but Rena eventually convinced Hedy that she wouldn't get in trouble for skipping one or two classes.

The Fitzgeralds got into Hedy's truck after Jeremy and Amelia told their kids to behave and be nice to Ms. Rena.

Jeremy drove while Hedy gave directions.

The orphanage was a large, ordinary looking building. No random paint splatters or glitter shooting out of the mailbox. No explosions. Just a big, white house with a large, neat yard.

It wasn't exactly what they'd envisioned Ruby's home to look like since she still absently dropped glitter bombs around the pizzeria even when she wasn't actively trying to plant pranks.

The woman who answered the door gave the three of them a warm smile. "Hello, I'm Alice. I'm so glad to finally meet you Hedy. Ruby talks about you a lot." She led them into the living room. "We just put the younger kids down for their nap so it will be that rare, quiet part of the day now. Would any of you like something to drink? Clint is getting snacks."

"Just water for me, please," Hedy said.

"You wouldn't happen to have coffee would you?" Jeremy asked, despite it being after midday. He blinked. "Sorry, I'm Jeremy, Hedy's brother." He shook Alice's hand.

"I'm Amelia, Jeremy's wife. Water would be nice."

Alice passed on the drinks orders to Clint in the kitchen before sitting down with them in the living room.

"We spend the day around children," she told Jeremy in amusement. "We live off coffee. And I don't think Ruby would forgive me if we stopped stocking it."

Clint came back with the drinks and a plate of biscuits. After all the introductions finished and he sat down, he faced Hedy.

"Nice to finally meet you Hedy. We've heard everything from complaints about you to Ruby threatening to castrate the manager for not checking up on you at the hospital." He chuckled.

Hedy had been taking a sip at that moment and suddenly snorted water as she laughed.

They didn't think Ruby told them the total truth, but it was clear she told them some things.

"Glad to hear there's been a transition of sorts," she said, rubbing her nose in pain.

Alice gave Clint a look, knowing that he timed it that way.

"She's very fond of you." she smiled at Hedy. "It makes us feel much better to know she's not doing the night shift alone."

Hedy cracked a slightly embarrassed smile while trying to hide the pain and having to stop herself from saying, 'She's never alone.'

"Well, I think I got forced into a bit of a big sister role being stuck with her every night so we'll see how that turns out," she chuckled. "Now I can't escape when she's in the mood to drench me in a gallon of paint."

They gave her understanding looks.

"It happens to everyone around her," Alice told Hedy. "You're not alone in that."
"Happened last month again to me. She was testing some new gadget and decided I was an excellent test subject." Clint sighed in resignation. "She never targets Alice on purpose."

He shot her a pout. Alice just smiled and sipped her tea.

"She's a smart girl," she answered serenely. "She learnt after the first time."

Clint shuddered a bit and changed the subject. "So you said you needed to talk to us about something?"

Hedy's expression fell a bit. "Last night I picked up her cell phone while she was sleeping. I drew the short straw for waking her up. The caller was rude and said horrible things while she thought I was Ruby. Called Ruby a bitch." She lowered her voice hoping no children were in earshot. "Said Ruby should have died instead of the caller's family. Those sorts of things. I hung up but noticed that Ruby had dozens of calls from the same person, most of them ignored."

The good humour had drained away from both guardians. Alice looked pale while Clint looked livid.

Alice muttered to herself, rubbing her temples. "Not again. Ruby doesn't need this again."

"I'm not letting this happen again," Clint growled.

"What happened?" Jeremy asked stiffly, his tone serious.

Clint met Jeremy's eyes.

"You know about Ruby's parents right? The accident?" he asked after getting his temper back under control.

"Yes," Jeremy replied as Hedy nodded and Amelia looked sad. "I... knew her dad years ago. Learning what happened was a bit of a shock."

The pair looked surprised at that.

"I'm sorry you had to find out like that." Alice gave him a sad smile.

"Well, Ruby was the only survivor from both cars. However, the other family had a daughter who wasn't travelling with them that day. She..." Clint sighed. "She blames Ruby for surviving when she lost her parents and baby brother. Ruby already has survivor's guilt. That just made everything worse. We called the police when it happened the first time, she was stalking Ruby and bothering her as often as possible. The girl even attacked Ruby once. We got a restraining order against her but she keeps getting Ruby's number somehow after we change it. It's been a couple of years since she did this, we were hoping she finally stopped."

Amelia glanced at her husband and sister-in-law as they shifted.

Jeremy was wearing the serious expression he wore when dealing with criminals while she hadn't seen Hedy angry like this before.

"And Ruby never retaliated?" Hedy asked, her voice very soft and supposedly calm but they could tell the news upset her.

It was sad what that girl went through and that garnered a little sympathy, but she couldn't take it out on Ruby like that. It was cruel and she had no excuse.

