The Body Finder

by Kimberly Derting

  Jay’s jaw clenched tightly, as if the image was too much for even him to bear, but his voice was considerate. “I know you’re afraid. But they will catch him, and until then, I’m not gonna let you out of my sight. No one’s going to let anything bad happen to you.” He didn’t say it, but Violet heard the word again hanging there behind his words.

  But she still felt better just hearing his reassurances, like she wasn’t alone.

  “I’m okay. I think all this isolation, and all the extra security stuff, is just starting to wear on me. I’m going a little stir-crazy being cooped up all the time.” She tried to explain her sulky mood. “Especially with Homecoming this weekend. The idea of sitting around here, while everyone else is out having fun, just sucks.”

  He didn’t react the way she’d expected him to react. She’d expected some more sympathy, and maybe even some suggestive comments about the two of them being left alone together. What she didn’t expect was for him to smile at her. But he did. And it was his sideways smile, which told Violet that he knew something she didn’t.

  “What?” she demanded adamantly.

  He grinned. He was definitely keeping something from her.

  “Tell me!” she insisted, glowering at him.

  “I don’t know…” he teased her. “I’m not sure you deserve it.”

  She punched him in the arm for making her beg. “Please, just tell me.”

  He laughed at her. “Fine. I give up. Bully.” He pretended to rub his arm where she’d hit him. “What if I were to tell you that…”—he dragged it out, making her lean closer in anticipation, his crooked smile lighting up his face—“…we’re still going to the dance?”

  Violet was speechless. That wasn’t at all what she’d expected him to say.

  “Yeah, right,” she retorted cynically. “My parents barely let me go to school, let alone go to the dance.”

  “You’re right, they didn’t want you to go, but we talked about it, and even your uncle Stephen helped out. The football game was definitely out of the question; there are just too many people coming and going, and there’re no restrictions for getting in. But the dance is at school, in the gym. Only students and their dates can get in, and your uncle said he was already planning to have extra security there. So, as long as I promise to keep a close eye on you…which I do”—his voice suggested that the last part had nothing to do with keeping her safe, and Violet felt her cheeks flushing in response—“your parents have agreed to let you go.”

  She glanced down at her ankle, double-wrapped in Ace bandages, and completely useless. “But I can’t dance.” She felt crestfallen.

  He slid his finger beneath her chin and lifted it up so that she was staring into his eyes. “I don’t care at all if we dance. I just want to take my girlfriend”—his emphasis on the word gave her goose bumps, and she smiled—“to Homecoming.”

  They stayed there like that, with their eyes locked and unspoken meaning passing between them, for several long, electrifying moments. Violet was the first to break the spell. “Lissie’ll be there,” she stated in a voice that was devoid of any real jealousy.

  Jay shook his head, still gazing at her intently. “I won’t even notice her. I won’t be able to take my eyes off you.”

  Violet was glad she was already sitting, because his words made her feel weak and fluttery. The corner of her mouth twitched upward with satisfaction. “Not if I have any say in it, you won’t,” she answered.

  CHAPTER 24

  IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG FOR VIOLET TO ADJUST TO the idea of going to the dance. In truth, Saturday night couldn’t come fast enough.

  Friday went by in a blur of activity. There was a huge pep assembly at school that took up the last half of the afternoon. The entire football team was introduced, to a frenzy of cheers and screams from the student body watching from the bleachers. Violet wished more than ever that she didn’t have to miss the game, but she understood all too well why she couldn’t go. Still, it was easy to get swept up in the fervor of school spirit.

  When the Homecoming Court was announced, Violet felt a moment of insecurity. Lissie gracefully swept out on to the hardwood floor of the gymnasium like she’d been born for this role. Violet glanced inconspicuously at Jay, wondering why on earth he would have picked her over the stunning Lissie Adams.

  But he wasn’t looking at Lissie. All of his attention was focused on Violet instead, and he caught her fleeting look in his direction.

  “She’s not half as beautiful as you are,” he promised, in answer to her silent doubts.

  She nudged him lightly with her shoulder. “Shut up.” But she couldn’t keep the smile off her lips as she said it.

  “Knock it off, you guys. Get a room, for God’s sake!” Chelsea squealed at the two of them above the clamor of the crowd in the bleachers.

  When the assembly was over, Jay became a human barrier between Violet, who was wobbling along on her crutches, and the throng of students in their mass exodus to get away from the school. In the parking lot, car horns were blaring loudly and windows were rolled down, despite the cool autumn weather, and the air was filled with shrieks and battle cries. The game was going to be thunderous tonight.

  Jay drove Violet home, where she thought he’d be staying with her for the evening, so she was surprised when they got to her house and Jay’s mom was waiting for him in the driveway.

  “Where’re you going?” she asked, trying not to sound too upset that he was leaving.

  He shrugged noncommittally, and Violet had the impression that he was being evasive on purpose. “I have some things I need to do. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

  Violet tried to hide her disappointment as he helped her inside, carrying her backpack over one shoulder and keeping one hand protectively at the base of her back, just in case she lost her balance.

