Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62480 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 312(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 208(@300wpm)
“How about I go inside and find you something for you to put on?”
“Do you feel differently about me?” I blurt out. “It would be understandable. What you saw me do to him. You probably need time to think about it. I need time to think about it.”
He rises to his feet, his expression serious. “No, I don’t need time to think about it, and I don’t feel differently. You did what you had to do. I am happy you defended yourself. I’m ecstatic that asshole can’t hurt anyone else. Just wait here, okay?”
“He said I was like him. That I was angry at everything. He thought killing him would give me a taste for it.”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone else. But I really wanted to hurt him. And I don’t even feel bad about it.”
Noah just nods.
“When the chance came, I didn’t hesitate, and I didn’t stop until he was dead. I am not even sure I stopped then. Guess he might have been right about my anger levels. When it came to him, at least.”
The sound of sirens draws ever nearer. Detective Hahn beats the patrol car by a couple of seconds with an ambulance close behind. No idea why the paramedics are rushing. There’s no one alive inside who needs their aid. Just me and my broken nose. It won’t be long before the media are here. But in the meantime, an assortment of curious neighbors come outside to watch the show.
Detective Hahn’s gaze moves over me. “Are you injured, Miss Walsh?”
“My nose is broken. There are two bodies inside. Maggie Young is in the living room and Ryan is in the kitchen.”
“And they’re both dead,” she confirms.
“Yes.” I get to my feet. Too many emotions are running rampant through me to stay seated. “He’d already strangled Maggie by the time I came inside from the backyard. Then we fought and…”
“Okay.”
“He showed me where the missing women are. Where they’re buried. The pins in my map in the back room…he marked out the locations. Said he was going to burn the house down so it didn’t matter because no one would ever know. But we have them. We can bring them home.”
Detective Hahn’s eyes widen slightly.
Noah’s hand presses against my lower back. Just letting me know he’s there and thank fuck for that.
“He can’t hurt anyone else, and the women can be reunited with their families,” I say. “It’s finally over.”
Detective Hahn raises her brows. “Sounds like you have quite the story to tell me.”
I almost smile. But mostly I think I am just tired. So worn out I could sleep for a year. “Yeah.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Three months later…
People are wild. Take for instance the ones who gate-crash funerals. Some do it for the drama of the occasion. The chance to dress up and attend an event. To feel all of those heightened emotions swirling around them. While others are there strictly for the free food. I hate funerals. But there’s no way I would miss today. Not after the family invited us.
I tie my hair back (it’s slowly growing longer) and put on a black pantsuit bought just for the occasion. It’s cold as fuck outside. But I stand waiting by the roadside in my grey woolen coat. The late autumn breeze is bracing—reminding me it’s good to be alive.
“Is it that girl’s funeral today?” asks Mrs. Lawson from her yard.
“Avery Lauder. Yes.”
“Sometimes you stabbing him nineteen times seems like showing too much restraint.” She frowns. “I’ll be praying for her family. For all of their families.”
“That’s good of you.”
I’m not saying the neighborhood loves me now. There’s still too much drama associated with my name for that. But any media or tourists who hang around making a nuisance of themselves are likely to receive a sermon from my neighbors. It makes me feel less isolated to know I’m no longer so much of an outsider. Not so much a pariah. Just famous for all the wrong reasons.
Muriel and Hana pull up in a bulky SUV. Today is the result of almost a decade of work on our part. It’s a bittersweet sort of feeling. With the help of the map pins, all of Ryan’s victims have been found. We’ve now moved on to searching for other women who have gone missing in the area. The victims of other crimes. Because sadly there will always be more.
“The first of four,” says Muriel from behind the steering wheel. “What a day.”
Hana sighs. “I am glad they released the body to the family, finally.”
“I honestly thought it would take longer.” I put on my seatbelt in in the backseat and off we go. “How did your date with the cheese maniac go?”
“He covered me in Cheez Whiz.”
I snort.
“I’ll take things I never wanted to know for five hundred,” says Muriel.