by PJ Fernor
I made the two hot chocolates the way I said I would.
Lo and I loved marshmallows.
Alex never did.
She always said they tasted like sugary plastic and when they melted into the hot chocolate she said it made the hot chocolate taste bad.
So as a joke on April Fool’s Day, I poured a bag of marshmallows into Alex’s coffeepot and she made coffee… which tasted horrible.
She got mad at me.
I bought her a new coffeemaker.
All was right with the world.
I walked the two cups to the table and felt my eyes welling up with tears.
I missed my sister.
I wouldn’t ever want to give up raising Lo, but I really missed my sister.
And I knew Lo missed her mother.
I kept promising myself that when things slowed a little I would look into who hit and killed her…
Lo’s bedroom door opened.
I sat down.
Lo came to the table and sat across from me.
She looked down at her cup and smiled.
“Good?” I asked.
“Perfect,” she said.
We sipped our hot chocolates in silence for a minute.
“I’m just going to say it,” Lo said. “The night that woman was murdered, I was with Trevor.”
I nodded. “Okay…”
“So he didn’t do it.”
“I don’t think it’s that simple, Lo,” I said. “If I look at some kind of a timeline…”
“Allie, just listen to me,” Lo said. “Trevor didn’t kill that woman because he was with me. Late. Like really late.”
“What are you saying, Lo?” I asked.
She sighed. She put her cup down.
When she began to play with her fingers, I knew things were going to get serious.
“I snuck out to be with Trevor that night,” she said. “I mean, at first I was just out. Hanging with him. Even after you said not to. I told you I was at a friend’s house. I wasn’t. We were hanging out. Near the woods. By the tracks but not on the tracks. We didn’t do anything stupid.”
“Other than break my rules,” I said.
“That’s less of a crime than murder.”
I shook my head. “Give me times.”
“You know the times,” Lo said. “When I came and went. And all we did was just talk. We sat together. Held hands. Talked. That was it. Trevor is not the evil person you think he is.”
“So that’s the big secret?”
“No.”
Lo hung her head.
“Lo…”
“You go for your walks,” she said. “The really late ones. I noticed and had been figuring out the times you were leaving and coming back.”
My heart sank with the idea of where this was going to end up going.
Lo looked at me. “That night… you left. I texted Trevor to meet me here.”
“Here? In this apartment?”
“Outside,” she said. “We hung outside together for a while. At least until I knew you were coming back.”
I didn’t say a word.
I just stared at her.
That was such a bold and dumb thing to do.
“So that’s how I know Trevor didn’t do it,” Lo said. “He was with me. There’s no way he could have went and killed some woman and put her body on that mountain. The fire road is opposite of where we were together. Near the tracks and here. Plus, Trevor wore the same clothes and everything.”
“But his bracelet was found at the scene,” I said.
“I don’t know how that happened.”
“What about after you two were done sneaking around together?” I asked. “He could have did it then.”
“No… I was…”
Lo’s face slowly started to drop.
Her teenage brain had one path to follow. And right now that path was Trevor. Everything revolved around him. He was her only chance at having something safe.
I pushed from the table and stood up. “So you’re telling me that you lied to me that night and then snuck back out to be with Trevor. And you feel that’s good enough to get him away from my case?”
“It has to be. There’s no way he did it. He wouldn’t have left here and gone to do that. It can’t be true. Can’t you tell when the woman was murdered?”
“Lo…”
“That’s why he didn’t want to talk,” Lo said. “He didn’t want to say he was with me and get me into trouble. A murderer wouldn’t do that for someone!”
I nodded. “Okay. I believe you, Lo.”
“This isn’t about believing,” Lo said. “This is about the truth. He didn’t do it. Someone in my life has to be real!”
Lo jumped up and spilled some of her hot chocolate on the table.
She ran to her room and slammed the door.
I stood there for a few minutes in silence, just thinking.
What Lo said could possibly help Trevor.
But I would still have to deal with punishing her for those dumb decisions.
It didn’t help me one bit when it came to Steph-slash-Leslie.
There was one person who could help though.
My next stop was to see Dr. Jerry.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Miss Kesslier answered her door in a bath robe.
“Were you asleep?” I asked.
“I’m awake now, what’s wrong?” she asked.
Now I felt terrible.
“I’m sorry…”
“Doesn’t matter. What’s wrong?”
“I need your help with Lo.”
“Sure. I’ll be right over.”
Miss Kesslier stepped back into her apartment and hurried down the hallway. As she ran, her robe danced behind her like a cape.
It could have been a cape. Should have been.
She was a superhero to me.
For all she did.
I had just woken her up and she didn’t flinch to get changed to help me.
She emerged from her bedroom a minute or so later and pointed at me.
“What’s going on?”
“I have to go talk to Dr. Jerry,” I said. “Lo’s friend Steph isn’t who we think she is.”
