The police didn't believe him.
Why would they? Rhys's story made no sense. A ghost killed his fiancé? A hallucination he'd been seeing since childhood turned solid and murdered someone?
He sounded insane.
Maybe I am insane, Rhys thought, sitting in the cold interrogation room at 4 AM, wrapped in a blanket that smelled like industrial detergent. Maybe none of this is real.
But Kai's body had been real. The blood had been real.
The message on the wall had been real.
"Mr. Castor," Detective Rodriguez said, not unkindly. She was a tired-looking woman in her forties, with gray streaking her dark hair. "I need you to walk me through this one more time."
"I already told you—"
"I know. But I need to hear it again."
Rhys closed his eyes. "I woke up at 2:47. Felt like something was wrong. Went to check on Kai. The door was open. The lights were flickering. I found him... like that."
"And you saw someone?"
"Someone," Rhys repeated bitterly. "Pryce. I saw Pryce."
"Pryce...?"
"The ghost. The one I've been seeing since I was five." Rhys looked up at her. "I know how it sounds. I know. But he was there. Solid. Real. Covered in blood."
Rodriguez exchanged a glance with her partner, Detective Chen. Chen looked skeptical.
"Mr. Castor," Rodriguez continued carefully, "our crime scene team found no evidence of forced entry. No footprints in the blood except yours. No fingerprints except yours and the victim's. The security camera in the hallway shows you entering the apartment at 11 PM and never leaving. No one else entered or left."
"Because he's a ghost—"
"And the message on the wall..." Chen interrupted, "forensic analysis shows it was written with the victim's blood, using..." He consulted his notes. "...a human hand. Your hand, specifically. Your fingerprints are in the blood."
Rhys's stomach dropped. "What? No. No, I didn't—I didn't touch the wall—"
"There are also defense wounds on Mr. Morrison's body consistent with him fighting off an attacker. We found skin cells under his fingernails. They're being tested now, but given that you two were intimate partners..."
"You think they'll be mine," Rhys finished numbly.
"Mr. Castor." Rodriguez leaned forward. "Is it possible you don't remember what happened? That there's a gap in your memory? Sometimes, with trauma—"
"I didn't kill him!" Rhys surged to his feet, the blanket falling. "I loved him! We were getting married today—" His voice cracked. "Today was supposed to be our wedding day—"
"Sit down, Mr. Castor."
"I'm telling you the truth! Pryce killed him! He's been threatening me for weeks, saying he wouldn't let the wedding happen, saying Kai was trying to 'steal me'—"
"This Pryce," Chen said flatly. "The one you've been seeing since childhood. The one your medical records indicate you've been hospitalized for—"
"That was different—"
"—multiple times. The one your psychiatrist diagnosed as a 'persistent hallucinatory presence consistent with trauma-based dissociative disorder'—"
"He's real!" Rhys shouted.
The room went silent.
Rodriguez and Chen looked at each other again. Making a decision.
"Mr. Castor," Rodriguez said gently. "We're going to have you evaluated by a psychiatric professional. And I'm afraid, given the circumstances, you'll need to remain in custody until—"
"You're arresting me."
"Protective custody," Rodriguez corrected. "For your own safety and the safety of others."
"I didn't kill him," Rhys whispered. But even to his own ears, it sounded weak.
Desperate.
How do you prove a ghost is real?
"It's part 1 of chapter 2"
To be continued..