But in the back of his mind a seed of doubt was planted. “No, ain’t gonna think it,” he told himself turning back to his wife. “I know it was him, honeybee. I know it!”
Ellen shook her head and faded away, leaving Hank in the pale glow of the television screen; alone with his embattled conscience, weighed down with chains of guilt and drunkenness, sinking like the Titanic into the sea.
Part Three
Kissing Cousins
Chapter 63
Adam woke in the driver seat of the stolen Cadillac as the sun rose at his back like a bright, neon pumpkin.
With a deep yawn, he sat up, stretched his limbs, and peered beyond the leaf-littered windshield. The parking lot outside the high school was filling with cars and teenagers.
The hunt begins, he mused, reaching for his duffel bag on the passenger seat and extracting a large set of binoculars.
His chosen prey was not among the students he watched shuffling into the school building. Either she was already inside or had yet to arrive. It didn’t matter. He’d catch her when the time was right. For now, he’d sit and wait. He was confident, for all things were falling in his favor.
Last night, after leaving the bar with a satisfied stomach, he’d drove around town until he’d found the school and a place to hide the car that allowed him to keep a good view of the building’s front entrance.
A thick clump of trees and overgrown shrubbery lined the abandoned property across the street from the school. It was there, in the shadows, he found the perfect surveillance post.
God is on my side, Adam reminded himself as he scanned the premises. With His hand guiding the way, I’ll find everything I need.
Just as his Pappy always said: you put your faith in God and He will deliver all that you need.
He actually had a dream about his Pappy last night. They were hunting that night’s dinner in the woods surrounding their trailer home— just like old times. Only tonight’s menu did not call for deer, rabbit, possum or squirrel.
It called for pussy. Fresh, teenage pussy.
Prize pussy.
“When ya find her,”
his Pappy said,
“and ya catch her. Take yer time with her. This little bitch has eluded us for way too long, and she’s on my shitlist. Hurts me in a way I don’t wanna explain. Then again, was my fault. Shouldn’t have been drinkin’ when I had work to do. But we’re gonna have us some fun with her, hear? Nice and slow like.”
Adam pulled out his knife, looked up at him and said,
“But ya always told me not to play with my food.”
His pappy grinned like a wicked jack-o-lantern.
“Oh, with this one ya can play,” he said. “Ya can play real hard.”
“Is she The Lost One?”
“I don’t think this one’s a decoy. I think we finally found her. I knew we would. Just had to wait it out a few years. God’s plan and all. Had to give ‘em a false since of security.” Bubba Ray Busby looked at his son and winked. “Good luck, boy.” He faded into the night.
Adam woke shortly after with a raging hard on and thoughts of the mother he never knew.
“Momma fell down a well,” he said to himself as he watched a red pickup truck pull up to the school entrance. “She sinned, and the Devil done ate her up.”
His heart leapt in his chest the moment he saw the face of the girl who climbed down from the passenger seat of that truck. Her long, golden hair rustled in the passing breeze.
“Prize pussy,” he said, watching as she hurried inside. “Come out and play.”
Chapter 64
Amy had given Hank the silent treatment all morning which was to be expected. She would be upset with him for a while; he knew that. He’d betrayed her trust in a big way. But eventually she’ll understand that he lied for her own good. That he was only trying to protect her and to preserve whatever innocence there was left in her to preserve.
He didn’t want her to hate him. He was afraid she would despise him after learning it was his fault her mother was dead. Had he not been so careless about letting a stranger into his home, Ellen might be still alive.
His wife’s blood was on his hands.
Losing Amy’s love would be too much for him to bear. She was all he had left. She was the lone flower in the weed-choked garden of his life. She was his purpose for living.
Eating the barrel of his .45 was preferable to life without his daughter’s love and affection. To be a murdering monster in her eyes was something he couldn’t take, and he prayed in time that she’d forgive him, as she’d forgiven his many other sins.
After Amy vanished through the double doors of the high school, Hank headed to work. The aspirin he had taken an hour ago was doing nothing for his headache. He supposed it was a just punishment for last night. Seemed like being visited by ghosts of a shattered past should have been sufficient.
I’m sorry, Ellen. Can’t tell you that enough.
The ghost of his wife sat in the vacated passenger seat. She had no words of comfort for him. The rage and bitterness were gone from her eyes. Only sadness and regret remained.
“I’ve always loved you, honeybee,” Hank said to the ghost. “Only I was never good at showing it.”
Ellen reached out and touched him with a translucent hand. It felt cold and airy.
“I wish I could take it all back. I wish I could bring you back. I wish we can be a family again.”
Hank wiped a tear, and turned a corner onto Main Street. After a quarter of a mile he pulled into his auto shop, parked in his usual space, and killed the engine. “I’ll make it right with her. I promise.”
Bowing her blond head, Ellen closed her eyes and disappeared leaving Hank alone with his guilt.
Chapter 65
When Layne woke up Kelley’s car was still in the driveway, but she and Ashley were gone.
He had no idea where they were. He looked everywhere and even called Kelley’s cell phone. No answer. Nothing.
