by R. L. Weeks
I pulled my hands from his and put them over my ears. I didn’t want to hear any more.
Tommy grabbed my hands back, however, and held them firmly in my lap. “Look at me,” he commanded.
I opened my eyes. Tommy was scared too. I could see it in his eyes.
“They’ve cancelled school and instituted a nine p.m. curfew for everyone under twenty-one. I’m sure the sheriff will be up here to notify you guys soon. They don’t want anyone, especially girls, going out alone or after dark, and they’re giving out free pepper spray down at the police station. I can take you and Pierce down there to get some if you want.”
“Wow. I can’t believe this,” I responded in shock.
We had left one murder scene all the way across the country just to find ourselves in the middle of another, and this one involved a serial killer going after teenage girls apparently. Suddenly, I remembered last night and Pierce not being in bed. Her hands had been covered in what looked like soot this morning when she’d started losing her mind over a key. I worried she had been out in the woods at the same time as this Kirsten girl.
“Pierce was outside in the middle of the night last night, and someone was in our cottage—a man—and he was riffling around in there,” I admitted.
I didn’t know why I told Tommy, but I felt like I had to tell someone. The police would most likely be questioning us at some point since we lived on the same hill the girl had died on and Pierce, even though there was no way she could have been involved, was going to need me to vouch for her having been in bed all night. Before I would be her alibi though, I wanted to know the truth about where she was and all the strange things happening to her—and if she knew anything about the man I’d seen in the cottage. Maybe he was the same person she’d claimed was the gardener. My sister hadn’t been herself for days, and I was certain there was more to it than just Mom’s and Dad’s deaths.
“How do you know someone was in your cottage?” Tommy looked like he was getting anxious, and he stood from the chair, letting my hands drop into my lap empty.
“I went outside, looking for Pierce, after I woke up and found her gone. I saw a candle flicker to life inside the cottage near the back of the gardens and thought it might be her, so I went to investigate.”
“What exactly did you see?” Tommy spoke fast, and his tone was demanding.
“I don’t know exactly,” I stammered. “A guy with kinda strange eyes and darker-colored skin. I couldn’t tell his ethnicity or how old he was, but he was fit and tall, and he disappeared into thin air.”
“What do you mean he disappeared into thin air?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I can’t explain it. Like, one minute he was staring straight at me through the window, and the next second, he was gone. Poof! Like he was never there.”
Tommy pressed further. “Did you see where he went?”
“No. There looked to be two doors to the little cottage, and I know he didn’t go out the front door ’cause I was just a few feet from it, and the back door wasn’t open. At least, I don’t think it was open. I was scared and I started running.” I looked down, ashamed I couldn’t provide more details.
Tommy sighed and knelt in front of me. “Will you take me to the cottage?”
“Shouldn’t the police be doing the investigation? I mean, we’re just in high school. What can you do? We shouldn’t disturb the crime scene—”
“There’s something else you should know,” Tommy said slowly and cautiously.
His tone sent chills down my spine. I knew I was going to hear something I didn’t want to know.
“All the girls who have been killed, they’ve all had red hair or, at least, close to red hair. In fact, there’s no more redheaded teenage girls left in town, except—”
“Except for Pierce,” I said, finishing for him.
Tommy nodded. This was the real reason why he’d come here so early. Pierce was a target. But where were the police? Why weren’t the authorities coming to warn us or give Pierce and I protection if they knew she was a target?
As if on cue, crunching across the gravel driveway turned my attention toward a sheriff deputy’s car making its way up to the manor.
“Speak of the devil,” Tommy muttered under his breath.
The car rolled to a stop, and two officers in khaki-brown sheriff’s uniforms exited, letting each door slam behind them.
“Morning, miss.” The officer on the left with a pot belly and long black mustache greeted me as he lowered his blacked-out sunglasses to look me in the eye.
