23 Miles

by Renee Mackenzie

  “Well, Miss Lisher, don’t you think we would be remiss if we didn’t inform Ms. Eliot that she had a stalker?”

  “I—ah—I guess.”

  “Now, why should I believe you and not think that you’re making it up to help out a friend?” Jackson asked.

  Talia thought hard. Of course they would be suspicious of a sudden alibi. “I can tell you that Shay’s neighbor three doors down sneaks in and out of the house next to Shay. Each night at just after midnight the guy goes through the side door and stays at least an hour.”

  “Hmm,” was all Jackson said.

  “Shay’s next-door neighbor on the other side walks her three dogs, one at a time, to the corner and back. She starts after midnight and takes them each out for about ten minutes. She never picks up their dog mess.” Then she remembered something that could be corroborated. “She ordered a pizza on Saturday night, and oh, on Friday night, there was a traffic stop on the street that runs parallel to Shay’s. I suck at directions, but it would be to your right if you were facing Shay’s house on the opposite side of the street.”

  “What time was that?”

  “At one twenty that morning.” She remembered being scared to death that they would come down Shay’s street next and catch her there. “Oh, I guess that would have been technically Saturday morning. You could ask the Norfolk cops about that, right?”

  “I will do that. I need a telephone number to call you back if I have any further questions.”

  She gave him her number and he ended the call by telling her to quit stalking Shay Eliot.

  “Yes, sir,” Talia responded.

  †

  Shay opened her front door to let Kate and Lana in. “You will not believe this,” she said. “Apparently I have a stalker and she can vouch for me being home the two nights I couldn’t account for.”

  “Oh, that’s great,” Lana said, all but jumping up and down in her delight. “I mean, not the stalker part, but you know...Who is it?”

  “Her name is Talia Lisher. She’s the young woman with all the hair and—”

  “Oh no,” Kate said. “That’s not good.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lana said. “That’s very good. Now they will leave Shay the hell alone.”

  Shay studied Kate’s expression. “What’s wrong, Kate?”

  “I know Talia. We went to high school together, but she was one grade ahead of me. She’s a Liarhead Lizard. Once the FBI figures that out, it’s going to look like you put her up to it.”

  “What the hell is a Liarhead Lizard?” Lana asked.

  “That was the nickname for her and her older brother. They were notorious liars when we were growing up.”

  “A lot of kids lie,” Shay said, still hopeful.

  “They took it to a whole other level. It was like a sport for them or an art form. For example, Talia and Brian told a neighbor, who was new to the area, that they’d seen a man kidnap a woman at gunpoint and take off in a boat on Chisman Creek. The neighbor didn’t know their reputation so he called the police. They refused to admit to making it up and gave statements to the cops and everything.” Kate started pacing. “She could have made things worse for you.”

  Shay sat on the edge of her sofa and put her head in her hands. “It can’t get much worse.” Then the image of Diane’s body in the backseat of the car slammed into her mind. She felt ashamed for a moment for losing perspective. She was alive. Allie and Diane weren’t.

  “Maybe the FBI won’t find out about Talia’s history with lying,” Lana said.

  “I could wait and see what comes of it,” Shay said. “Or I could tell the FBI I’ve just learned of Talia Lisher’s history and assure them I didn’t ask her to lie for me.”

  “I vote for leaving it alone,” Lana said.

  She looked from Lana to Kate and back to Lana. She thought about that day three years earlier, when Kate was looking like a viable suspect in Lana’s boyfriend’s murder, and Lana gave Kate an alibi. Shay hadn’t thought for even a moment that Kate had killed Richie, but her superiors and colleagues sure did.

  Shay didn’t know what to think. She’d been so excited about having an alibi. Now she didn’t know what to do. She would rather leave it alone, but knew she should be proactive since this was so serious. “Damn it,” she muttered.

  †

  Talia was on edge at work the next day. She kept expecting the FBI to show up at the dentist’s office to question her. Dr. Bennett would have a field day with that, she was sure. But no one came in, no one called, and Talia had no idea if they would follow up on what she’d told them or not.

