Zelman's head bobbed as he sat up when the two young women in skimpy bathing suits approached him in his chair.
Kevin waited for them to say the scripted dialogue Kaley gave them. He hoped it worked. He took a quick glance up the hill and saw the back of the younger wife's head. He turned back to the seduction scene to hear the lines.
"Are you man enough for a dare?" Zoey asked.
"I'm man enough for anything you got, sweetheart," Zelman said before he went into an unsettling chuckle.
Kevin thought his simple plan his older sister made fun of had more likelihood of success than he ever expected. Two young beautiful women coming out of the water, with most of their wet bodies showing, and both showing an interest in doing something dirty with a dirty old man. It helped that the old asshole was drunk, but that help probably wasn't needed. It didn't matter if it made sense. His spur of the moment plan was sensual and sexual enough to suck the most logical man in.
Kami stepped so her face was close to Zelman. "I dared my girl to swim with me and sleep with the first man we found." She put her seductive look on her face. "You're the man."
It was both intriguing and repelling for Kevin to see that side of his sister. He felt her seductive power seducing the repugnant man. He knew she had that power for a while. He never saw it this close up and personal before. Maybe he saw it but didn't identify it because he wasn't good at matching actions to emotions. Maybe he was willfully blind to his sister's sexuality because that was how a brother had to see his sister. He cringed when he saw the old drunk stand, reach, and put his hammy hands on his sister's waist. He tensed to be prepared for action. The action he wanted to take was jumping up, running over, and beating the crap out of the man. Not for what the man did to his father. For doing what any man would do in that situation. Lusting for his sister. The dog sensed his tension, but when he sensed that and gave a comforting pat, the dog licked his hand and relaxed.
"If you're man enough," Zoey said.
Zelman craned his short neck back to take a look back at his house and be on the lookout for his wife. When he saw she was still on the phone, he turned and raised a wavering finger. "Let's do it on the boat."
"Let's do it on the boat," Kami hooked her arm in Zelman's and got him into a precarious walk down the hill.
Zoey had the hypodermic out, but the erratic walk the heavy man was in gave her no good chance to get behind him and get her arms around him to get the deadly shot to the heart in.
Kevin saw the flaw in his plan. It was all a matter of size. He judged the weight of the man and the young women. He judged his own weight. He was taller and maybe a little stronger than the average boy his age. He had his father's genes to thank for that. He hoped to grow as tall as his father. To fill out as fitly as his father had. But there in that moment, he thought of how big Zelman was. Big around the waist. Big around the chest. Too big for either girl to get her arms around. He wasn't sure he had the strength to overpower completely and do the deed successfully. He remembered the strength he felt when he was saving his sister from her attacker in the condo. It was super human strength that felt nothing like his own strength. He thought of the man hurting his sister. He thought of him hurting his girlfriend. He made those thoughts vivid in his mind to get his mind to push his body to do more than his body should be able to do. Those thoughts got him up and running.
Zoey heard Kevin's softened running steps on the thick grass and turned her head. She read Kevin's open palm gesture and put the syringe in his hand.
Kami read the exchange behind her and stepped in front of Zelman before she leaned her beautiful face in for a kiss.
Kevin did another quick visual calculation. The man's girth. His own arms were long but didn't seem long enough. He saw the opening and went for it. He dropped to his knees and got in the space between Kami's and Zelman's body. He pushed the point of the needle in as far as it would go. He injected the deadly adrenaline straight into the man's heart.
The man stiffened and pulled Kami in strongly and tightly with Kevin trapped in between them.
Zoey wrapped her arms from behind in a futile attempt to control the man and the situation.
Zelman struggled with incredible strength.
Kevin felt his own incredible strength as he wrapped his arms around the man's legs.
The German Shepherd was mixed in with the people in the situation, but he wasn't attacking, he was playing.
The combination of young and old people and dog fell to the grass and rolled in several directions for several moments until the old heavy man stiffened and let out his last breath.