  He kissed her good-bye, and then kissed her again, and then again. Pretty soon five minutes had passed, and Jay’s mom honked her car horn out in the driveway.

  “’Bye, Violet,” he whispered against her cheek, his voice thick with desire. “I love you.”

  She watched him leave, still reeling from his kisses.

  The night without Jay hadn’t been a total loss…except for the devastating loneliness…and the overwhelming desire to be at the Homecoming Game with all her friends…and the crushing boredom.

  She started a book she’d been planning to read. Stopped. Tried another. Gave up on that one too. And finally worked her way down the stairs to hang out with her parents. When they went to bed, which was barely at the crack of ten o’clock, Violet was left on her own once again.

  It took some doing, but she finally managed to fix a bowl of microwave popcorn and actually get it to the family room, eventually giving up on the crutches and hopping—carefully—from one room to the next. She was exhausted by the time she reached the couch again. So when the tapping started, so faint that she wasn’t sure she’d even heard it at first, she tried to convince herself that it was nothing.

  But it didn’t go away, and in fact it got louder, and pretty soon Violet knew that she couldn’t just ignore it. It was coming from the front door.

  She was a little afraid, even though she told herself that she shouldn’t be. There was a cop out there, facing the entrance. And her parents were right upstairs; all she had to do was yell and they’d come running.

  She finally got up, which was not a small feat in itself, and decided to at least look through the peephole before deciding whether or not to answer it. She didn’t move quickly, for obvious reasons, and the tapping continued in intermittent spurts, not really getting louder but remaining fairly constant.

  Despite self-reassurances, her heart was beating too fast and her mouth was suddenly too dry. She tried to concentrate on sensing anything unusual coming from the other side of the door.

  When she finally reached it, she bent forward and looked through the peephole.

  Jay was grinning back at her from outside.

 
Her heart leaped for a completely different reason.

  She set aside her crutches and quickly unbolted the door to open it.

  “What took you so long?”

  Her knee was bent and her ankle pulled up off the ground. She balanced against the doorjamb. “What d’you think, dumbass?” she retorted smartly, keeping her voice down so she wouldn’t alert her parents. “You scared the crap out of me, by the way. My parents are already in bed, and I was all alone down here.”

  “Good!” he exclaimed as he reached in and grabbed her around the waist, dragging her up against him and wrapping his arms around her.

  She giggled while he held her there, enjoying everything about the feel of him against her. “What are you doing here? I thought I wouldn’t see you till tomorrow.”

  “I wanted to show you something!” He beamed at her, and his enthusiasm reached out to capture her in its grip. She couldn’t help smiling back excitedly.

  “What is it?” she asked breathlessly.

  He didn’t release her; he just turned, still holding her gently in his arms, so that she could see out into the driveway. The first thing she noticed was the officer in his car, alert now as he kept a watchful eye on the two of them. Violet realized that it was late, already past eleven, and from the look on his face, she thought he must have been hoping for a quiet, uneventful evening out there.

  And then she saw the car. It was beautiful and sleek, painted a glossy black that, even in the dark, reflected the light like a polished mirror. Violet recognized the Acura insignia on the front of the hood, and even though she could tell it wasn’t brand-new, it looked like it had been well taken care of.

  “Whose is it?” she asked admiringly. It was way better than her crappy little Honda.

  Jay grinned again, his face glowing with enthusiasm. “It’s mine. I got it tonight. That’s why I had to go. My mom had the night off, and I wanted to get it before…” He smiled down at her. “I didn’t want to borrow your car to take you to the dance.”

  “Really?” she breathed. “How…? I didn’t even know you were…” She couldn’t seem to find the right words; she was envious and excited for him all at the same time.

  “I know, right?” he answered, as if she’d actually asked coherent questions. “I’ve been saving for…for forever, really. What do you think?”

  Violet smiled at him, thinking that he was entirely too perfect for her. “I think it’s beautiful,” she said with more meaning than he understood. And then she glanced back at the car. “I had no idea that you were getting a car. I love it, Jay,” she insisted, wrapping her arms around his neck as he hoisted her up, cradling her like a small child.

  “I’d offer to take you for a test-drive, but I’m afraid that Supercop over there would probably Taser me with his stun gun. So you’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” he said, and without waiting for an invitation he carried her inside, dead bolting the door behind him.

  He settled down on the couch, where she’d been sitting by herself just moments before, without letting her go. There was a movie on the television, but neither of them paid any attention to it as Jay reclined, stretching out and drawing her down into the circle of his arms. They spent the rest of the night like that, cradled together, their bodies fitting each other perfectly, as they kissed and whispered and laughed quietly in the darkness.

  At some point Violet was aware that she was drifting into sleep, as her thoughts turned dreamlike, becoming disjointed and fuzzy and hard to hold on to. She didn’t fight it; she enjoyed the lazy, drifting feeling, along with the warmth created by the cocoon of Jay’s body wrapped protectively around her.

  It was the safest she’d felt in days…maybe weeks….

  And for the first time since she’d been chased by the man in the woods, her dreams were free from monsters.

  CHAPTER 25

  THE DAY OF THE DANCE WAS LIKE A DREAM.