“What does that mean?” Miss Kesslier asked.
I filled her in the best I could as we entered my apartment.
I lingered near the door, needing to leave right now.
“So that nice girl was faking it?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t know what she does or doesn’t know. She’s a patient of Dr. Jerry’s though. He’ll know more than I do. Lo also confessed that the night Nikki was murdered she was with Trevor. Twice. She lied to me the first time and then snuck out the second time. It doesn’t make him not a suspect, but it breaks my heart that she did that.”
Miss Kesslier grabbed my hand. “You’re not going to like this part, Allie, but I have to ask you something.”
I was already nodding. “I know. How many times did I sneak out to meet Tommy, right?”
“That’s right,” Miss Kesslier said.
“Truthfully? More times than I can count. And it all ended with me heartbroken and confused. He’s the reason I left Sandemor. I threw everything I knew into the air and just left. Then I decided to become a cop. Only to keep myself busy and away from here. More than that, I knew each time I snuck out with him, I was hurting Ben. Ben was the guy who was there for me. I should have been with him the entire time.”
I stopped talking and covered my mouth.
“Well, I think we just uncovered a whole other conversation,” Miss Kesslier said. “That’s for another time, obviously. Lo is a teenager. Whether we like it or not, they do dumb things.”
“She’s too close to this case,” I said. “Somehow Steph-slash-Leslie was involved with Nikki.”
“I’ll be here the entire time,” Miss Kesslier said. “Take all the time you need. No worries.”
“Thank you,” I said.
I rushed out of the apartment and typed Dr
. Jerry’s apartment address into my phone.
It was a twenty minute drive across Sandemor and out of the small town.
The road was damp from the rain that had passed a few hours ago. Leaves clung to the pavement like a messy kids project in kindergarten.
The chill in the air was perfect for hot chocolate and a scary movie.
I had no interest in watching a movie about some killer wandering around.
I was kind of already in one myself.
I showed up to Dr. Jerry’s apartment completely unannounced.
The thought didn’t even cross my mind until I stood at his door and knocked.
He lived in a skinny, yet tall, building made of old brick.
The exact kind of building a lot of developers in the area were purchasing to renovate into apartments. In a strange way, Dr. Jerry was part of the reason why small towns like Sandemor were losing themselves.
This building had probably been important at some point in time.
A manufacturing company or administration office for another company.
But now it had been bought, gutted, and redesigned to give that old feel with all the modern features of a fancy - and overpriced - apartment.
When the door opened slightly, Dr. Jerry looked at me perplexed.
He was wearing a black, thin-framed pair of glasses.
“Allie,” he said. He stepped back and opened the door completely. “What are you doing here?”
“Bad time?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “I was just reviewing some files. Come in. Is everything okay? You look frazzled.”
“I am frazzled,” I blurted out.
I stepped into the apartment and Dr. Jerry shut the door and quickly touched my arms.
That touch was instantly soothing.
The smell of his cologne engulfed me, calming me even more.
There were rich notes of autumn that hit me… a perfect kind of smell.
He wore a three button henley-style shirt with the sleeves pushed up. Along with a pair of dark blue jeans and a pair of black slippers.
He was cozy and handsome.
The urge to hug him overcame me but I held back.
“I have to talk to you,” I said. “About the case I’m working on.”
“Sure,” he said. “Let me get you something to drink. Come on in. Make yourself at home. Is Lo okay?”
“No,” I said. “But she’s safe. My neighbor is with her.”
“Miss Kesslier,” Dr. Jerry said.
I nodded. “Yeah. Something… I have to ask you about a patient of yours, Dr. Jerry. I know there’s a line you can’t cross, but I may ask you to bump against it pretty hard.”
“Okay. I see that I’m back to Dr. Jerry again?”
“Sorry,” I said. “Jerry.”
He grabbed two wine glasses and poured them half full of maroon colored wine. He brought me a glass and I took it.
I managed one tiny sip, just to try and calm myself for a second.
“You are rattled, Allie,” Jerry said. “Do you want to sit down? Did something else happen with your case?”
“I’m here to talk about Lo. Well, her friend. Steph.”
“Yes, of course,” Jerry said. He smiled. “I know Steph. Lo talks about her quite a bit.”
“Steph may not be who we all think,” I said. “Which is why I’m here. To get as much information as I can from you. I know there are laws and whatnot, but I-”
“I’m not sure what you want me to do,” Jerry said. “I can talk to Lo about her some more. Other than that, I’m clueless.”
“Not completely,” I said. “She’s your patient too. I want to know the truth about her.”
“Allie, wait a second,” Jerry said. He put his wineglass down and gently took mine from me. “Lo is my patient.”
“Yes. And so is Steph.”
Jerry shook his head. “Steph is not my patient.”
“What?”
