by Willow Rose
And just as she wondered what to do in case he lost it, it happened. The pastor lifted his hand in the air and let it fall on the cheek of this woman, slapping her. The woman let out a shriek, then fell sideways and held a hand to her cheek. Shannon felt her heart pound, then jumped out of the car, ready to defend this woman. But before she could, they had split up and were walking away from one another. Shannon rushed toward where they had been standing, but they were both gone. She turned around just in time to see the pastor rush out of the parking lot and roar past her, driving a black pick-up truck.
Shannon could hardly breathe as she saw it drive onto the street and disappear down the road. She grabbed her phone and wanted to call Jack, but then decided she could tell him this news later. She looked around to see if she could spot the woman anywhere, but she too was gone. She had probably taken the back road, Shannon thought, then spotted the small Italian restaurant that she was looking for squeezed in between a tile store on one side and a sandwich shop on the other. She looked at her watch and realized she was late, then rushed to the door and walked inside. She found a young girl looking a lot like the Instagram picture sitting at a table, then approached her.
"Colette?"
The girl smiled and stood up. "It really is you, then. I can't believe it. The famous Shannon King wants to hang out with me. I’m a huge fan. Whatever you want to know, I'll be happy to tell you."
Shannon exhaled. Sometimes, being famous had its advantages.
"Can I get you a soda or something?" she asked. "I, for one, need something to calm me down."
36
Maggie Valley 2018
They were doing great. Savannah had decided to let her concerns go and convinced herself that it was normal for Benjamin to be so close to his sister. After all, what did Savannah know about having a sibling? She had always been an only child. She had told Benjamin that she preferred it just to be the two of them when they dated, and that seemed to work out.
They had now been dating for about a year, and the people in town and at school had gotten used to thinking of them as a couple. The only ones that didn't seem to agree were their families. Especially his. It didn't matter how much Benjamin tried to hide it or brush her off when she mentioned it to him, but it was true. No one in his family liked her. It didn't matter how much she tried to please them; they barely looked at her or even spoke to her in more than a few short sentences, sometimes answering her questions with just one word.
It was very frustrating to her. Savannah couldn't for the life of her understand why they were so reluctant to accept her as part of their son's life. Was it because she didn't have a father? Was it because she lived in a trailer park? Was she simply not good enough for their precious son?
The thought made her sad, but it also made her even more determined to prove to them that she was nothing like they thought. She was so much more. She had big dreams for her future. Long ago, when her dad got sick, she had decided she wanted to go to med school. She wanted to help others like him; she wanted to be the one who saved the loved one of a family who needed him to stick around and couldn't live without him. That was what she thought about when she watched her dad be lowered into the ground at his funeral to the sound of her mother weeping. She wanted to be the doctor that prevented this from ever happening to another family.
It could have been avoided; the doctors had told them back then. If only Savannah's father had reacted when he started to feel the symptoms, they could have started treatment a lot earlier, and his chances would have been a lot better. But Savannah's dad had been coughing for years, and he had no time to be sick, so he ignored it and never saw a doctor till it was too late.
Savannah smiled and looked at Benjamin across the dining room table, while his mother served him potatoes, avoiding even asking if Savannah wanted some. She decided she didn't care about his family. It was him that she loved. It was him she wanted to be with, not them.
"Where’s Penny?" his mother suddenly said.
It was Benjamin who had asked Savannah to stay for dinner, even though she didn't feel like it. He had told her the only way to win over his family's heart was to keep trying.
"They'll learn to love you eventually. They just need to warm up to you a little. Don't worry."
Those were his words, but they fell flat after having tried for an entire year.
"She's probably just out by the horses," Benjamin said and shoveled a couple more potatoes onto his plate, then served some to Savannah with a smile and a wink. "You know how she loves to hang out over there and often loses track of time."
"She knows when we're eating," the pastor said, speaking with his mouth full. "She should know to be here."
The front door slammed, and someone yelled from the hallway.
"I'm home."
Savannah swallowed her piece of chicken, then Benjamin slid his hand out of hers under the table and looked up at the sound of his sister's voice.
"Am I too late?" she said and stood in the doorway.
As Savannah laid her eyes on her, she almost choked on a piece of potato.
"Penelope, what on earth have you done to your hair?" her mother said. "Your beautiful blonde hair?"
Penelope smiled from ear to ear, then touched the tip of a brown lock. "I dyed it. Doesn't it look perfect? I look just like Savannah now; don't you think so, Benjamin? I posted a picture of it on Instagram, and a lot of people thought I was her. Isn't it pretty, Benji?"
37
It had snowed again the night before, and I took the kids out to play in it in the yard. We built a huge snowman and had a snowball fight. It felt so good to play around and not think about all that had happened since we got there for once. Even Austin seemed to be able to forget for a few seconds. He helped me get the head on top of the snowman and chuckled as half of it broke off on the way. I grumbled, annoyed, then gathered more snow and fixed the hole, patting it gently.
"He looks great; doesn’t he?"
