Chapter 17

Melissa woke up with a start. The side of the bed next to her was empty and she looked at the clock: 7:30 a.m. She had been asleep for a couple of hours. She groaned, stretched and felt a little sore from the previous activities earlier this morning. She looked at the east-facing bay window and saw a tall, dark figure standing there.

“I thought you would be gone,” Melissa was surprised to see Marc Anthony still in the house.

“No,” Marc Anthony said. “I am still here.”

“Did you get any sleep?” Melissa asked.

“A few hours,” Marc Anthony said.

“I will go make some coffee and we can watch the sunrise if you wish,” Melissa said.

“If I wish? Not exactly the reception I planned to receive from the woman who likes to kidnap and torture men,” Marc Anthony smiled back at her.

“I don’t kidnap and torture men,” Melissa said drily.

“Stick that thing up my ass, and I am going to call it torture,” Marc Anthony said. He turned and continued to look out the window.

Melissa looked at him, he was still naked, as was she, and neither of them looked to get dressed any time soon. Melissa walked into the bathroom and washed her face and hands. She ran a brush through her hair and started to brush her teeth.

“You wouldn’t happen to have an extra toothbrush, would you?” Marc Anthony asked.

“Of course,” Melissa showed him the drawer where he could find a toothbrush, razor, shaving cream, aftershave and some masculine-smelling soap. “I have the same setup at home. I want all my male guests to be comfortable.”

“I see you are very considerate of your guests' needs,” Marc Anthony said. When she is not trying to ram them in the ass with that thing, he thought. He couldn’t even name it, it was “that thing” and Melissa was going to get rid of it post haste.

“Well, brush your teeth, get some food in you and then we can continue with our play,” Melissa ordered. “I will get coffee and breakfast started.”

“You mean our ‘day’, right?” Marc Anthony said before he started brushing his teeth.

“I meant what I said,” Melissa said as she sauntered out of the room naked. She walked down the stairs to the newly remodeled kitchen. There were only a few more rooms to go before she could rent out this house: The downstairs guest bathroom, the mud room, the laundry room and the great room.

Marc Anthony sighed, this was going to be an interesting relationship, he thought. He didn’t dress, but went downstairs when he heard bacon fry on the gas range. He saw Melissa was also still naked and walked over to her. He caressed her arms and kissed her neck. She turned her head so she could kiss him. It was a deep and satisfying kiss that required Melissa to take the bacon off the fire for fear of burning it. She turned and wrapped her arms around him.

“I am going to need that bed again,” Marc Anthony said.

Melissa giggled then looked at the time, “We have a few hours before we have to be anywhere.”

“What are you doing today?”

“I have to check on that girl who was taken to the shelter last night,” Melissa said, then thought of something. Her eyes went wide and she looked up at Marc Anthony. “Oh god, Shorty, you might want to call and tell him you are OK.”

Marc Anthony nodded and walked over to where Melissa folded up his clothes. His phone and gun were on top of the pile, the gun was unloaded. Marc Anthony smiled. He looked at the phone, which had a quarter charge, and saw that he missed fourteen calls from Shorty. He better call him back before Shorty decides to send the police.

“Hey Shorty,” Marc Anthony said when Shorty answered on the first ring, “No, no, no. I am OK. No, this is not your fault. No, she didn’t hurt me, yes I am still here. I don’t think calling the police will be necessary. Yeah, that’s not gonna work. Don’t worry, I don’t blame you. She did what? Held a knife to your throat? Well, she is tenacious. Yeah, yeah, I am good. No, I don’t blame you. Don’t worry about it, man, we are good. Look, I will call you later and tell you all about it, right now, I have to get something to eat. Yes, she is feeding me.” Marc Anthony rolled his eyes at the response, “Bye, Shorty.”

He hung up the phone, “You held a knife to his throat?”

“I had to get him to cooperate somehow,” Melissa said simply. “It was either that or a gun. Tell me, what were you thinking about when you were looking out the window?”