As they got up, the dog went to Kevin and got the affection he deserved for being affectionate to the stranger instead of his master.
"Kevin's like a doggy whisperer," Kami explained to Zoey.
"It makes sense." Zoey didn't look like she was joking when she finished the joke, "Animals sense his raw animal magnetism."
Kevin chuckled while the girls laughed at that. He waved Kaley over.
The four teenagers carried Zelman back up the grassy hill and sat him in his comfortable chair.
Kaley got the personal connection she missed when she leaned and looked at the man's lifeless face. "You took Daddy's idea, we took your life."
Kevin was alerted by the dog perking up with his ears up. His eyes went to the window and he didn't see what he saw of the woman before. "Hit it."
They ran toward the dock quickly.
****
They waded into the water by the dock quietly. "Carl?" the woman called from the patio.
The dog leaned over to Kevin from the edge of the wooden dock.
"Are you drunk again, Carl?" the woman said with irritation before she walked down the hill toward Zelman's body.
Kevin reached up and scratched the noble looking German Shepherd. "I hate to leave you, but I have to leave you ... Boy."
"Carl!" the woman's startled voice drowned out the wind and water sounds.
Kevin heard the unusual breaths around him and when he took a look around him he figured it out. His sisters and his girlfriend were touched by his touching farewell to the dog.
"Please," the woman pleaded into her cell phone, "I think my husband had a heart attack ... Please help me ... Please!"
Kevin gave the dog a nudge and watched the dog leave reluctantly. He saw Kaley pulling the floating chairs over. He shook his head at her. He realized the next flaw in his plan. If the wife stayed on the phone and stayed where she was until the ambulance arrived, they wouldn't be able to make their getaway.
"I don't know how to do that," the woman said frantically, "I need you to send help. Now!" Her frantic tone had morphed into anger by the last word.
Kevin tried to stay calm as he heard the sound of the ambulance in the distance. Of course, an ambulance would respond swiftly in a subdivision where the residents were incredibly wealthy. He felt his hands trembling from his nerves. He put them under water. He looked up at the woman and the corpse on the hill, so he wouldn't be looking at the women and they wouldn't see his worry. He knew how they would be found out. The dog he made friends with would betray him by being friendly. His mind was racing to think of what to do next. Even if the girls were strong swimmers, swimming underwater and pulling the rafts was not something that would be inconspicuous. No matter how upset the wife was, she would notice four floating pool chairs floating away in concert.
"Carl, Carl, Carl." There was a long pause before the younger blonde wife laughed. Once the laughter ended, she turned and walked briskly up the hill.
They got on their rafts and got paddling and got a good distance from the crime scene quickly.
Kevin looked back and saw the German Shepherd standing on the dock looking at him. He looked from that scene that was bittersweet for him to see, and saw Zoey using all her strength to paddle alongside him. He saw her loving look and guessed her next words would be as loving as the look.
"We need to get you a dog, Kevin."
A few days later, Kevin drove his Mom's car that was the nicer of the two cars the Riley family owned, but it wasn't nearly as nice as any of the cars the McConnells owned. Kevin looked at his sister Kaley looking out the window. She seemed lost in her thoughts and he didn't want to speculate on what those thoughts were now. He had his own thoughts to think about. Plenty of them. He looked in the rear-view mirror and saw his mother, Kate, looking at some pages she printed off the Internet. He thought about what Beth said that he repeated and Kami exaggerated. After his father died, it was steps forward and steps backward. It probably was for the whole family. It was clearly worse for his mother, but she'd taken a lot of steps forward lately. This was another forward step. Thinking on that took his mind off driving and he picked up speed. He took a speed bump a little fast.
Kate looked up from her paperwork but let Kaley deal with it.
"Low and slow, little Bro." Kaley pointed to the giant sign that posted the slow speed limit.
Kevin shared a grin with Kaley. She wasn't there, but she heard about how well he drove the creepy guy's car with his dead body in the trunk. She had to know how his mother had him driving was kids' stuff compared to that.
