“Don’t play with me, Kaitlan. You told me you were at work when I called. You weren’t.”
At any other time, with any other guy she would have stood up for herself, given it right back to him.
“Oh?” She forced a little smile. “How’d you know that?”
He slapped her.
Kaitlan’s head ricocheted back. Her left cheek blazed with the sting of a hundred fire ants. She stared at Craig, mouth open, shock glazing her brain. He’d never hit her before. Had never come anywhere close. Her hand floated up to her face, tears biting her eyes.
“
Her head bobbed up and down. One tear slipped out of her eye.
He saw it, and the anger on his face unraveled. “Come on now.” His voice gentled. “Stop crying.”
Kaitlan gulped. Her hand pressed harder against her cheek.
Craig rested his weight on one leg, a hand on his hip. His breathing came unevenly. “Tell me why you lied.”
Yeah, like she should be surprised. He’d killed a woman, hadn’t he? What was hitting his girlfriend compared to that?
But it wasn’t supposed to be like this. Her grandfather said they were supposed to play their parts …
Craig pulled her hand away from her burning cheek. “I asked you a question.”
“I …” She swallowed. “Two of my clients canceled at the last minute. And I was feeling sick. I didn’t want you to worry about me, so I just …”
“You just decided to lie.”
“Yes.” Her voice squeaked. “I’m sorry.”
“Because you thought I wouldn’t find out?”
“I don’t know. I guess I really didn’t think.”
They surveyed each other.
“No. Apparently you didn’t.”
Kaitlan’s breathing shallowed. Was he going to hit her again?
Craig stepped back. “Time to go. We’re going to be late, thanks to you. Do you think you can pull it together? My father will expect us to be in a party mood.”
She nodded.
He studied her with half-closed eyes. “The redness will be gone by the time we get there.”
The words sounded so casual, as if he’d commented on the weather. But their meaning hit Kaitlan in the gut. The dead woman’s body was gone, the mark on her cheek would be gone. All was right in Craig Barlow’s world. As long as he kept her under control.
If she said a word against him …
“Get your purse.” Craig turned away. “And don’t forget your present for Hallie.”
Hallie wouldn’t care if Kaitlan didn’t show up with a gift. She’d wave her hand in the air and say, “Hey, no worries. Bring me chocolate tomorrow, I’m happy.” But Chief Barlow was hardly Kaitlan’s greatest ally. He wouldn’t like it.
“You told me you bought her a bracelet.” Craig’s tone sharpened. “Is it even wrapped?”
“Oh. I … yeah. It’s in my bedroom. On the dresser.”
Had it been there the whole time? While that dead woman lay on her bed?
“Well, go get it. Hurry up!”
She hustled into the bedroom, telling herself to think nothing, nothing at all. Not about the sight she’d seen here just hours earlier. Or the sounds that would have filled these walls. Muffled screams, Craig’s grunts as he cinched a striped cloth around the woman’s neck …
What that must feel like—to have the life choked out of you. To struggle for that last breath.
A whimper escaped Kaitlan’s throat.
She spied the small wrapped box, complete with white ribbon. She grabbed it and returned to the kitchen.
Craig tilted his head. “Kaitlan, don’t look so frightened.”
She dropped the gift into her purse. Pushed the terror down her throat, down, down to her toes. “I’m ready.”
As she slid into Craig’s car, Kaitlan wondered if she’d live to see morning.
twenty-three
Seven-thirty.
Outside his office window night drew a sullen, gray blanket over the shoulders of the hills.
Darell faced his computer, belly full of casserole and salad, and his mind fairly alert. Normally he’d be fading by this time of day. But he couldn’t afford to do that tonight. He had to stay awake until Kaitlan called.
As he ate dinner Margaret’s words had fully taken hold of him, giving him confidence. She was right—he had no time to fret about his inabilities. Besides, he
July 19, 2008
BODY OF SECOND STRANGLED WOMAN FOUND
The body of an alleged homicide victim, the second in ten months, was discovered yesterday in Gayner near Edgewood and Canada roads, at the town’s northern border. The victim has been identified as Linda Davila, Hispanic, age thirty-one, a Redwood City resident who worked as a receptionist in the dental office of Dr. Harvin Coutz in Palo Alto.
Davila’s body was found by Gayner residents Marty and Tricia Darton as they jogged a trail off Canada Road. Gayner police and the San Mateo County coroner’s office responded to the scene.
Gayner law enforcement have been tight-lipped about details of the two murders due to their ongoing investigation. In a press conference late yesterday Chief of Police Russ Barlow refused to identify specific similarities between the two murders, saying only, “We do have reason to believe they are linked.”
Some Gayner residents are now demanding that Gayner police step up their efforts in solving these murders. Tina Arbuckle, president of Gayner Women’s League, spoke with reporters after the press conference. “This is a small town, and we know for a fact the police department has little experience with homicides,” she said. “Before these recent murders, Gayner hadn’t seen a homicide in thirteen years. So why aren’t Gayner police calling in other, more experienced departments for help?”
Chief Barlow responded, “That kind of talk is what happens when a citizen, who has no inside knowledge of the crimes, thinks she knows more than local law enforcement, whose members are working night and day to solve these murders. I suggest she keep quiet and let us do our work.”
Contacted for his opinion, Samuel Buckman, a San Mateo County veteran homicide detective of seventeen years, noted the “telling circumstances” of both victims being killed in Gayner, population 18,000. “The Bay Area Peninsulais a huge mass of people,” he said, “one town running into the next. When you get two similar homicides in a town as small as Gayner, chances are high that the perpetrator lives in the area. If I were on the Gayner force I’d be looking for a suspect in my own backyard.”
First victim Tamara Strait was discovered last September in the hills on the south side of Gayner. Strait, twenty-seven, Caucasian, was a checker at the Sequoia Station Safeway in Redwood City. Recently divorced, she was new to the area, living alone in a one-bedroom apartment at Hampton Place. Strait’s daughter, age five, lives