The other officer, who very much contrasted the first, spit on the ground and crossed his long, skinny legs over each other as he leaned against the patrol car and let his partner handle what was about to happen.
Tommy nudged me and whispered in my ear as Officer Mustache approached. “Don’t tell them about the man or the cottage or Pierce.”
“Why not? We’re in danger,” I hissed back.
“Please trust me. They can’t help you. They have no idea what they’re looking for.”
Tommy laid a hand over mine, and his pleading eyes gazed into mine.
“Please?” he asked again as the officer trudged up the stairs.
“Hello, Officer. How can I help you?” I asked the potbellied deputy.
“I’m Officer McNally. Is Vera home?”
“You know my grandmother?”
“Everyone knows your grandma, sweetie,” the officer ridiculed and smirked as he pulled on the corner of his mustache with one hand and awkwardly rested his other hand on his stomach.
“She’s probably upstairs.” I nodded over my shoulder toward the house. “I can go get her if you want?”
The front door creaked open before I could put my hand on the knob, and my grandmother was standing in the doorway. Her gray hair was wild and untamed, as though she hadn’t brushed it in days, but her slacks and blouse were crisp and unwrinkled. How the old blind woman managed to iron her clothes but couldn’t brush her hair was beyond me, but the officer had no reaction to her strange appearance.
Vera tapped her cane on the ground three times.
“Is it you Reginald?” she croaked.
“Good morning, ma’am. It’s Reginald Jr. Dad retired years ago, Ms. Mendoza.”
Officer McNally stepped closer to my grandmother and reached forward to touch her elbow and help her step over the threshold onto the porch.
“Ah. Good morning. What brings you to my hill today?” she asked, getting right into it.
“There’s been another girl found, ma’am, not far from your property again I’m afraid.” McNally pushed his sunglasses up onto his round, bald head.
My grandmother’s expression was blank. “Mhmm,” she responded as through she was deep in thought. “Another redhead I presume?”
“Sure was. There’s a curfew issued now, and I know you got your granddaughters staying with you, so I wanted to come up and let you all know. Do you know where your other granddaughter is?” the officer questioned.
“How did you know my granddaughters are here?” Vera snapped.
“Small town, Ms. Mendoza. Word travels and they were seen walking around town yesterday and at the school before the storm came in.”
“I see. Well, thank you for letting us know, Reginald Jr.”
Tommy stared at the officer as he said his good-byes and walked back to his car. I was surprised the officer hadn’t questioned us at all. He was only there to warn us about the curfew. I supposed these officers didn’t deal with murders in their sleepy little mountainside town often, like the cops in New York did. I rolled my eyes and decided it was better for me to keep the secret like Tommy wanted rather than involve these jokers.
The car rolled down the driveway and Vera turned around and went back into the manor. She closed the door behind her without saying a word to Tommy or me, as though she didn’t even know we were there. I supposed it was possible since she was blind. I still couldn’t help but feel offended by her cold sho
ulder.
“Thanks for not saying anything,” Tommy said as he stood and held his hand out in offering for mine.
I took it and allowed him to help me up from the creaking rocking chair.
“Show me the cottage, then we’ll go find Pierce.”
“I really don’t want to go back to the cottage, Tommy. What if he’s still there?”
The fact the man I saw could still be there was terrifying enough, but I couldn’t tell Tommy about the wolf heads and how they were the real reason I was scared to go back. He’d think I was ridiculous, and I didn’t want him to think I was some scared little girl. I was seventeen, and a couple of taxidermic heads—what amounted to a stuffed animal for grownups—shouldn’t have been so unnerving, but I couldn’t help but feel a repulsion to the entire cottage.
“If he’s still there, I’ll protect you.” Tommy smiled warmly and assured me.
“How can you protect me from a serial killer? Do you have a gun?” I asked him apprehensively.
“Just trust me, okay?”
I looked into his soulful brown eyes and believed him. I believed I was safe, and he would protect me if he needed to. I didn’t need to know how or why.