"Take the next left, Kevin." Kate pulled the page up close to her face. "Middle of the block. The address is 1313 ... Drive slowly as you get close."
Kevin felt the tapping on his leg from his sister as they approached the front of the big luxury home. He thought of those numbers. Any wealthy man would've used his wealth to get those numbers changed. It made sense that particular wealthy man requested that superstitious address. That man likely liked to flaunt his luck in the face of fate. He grinned for himself as he thought of how that man, Mr. Zelman, saw his luck run out when he ran into three Rileys and one McConnell.
Kaley sucked in a deep breath.
Kevin saw what triggered that breath. The unmarked black police car was in front of the house.
Kate had a different reaction to the car. "Excellent." She pointed. "Park there Kevin."
Kevin pretended there was a car parked by the curb, so he could practice parallel parking.
Kaley commented when he got close to the curb, but not too close, on one try. "Good job!"
"Great job," Kate said.
****
Kate shuffled her papers and studied one page while Kevin and Kaley tried to stay relaxed as they looked at the unmarked police detective car in front of the house whose owner they recently killed. Kevin took a good look at the car. He knew there were many unmarked cars like that. Somehow, he knew it belonged to Detective Bill. He rationalized that on some level, his unique brain might be telling him that by the pattern of the dirt on the body and grime on the wheels. Maybe not having the car washed was a sign of a busy detective. A detective who cared more about solving difficult crimes than driving a clean car. He wondered if it was from the feeling the car gave him. Feelings weren't natural to him. They were learned. Lately, he was learning more feelings every day, but feeling something wasn't something he was comfortable with yet. He was more about thinking. Thinking could tell him what a feeling meant. Thinking could help him show a feeling when he needed to show it. He quit thinking about the car when he saw his sister pointing.
"I think that yellow tape is crime scene tape," Kaley said with just the right touch of curiosity to her naturally curious tone, "I wonder what went down?"
"That's what we're here to find out, smart daughter." Kate didn't look up in spite of feeding her curious daughter more to be curious about.
Kevin was thinking on something else. "Great—" He heard the sound of that and didn't think it sounded anything like the sarcasm either of his sisters could put into just one word. "We're sitting her baking in the hot sun, so Mom can ogle a crime scene—" He turned his head and saw his mother's surprised look. He knew it was unusual for him to gripe like that. He didn't care in that moment. He felt a true feeling. He felt like griping. "While Kami's shopping and having fun with Zoey."
Kate and Kaley shared a knowing look.
The look between the women made Kevin feel another feeling. Anger. "I'll bet Kami put you both up to this. Get Kevin out of the way, so I can have his girlfriend. All day." He snapped his head when he heard Kaley snort.
Kaley put her hand to her mouth to hold it in and looked out the window to conceal her face.
Kevin felt his mother patting him. He turned and looked at her.
"Honey, I think Kami should take blame for that. Not all of that, but some of that." Kate put more patience and understanding to her motherly look.
"You do?" Kevin asked.
"I do." Kate nodded. "You see, she's never really had a close girlfriend. She's close to her sister—"
"But, it's not the same thing," Kaley said.
Kevin looked at his sister and could swear her look matched the look his mother gave him. He felt another tender pat and looked at his mother.
"Kami is pretty, very pretty—" Kate looked at Kaley.
"It's true and I'm fine." Kaley smiled a loving smile at Kate. "So, carry on."
Kate flashed a smile of gratitude before she turned back to Kevin and carried on with the same motherly look and tone, "Some girls hate Kami because they're jealous of her beauty. Some girls hang out with her without liking her because of the popularity her beauty gives her." She looked like any mother having to explain the fairness of what seemed unfair. "Having a girlfriend is so rare for Kami, I was hoping you could share Zoey with her." She made the small gesture with her fingers. "Just a little bit."
"It's just—" Kevin pulled in a breath and breathed out slowly. "She's all up in my grill ... Up in my girl's grill." He looked at his mother and sister giving him the same look and eventually he shrugged and that shrugged the last of the anger off. "What the hell?" He let them give him quick pats before he gave his condition. "But, I get firsts and she gets leftovers."