“Something that my neighbor was doing right before Shorty called me,” Marc Anthony said. “It seemed weird, ritualistic and familiar all at the same time. He went into his shed at 2:30 this morning and came out a little while later. About thirty minutes later. What could he be doing in a shed at 2:30 in the morning?”

“Are you sure about the time?” Melissa asked.

“Yes, because five minutes after he went inside the house, I got a call from Shorty directing me to come here,” Marc Anthony looked at her. “Then I get hit over the head, tied to a chair and by 3:30, I am banging your pretty little ass on that bench. An activity we will have to repeat.”

“What do you think your neighbor’s behavior means?” Melissa had enough training to keep conversations on track.

“Let me ask you this: what do you know about serial killers?” Marc Anthony looked at her.

Melissa went back to making breakfast. There was no reason for the bacon to get cold, she thought. She scrambled up some eggs and toasted the bread in the skillet. She fixed Marc Anthony a plate and handed it to him. He sat down on the bar stool in front of the stove and started stabbing his eggs with the fork.

“I am a child psychologist,” Melissa said. “I have devoted my life to helping children cope with situations that are beyond their control, whether that is a terrible event or a powerful gift. But, we all have some courses on psychopathy and sociopathy. Most psychopaths tend to make the best serial killers as they are highly intelligent, lack empathy and have an obsessive need for control. In terms of population, however, serial killers are extraordinarily rare.”

“What would you call me?”

“Extraordinarily rare,” Melissa smiled, “but not for that reason. You are highly intelligent, you have a deep-seated need for control, but you are a product of your environment. In other words, you are driven to act as you do because of what you have seen as a small child. Even before Amee. Amee more than likely helped you from becoming a real sociopath. She entered your life at a time when you could still empathize and learn to care for another human. For that, I am very grateful to her.”

“You are not going to try to fix me, are you?”

“I don’t see anything I need to fix,” Melissa said. “You must understand: the police are not welcome outside of town, you are. You fill a vacuum. In your own way, you keep people safe by doing what needs to be done.”

Marc Anthony thought about what she said. He didn’t want her romanticizing him, “I have killed a lot of people, I can’t even keep count.”

“You saved a lot of lives, and every one of those girls counts,” Melissa said. “Besides, I am not exactly pure myself. I could have easily come up on your little list.”

Marc Anthony considered what she said. She was someone who took men who rejected her to this place and raped them with that thing. She didn’t rape him however. She listened, well, by the time she accepted the truth, she was bent over on the bench taking his full shaft. Marc Anthony had to clear his head or he would throw her back over that bench and ride her again.

“Well, what are the odds of two serial killers working the same town?” Marc Anthony asked.

“Astronomically rare,” Melissa said.

Veronica knew Nancy was lying. And Keith made her lie, what’s more. Why would Keith make her lie if he didn’t have anything to do with Casey Hammond's death, Veronica wondered. Veronica realized something, Keith chased her through the woods before she said something to the police about Keith killing Casey and Keith asked her how she found the Killing Field. How did he know she found the body? Veronica started to hyperventilate; Keith had gotten to Lloyd somehow. Lloyd gave her up.

“Veronica, can you check on dinner, then you will have to get dressed,” Judith called from the office.

Veronica robotically went to the oven to check on the roast beef, she opened the door to see the meat simmering in juices and stabbed it with the fork. It wasn’t tender yet.

“It is going to be another thirty minutes,” Veronica said. She hoped her voice sounded normal.

“OK, dear, sounds good,” Judith said as she was making the menu for the week, “Veronica one more thing.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Veronica looked at her mother thinking Judith picked up on something.

“You did very well today,” Judith said. “You played your part quite convincingly. I know it is hard to look into the face of someone who tried to hurt you, even possibly kill you. It is hard for me and your father to do that, but we have to keep our eye on them to make sure he doesn’t have another opportunity. Do you understand?”

“I understand,” Veronica said.

