Paying the Price

by Maria Quick

  ‘Then, why was she at a sports bar?’ George asked. Izzy turned on him and snarled.

  ‘I don’t know!’

  ‘Alright. Sorry for asking,’ he mumbled, stricken. I doubted he’d be asking anything else.

  ‘Leesha?’ I sighed, taking up the mantle.

  ‘What?’

  ‘Why was your presumably sober mom at a bar?’

  ‘I don’t know, does it matter? Maybe she saw me through the window or something.’

  I don’t like it when lucies don’t know something. Usually, that means they’re lying, or I’ll end up lying. Since it appeared that I’d be getting that answer a lot, I let it go for now.

  ‘Okay, moving on. You had the date- who with, by the way?’

  ‘Andy.’

  ‘Andy who? I don’t know your friends. How old is he? Where can I find him?’ I groaned. I could feel my cells starting to rapidly age as I spoke. What was I, a miracle worker?

  ‘Why do you need to know?’ she barked.

  ‘Because he could be a witness and at the very least, he can validate your story.’

  ‘You don’t believe me?’ she asked, offended.

  ‘As a general rule of thumb, no, I do not believe you guys. George can back me up.’

  Surprisingly, he did. I think he was still shook up by Izzy’s random attack.

  ‘Yeah, she has a point. I’ve seen her make a fool of herself because lucies didn’t tell her the full story.’

  Thanks, I think?

  ‘Who’s Lucy?’

  Oh dang, here we go.

  ‘I call you guys lucies. Short for translucent people.’

  Leesha stared at me.

  ‘Moving on,’ I said. ‘Your mom came into the bar. What happened next?’

  ‘We had a huge argument that I do not want to get into right now,’ Leesha stated, adding yet another thing to the list of stuff she didn’t want to impart.

  You know, this attitude from lucies really cheeses me off. I’m supposed to be helping her, and I quite honestly could care less about her, dead or alive. Yet, I’m being treated like a torturer or something. I’m not a damn mind reader.

  ‘Great. Just like everything else you’ve not told me. What exactly do you want me to do here? Do you want me to catch your killer or not?’ I asked bluntly.

  Her jaw set, she looked about ready to punch me. She couldn’t hurt me no matter how hard she flailed, but I tensed anyway.

  ‘What kind of question is that?’

  ‘A valid one. If you’re not helping me, why should I help you?’

  Her nostrils flared. Boy, I’d really peed her off. Izzy, sensing blood, silently stomped over and joined her. Remembering her earlier rage, George unconsciously stepped back, closer to me. Okay, that was unprecedented. He was actually on my side for once. Granted, it was because Izzy was a worse person than me, but still.

  ‘Believe me, Andy and my mom have nothing to do with it. Trust me,’ Leesha implored, trying to soften the atmosphere.

  Uh, nope.

  ‘I do,’ I smiled. George narrowed his eyes. ‘Okay, tell me what happened after you left Leo’s.’

  ‘I was walking home. Well, charging. I was mad at my mom. And upset. She embarrassed me in front of Andy! It was the single most humiliating experience of my life. I felt like I wanted to die, I really did. And then-’ she gulped, risking a glance at Izzy. Like a dog on a bone, the dead girl jumped.

  ‘David happened! I was following him, like I’ve done for the past thirty years,’ she hissed, shooting a glare my way. ‘I saw him follow her down an alley.’

  ‘Why the hell were you walking down an alley at night, alone?’ I sighed. How stupid have you gotta be?

  ‘What are you, my mother?’ Leesha frowned. ‘Look, I know, it was stupid. But I wasn’t really thinking. I was super pissed. Then, I heard a noise behind me. And even more stupidly, I stopped.’

  Stopped talking too, but I kinda got the gist. In case I’d left my brain to pickle in a jar somewhere, Izzy decided to be super helpful and relive Leesha’s last moments for her. With relish.

  ‘David came out of nowhere. He was so calm. I’d been watching him the whole time, and I knew what he was about to do. He’d spotted her as she’d left the bar, and he’d kept her in his sights. He had one hand in his pocket the entire time, stroking the pantyhose.’