“I only know her through Lo.”
“Wait a second…” I shook my head. “What about the name Leslie?”
“I don’t know anyone named Leslie,” Jerry said.
“But Steph is always outside the building. She told Lo…”
“I’m sorry,” Jerry said. “I’ve seen her a few times hanging around out front. I just always thought she was there to meet up with Lo. Or get a ride home from you. I’m not sure. I didn’t pay that much attention to it all. You thought that Steph was my patient?”
I put my hands behind me to touch the wall.
Just to keep myself standing.
“Allie?” Jerry asked.
“Just give me a second here,” I whispered.
I took a deep breath.
Everything around me was slowly turning into one lie after another.
And poor Lo was somehow stuck in the middle of it now.
Chapter Forty-Nine
Years Ago
Another favor.
These aren’t favors.
These are demands.
These are the things that keep him alive.
He knows he’s like an injured animal. Like a wolf with a broken leg.
He can’t run. He can’t hunt properly.
But he still has a heartbeat.
That wolf learns to move slow and stealthy. That wolf may never mate and have a normal life, but a life is a life. Life ends when the heart stops beating.
He touches his chest.
There’s a heartbeat.
It’s the first thing he does in the morning.
He always touches his chest, wondering if he’s dead yet.
Yet.
He’s healthy.
It’s almost tempting to go live a life of excess so he can find a quicker grave than the one always lingering over his shoulder.
He checks his watch.
It’s eight at night.
The little get-together club is about to close.
All the kids and teenagers are leaving.
He’s waiting… waiting…
“There she is,” he says.
He snaps his fingers.
Right on cue.
It’s the same thing every single night.
She exits last.
A woman named Janine waves and goes back inside to lock up and clean.
He doesn’t care about Janine.
This is about her.
The young girl walking all alone on the sidewalk in the dark.
He’s been watching her for a month now.
That’s how long it takes him to make his decision.
He gets yelled at for it. But these things take time. They take precision. They take care. One slip up and the whole operation will come tumbling down.
Each girl has to be chosen carefully.
And this one…
“It’s time,” he says.
He rubs his hands together and gets out of his car.
He slinks around the back to the trunk and opens it, getting a metal bar.
This is the easy part.
Pretending to be fixing his tire… and pretending to be hurt.
The young girl will be kind enough to stop.
He knows this because last week she gave her leftover snack to a homeless man.
That homeless man had to be relocated to make this work.
He crouches down next to the back passenger wheel.
Metal bar in hand.
He tucks his hand into his sleeve and lets out a whimpering sound.
“Help,” he whispers. “Oh, someone help me…”
He looks at the young girl.
She stops.
“Can you help?” he asks. “I was trying to change a flat and the car fell on my hand. I don’t know what I’m doing.”
She stares at him.
He turns a little, showing her the bottom of his sleeve at the bottom of the tire.
In the darkness and from the distance, it gives the illusion his hand has been crushed by the car.
The young girl gasps.
“Listen to me,” he says. “I just need you to come here. I need you to pull my arm. I can… I can pop my hand free…”
“Let me get help for you,” she says in a sweet, little voice.
“There’s no time for that,” he says. “I feel dizzy. I’ve been here for an hour. Nobody will help me. Will you? Please?”
She nods. “Okay. Yeah.”
She inches toward him.
He smiles at her. “I’m sorry to bother you. I hope I’m not scaring you. This just hurts like heck. Do you know how to change a tire?”
“No,” she says.
“Neither do I. I guess next time I should just get help, huh?”
He laughs.
She smiles.
She’s warming up to me.
The young girl moves with caution. As she should.
He’s smarter than her.
He’s the wolf with the broken leg, remember? He can’t pounce but he can patiently wait. Hunger means nothing to him because he knows one slip and this all goes away. And he knows if that happens, he’s dead.
The young girl is within reach.
“Now listen,” he says. He fakes groaning in pain. “I just need you to grab my arm. Behind my elbow. And pull. You might want to shut your eyes. In case there’s blood.”
She gasps.
“I know,” he says. “I promise, I’ll be fine.”
She reaches down slowly.
Her hands touch his arm.
The wolf waits… and waits… and waits…
She starts to pull.
And then she shuts her eyes.
That’s when he moves.
He pops back, sends his hand through the sleeve, and covers her mouth. His other hand wraps around her young body and he lifts her with ease.
He backs around to the open trunk and drops her inside and slams it shut in a second.
He looks around.
Nobody has seen a thing.
He taps the metal bar on the trunk twice and smiles.
“Tricked you,” he says with a laugh.
He gets into the driver’s seat and starts the car.
As he drives down the street he hears the muffled screams.
That is easy to fix.
He turns up the radio…
Chapter Fifty
The Other Place
She sits next to Hailey, outside of the cage, and gives her the last piece of beef jerky she could find.