“Every square inch of it, at least twelve feet deep. We checked the dig depth on the backhoe that Bill would’ve used. It’s a smaller one that only goes down about ten feet deep. We used a bigger piece of equipment that went another two feet just to make sure. Kenna is not there.”
“My God,” came out on a whisper. “You’re not going to have anything to hold him on. He’s going to get away with murdering her, isn’t he?”
“Hailey, we thought for sure that Doug was going to be in there with her and he’s not. He’s on a plane bound for home. It can’t be ruled out that Kenna didn’t sneak out in the middle of the night to escape from Bill. She may be alive somewhere and protecting her unborn baby. Maybe this is positive news.”
“I guess so. I mean, I certainly hope so. But it just doesn’t feel right.”
“I know. Look, we’ll put out a Missing Person Report on her and see if someone spots her. Let’s hope she turns up somewhere, safe and sound. In the meantime, I’m not giving up, but I just don’t know what else to do at this point unless we can come up with another lead.”
“I understand. Well, I do appreciate you humoring me. I’m sorry it turned out to be a waste of time.”
“No, it wasn’t a waste of time. It was a good lead. We both know that it was weird that Bill went down to Hillsboro to get his mom and sister to lie for him. And for that reason alone, I’m not giving up until I find Kenna, one way or the other.” He paused. “But until then, Bill will be released at that court hearing tomorrow. And until we can find something to hang on him, he’s going to be a free man. This means you need to be watching yourself. Don’t be at that apartment anymore.”
“I’m here right now, turning in the key. As soon as we’re off the phone, I’ll be out of here for good.”
“Well, I’ll let you go then so you can wrap things up. I’ll keep you informed about Bill’s release.”
“Thank you. Goodbye.”
It took me a moment to digest the news. I couldn’t believe Kenna wasn’t underneath that concrete. Was it possible that she truly had run away in the middle of the night? Maybe I had this all wrong after all. But it just seemed so stupid on Bill’s part to have gone down to Hillsboro to get his mom and sister to lie for him. He knew I was the only one who cared about Kenna, and he knew I was scared to death of him. All he would’ve needed to do was get in my face and tell me that Kenna left in the middle of the night. And that would’ve been that. Yes, I would’ve most likely reported it to the police. But what of it? His story about Kenna leaving him was far more reasonable than beating up his sister and having her pose as Kenna. Especially considering the possibility I might’ve gone to Hillsboro on my own, which I had contemplated. Had I shown up on his mother’s doorstep, his story wouldn’t have flown for one minute because I would’ve immediately realized his sister wasn’t Kenna. And why involve his mother and sister to that degree? When he asked them to lie for him, they must’ve smelled a rat. Otherwise, his sister wouldn’t have balked, and he wouldn’t have needed to beat her into submission. And his poor mother was so upset, she had to be taken to the hospital. Something wasn’t right about that trip to Hillsboro. There had to be an alternative reason he went down there. But what was it?
Lost in thought, I absent mindedly collected the box and retraced my steps through the kitchen, the dining, and back into the living room. That was when I noticed a dark figure hovering inside my doorway.
“Bill,” I gasped, realizing there was absolutely no place to run.
Chapter Forty-Three
Hailey
“Surprise, surprise, surprise,” he chanted. “Imagine the two of us running into each other.” He looked around the empty apartment. “Looks like you took my warning seriously and moved outta here.”
“You’re … you’re … you’re supposed to be in jail,” I stammered. My trembling hands were barely able to hang onto the box. “I … I thought your court hearing wasn’t until in the morning.”
“Cancellation, sweetheart. I got moved up. And considering my wife simply up and left me, there wasn’t a single, solitary thing to hold me on.” He smiled diabolically at me. “So, here I am.” He held his hands out in a ta-da motion. “You know what?” he continued.
I just stared at him and blinked.