  ‘Is that a euphemism?’ George spluttered, grossed out. He risked a glance at his own pantyhose.

  ‘No, idiot. It’s what he used to kill me. My own pantyhose,’ she grumbled, folding her arms. ‘They were beautiful. I’d been making out with Chuck in his car and I’d taken them off, and he’d scratched them and they tore. I’d saved up for months for them. I was furious with him. I broke up with him right then and only forgave him, like, two years later.’

  The three of us from this era gave her the weirdest looks. George sought me out.

  ‘Uh, we are talking about those sheer sock thingies that cost like, five bucks, right?’

  ‘Sadly, yes. She’s just unhinged.’

  Izzy stretched her hands out to strangle me, which was kind of an insult, when you think about it.

  ‘So, Izzy. You were talking about someone other than yourself, before you talked about you again. Can we get back to Leesha? She’s more important right now.’

  You know how some communities collect rainwater for energy? Wouldn’t it be great if you could do that with people’s steaming rage? Izzy could power the whole world.

  ‘This isn’t over,’ she seethed. Noted. ‘David has kept my pantyhose in his pocket ever since he killed me. He killed Leesha here the same way he killed me, and with the same pantyhose. He did it without hesitation. You know what that means?’

  It was a Saturday night and he was worried someone would catch him at it?

  ‘It means he’s no stranger to it,’ she said before I could butt in with my stupid logic and rationalizations.

  ‘Yes, he killed you,’ I gently reminded her. Whoops, out come her talons again.

  ‘I haven’t spent every waking moment following him, you know. I’ve watched my family and Chuck. I watched my friends, my funeral, my memorials-’

  ‘Did you see a point at any of them?’ I groaned.

  ‘My point is, I don’t think we’re his only victims,’ she said with a flourish.

  7

  Let me get this straight. In ’85, after being bullied for his entire high school life, David finally flips and kills the one person who’s made his life a living hell. So far, so good. Izzy then spends the next thirty years, on and off, practically stalking him, except for the odd few times she doesn’t. In those times, she suspects that he got up to his old tricks and murdered more people, all when she wasn’t there to see him.

  Man, talk about bad luck.

  ‘Okay, that would be majorly coincidental.’

  ‘So?’ she retorted.

  ‘So, it’s borderline impossible. Definitely improbable.’

  Even Leesha was struggling to believe it, and she was the latest victim. And the second, I was sure.

  ‘Then, why did he keep stroking the pantyhose in his pocket-’

  ‘Can you stop saying that?’ George squirmed. She glared at him.

  ‘Do you think this is funny?’

  ‘No, I think it’s creepy and weird,’ he shuddered. Leesha and I grumbled in agreement.

  ‘Look, he kept them all these years. Doesn’t that mean he’s a freak?’ Izzy asked, which actually, I guess it did a little.

  ‘How do you even know they’re the same ones?’ George screeched. Having heard the answer to this already, I let Izzy tell him exactly why. More fun that way.

  ‘Because I had them specially made. My name’s embroidered on the soles.’

  Okay, that’s weird, right? George couldn’t look more bewildered if he’d tried. Frankly, I was feeling the same. Why did no normal people ever get killed?

  ‘I’m just gonna move right on past all this pantyhose talk,’ I decided. ‘Do you kn
ow that he’s killed before or are you pulling this out of your ass?’

  ‘No, I don’t know. I never know what he’s thinking. He could’ve killed a million times when I wasn’t looking.’

  Well, that’s believable.

  ‘How do you know he’s not killing right now?’ I half-joked.

  ‘I don’t. Which is why I’m going to follow him again. You’re going to dig into his background and find out all the dirt you can. You’re going to look at missing girl cases and Jane Does who’ve been strangled. You’re gonna look at Leesha’s case and find evidence against David, cos the cops don’t have a clue. And finally, you’re gonna prove that David’s a killer and have him arrested, or better yet: killed.’

  ‘Do I get bathroom and snack breaks?’ I asked dryly.

  She looked at my stomach and grimaced.

  ‘Can you even fit any more food in there?’