Alice sighed. "Ruby will defend others to her last breath but she rarely stands up for herself in situations like this. Sometimes I think she still blames herself even though she's told us she doesn't..."

"I'll never forget it. She just stood there taking that girl's abuse. All she'd tell us is that she understands what she's going through. She didn't press charges for the attack." Clint looked angry just remembering it.

"Did that girl actually touch her?" Jeremy looked a bit surprised. He understood they said 'attack' but he had hoped it was just verbal.

Clint nodded. "Ruby needed to go to the hospital for stitches. She had a pocketknife when she attacked Ruby."

"What?" Hedy hissed as her fingernails dug into her new chair's armrest.

Jeremy looked shocked, and Amelia was very worried.

"And no one arrested that girl?" Jeremy clarified, barely keeping his voice even.

Alice sighed. "Ruby was insistent that we not press charges. She got very upset if we brought it up so we went with the restraining order."

"She had just started getting better. We were trying to avoid anything that could set her back," Clint explained.

Hedy leaned back and stared blankly at a bit of wall above Alice's head.

"Is there anything I can do?" she said with an odd tone of voice. Frankly, she wanted to track down that girl. What she would do afterward, she didn't know, but she was feeling a bit unnervingly protective over the highly out of character Ruby at the moment. Something told her she shouldn't tell Foxy about this.

Alice and Clint glanced at each other.

"Can you keep an eye on her?" Alice asked softly. "We don't want her to end up in the hospital because of that girl again."

"Normally we don't worry about her getting hurt by others. She's more than capable of protecting herself. She just...chooses not to when it comes to Sally. She refuses to explain why and wouldn't even tell her therapist," Clint added.

Jeremy filed the name away to think about later and glanced at Hedy as she stifled a sleep-deprived yawn, even as she continued to glare at the wall as if it caused all this awfulness. He saw a chilly light in Hedy eyes he hadn't seen in a long time, not since she was younger.

"I'm actually a detective. I'll see what I can do without upsetting Ruby and Hedy can watch out for this Sally at their work."

They both looked relieved at that.

"Thank you." Alice gave a shaky smile. "We worry about her so much but she never reacts well to it being voiced. I'm sure you've discovered that by now."

Amelia couldn't help the slight groan that escaped and it distracted Hedy from her thoughts enough for her to crack a small smile at her sister-in-law.

Alice gave Amelia a sympathetic smile.

"Caring for Ruby is like walking a tightrope. It takes a while to learn."

Amelia sighed. "I'm getting that."

Hedy chuckled. "Thank you for explaining all that to us. We should probably get going. I'm hoping to catch up on sleep before work tonight. Not often I get the chance."

Clint laughed. "I understand. Ruby spends most of her time not at school or on chores, on the couch or in her room napping."

Alice looked just as amused. "She's definitely been happier since starting that job though."

Hedy smiled, making an internal promise to never tell this lovely woman what she and Ruby had gone through for that happiness.

"Feel free to come by anytime," Alice told Hedy. "Ruby's friends are always welcome here."

"Thanks. It was nice to meet you. I'm glad Ruby has a wonderful home to go to," Hedy said as she, Jeremy, and Amelia got up and made their way to the front door, Jeremy snagging another biscuit as he went.

Amelia rolled her eyes but took one too.

"Oh good, I'm glad Clint picked the non-exploding biscuits this time." Alice commented cheerfully.

Clint whined next to her. "It was once Alice. Ruby put her exploding batch in the cupboard by accident."

Jeremy paused and looked down at the treat in his hand in concern as Hedy cracked up.

He knew there was an odd reason Hedy hadn't touched them.

Alice giggled. "She's usually careful about where she stores it but there is a reason not a single kid in this house tries to steal cookies from the kitchen."

She took one biscuit and bit into it calmly.

"Her treats are almost worth the risk though."

Jeremy cautiously took a bite and shot Hedy a look.

"You should ask Ruby to teach you how to cook."

Hedy looked terrified at the idea. "You're funny. Thank you both."

"Goodbye," Amelia said. "It was very nice to meet you."

Jeremy nodded and smiled around the cookie in his mouth as they headed back to the truck.

Alice and Clint waved goodbye before heading back inside to take care of the children who were sure to wake up soon.

Jeremy had Hedy and Amelia drop him off at the police station, saying he could get a ride back from an officer.

Hedy and Amelia headed back to the house where Hedy lay in bed staring at the ceiling while she turned the recent information around in her head. She tried to sleep while Mercy and Marcus occasionally came in to bother their aunt.

The sun through her window stretched long shadows and eventually, she realized it was late afternoon and she hadn't even closed her eyes.

Why not visit the pizzeria? Mercy and Marcus might like that and she might have time to ask Freddy or Bonnie if they had noticed Ruby's behaviour. Or Goldy. The ghost bear was most likely to have caught something, even if she hadn't known to look out for it.

Author's Notes

Hope you enjoyed and the next chapter will be up next Monday.