After drinking more than half a bottle of Maker’s Mark, his memory of last night was a blank.
Why do I keep drinking when I know what might happen?
He had it under control. He thought he had the problem beaten.
I obviously don’t.
After what happened with Billy Brown, he should’ve learned.
There was no evidence around the house that their disappearance was the work of Zero. At least none he’d found. If they didn’t turn up by evening, he’d really start worrying.
His father would be home from his business trip tomorrow, and if his wife and daughter were missing, suspicion, of course, would be placed firmly on Layne.
Please GOD let them be okay.
He never thought he’d want so much to find Kelley alive. With his book bag slung over his shoulder, Layne took his time getting to class. As always, his thoughts shifted to Amy.
He didn’t hear from her last night. This had troubled him enough that it drove him to find solace in his parents’ liquor cabinet. He tried calling her but received no answer. She’d blacked out communication with him. He was in the dark.
He hoped she was okay after confronting Daddy Dearest. If he did anything to hurt her…
Layne thought about the knife in his glove compartment. What was it about knives that made them such a damn desirable killing tool? With a knife you have to get close to your intended victim. It’s more personal than firing a gun, and you can ensure they suffer.
He’d love to make Amy’s dad suffer. Next to Kelley, he was top on Layne’s shitlist.
But you’d never do it. You don’t have the guts.
But Zero did, and that’s what worried him most. He thought about Ashley. Poor helpless Ashley. If Zero did anything to her, Layne would shove the knife into his own heart. After all…
The only way to kill Zero was to kill himself.
Chapter 66
“
It ain’t God helpin’
,” said The Father, who stood behind him in the woods. “
It’s me, dear ol‘ Pappy, speakin’ to you from the dead. I’ve been given a brief wind’ah here to show ya the way to glory. I’ve been guiding your hand all along, and givin’ ya all the things ya need. Call it divine intervention.”
Shadows danced liked wicked marionettes all around as Adam crept his way through the moonlit night in search of prize pussy. He looked behind him to see his pappy, but he only saw endless night.
“Don’t worry ‘bout what’s behind ya. Always keep yer eyes forward. That’s the only way to catch her. Stay vigilant. And remember, I’ll be here for ya.”
Adam’s eyelids flung open like window shades. The noonday sun glared through the trees. He wasn’t sure how long he had napped, but he needed to make sure he didn’t do it again.
If he did, he could miss his prize pussy. He could miss The Lost One, and if she got away the mission would have to start all over.
So he rummaged in his duffel bag for the caffeine pills he bought at Circle K and stepped out of the car to stretch and have a quick smoke.
Lighting up, he looked toward the school.
Chapter 67
In second period, Amy received a small scare.
Her seat was in the back corner by a window that looked out onto the front parking lot, and what she saw across the street in the distance made her heart jump.
A strange man smoked a cigarette by the side of the tree-lined road. He wore camouflage pants, a cap, and a black shirt.
And he was staring right at her.
Or at least that’s how it felt. She couldn’t see his eyes hidden beneath the bill of his hat, but she could feel them, and they gave her an unnerving chill that coiled down her spine.
She remembered her dream last night. The shadowy figure with the knife pursuing her in the woods, the ghostly voice warning her.
“He’s already here.”
A skeleton rattled its unquiet bones behind the door of the family closet. In her mind’s eye, Amy saw that door creak open, and heard laughter as the secret was finally revealed.
Looking away from the window, Amy shuddered.
Chapter 68
“I don’t believe this shit. Today of all days!” Nick West kicked the flat tire and banged his fists on the hood of the Honda Civic.
He had an interview to get to for a job with a graphic design firm in Mobile, but it looked like he was going to be late for it now.
“My luck fucking sucks!”
He was sure if he missed the interview he would more than miss the job, and he needed that job. Bills needed payment, family needed food…
“And now I need to piss!”
He threw his hands angrily in the air, regretting all the coffee he drank in the morning to keep himself alert. “It’s one thing after a-fucking-nother!”
Since he didn’t have a tire jack in the trunk, or for that matter a spare, he pulled out his cell phone and called AAA for assistance. But, because he was way out in the middle of nowhere and from a completely different county, it was going to take over thirty minutes for help to arrive.
“Perfect,” Nick said stomping into the woods to take a leak. “Just fucking perfect!”
He didn’t go far, however, before he saw the fly-invested corpse of an old man splayed out on a bloody carpet of forest refuse.
“Holy shit!” Nick nearly relieved himself in his pants. He clenched his intestines tight as he stumbled back, fumbling for his cell phone. “Son-of-a-bitch!”
He dialed 911. A sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach told him that he wasn’t going to get that job.
Chapter 69
“I’m sorry I didn’t call,” Amy said. “After what I learned last night, I had too much on my mind. I wasn’t in the mood to talk.”
Processing everything she told him about her father, Layne nodded. “I can understand that. Sounds like a lot to take in.”
“It is,” Amy said, looking despondent. “Guess it goes without saying that this stays between us? I don’t want my family’s business spread throughout school.”