He tugged my hand a bit, and I fell into step behind him as he guided me down the steps toward the place of nightmares. I prayed we would find Pierce first and could deal with the cottage later, but it had been a long time since any of my prayers had been answered.
Tommy entwined my fingers with his as we strolled through the decaying yard and across the expansive lawn toward the forest. I bit my lip as the cottage drew closer. I thought I was keeping my trembling under control, but Tommy stopped and put his hands on my shoulders and faced me.
“Jackson. He’s not still in there.”
“I know. He’s not why I’m scared.”
I wasn’t the type to get scared. Pierce always said I was the fearless sister. It came from being the youngest and doing risky things to get attention. She was probably right, but I also hated how she acted like my courage was a bad thing, calling me reckless instead of brave. It was too bad I had no courage now.
“Why are you shaking?” he asked quietly, rubbing his hands up and down my arms as though my trembling was due to cold rather than fear.
“It’s stupid.” I shook my head, embarrassed to tell him the details of what I had seen.
“Jackie, come on. You gotta tell me. I can’t help you if you don’t.”
I looked up at his pleading brown eyes and soft lips and bit my lip again, this time to keep myself from reaching on my tiptoes and kissing Tommy like I wanted to. Every opportunity we had to kiss had been sorely interrupted by Pierce or the rain or some other universal force that seemed hell-bent on intervening in anything good in my life.
I started to rise to my toes and lean in, but Tommy cleared his throat and took a step back. I rocked back on my heels in embarrassment, but Tommy slid his hands down my arms, grabbed my hand, and gently pulled me with him toward the entrance of the cottage.
“Tommy, no.” I resisted, yanking my arm back. “I don’t want to go in.”
Tommy frowned but dropped my hand. “Don’t you trust me?”
His question hurt my heart. I wanted to trust him. I did. But I just met Tommy, and he was just a high school student like me, so what could he really do to protect me from a serial killer? I knew the heads hanging on those walls wouldn’t come to life and bite me, but who knew what other dark and terrible things were inside the cottage?
Tommy stepped closer to me so we were nearly chest to chest. He smelled like sage, campfire smoke, and coffee. He raised his hand slowly and gently grasped my chin, then tilted my head upward until our lips were inches apart.
His gaze held mine, and I held my breath. My heart beat so hard against my ribs, I was sure Tommy could hear it.
“I’ll protect you whether you trust me or not, but I really wish you would trust me.” He smiled and let his hand fall from my face, then turned and walked to the cottage, leaving me standing on the path. He tried the knob, which turned easily, then disappeared inside. The sun was rather high in the sky and shone through the tiny windows. I could see one of the snarling wolf heads on the wall. Tommy walked right by the beast as though it wasn’t even there. His head bobbed in and out of view as he searched through the hunting cottage.
Several minutes passed before he finally came back outside. His face was grim, and his energy radiated urgency. He grabbed my arm a little too tight and started walking briskly up the path toward the manor.
“Ow! Stop. You’re hurting me.”
Tommy immediately let go of my arm. “I’m sorry. You should stay away from there.”
“I didn’t want to go back in the first place!” I snapped and stomped my foot in the dirt. “Did you at least find whatever it was you were looking for?”
Tommy looked at me and was taken aback. “I wasn’t looking for anything,” he said in a rush, then turned back around and started toward the manor again.
We walked the rest of the way back up to the manor in silence. When we reached the edge of the gravel driveway, Tommy stopped and faced me.
“I need to get going, but I’ll see you at school tomorrow, right?” Tommy’s eyes darted over my head and scanned the tree line behind us as though he was searching for something. I glanced over my shoulder and saw nothing. When I looked back up at Tommy, he was looking at me.
“You’re not going to help me figure out where Pierce went? The serial killer is out there still.”
I was disappointed. It wasn’t like Tommy was my boyfriend or anything, but I really had expected him to stay the day and make sure Pierce was okay. He had nearly promised as much anyway.
