Remember Bob, the squirrel banker who forgot to pay his electric bill so he froze to death?” He laughed and wiped her cheek with his thumb. “I was always afraid we were going to get a call from the school psychologist. But your teachers just thought you were creative.”
What Violet remembered was that her dad was the one who helped her when the local animals-dogs mostly-discovered the shallow graves of her cemetery and began to dig up the little bodies. He was the one who taught her to dig deeper and to cover the graves with heavy stones to prevent the scavengers from getting through to the animals buried below.
And when the dogs remained persistent, he even helped her build a small fence from chicken wire.
“When you found that girl, the one in the woods, I thought it would be your undoing. Your mom and I worried that it was too much for such a little girl to deal with. But you did it. You cried at first, and you even had some nightmares, but you didn’t fall apart. And as soon as that poor girl was buried, safe and sound in her own proper resting place, you seemed to just”-he shrugged-“move on.”
He lifted her chin with his finger. “You’ll do it again. I know you, Violet. You will be okay. Better than okay. Trust me.” He smiled at her then.
Violet tried to smile back, but she still felt miserable. She couldn’t explain it entirely, but it was similar to the way she would feel before she’d buried one of her animals-she felt restless and unsettled. Only this was worse…much, much worse. She felt like she was buried beneath a stiflingly heavy cloak of darkness that was suffocating her, and she desperately needed to claw her way out from underneath it. She didn’t share her dad’s optimism. To her it felt like she might never break free. But somehow, even if she didn’t entirely buy into it, it made her feel better just to hear him saying the words. She would be okay.
“We should get home,” she reminded him, suddenly wanting to shift the focus away from her. “Mom’s probably getting pissed that we’re taking so long.”
“Yep, I’m sure I’m going to get an earful about it.” He patted her leg and then started the car.
Violet couldn’t shake the melancholy feelings that clung to her, infiltrating every pore of her body. She leaned back and closed her eyes, wondering if the nightmares from her childhood were about to return, to haunt her sleep once more.
WATCHING
THE CHAOS OF THE SCENE WAS DELICIOUS. IT created the perfect amount of disorder so that he was completely hidden amid the confusion. Undetectable.
Just the way he liked it.
He loved the hunt; it was what kept him going. But this… this was his guilty pleasure.
Watching his work-the aftermath of a kill-exposed to the world.
Of course he’d known it would be. Eventually anyway.
After all, it was a water dump…in a busy lake. Somebody was bound to come across it sooner or later. The only surprise was how quickly she was found.
But it was hot today, and people had flocked to the lake in droves. So not such a surprise really.
It was okay, though. It was a clean drop. He’d made sure of that. As usual, he’d been careful. No witnesses, no evidence, nothing to tie it back to him.
Spotless.
Police and fire crews worked in unison to keep the scene contained as they dredged the waters and searched the shores.
He watched as onlookers pushed and shoved, trying to get a better view of what was happening along the water’s edge. He liked their energy, their insatiable craving for the gory details, no matter how gruesome or unsettling they might be.
And right now, they were ravenous.
He stood as close as he could, listening to them, reveling in that need.
They were talking about his work, about what he’d done, never realizing that he was standing among them.
It excited him. He felt powerful. Alive.
He knew he was taking a chance. He wasn’t supposed to be here. He’d already caught fleeting glimpses of people who knew him, who could, given the chance, identify him. He was glad he was hidden beneath a hat and sunglasses, and he was careful to stay near others in the crowd who were similar to him in size so he wouldn’t stand out too much. And in a crowd this large, they came in all sizes.
He let his mind wander as he surveyed those around him, pressed against him. It wasn’t hard to find girls he liked, girls he could use. In their skimpy bikinis and ultra-short shorts, revealing smooth expanses of unblemished skin, they were particularly delectable to him. Perhaps someday he would see them again, in another place, at another time.
But he knew he couldn’t stay. The longer he waited, the greater his chance of being discovered, especially in a setting like this.
He ducked his head low and eased his way toward the back of the people straining to get closer. Behind the dark lenses, his eyes darted in every direction, absorbing as much of the scene as he possibly could, so that later, when he was alone with his thoughts, he would be able to recollect each aspect. Each dirty little detail.
Today was a good day.
He had seen enough to hold him. For now.
THAT DAY, THE ONE AT THE LAKE, WAS LIKE THE last day of summer…not just for Violet, but for everyone. And even though the calendar didn’t support that argument, the weather cooperated, ignoring the forecasts that had predicted summerlike temperatures, and turning sad and dreary by the following day.
Violet struggled to get through that first twenty-four-hour period. She continued to feel smothered, first by the darkness of night, and then by the oppressive gloom of that endless Sunday. She kept mostly to herself, staying in her room as much as possible, only half listening to the music coming from her headphones, and only half sleeping when exhaustion overcame her.
Jay called several times, and as much as she wanted to hear his voice, she avoided his calls. She felt like she owed him an apology for what she had forced him to witness, but she wasn’t sure what she could possibly say to him to make it better.
She felt like she was sleepwalking through those first painful hours.
The second night came, and sleep finally defeated her. She’d tried to avoid it, spending countless hours laying in bed and playing the what-if game over and over in her head. What if she had never seen those haunting colors echoing up from the water? What if she had chosen not to explore them further? Or best of all, what if she had just been normal, going through life in ignorance…blissfully unaware of the dead? She was exhausted from her own self-deprecation and
