Nikki shook her head violently, denying any sort of similarity or connection to the woman.
Lila lowered herself to the ground, settling in. “You already know the part about Charles bringing me here to care for my sick aunt, but I skipped part of the story. I took a bus from Baton Rouge to Belle Pointe and that’s actually the most important part. I met a young woman on that bus. She was alone, like me. A shy, sad widow on her way to a small town in East Texas to care for her sick aunt. Her name, she said, was Lila Wilkes.”
Sweat trickled down Nikki’s face as she struggled with the bindings.
“I won’t bore you with the details of my real identity. Suffice to say, I was on that bus fleeing from an uncomfortable situation. I needed a place where I could lie low for a while. Take a new name, get my hands on some cash. When I followed Lila off the bus, I never meant to stay in Belle Pointe. But then I realized that no one knew what she looked like. We were roughly the same age, the same build. Even Aunt Mary didn’t suspect a thing. Not at first. I buried Lila beneath Mary’s favorite rosebush. Twilight Mist. Isn’t that the loveliest name for a rose? I used to cut the fresh buds and put them in my aunt’s bedroom so she could watch them open. After a while, she began to look at me different, and I knew she suspected the truth. Not that it mattered, of course. She couldn’t tell anyone about me. Couldn’t speak, couldn’t write. Could only lie quietly and follow me with her eyes. One day I noticed something strange about her. The horror in her eyes had turned to grudging admiration and, dare I say, affection. She needed me and I needed her. The arrangement suited us both. Honestly, I was quite upset when she passed. I’d become very fond of her.”
A car sounded on the street. Lila straightened in alarm and then hunkered back down as the vehicle passed. “False alarm. No one will think to look for you in my backyard. Why would they? I’m the town’s guardian angel.”
The horror and helplessness of Nikki’s predicament were starting to weigh on her. The woman was right. Who would think to look for her here? Who would ever suspect Lila Wilkes?
“I was surprised to find how much I liked Belle Pointe. Such a sleepy little town. Off the beaten path. A perfect place to hide from my past. I was no longer the girl who had stabbed her boyfriend in the eye with an ice pick. Here, I was an angel of mercy. Offering the sick and infirm a painless demise, followed by a beautiful send-off.” She clasped her hands. “Only two people in this town ever suspected a thing. It took Charles Nance years to put it together, but your grandmother had me pegged from the moment she clapped eyes on me.”
Nikki froze. Her eyes widened.
Lila laughed softly. “She really was quite something. Tough as nails, that woman. I liked her. She despised me, of course, but I respected that. She always suspected something was off, but I don’t think she realized my true capabilities until her neighbor died.
“I’d been looking after poor Mrs. McHenry for months. Like my aunt, a stroke had debilitated her. I helped her make the transition by putting a pillow over her face. Your grandmother confronted me. This was after you’d gone off to college, so she was alone in the house. It would have been easy enough to shut her up for good, but that could have aroused suspicion coming so soon after her neighbor’s death. So I took that watch from Charles’s study and planted it beneath the floorboard at the Ruins.”
Nikki physically started at the revelation.
Lila nodded at her reaction. “Yes, I knew all about your little hiding place. I know everything that goes on in this town. I told your grandmother if she made trouble for me, I’d see to it that you got blamed for stealing that watch. I’d show the sheriff your journal, too. You know, the part where you’d been with Riley Cavanaugh the night she disappeared? Even if you didn’t do jail time, you’d lose all your scholarship and grant money. You’d have to drop out of school and would likely end up like your worthless mother. So your grandmother kept silent. She went to her grave protecting you, Nikki. You should be very proud of her.”
Tears stung Nikki’s eyes. She tried to summon her grandmother’s spirit. She had been tough as nails. What would she do in Nikki’s position?
Stop struggling so hard against those bindings, girl. You’re only tightening the knot. Just slow down and take your time. Use your head for a change.
Nikki calmed herself yet again and worked methodically at the knot. Maybe it was her imagination, but the cord seemed looser around her wrists.
“So that’s my story.” Lila smiled down at her in the moonlight. “I’ve answered all your questions and given you the gift of your grandmother’s devotion. See? I really am an angel. And now to be merciful...”
Nikki shook her head, silently pleading.
“Don’t worry,” Lila soothed. “It’ll be painless. I could just knock you in the head, throw you in the grave and bury you alive the way I did poor Lila, but I have more refined sensibilities now.” She produced a gun from the pocket of her jeans. “See? It has