Austin bent down, then gathered a little more snow and placed it on top of the head, shaping a small hat.
"Now it's perfect, Dad."
Seeing my boy smile and play again made me so happy. I had realized all he needed was for me to let him off the hook for a little while and not keep pressuring him to talk about what had happened at the ski school. It wasn't easy since I wanted him to tell me; I desperately wanted to know what he had seen. It was beyond frustrating to know that he might have seen the killer but simply refused to talk about it. But we had been down that road, and it didn't lead us anywhere. He would talk when he was ready; Shannon had convinced me of that this morning in bed. For now, it was all about making the best of the time we had together.
Things hadn't exactly gone the way I wanted them to on this trip. By now, it was my plan that the kids would be so good at skiing that I would be able to take them up on the lift and ride down the green or maybe even red slopes with them. But that hadn't happened. So far, they had only had one day of ski school, and I wasn't sure I was ever going to get Austin back up there again.
"But it's missing something," I said.
"What, Dad?" Austin asked.
I pulled out an old pipe from my pocket that I had found inside the cabin and placed it in the mouth.
“There. Now it's perfect," I said and glanced at the other kids who were engaged in a huge snowball fight. I spotted Abigail as she gathered a snowball and ran after Tyler, then smashed it into his face with the result that Tyler let out a loud scream.
"Abigail!"
"What?" she yelled back. "He started it!"
While she was turned away, Tyler picked up a big chunk of snow, then walked to Abigail and slid it inside of her jacket. Abigail shrieked as the cold snow glided down her back. It was hard for me not to laugh.
"You little midget, I'm gonna get you," she screamed, then took off after Tyler.
Tyler squealed, then ran away, Abigail on his tail. Seconds later, they ended up on the neighbor's property and kept going.
; "Hey, you two, come back here."
They disappeared around the neighbor's house, and soon I couldn't see them anymore.
"Hey, guys! Come back here. It's not our property over there."
I exchanged a glance first with Betsy Sue, then Angela, and finally Austin.
"Where did they go?" I asked.
Austin shrugged. We waited for a few seconds more before I exhaled.
"Guess I'll have to go get them. Go ahead and go inside. I'll be right back."
38
"I don't like to talk about him much."
Colette sipped her Sprite, distraught, her eyes avoiding Shannon's. They had ordered two pasta dishes, and now she was nibbling breadsticks while they waited.
"And why is that?" Shannon asked. "Why don't you like to talk about Benjamin?"
"Oh, it's not because of him. It's just, well…it wasn't for me."
"Was it because of his sister?" Shannon asked. "His brother mentioned that she was part of the reason why you broke up with him."
"Not part. She was all the reason. I liked Benjamin. He was cute and very considerate. But his sister was nuts if you ask me."
Colette grabbed a breadstick and took a bite.
"Tell me about her. What was so nuts about her?" Shannon asked, glancing briefly at her phone. There had been no calls; the kids were probably fine.
"Pretty much everything. She would never leave us alone. She went with us everywhere we went—the movies, restaurants, everywhere. If I was snuggling with Benjamin on the couch, she would crawl up to him from the other side and lay really close to him like she was his darn girlfriend. She would often say that she could never find a boyfriend as good as her brother. It felt like they were the ones dating and not him and me. I got the feeling she wanted to be with him, which grossed me out."
"So, they were close? Some siblings are closer than others."
Colette shook her head. "No, it was more than that. It was like she was in love with him. And she was constantly trying to get me out of the way. She'd ignore me and hardly talk to me, or she'd text him when he was with me and write that he didn't need to be with me anymore, not when he had her. I only dated him for five months before I had enough of her. She was so creepy the way she watched us when we were watching TV at his house or how I would see her in the window when kissing him goodnight on the porch. I was scared of her, to be honest. I didn't feel safe."
Shannon chewed the breadstick, then the pasta arrived, and she dug in, starving. All this cold air made her hungry. Colette put her fork into her pasta, then paused and dropped the fork back on the plate.
"I’ve never told anyone this before, but I think she attacked me once."
Shannon almost choked on her pasta and drank a sip of her water. "She attacked you? What do you mean you think she attacked you?"
"I couldn't really see that it was her. She was wearing a ski mask. I was walking home one night after watching a movie with some friends. I had parked in the back behind the movie theater and, as I said goodbye to my friends and walked to my car, someone jumped me from behind. A hand was placed over my mouth so I couldn't scream, and as I fought to get loose from this person's grip, I saw the watch the person was wearing on their arm. I took a self-defense class a couple of months earlier, so I managed to use that to get away, and the person ran off. At the time, I thought it was some random guy, and I never told anyone since nothing really happened and my mother didn't know I was out so late. She works nights at a nursing home outside of town, so I’m often out later than my curfew without her knowing it. But the next time I was at Benjamin's house, I saw Penny wearing that same watch. That's actually why I broke up with him. I told him I thought his sister attacked me, and he refused to believe me. He said I was jealous of her and that was it. I'd had enough."
“Wow," Shannon said and ate the last of her pasta, then looked at the girl across from her.
