36

"Not what you expected, was it?" said Cathy to the town as they all gawked up at her.

"Well, I never!" said the old Diner lady. "It's really Cathy! It's really, really Cathy! We thought you was dead, girlie!"

Catherine looked down at her shoes for a moment before looking back up at them. "I was. I was dead."

Old Reginald huffed until his ancient shoulders nearly fell off. "Well, not dead enough, honey! Look at you standin' on that stage all alive!"

Cathy swallowed and fisted her trembling hands. "This morning... in less than an hour... you were all told the things that have tortured me for forty years. Y'all believe it?"

The shoe store man slapped his knee. "The hell we do! You been dead twenty years, how could we believe you?!"

Catherine let her mouth curve in a cold smile.

She raised one arm and pried a single finger from her fist to point at the crowd.

Moving from left to right across the room, she focused on those she remembered in the town. Not because she missed them. But because she knew what had happened to their children.

"Toby," she called pointing at the startled high school teacher. "Tiana, your sister. Michael, Lara, your sister. Brooke, Jennifer, your daughter." Cathy's finger moved across the room as faces grew paler and paler. By the time she'd reached the last person she remembered, the room was silent. "Jason..."

"Oh, God, no," said the man called Jason. He knew what she would say.

Cathy's eyes didn't waver. "Jason... Whitney—"

"No!"

"—your baby sister. She was only ten. I saw all these girls and more. He got his hands on all those precious girls."

Jason had broken down and the sound of his crying broke off a piece of Cathy's heart.

"I'm sorry," she said, her quiet voice reverberating through the silent room like water lapping gently at the edge of a lake. "I was too trapped in my own hell to help your children. And it might be too late now... but if there's one thing every single one of you owe to those innocent girls... it is to stop idolizing the monster who killed them. Johnathan Burns, my father was the devil in flesh."

Soft gasps spread through the crowd. "But... but how?" asked old Reginald.

Cathy looked sadly at him. She was further saddened to see tears running down the old man's face.

How deeply rooted was their adoration of that monster?

"Mr. Darby... it is the truth and nothin' but the truth. At this age, the best thing you can do for yourself... for your soul, is to release yourself from the prison that man kept you in. He's not here no more. He's gone. You're free. Don't you see that?"

"Where did he put her?" asked Jason, his voice hoarse.

Cathy looked at him and swallowed.

"I'm sorry. I don't know."

"Well, why don' you know?!" he demanded.

Vince stepped forward. "Now there's no need to raise your voice at Catherine. She's only trying to help."

Catherine glanced at him, tensing when their eyes locked. She still couldn't believe it, but she'd deal with that later. She'd deal with him later.

"Did Spencer know?" asked the shoe store man loudly. "Is that why he killed Burns?"

Their eyes pinned her to the spot and Cathy held her breath for a moment. Vince stepped up beside her.

"Cathy, you don't have to go that far. Let's stop—"

"It's okay," said Cathy with a raised hand. "I'm... I'm okay."

She looked back at the crowd, their eyes studied her intently.

"The murder of Jonathan Burns was—"

"Well, it don't really matter!" interrupted Grayson's mother with a strong shrug.

"What do you mean it don't matter?" asked the shoestore man. "A man was violently ki—"

"Twenty years ago and he was nothing more than a pervert who preyed on our daughters!" Jennifer argued.

"I think," said Toby, slowly pushing his spectacles higher on the bridge of his nose. His eyes focused on Cathy's and she held his gaze. "That whoever actually committed that murder all those years ago, did this town a huge favor. That man..." Cathy saw his chin tremble and desperately prayed he'd stay strong. "That bastard killed my baby sister. Not one of us knows where he put them, nor do we know what horrors he put them through. I hope Jonathan Burns died a very painful death."

"I hope he burns in hell!" growled Jason.

Catherine inclined her head. She could hardly believe it.

They knew. They realize it was her. And they were trying to protect her.

Cathy turned away as Vincent took over and spoke to the crowd.

She sighed quietly. For the first time, the people of Woodfair were really seeing the light.