His neighbor, the old woman next door, had brought him soup every other day for three weeks until the swelling went down and the lacerations scarred over. Each time, she clucked at his carelessness in biking without a helmet that dark October night. She insisted that she would bring her daughter by when he was healed up, so they could meet.
Each time the knock at the door came, he wondered if he would open it to find someone in uniform standing on his porch.
But it was always Janet. And with each passing day, each passing week, he feels more sure that he won’t.
Caroline Tolley of Channel Two kept him company while he healed. The news coverage of the second “rash of murders” had been even better than the first. There was endless speculation and endless stories. There had even been an Investigation Discovery reenactment.
He refreshes the eBay listing again.
Still two hundred and ten.
He frowns, then opens a new tab. Craigslist: Gigs.
He’s been cooped up inside his apartment for four weeks now.
Outside the window, in the entryway to the apartment complex, he can see that management has already strung a pathetic-looking straggle of multicolored Christmas lights.
He quickly scans the Craigslist listings, looking for signs that a job will be under-the-table pay.
After opening two promising leads in a new browser, he allows himself the indulgence of typing “The Thicket” into his browser.
He won’t go back. He knows that.
Not there, anyway.
He feels a pang of impatience as the memories make his scars pulse hot.
Then he opens another anonymous browser and types “best haunted houses” into the search bar.
63,700,000 results.
It’s too late this year.
But next year, they’ll open again.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A heartfelt thank-you to Jeanne Allen of Copyrank Composition for the many brainstorming sessions and the invaluable editing expertise.
Another big thank-you to Karen and Georgia of the My Favorite Murder podcast. Every episode feels like a “Take back the night” rally as you call out the creeps and guide the focus back to the survivors and victims who deserve a voice. SSDGM to all my murderinos.
And thank you to Nate, for being my first advance-reader, my home, and my best friend.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Noelle’s two great passions are murder and horses (separately, never together).
Noelle is a boy-mom to Luke and Max, and a cat-mom to Michelle. When she’s willing to wear pants (which is less often than she aspires to wear them), she can be found in mom jeans. Her husband Nate is the best person she knows.
The Thicket Page 21