  She couldn’t help but wonder if the FBI would connect her name to Brian’s, since he was in a federal prison. Would they think that if one sibling was an embezzler maybe the other also was capable of doing horrible things? Sometimes Talia got very angry that Brian got into trouble and other times she just felt sorry for him. She missed him and loved him but felt more at ease without him around.

  Talia had worked herself into a nervous knot by the time she made it to the bar that night. She was so upset she couldn’t eat dinner before going out and knew she wouldn’t be able to eat once she got there. Her nerves wouldn’t let her.

  The woman at the door waved her through. Talia had been there enough over the last several months that she guessed she was officially considered a regular.

  Talia turned toward the dance floor when she heard Kate call out, “Eliot, wait.”

  But Shay Eliot wasn’t waiting. She was making a beeline right for her. Talia was scared and excited all at once.

  “Outside. Now!” Shay barked.

  Talia almost tripped trying to keep up with her. Damn, and no drink yet either.

  “What the hell were you thinking?”

  That wasn’t what she was expecting to hear. Maybe, quit stalking me, loser, but not that.

  “What do you mean?” Talia asked, her voice quivering.

  “Do you have any idea how bad it’s going to look for me when they look into your story? Seriously, what were you thinking? You have to retract your statement. You aren’t even a credible witness, for crying out loud,” Shay said.

  All Talia could think to utter was “What?”

  “Come on! Kate told me about your problems with not telling the truth. She told me about you and your brother sending the cops on a wild goose chase after some guy with a hostage—a story that turned out to be fabricated. She told me about your nickname—Liarhead Lisher—”

  “Lizard. It’s Liarhead Lizard.” Her face was so hot she expected to break out into some kind of hives. “You’re going to judge me based on some adolescent crap years ago?”

  “I’m sorry, but I don’t believe you were sitting outside my house two nights in a row. And when the FBI proves that you lied, it’s going to make me look bad. They’re going to think I put you up to it.”

  “They are going to check out my story and you will be off the hook. They aren’t going to give a shit if I told lies for attention when I was younger.”

  “Stop it,” Shay said through clenched teeth. “Stop the crap and don’t try to help anymore, okay?”

  Talia could feel her fists clenching and unclenching by her side. She knew she should say screw it and leave, but she couldn’t stop herself. “So, Shay Eliot, did you know that it’s your neighbor to the right letting her dogs shit in your yard without cleaning it up? Huh? How about the neighbor on the other side of you? Did you know she entertains another neighbor after dark?”

  Shay looked confused and said nothing.

  “Am I a freak stalking you? Yes. Am I a liar? No—not in this case anyway, not about where you were those nights. Oh, and you ordered a pizza from Calz’s on Saturday night.”

  “I—ah—”

  “So, if it’s all the same to you, I won’t be retracting my statement to the FBI. And maybe one day when you pull your head out of your ass you’ll thank me for coming forward.”

  Talia marched toward her car, not allowin
g herself to look back. She peeled out of the parking lot and drove two blocks before stopping on the side of the road. She looked around thoroughly, double-checked that her doors were locked, and sat there for a while and cried.

  Eventually, she put the car back in Drive and headed home. She cranked up the music, singing along to Sam Harris’s “Pretender.” She loved the sound of the song, but the words always made her uncomfortable. Weren’t pretender and liar the same thing? Weren’t she and Brian pretending to be needed when they lied and told the police they saw the man with the gun? And wasn’t Brian just pretending more by adding the detail about the kidnapped woman?

  When “Over the Rainbow” started she hit the eject button on her favorite cassette and wondered if she’d ever be able to listen to it again without it bringing memories of the murders and Shay’s reaction to her.