He chuckled at my inability to speak a single word. “Since the cats got your tongue, I’ll spare you the guessing game and tell you that you were right. These walls are paper-thin. You see, I was next door listening to your phone conversation with that detective. I can just imagine how upset Seth Richland and my boss are gonna be after all that cement was dug up for nothing. Now it’s going to have to be replaced.” He made a tsking noise. “They need to make you pay to have it put back.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have lied and told the police you took your wife down to Hillsboro. Now everyone knows she’s missing.”
He shook his head at me. “No, no, she’s not missing. She up and left me in the middle of the night. Took her girly pink suitcase and left me while I was sound asleep. I didn’t know she was gone until I woke up before the crack of dawn to go do that cement pour with my good friend who had an early-morning flight out of town. That’s when I realized Kenna had sneaked out without so much as a goodbye note.”
Pink suitcase. The moment he said it, I thought of the pink suitcase I had spotted in the dumpster. There wasn’t a bit of doubt left in my mind. It was Kenna’s. She didn’t leave in the middle of the night. He killed her and tossed the suitcase into the bin to make it appear she’d left on her own free will. He’d even made a big deal out of it to the detective, pointing out the spot where the suitcase once was.
But if her body wasn’t under that cement, where was it?
“You’re right, Kenna left you and I had it all wrong. Sorry about that. Now I need to go. Let me by,” I said, taking a bold step toward him.
“It’s about time you realized how wrong you were. But even so, you don’t sound too convincing on that apology. I think you need to put forth a greater effort.”
My life depended on getting out of here. I’d grovel if need be. “Bill, I am sincerely sorry for any trouble I’ve caused you. I was wrong about everything. I should’ve never called the cops and I genuinely apologize for anything bad I’ve said about you.”
“Now see, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” He put on a satisfied smirk. “Still, to be honest with you, I sure would like to pulverize your face for all the trouble you’ve caused me.”
“Now, Bill, considering you’ve just beat murder charges filed against you, and you’ve been released from jail, don’t you think it’d be stupid to harm me in any way? If you do anything to me, I’ll file charges against you,” I pointed out in a shaky voice. “I’ve already moved from here. You’ll never see me again. Why don’t we just go our separate ways?”
He ran a hand through his slicked back hair, appearing to contemplate my suggestion and I held out for hope. “Yeah, I can see your point,” he reasoned after a few interminable minutes. Another extended length of time slowly ticked by while I waited breathlessly, wishing he’d step aside and let me leave. “I suppose this is one of those situations where all’s well, that ends well. Wouldn’t you say that all has ended well?”
“Yes, it’s ended well,” I agreed with a slight nod of my head. Ended well. Ended in a well? A cog in my brain slipped into place and my memory flashed to that wishing well in the neighbor’s yard next door to his mother’s house. For certain, Bill hadn’t taken Kenna to stay with his mother and sister because she was sick. And if he’d only wanted them to cover for him, he could’ve simply called them on the phone. There had to be a reason he traveled all the way down to Hillsboro. The Hillsboro police had searched every square inch of his mother’s property. But they hadn’t looked anywhere next door. Was it possible he dumped Kenna’s body down that well? It had to be. I felt positive about it.
“Well,” I said. In my head the word came out casually, but my face must’ve told a different story, or possibly
he was feeling guilty and took it as an accusation.
“What did you say?” he growled, narrowing his dark eyes at me.
“Nothing, just well, I need to be going.” I took another step in his direction.
He squared his shoulders and became one big, muscled, menacing man. “I don’t think so. You’re not going anywhere.”
“What do you mean? I apologized to you, Bill. Please, just let me pass on by.”
“No, I can tell your brain is churning away. You’ve figured out something. Your voice gave you away, and I can see it all over your face. You must be a terrible poker player.”
More than likely, I was showing all my cards. My hands were shaking, and my legs were weakening, and beads of sweat were breaking out across my forehead. “What do you mean?” I asked, trying to act innocent, but I was failing miserably.