"I’m just glad I got away from that family. That sister is terrifying. Now that Benjamin is dead, I feel so sad, but to be honest, I’m not that surprised. I’m certain his sister killed him because she knew she could never have him, and she couldn't bear that someone else would."
39
"Abigail? Tyler?"
I ran across the heavy snow, around the big house next door, following their footsteps, but still, I couldn't see them. I looked up at the big house, hoping the Rutherfords wouldn't see us out here and get angry at us for trespassing. They were still grieving the loss of their son, and I wouldn't want to interrupt or make them feel uncomfortable.
"Abigail and Tyler. You come back here, now!"
A couple of horses made sounds from the field at the end of the property where they had a small stable, but I couldn't see the kids anywhere down there either. I turned to see their footsteps leading to the other end of the property, then decided to follow them. They led me to a small shack very close to the creek.
I called their names again, but they didn't answer, and now I could see their footprints leading to the back door of the shack. They must have run inside. Tyler was probably trying to hide from his sister in there, and so she had followed.
I walked to the door, then pushed it open gently. "Tyler? Abigail? Hello? Are you in there?"
A sound made me go in. The room was like a shed with a ton of garden equipment and bags of food for the horses. I spotted both kids at the end of the room. They were standing in the darkness, looking at something.
"There you are," I said, relieved, but beginning to get cross with them for running away like that.
Neither of them moved as I spoke. They stood like statues and stared at an old freezer, holding the lid open.
"What are you doing?" I asked angrily. It was one thing to run in somewhere by accident because they were goofing around, but snooping in other people's things wasn't okay.
"You've got to see this, Dad,” Abigail said and pointed.
I approached the freezer, then looked down into it. Blood was smeared on the inside.
"W-what is that, Dad?” Tyler asked, barely able to look inside unless he stood on his tippy toes. Abigail was holding the lid.
I exhaled and stared at the blood.
"Tyler looked inside because he wanted to hide inside of it," Abigail said when she saw my expression. "He lifted the lid and then he saw the blood. It wasn't me."
I grabbed Tyler's hand in mine and pulled him away. "Don't you ever try to crawl into a freezer to hide, you hear me? Some of these old ones can't open from the inside, and you'll freeze to death. Now, let's get out of here. We're trespassing."
Abigail grabbed my other hand. "What do you think was in there? Where did all the blood come from?"
I exhaled, then took a picture of it with my phone. "I don't know, sweetie. Now, let’s go."
As we approached the door, we heard the sound of footsteps creaking on the snow outside, and soon a man stood in front of us.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"My kids were playing around. They ran in here by mistake," I said. "We've rented the cabin next door for the week. Who are you?"
"I’m Douglas Rutherford. I’m Charles' brother. I’m staying here while I wait for my wife to figure out if she wants to divorce me or not."
As he spoke, I realized his breath reeked of alcohol, and he was swaying slightly. I smiled politely, then walked past him into the snow.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience. As I said, they ran in here by mistake. We'll just head back now."
As I walked past him, holding my kids close, I felt his eyes follow us all the way back to our cabin, and it made the hairs rise on the back of my neck. As soon as I reached our place, I grabbed my phone and called the sheriff.
40
"So, you're telling me you saw the pastor in a fight with some woman downtown?"
Jack stared at Shannon, his eyes wide. She was unpacking the groceries when she told him what she had seen. She put away the lamb she had bought for tonight, then reached for her phone and showed him t
he picture of them together that she had taken from inside the car.
"They were discussing something, and he got aggressive. Finally, he slapped her, and then she left. It almost made me call the cops, but then they were gone, and I didn't know what to do."
Jack stared at the display. "Wow. That's awful. He really hit her? I can't believe it. Do you know who the woman is?"
"No," Shannon said as she found a pack of Oreos and put them on a shelf. "But it's strange, right?"
"Sure is," he said, wrinkling his forehead. "And you say he drove away in a black pick-up truck? Did you recognize it as the same one that we saw that day?"
She shrugged. "Black pick-up trucks are pretty common around here. But it did make me wonder."
Jack exhaled. "Something is not right over there; I can tell you that much. The kids accidentally ran onto the neighbor's property today. They were goofing around and didn't realize they were trespassing. Tyler and Abigail got themselves into an old shack in the back where they found a freezer. And get this; it had blood smeared inside of it."
Shannon dropped the bag of sliced bread onto the counter. She turned to look at him.
"You're kidding me? Real blood?"
Jack shook his head. "It looked like it, yes. There was nothing in it now, but I couldn't help wondering…"
"You think someone kept Benjamin's body in there, don't you? Until it was released into the water."
He sighed. "I don't know. But it's a possibility, right? I mean it's been three weeks since he disappeared, and then suddenly out of the blue, he turns up in the creek? His body is barely decomposed. A body that has been in the water for a long time shows sign of having been in there. Usually, there's scavenging, but there was nothing to see on him. Nothing at all."
Shannon nodded. "It does sound strange. Okay, let's say he was in the freezer for all this time; who put him there?"