"That's only fair," Kaley judged.
Kate leaned over and straightened Kevin's hair that was so thick and wavy it got out of place often. "Honey, you're as handsome a young man as your sister is a beautiful young woman."
"I am?" Kevin believed that a little after his mother and sister nodded to affirm that. The little bit of good feeling that gave him gave way to the big thinking that was more typical of him. "Do you think I'm handsome enough I would be popular if I didn't have what I have?" His only clue to the emotions of the two women didn't come from their faces that concealed the emotions well enough to confuse him. He knew the moist eyes and sniffling noses meant crying. Crying was a fifty-fifty proposition with women. Either they were happy-crying or sad-crying. He guessed they were sad-crying.
Kate found her voice first, but it quivered through the one word, "Yes!"
Kevin nodded his head and thought on that as he looked ahead. "I'm glad I have what I have. I don't want to be popular. I hate all popular kids." When he turned around to look, he could tell what he was saying was bringing them out of nearly crying. "I don't hate Skip. He's popular." He was looking at Kaley and that gave him another thought. "Aaron's popular too. With some kids like me. The tech kids too."
Kaley responded to Kate's intense grin and arched brow. "It's true. Aaron's the Nerd-King, Mom."
Kevin reached over and patted Kaley. "And that's why he should be with the popular Nerd-Queen ... Kaley Riley." He enjoyed seeing his mother laugh and watching his sister laugh so hard she was laugh-crying.
It was the sight of the familiar man that put a damper on all that laughter.
****
Detective Bill Willard had a friendly smile that mixed well with his intelligent look as he looked at the teenagers when most of the Riley family approached. Kevin made sure he calmed himself before he spoke. "Detective Bill." He didn't even try to smile. He knew the man was an expert at spotting phony looks.
"Kevin—" Bill smiled before he looked at Kaley. "Kaley." He turned to Kate.
"Oh—" Kate stepped in front of her children. "I'm a struggl
ing single mother trying to drum up some real estate business, but I'm enough of a mother I won't let a homicide detective get some free detecting out of my own need and greed."
"Eloquent and elegant." Bill put out his hand. "Mother Riley I presume?"
Kate shook hands and smiled. "You presume correctly, but I'm leaving with my teenagers—" She grinned as she kept up the witty banter and made a rhyme. "Directly."
Bill put both palms up. "You wouldn't have to be the good mother righteously protecting her brood if you knew that case was closed, right?"
"Maybe, if I was sure it was closed." Kate looked as sharp as the man.
The exchange was concerning and a little frightening to Kevin. But the silver lining in that dark cloud of crime detection was the fact his Mom seemed all the way back. That was such a happy thought after all the steps backward he heard she took on his Dad's birthday.
Bill put his hand on the badge that was clipped to his sports jacket he held open. "On my honor and on my badge, that case is closed." He waited for Kate's nod and smile. He took in a breath and a bit of a sigh rode out on it. "And so was my mind Mrs. Riley."
"You can call me Kate," she said.
"To you, I'm sorry my big blockhead was so closed-minded I saw conspiracies everywhere I looked instead of the prolific rapist and budding serial killer in front of my eyes." Bill kept quiet and still as he waited for her reaction.
"Apology accepted," Kate said with a gracious smile.
Bill looked at Kaley. "And I'm sorry for saying you were so smart you were too smart for your own britches, Kaley."
"Accepted and I thought 'britches' was kind of funny," Kaley said.
"And Kevin—" Bill smiled a fond smile. "I grilled you pretty hard and I'm sorry for that."
"It was scary Detective Bill, but kind of fun," Kevin said.
Kate looked back at Kevin before she gave Bill a look that was a little cold. "And that's what I had a problem with."
Kevin knew there was more to what she said than what she said. He watched Detective Bill closely.
The Killing Rileys- First Love, First Kills Page 11