  Little dramatic. But sure, I could totally single-handedly do all that. Pretty sure cops just let any old person look at confidential case files and they definitely won’t find me suspicious at all.

  ‘I don’t think you know how difficult all of that is going to be,’ I started, but she shook her head at me.

  ‘Don’t care. You’re doing it. You owe me this, and Leesha and his countless other victims. How would you feel if you’d been strangled to death?’

  ‘Oh, on top of the world. Sounds like fun.’

  ‘You’re doing it,’ she repeated sharply. ‘Before he kills again.’

  I was just about convinced he’d killed a second time. Nevertheless, I dutifully nodded and pretended I was somewhat afraid of her, instead of mildly inconvenienced.

  ‘Good. And you,’ she suddenly snarled at Leesha, causing her to jump, ‘watch her. Make sure she finds something. I am counting on you to end this once and for all.’

  And with that, she stormed out of the room so angrily, I was actually expecting to hear a door slam somewhere in the house. We waited awkwardly for a couple minutes until we were sure she’d left. Then, George and I stared at Leesha.

  Cue more awkwardness.

  ‘Um,’ I began, then didn’t really know what to add.

  ‘I have a question which may or may not be important,’ George coughed.

  We looked at him.

  ‘Why did David return her pantyhose? She supposedly ruined his life.’

  ‘Because he was a loser. And she’d messed up his psyche so much that he still wanted her to accept him, in a weird way. I guess it was like an abusive relationship. The more she humiliated him, the more he wanted her to like him. And then, after he went to her house the next day and she laughed at him once more, he finally snapped and killed her.’

  ‘Oh my God,’ Leesha cringed. ‘Shut up, you’re making me feel sorry for him.’

  ‘It’s the truth,’ I shrugged. ‘And I do feel sorry for him. Sorry, but I do. She said that after she’d died, he started crying and ran all the way home, even though he was massively overweight and ended up having an asthma attack.’

  ‘He has asthma?’ Leesha groaned.

  I know, keeps getting worse, doesn’t it?

  ‘Afraid so. What Izzy didn’t see was that Chuck pulled up shortly afterwards, drunk out of his mind. He was already yelling before he reached her body. Her parents heard his shouts and opened the door just as he was putting his hand on her neck to see if she was breathing. Didn’t look great for him, I can tell you. Especially since he couldn’t remember a thing after he’d sobered up.’

  ‘Poor guy.’

  ‘No, don’t feel sorry for Chuck. He hazed David as much as Izzy did. When they were showering after gym class one day, Chuck stole David’s clothes and burned them. The poor guy had to wear stuff from the lost and found. Can you imagine what eighties’ lost and found looked like?’ I shuddered.

  Seriously, if Leesha hadn’t been killed by David, I’d be totally happy to let him stay free. I’d never even met the guy, and I could be wrong about him, but he just seemed like he’d been pushed too far. A fact that Izzy herself had practically admitted.

  Frankly, I didn’t believe that there were any more victims. And if there were, I bet I could find reasons for their deaths.

  I frowned at Leesha. Either she wasn’t telling me the full truth, or-

  No, there was no “or.” She was lying about something.

  ‘So, David followed you? And strangled you, just like that?’

  ‘Yep. When I died, Izzy was there, straight off the bat. Yelling at him and me. Gave me a hell of scare.’

  ‘How did he seem?’ I asked.

  ‘Like he’d won a victory,’ she intoned, staring at my wall. ‘It was almost mechanic, like he didn’t realize he was doing it. Then, he calmly walked out the alley. Izzy took me away to talk about it, and here we are.’

  I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. The David that I knew of was a scared little boy, basically, and now I was hearing that he was some monster who was clearly a dab hand at murder? If what she was saying was right, then, maybe Izzy was right, too. David had killed before.

  Which meant the only thing that could’ve stopped him was me.

  Didn’t I feel great right about now?

  I had to think. Leesha was still motionless and George was beginning to get antsy. He could see what I was thinking, too. And he’d definitely mention it soon, if only to make sure that I was thinking about this in a human, emotional way.

  So, I needed to simply look at this logically.