“Too bad for you because it looks like if I’m in for a penny, I might as well be in for a pound. Another five minutes and you would’ve been out of here.” He chuckled. “But as it turns out, you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Damn the luck.” He took a step toward me. “I’ve been wanting to kill you for a while now anyway. And I might as well do it, seeing as you’ve put all the puzzle pieces together and will surely have that detective check out the well. Now, won’t you?”
“Gladys knows I’m in here. I’ve just given my move-out notice and she’s writing me a refund check as we speak. When I don’t come down to collect it, she’ll come back up to check on me.”
“Well, thanks for the warning,” he said. Using his foot, he kicked the door closed and then without ever taking his eyes away from me, he flipped the deadbolt and the latch. “Privacy,” he said with a sinister grin.
At that moment, my phone rang. Backing away and reaching into my purse, I tried desperately to get to it. The attempt was futile. In the split of a second, Bill was suddenly within striking distance. His menacing presence looming exceptionally large before me.
“So, you did kill Kenna and throw her down that well,” I said, backing a few steps away.
“Don’t act stupid. We both know you’ve already put it together. But since you’re such a nosy neighbor, I’ll tell you what happened. Then I’ll kill you the same way I killed Kenna.” He chuckled, noting the fear that had taken over my entire body. I was shaking from head to toe, and I was having trouble breathing. “Once Kenna told me we were going to have a squalling brat, I had to get rid of her. I waited until she was sound asleep. Then I choked the life out of her. She thrashed once and the headboard banged like hell against the wall. But she was over soon enough.”
It must’ve been their headboard hitting against my wall that woke me, I deduced.
“Then what, you carried her out in the middle of the night?” I was backing away, hoping to get enough distance to run around him, or even stall for Gladys to return.
“Yes. I couldn’t very well leave her in the apartment to stink up the place, could I? I rolled her in a tarp and carried her out to my truck. Then I went to help my good friend Dozer pour that slab. The timing was perfect, because it gave me an excuse to be leaving in the dead of night. His girlfriend’s grandmother had a stroke or something. Anyway, he wanted to take her up to see her granny, but he wanted to have the slab poured before he left. We were texting back and forth, trying to get a game plan. Once he knew the flight arrangements, we came up with the idea to go over in the early-morning hours and get the pour done. My plan was to get there ahead of him and use the backhoe to dig a hole at the northern end of the forms and toss Kenna in. I wanted to have the hole covered in and the dirt smoothed out before Dozer showed up. The cement mixers and everything were already on-location. Everything was all set to go in the morning anyway. Dozer just moved up the time clock earlier than anyone expected. Sadly though, Dozer beat me to the site, and I couldn’t very well haul Kenna’s body over in front of him and say I needed to dig a hole. So, I had to come up with Plan B, which was to dispose of her down that well. No one would’ve ever had a clue if you’d kept your nose out of everything.”
For every step I’d taken away from him, he had reciprocated with an advancement. At this point, I had managed to get myself up against the living room wall and was hoping Glady would hurry up and come to check on me.
“Bill, think about it, you’ll only make things worse by including me. I can’t turn up missing without someone breathing down your neck. My mother knows I’m here, Gladys knows I’m here, and so does that detective. It’d be easy to piece it together that you’re involved.”
“Yeah, but if I let you live, you’ll tell them where Kenna’s body is. Don’t you see, they’ll be coming for me anyway at that point. It seems I’ve got nothing to lose by killing you. And considering you’re the reason I’m in this situation to begin with, killing you would be like the cherry on top. And I like cherries.”
“No, I won’t say anything. I’ll keep my mouth shut. Really, I will. I have a son to think about. You can trust me. Please, just let me go.”
He chuckled. “You can’t keep your nose out of anyone’s business. If I let you live, the first words out of your mouth will be about that well. You’re gonna have to die.”
Using the box as a shield between us, I made a sudden move sideways, hoping to make a break for it. His eyes were trained on mine, and he was far too close.
“I don’t think so,” he growled. In one swift punch to my face, he knocked me to the floor. My purse scattered one way and the contents of the box went the other. After landing flat on my back, I flipped over and tried to crawl away.