  Talia felt sick. She always did when she thought about making stuff up. The worst part was that the kidnapping story wasn’t even the biggest lie she’d told. She cringed as she thought about the time Brian had told her to tell their parents that her female gym teacher, Ms. Simmons, had touched her down there. “Teach the dyke a lesson,” he’d said. But Talia couldn’t bring herself to do it, even if going against her brother scared her. So she’d run away and was gone for three days. She’d broken into the Cunningham place. The house, a few miles away, had been empty since the old couple died several months earlier. She’d eaten some food she’d brought with her and some canned ravioli she found in the cupboard. When she finally went home she weaved a fantastical story about Gypsies and amnesia. Brian was so impressed by her intricate storytelling that he left her alone about the gym teacher.

  But even that wasn’t her worst lie. No, that distinction went to the lie she told when she was thirteen and her dad died. She’d put it to words though, and now she could never change her story—not even to Brian.

  Chapter Five

  Every time Shay thought about how she spoke to Talia Lisher her face heated up and her stomach churned. Who had she turned into?

  “It’s Liarhead Lizard!” Talia had shouted at her. The look on Talia’s face was one of shock and guilt and something else. What was that look, exactly?

  Shay thought about seeing Talia around the bar over the course of several months. She’d always found her attractive, but she was younger, like Kate, and a bit on the wild side, unlike Kate. And what in the hell was Shay doing comparing Talia with Kate?

  She’d spoken briefly with Talia right after Allie and Diane were murdered. Talia seemed so vulnerable that night, when everyone was shouting their opinions about what had happened on the parkway. The young woman had seemed almost like she was in shock. So much so that Shay was surprised when Talia said she didn’t know Allie and Diane.

  Shay wanted to ask Kate more about Talia, but she wasn’t sure Kate could be objective about her. For some reason, the mere mention of Talia’s name put Kate on the defensive. Shay wondered if there was more to their history than Talia’s reputation for lying.

  Shay went into the garage and moved everything from in front of the punching bag. She started hitting it and her head cleared a little. She should talk to Talia, apologize for acting the way she had. Or not. Maybe she shouldn’t do anything to encourage the young woman. The last thing she needed was to give her the wrong idea but, she pounded the bag faster and harder, she did owe Talia an apology. She would tell her she was sorry the next time she saw her at the bar.

  After showering, Shay dressed in black jeans, a white T-shirt, and tied the laces of the black Reeboks she thought of as part of her security uniform. She might as well be comfortable standing around both inside and outside the bar all night. So far there had been no trouble, thank goodness. She pulled on the dark blazer and checked that the gun in its shoulder harness wasn’t too obvious. She knew most folks at the bar knew she would be armed, but didn’t want to flaunt it.

  Once at the bar, Shay went inside. She leaned against the corner between the front door and the bar area and sipped a glass of water. There were a few people in there, even though it was still pretty early. She helped Dee change out the keg then went outside. Almost immediately, a squad car pulled up beside her.

  “Hey, Parker.” Shay squatted beside his car.

  “What’s up, Eliot?” He looked her up and down. “What are you doing out here?”

  “Checking out the parking lot.”

  “Working security?” His eyebrows knitted together.

  “People are more than a little freaked out after what happened to those two women on the parkway.”

  “I heard about your interview,” he said, his voice low.

  “You mean my interrogation?”

  “Must have sucked. Especially since you knew the one.”

  “The one’s name is Allie. And a lot of women around here knew her. People are scared.”

  “I can understand that. Please be careful out here.”

  “Of course.” She leaned closer. “So, Parker, what are they saying? What do you hear about the murders?”

  “Not much. Since it was on the other side of the water and is a federal thing, we don’t hear a lot. Well, just that part about you,” he said.

  “I guess all the guys think the traitor ex-cop dyke deserved to be dragged into this mess, huh?”

  “Well,” Parker stammered. “There will always be some assholes in the department. But we aren’t all like Dixon and McCoy, you know,” he said, referring to the two officers who’d beat up Paulie.

  “I know,” Shay said.

  “And I hated how you were pretty much pushed out.”