“I gotta go check in with my mom. She’s been freaking out about the new curfew and there being a killer in town, you know?”
I nodded. Something didn’t seem right with Tommy’s excuse, but I could only wish to have a mother worried about me and Pierce right now.
“All right, yeah. I’ll see you at school tomorrow. If you see Pierce on your way home though, will you please tell her what’s going on and ask her to come back home?”
Tommy’s lip curled up into a smile of pity as he leaned forward and planted his lips gently on my jaw, near my ear. “Of course,” he whispered.
His breath on my neck sent a wave of warmth down my shoulder, arms, and abdomen, all the way down to my hips, making my legs shake.
He stepped back with his hands in his pockets and walked backward down the driveway, never breaking eye contact. He went a few paces, then licked his lips, winked, and turned around.
At least I was going to have something to daydream about while I waited for Pierce to come back home.
Chapter Thirteen
Pierce
Axel walked me through the forest. The birds chirped around us from the branches above. “I love the forest,” he said. “What about you, Red?”
I shrugged. “I guess it’s okay.”
A playful smirk played on his lips. “You’re not afraid, are you?”
I snapped back. “No!”
He held his hands up and laughed. “Okay, okay. Don’t get so defensive.”
“I’m not.”
“Mmhmm.”
“It’s a good job I like you.” I joked.
“Glad to hear it.” He lugged his guitar on a strap over his shoulder. We walked for around ten minutes before reaching a small hut.
I furrowed my brows. “I knew you’d end up being an axe murderer.” I laughed but secretly hoped he’d put my mind at ease.
“I don’t know who it belonged to,” he told me. “I found it out here a while ago. Kids have been in there, sprayed graffiti on the walls and stuff. I cleared it up a bit. It’s a nice place to come and relax.”
I looked over the wooden cabin, with its rotting planks and grimy windows, and wondered what he saw in the place. “It seems like the type of place you’d take someone to murder them.”
He laughed an
d beckoned me to follow him inside. Hesitantly, I followed him. My common sense had clearly got up and left along with my sanity this past week. However, there was something about Axel I trusted. I tended to get a feeling for people. I hoped in this case I wasn’t wrong, because when I was with him, I felt like I was in a trance, but I didn’t give much thought to it. It felt good, and I liked feeling good after all that had happened.
We walked inside. The two-roomed cabin didn’t look too bad inside. He’d done a good job at fixing it up, although traces of the colorful graffiti could still be seen. A two-seater sofa sat against the far wall, and across from it was a log fireplace. Above it hung a deer’s head. Its eyes looked out at the room blankly. No curtains hung from the windows, instead was a thin piece of netting that defeated the purpose of having anything on the windows. A small table with a wonky leg sat in a dusty corner, and on the floor was a sheepskin rug.
“You’ve done a good job.”
“Work in progress,” he said as he leaned his guitar against the wall. He dropped onto the sofa and patted the spot next to him. “Come sit.”
Suddenly, I felt nervous as hell. Being close to him set off an electricity I couldn’t control. Being next to him made me weak—vulnerable, like a deer caught in headlights. I hated feeling out of control, but one touch made me melt. All my inhibitions disappeared when he looked at me with those stormy eyes.
I shifted uncomfortably next to him, unsure of what to do with myself. He placed his hand on my leg and leaned in. “I like you, Pierce.”
His lips met mine. Time stopped as he held me close, his arms wrapped around me. In the moment, nothing mattered but us. He held me even tighter and kissed me with urgency. His wildness brought out something inside of me I never thought possible, a fire.
I closed my eyes and let the moment take me. Everything I was worried about disappeared. He was like a drug.
He slid his hand down my leg, sending waves of pleasure through me. I moaned softly against his lips. I had been sheltered my whole life, and Axel was the adventure I had secretly craved.
He unbuttoned my pants, then tore them down my thighs. He was not gentle but urgent, and I liked it.