“Help! Help!” I screamed loudly at the top of my lungs. But considering most everyone was down in the rec room, including Mable Henderson, the closest neighbor, it was doubtful anyone would hear me, especially over the loud banging of the piano. And too, never once had a neighbor came to the aid of Kenna and, like Shelia had said, people minded their own business. Why would I be any different? My only hope was for Gladys to come back to see what my delay was.
Fighting for my life against a wannabe wrestler who was bulked up beyond belief, I kicked as hard as I could with my two-inch blocked heel. The blow landed him right in the nuts and he dropped to the ground on his knees, reeling in pain.
With a tiny window of opportunity, I scurried on all fours to where my phone lay, having spilled from my purse. Desperately I tried to quickly punch 9-1-1 into the keypad.
“Oh no you don’t,” he yelled, knocking the phone from my hand and sending it flying clear across the room.
From my position on the floor, I tried once again to kick him. But this time, he grabbed hold of my foot and ripped my shoe off and threw it against the wall with a resounding thud. Then he did the same with the second one.
“Help! Anyone, please help me!” I shrieked, trying to scramble away from him.
He dropped down on the floor and straddled my torso. “Shut up!” he demanded, knocking me across the face with his fist. Blood gushed from my nose and had me seeing white stars.
I wrenched my body sideways and sunk my teeth into his arm, biting into his flesh.
“You damn bitch,” he bellowed, knocking me a third time across the face. This time, I tasted blood against my gums and felt the burning liquid filling my mouth.
I did everything I could possibly think of. Kicking, squirming, digging my nails into his skin. I tried gouging his eyes, but he wasn’t letting any of that happen. He used his entire bodyweight to pin me to the floor and he had both of my wrists in a firm grip, using only one of his monstrous hands.
“If you’d just kept your nose out of my business, no one would’ve ever been the wiser,” he snarled, throwing another punch across my face with his free hand, letting me know exactly what poor Kenna had repeatedly endured.
“Please don’t do this, Bill,” I begged.
“What? Kill you? You know I’m going to.”
Then his large hands encircled my throat, and he began choking the life out of me. Panic set in like it never
had before. Everything flashed before me. Ryan. Adam. My parents. More white stars.
Focusing on my little boy who needed his mother, I fought hard to free myself, refusing to let Bill get the best of me. My limbs flailed about, twisting and contorting, hoping to fight him off. Searching desperately for anything that might help me, my peripheral vision surveyed the scattered contents of the box. It was mostly Adam’s multi-colored plastic plates, plastic sippy cups and plastic silverware. Mixed in, I spotted two forks, two spoons, two butter knives, a potato peeler, one spatula … and thank you Jesus, one butcher knife.
With his hands occupied around my neck, my arms and legs continued hitting and kicking. With renewed hope, I battled for my life, slapping and throwing punches at him while he strangled the life out of me. Digging my bare feet into the carpet, I pushed with all my might, drawing myself along with the bulk of his weight, across the floor, one inch at a time closer to the weapon.
All the while, I was gasping for any tiny breath of air. My lungs and eyeballs felt like they were going to explode. With his hands clasped tightly around my neck, my hands became my best weapon to defend myself. With everything I had, I gouged my fingers into his eyes.
“Shit!” he screamed, momentarily letting go of me to throw his hands over his eyes. “Damn you,” he roared.
While he was temporarily blinded, I flipped over and hustled across the carpet, getting rugburns on my knees in the process. My hand had almost reached the knife when he pounced over the top of me. He yanked me over on my back, knocked me across the face again, then settled his weight back on me and threw his hands around my throat once again. His eyes must’ve still been watering because he didn’t spot the knife I was going for.
Stretching my fingertips, I tried desperately to get my hand on the handle. Choking for air, I refused to give up. My middle finger finally contacted with the butt. But when I tried dragging it to me, it popped up and landed a little further away. Kicking and squirming, I continued my desperate fight for life, trying my darndest to get to the weapon.
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