  Violet woke up alone. She realized that Jay must have left sometime during the night, and she’d stayed where she was, curled up contentedly on the couch, basking in the warmth he’d left behind.

  As she stretched and finally forced her nebulous thoughts to clear, she remembered Jay’s new car. She was thrilled for him all over again as she easily recaptured his image in her mind’s eye, that childlike enthusiasm on his face as he showed off his new toy. She smiled to herself at the memory of it. She couldn’t wait to ride in it, with Jay behind the wheel.

  She couldn’t wait to go to the dance.

  She spent a lot of the day fielding text messages from her friends…and forcing herself not to call Jay, allowing the expectancy to build to a crescendo, the suspense filling her senses as intoxicatingly as any narcotic. She was giddy by the time she was slipping into her dress.

  Her mom made several appearances, camera in hand, to take pictures of her getting ready. It seemed to be exactly what they needed as a family, something to take their mind off all the tragic and frightening events of the past weeks. Even her father, who still had reservations about her going, couldn’t stop telling her how beautiful she looked when her mom dragged him in to see Violet all dressed up.

  Her dress was simple enough: a soft, flowing, black jersey fabric with a narrow Empire waist and a halter top that created a V-shaped neckline. The crisscrossing straps in back held up a scoop of fabric that ended in a soft wave, exposing a generous length of nearly bare skin from her shoulders to below her midback. It clung to Violet’s body in all the right places, and the hem all but covered her strappy sandals, for which Violet was now grateful, knowing that it would also cover the ugly, unavoidable ankle brace she would be forced to wear.

  The effect was not only elegant but dramatic.

  Violet felt like a princess.

  Not like one of Lissie’s band of nauseatingly counterfeit princesses, but like a real one. From a fairy tale.

  A really, really sexy fairy tale.

  Her mom helped Violet to pin back her hair, leaving wisps of strategic curls to fall loose, framing her delicate porcelain face perfectly. And for the first time, probably ever, Violet was grateful not to have the same stick-straight hair that all the other girls had. Her eyes were striking, with smoky charcoal liner and a luscious coat of lash-lengthening mascara that outlined the flecked emerald green of her irises. The color in her cheeks had little to do with the makeup she wore, since she was flushed with excitement.

  Her dad poked his head in just as her mom was crouching down to help her fasten the tiny buckle of her shoe, the final touch.

  He whistled approvingly. “I’m starting to have second thoughts again. I’m not sure I should be letting you out of the house like this.” He smiled, but his eyes were tearing up a little, and Violet knew that he was comparing her to the little girl she once was.

  Her own eyes started to burn, and she fanned her hands in front of them. “Stop it, Dad! You’re gonna make me cry too.”

  Greg Ambrose took a cleansing breath and composed himself before announcing, “Jay’s downstairs waiting.”

  With her father on one side, and the handrail on the other, Violet descended the stairs as if she were floating. Jay stood at the bottom, watching her, frozen in place like a statue.

  His black suit looked as if it had been tailored just for him. His jacket fell across his strong shoulders in a perfect line, tapering at his narrow waist. The crisp white linen shirt beneath stood out in contrast against the dark, finely woven wool. He smiled appreciatively as he watched her approach, and Violet felt her breath catch in her throat at the striking image of flawlessness that he presented.

  “You…are so beautiful,” he whispered fervently as he strode toward her, taking her dad’s place at her arm.

  She smiled sheepishly up at him. “So are you.”

  Her mom insisted on taking no fewer than a hundred pictures of the two of them, both alone and together, until Violet felt like her eyes had been permanently damaged by the blinding flash. Finally her father called off her mom, dragging her away into th
e kitchen so that Violet and Jay could have a moment alone together.

  “I meant it,” he said. “You look amazing.”

  She shook her head, not sure what to say, a little embarrassed by the compliment.

  “I got you something,” he said to her as he reached inside his jacket. “I hope you don’t mind, it’s not a corsage.”

  Violet couldn’t have cared less about having flowers to pin on her dress, but she was curious about what he had brought for her. She watched as he dragged out the moment longer than he needed to, taking his time to reveal his surprise.

  “I got you this instead.” He pulled out a black velvet box, the kind that holds fine jewelry. It was long and narrow.

  She gasped as she watched him lift the lid.

  Inside was a delicate silver chain, and on it was the polished outline of a floating silver heart that drifted over the chain that held it.

  Violet reached out to touch it with her fingertip. “It’s beautiful,” she sighed.

  He lifted the necklace from the box and held it out to her. “May I?” he asked.

  She nodded, her eyes bright with excitement as he clasped the silver chain around her bare throat. “Thank you,” she breathed, interlacing her hand into his and squeezing it meaningfully.

  She reluctantly used the crutches to get out to the car, since there were no handrails for her to hold on to. She felt like they ruined the overall effect she was going for.

  Jay’s car was as nice on the inside as it was outside. The interior was rich, smoky gray leather that felt like soft butter as he helped her inside. Aside from a few minor flaws, it could have passed for brand-new. The engine purred to life when he turned the key in the ignition, something that her car had never done. Roar, maybe—purr, never.