  David was a possible serial killer. I have had dealings with those before, and I’ve also done research into them, because I am a weirdo. Serials kill little, and plan a lot. They tend to have a particular type, and a preferred method of killing. Think of them as very organized, very high-maintenance vanilla daters.

  Probably goes some way to explain why I don’t date.

  David only really ticks one of those boxes. He strangles with pantyhose. But the girls? Izzy and Leesha are different in every which way. Izzy is a white, brash, kinda trailer trash bitch. Leesha’s Black, quietly moody and I’m pretty sure she’s classier than I am. She went to private school, I know that. She had to wear a uniform. I honestly didn’t mock her for that.

  Okay, I lied.

  And another thing, the settings are completely different. David killed Izzy on an early morning in broad daylight at her home. He killed Leesha on a Saturday night in a suspicious alley. Nothing about this made sense.

  ‘I don’t know how to go about this, exactly. If he chose you completely at random, out of the blue without ever meeting you-’

  ‘I didn’t say that, exactly,’ she coughed.

  Oh, here we go. Please, muddy these waters just a little more.

  ‘What?’

  ‘I was at a restaurant the other day with Andy, and we were arguing a little. He stormed off. I was still mad, and then, David walked past and tripped over my bag. I just flipped. I don’t know what I said, but he kinda recoiled and then kinda... blanked out. He just walked away calmly. When I remembered it the next day, I was freaked. Then, I forgot about it until, well, he killed me.’

  Alright, making a little more sense now.

  ‘Right, so he had a reason.’

  ‘You think that’s a reason to kill someone?’ George spluttered.

  ‘I didn’t say it was a good one,’ I clarified. ‘David’s messed up, remember. And if his solution to being yelled at by a woman is to murder them, this could be a long list.’

  A very long list, I realized with growing apprehension. From what I’ve heard, he’s a mousy dude with no backbone. I’m sure plenty of women have yelled at him before.

  Which means I had my work cut out for me.

  ‘Okay, let’s get started,’ I said, fighting back tears.

  8

  First up, I needed actual facts about David. I called my lawyer friend, Ally, up in Seattle, hoping she’d find out some dirt. She didn’t answer, so I called a couple more times before begrudgingly sending a text. She was startin
g to worry me. I’d met her around two years ago, and she’d been totally enthusiastic from the start. She was a believer of absolutely anything, as long as it didn’t make sense or have any physical evidence to support it. Finding me had been a gold mine for her. Recently, though, she’s been distant. Real distant. Avoiding my calls, sounding put out when I ask for help. She used to jump at the chance. I didn’t know what was wrong with her.

  Eh, it was probably nothing.

  Since Ally was a bust, I turned to my other friend, Mickey. Ugh, that sounds so pathetic when I say it out loud. And in my head, for that matter. Two friends, and at least one of them doesn’t want to know anymore. Well, Mickey was usually reliable. I was supposed to stop by his place later anyway, after school. Oh crap, I owed him mini muffins, too. I’d have to stop by the store on the way.

  ‘What’s she doing?’ Leesha asked. ‘Is she trying to work all this out in her head?’

  ‘No, it just looks like she’s doing that. She’s probably thinking about food,’ George explained.

  Was I that transparent? Time to save face.

  ‘I’m thinking about what research I can do. Mickey’s at school right now, so he’s no help. Do you know if David has Facebook or Twitter or anything like that?’

  ‘Why the hell would I know that?’ Leesha asked, giving me a funny look.

  Good point, and it was completely lazy of me to ask, considering I could immediately find out myself. And I did, two minutes later. He had a Facebook, no Twitter or anything else I could find. He did have LinkedIn, with 0 contacts. Poor guy.

  Wait, he was a killer. I really had to stop thinking about him in that way.

  I clicked onto his Facebook, which was completely private and had no information whatsoever. He didn’t even have a picture. I wasn’t even sure if it was the right David Schaffer.

  Hell, I wasn’t even sure he existed at this point.

  ‘Okay, as far as the modern world is concerned, David doesn’t exist. I have no idea where he lives or works, and I know Izzy does, but she’s following him. And I reiterate, I don’t know where that is.’