Ignoring the animals, the Killer fixed on a specific headstone within the assemblage of graves, the newest addition to the lot.
No dates marked the stone’s surface. No heartfelt words of memory.
Just a name.
Kale Kane.
CHAPTER 4
After putting BJ to bed and locking the house, Paul Wiess switched off the downstairs lights and started up the stairs to wish Mallory a good night.
It had been a productive day. The kids were moved into their second floor bedrooms, the last of the decorations were in place, and the house had come together nicely.
Paul rolled his right shoulder, stretching the muscles. He had a few minor aches from lifting some of the larger pieces of furniture, but they were the satisfying pains of a job well done.
Best of all, he had his children back.
At the top of the steps, he found one of BJ’s superhero action figures lying on the carpet. He picked up the toy, staring at it with a smile on his lips until his eyes began to water.
He wiped his eyes and thought of the day after he and Vicky split up. His new apartment had only been a mile away from the home they’d shared, but the silence he’d awakened to that morning felt like ice water in his face, cold and merciless, and it washed away all false hopes that his fractured family could somehow be repaired. But that torment lay behind him now. Here he had a second chance to reconstruct his relationship with Mallory and BJ, an opportunity to rebuild some semblance of the life they’d had up until the divorce.
His prayers had been answered.
Paul set BJ’s toy on the hall table at the landing and turned left, heading toward Mallory’s bedroom. He’d just reached the end of the hall when the phone rang, followed by the sound of Mallory’s voice from the other side of her door.
“Hey, Becky, what’s up?”
Paul went to knock, knowing that waiting out one of Mallory’s phone conversations with her best friend would require a paperback novel and two bathroom trips.
“What do you mean Derrick Nolan dumped his girlfriend?” Mallory asked before he could announce himself. Her voice pitched with a note of astonishment. “He’s been asking about me—asking who? You’re lying, right? Please tell me you’re lying. I can’t believe this is happening now!”
There was a pause. Paul lowered his hand, listening.
“
Another moment passed in silence while Mallory listened to her friend. Paul looked to the far end of the hall, to his open bedroom door, but the disheartening tone of his daughter’s last statement had tethered him to the conversation like a noose.
“Yes, talk to his sister, put in a good word for me,” Mallory said. “And call me the second you find out anything new. Crap, I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight… What do you mean you know what I’ll be doing? Hey! Shame on you!”
Once they’d said their goodbyes Paul tapped on the door.
“Hey, pumpkin, can I come in?”
“Sure, Dad.”
He crossed the room and sat down on the bed.
“Was that Becky?”
“Yeah.”
She’d already switched off the lights, but he easily discerned the melancholy expression on her face.
“Sounded like she had some pretty interesting news,” he said.
“Nah. Just the usual girl-talk.”
He touched her chin and turned her head to face him. Light from outside caught her eyes, and in the softened glow he glimpsed the child within his daughter’s maturing features.
“I’m so sorry about all this, Mallory. I wish I could put everything back the way it was.”
“Dad, I didn’t mean what I said.”
Paul shook his head. “You’re not the one who needs to apologize. You’ve had to change schools and leave all your friends. And all at a time when… when relationships start to have new meanings. You have every right to be upset.”
Mallory formed a thin smile. “Hey, at least I’m still in the state. I would’ve had to start from scratch in Atlanta.”
“I know, but you didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. I’m sorry for that, and I’m sure your mom is, too. At the same time, I’m also thankful to have you back. Without you and BJ the last few months have felt like decades. I’ve missed you.”
Mallory put her arms around him. “Come on, Dad, you’re going to make me cry if you keep talking like that. I’ll love you no matter what. You don’t have to apologize.”
Paul held her tight.
When they separated he asked, “This Derrick is pretty special to you, huh?”
Mallory shrugged, but her bashful smile told the truth.
“Don’t worry. You’ll get your driver’s license soon enough, and then you can visit your friends whenever you want. I’ll even knock the drive time off your curfew.”
“I’m not worried. As long as I can keep in touch with everyone, and if they’re really my friends, then nothing will change, right?”
Paul nodded. “We’ll just have to make sure you do stay in touch with everyone, and a surefire way to do that is to have a pool party.”
Mallory grinned. “Really?”
“Absolutely,” Paul told her. “Invite whoever you please. We can get one of those mile-long submarine sandwiches, and you can blast the music until the neighbors call the cops.”
Mallory cocked her head.
“Well, okay, maybe not that loud.”
“You’re serious?”
“I’ll even take BJ to the movies so you can have the place to yourself. How many parents say that?”
“Awesome!”
“Of course, there’ll be a certain level of responsibility involved.”
Mallory’s head bobbed an enthusiastic “yes” before he even finished the sentence.
CHAPTER 5
Penelope Styles steered her Dodge Neon into the far left lane of the highway then watched the conversion van following behind her mimic the move in the rearview mirror.
“Shit,” she whispered to herself. “Shit, shit, shit.”
She swept several strands of purple hair off her forehead, feeling a cold sweat that had risen from her skin. In the mirror, the van’s headlight blazed like eyes of a jack-o-lantern.
She first noticed the vehicle about a half-hour ago, just after dusk, when she accidentally passed the exit