  So that’s what they are calling it. It wasn’t lost on her that he didn’t hate it enough at the time to have her back. But she had to move beyond that. “Thanks, buddy. I need to go check the back of the parking lot.”

  “Okay. If I do hear anything I’ll let you know.”

  She nodded. She didn’t know how much she believed that, but appreciated the sentiment.

  †

  Talia was checking her mail in the bank of boxes when she felt as if she was being watched. She looked behind her and saw her neighbor from across the parking lot, the one she was still mentally calling Maybe Lesbian. “Hi,” Talia called out.

  “Hi.” The woman walked up and stuck her key in her box. She pulled out a stack of junk mail and said, “Killing all those trees for this.” She tossed it all into the can available for that.

  Talia held up her electric bill. “Trade you,” she teased. She decided to hang around a few moments so she could check the name on the newly trashed junk mail, but Maybe Lesbian didn’t seem in a hurry to go anywhere, so Talia said goodbye and walked back to her apartment.

  Talia locked the door behind her and grabbed her notebook from the kitchen counter. Pen in hand, she settled in front of her makeshift coffee table. She wanted to put together the right words to describe how devastated she was by Shay Eliot’s rejection, but she felt numb.

  She thought about the literal image of a lizard. Some lizards changed color for camouflage but were hiding in plain sight. Was the murderer of Allie and Diane hiding in plain sight?

  What if it was a cop or a park ranger? She tried to count the number of times she’d been on the parkway with a group of friends and was approached by a ranger. On senior skip day they all went to the beach area off the parkway, the place they called Sandy Point, to party. They’d eventually been run off by the rangers, and a few of them even had their beers poured out and were given a warning to go right home.

  Lately there had been some talk that the parkway was a gay hangout. Talia guessed she was just oblivious because for her it had always been about partying. Except for that one time, five years earlier, just after Talia turned eighteen. Talia had known her whole life that there was something different about her, but didn’t know what. Then she had met Bernie at the beach in Yorktown and gone parking with her at the parkway. It had been Talia’s first time with any woman, and the only time with Bernie. At first,
her feelings had been hurt when Bernie hadn’t called like she said she would, but she got over it, and was thankful that she finally knew why she never wanted any of the boys in the neighborhood to grope her.

  She was very thankful that she’d never done that on the parkway again. She cringed every time she thought about how, if the killings were a random act, it could have just as easily been her or any of her high school friends that were killed.

  Would the women of the bar be mourning Talia if it had? Don’t go there, she told herself. And what if she went out there now? She could get a gun and sit out on the parkway to wait for the murderer to come to her. Then she could win everyone’s admiration for solving the crime.

  Talia turned her attention back to her notebook. She sketched a lizard on the blank page. Even though she sucked at drawing, sometimes when she couldn’t make the words flow a little visual stimulus would help. She stared at the lizard. Liarhead Lizard, Liarhead Lizard, Liarhead Lizard, she repeatedly thought of the hated nickname.

  Think of a lizard’s parts, she told herself. The tongue tastes and smells? They have eyelids, whereas snakes do not, right? She tried to remember if they were scaly. And she’d seen for herself that as a defense mechanism, the tail would come off if they were caught by it.

  Talia squeezed her eyes shut. There was a poem in there but she couldn’t make the words come. Instead, her mind kept going back to how angry Shay was when she told Talia to take back her statement, and she kept reliving the sick feeling in her gut every time she thought of Shay’s words, Stop the crap.

  Talia’s eyes teared up. She had lost any chance at getting to know Shay. She was way too embarrassed to ever show her face at the bar again. And even though she now knew the parkway was a gay hangout, she couldn’t go there after what had happened to Allie and Diane.

  She jabbed her pen into the lizard drawing again and again, striking harder and harder each time. Liarhead Lizard. Then she was assaulted by the image of her unresponsive father in the bathtub. He was bluish-white and bloated as Talia stepped back and shut the door to the bathroom, going back to her bedroom to pretend she hadn’t seen anything.