“I didn’t want you to think we aren’t behind you, or that we don’t think you were justified in your actions,” Judith said. “It was your quick thinking that saved your life. However, it is your father’s and my responsibility…”

“To keep me safe. Yes, I know, Mama,” Veronica went over to hug her mother. “You are doing a good job with what you and Daddy were given.”

“Veronica, the good mother always fails,” Judith said. “Someday when you have children, you will understand.”

Veronica, confused by her mother’s statement, walked up the stairs in a daze. She didn’t see Maddison come out of her room with a pair of jade earrings.

“Hey, Veronica,” Maddison called out to get her attention. Maddison was already dressed for dinner in a dress that belled out at the young girl’s waist and hit her mid-calf. She was also wearing the heels she received for her twelfth birthday. Maddison was a girly girl and loved dressing up. She looked forward to Friday through Sunday dinners where Conway tradition demands that everyone dress formally. Even Maxwell’s family followed the tradition.

Veronica consented to the practice as some obligatory nod to her family’s traditions. She looked towards Curtis’s room, noticed the door was open and saw him working on his tie.

“Dinner is in half an hour, Veronica,” Curtis said as he watched himself in the mirror. “I have to escort you and Maddison down to the dining room.”

He looked at Veronica when she didn’t answer, something was wrong, he thought. She normally said some cute remark about how beauty takes time. Curtis tightened his tie, grabbed his dinner jacket and followed her into her room. He ran into Maddison who was still trying to get Veronica’s attention.

“I want to borrow her ruby earrings,” Maddison said when Curtis looked at her.

“Veronica, what is wrong, what happened?” Curtis found her sitting on her bed. She really needed to get ready, he thought. Their parents would be understanding, of course, if she was overwhelmed with the events of the past few weeks.

“I saw Nancy Ridgewood at the grocers today,” Veronica said. She had tears in her eyes. “Curtis, I know she is lying for her husband.”

“OK,” Curtis sat on the bed next to her. “That is to be expected. First, everyone lies, and second, she would try to defend her husband.”

“That monster,” Maddison said. “I would…”

“You don’t know what you would do,” Curtis frowned at Maddison. “Besides, she probably has no idea what he is capable of.”

“She is bullied,” Veronica said. “Mother asked her about the garden club, an opportunity to make real connections within the community, and Nancy just went on and on about her husband’s happiness.”

“That is not what is making you upset; Nancy Ridgewood’s actions are too predictable,” Curtis said. “Maddison, what are you doing?”

“I am picking out her dress and shoes,” Maddison walked into the large closet and picked out a coral pink dress that would set off the Jade teardrop earrings she wanted to trade for the night. “Anyone can see she is having a moment. I don’t like moments, they make me feel helpless, so I do what I can to feel like I am helping, and right now, she needs to get ready for dinner.”

Curtis just nodded and focused his attention on Veronica, “I know Nancy is not what is making you upset.”

“Keith should have never figured out that I was the one who found Casey’s body at the Killing Fields,” Veronica said. “Lloyd and the FBI agent promised to keep me out of it. Remember?”

“I remember,” Curtis said. “He promised to keep me out of it too.”

“How did Keith find out?” Veronica asked.

Curtis thought for a minute. An investigation like that would require a lot of manpower to dig up the bodies, collect evidence and question witnesses. Lloyd was the head of the investigation, but he wasn’t the only person working the case.

“There is a leak,” Curtis said. “Which makes sense, if you are a serial killer, you would want an in with the police to thwart any investigation into your activities.”

“You need to quit talking with Uncle Maxwell,” Veronica said. “It’s not healthy for you to…”

“I am going to be an attorney when I get older,” Curtis said. He already felt like he was grown up.

“So,” Maddison said as she started to nudge Veronica towards the dressing screen and flung the dress over. She didn’t want to listen to them argue about Curtis’s interest in the law for the thousandth time. “How are we going to prove that Nancy is lying.”

Veronica, who had nothing more to do, started to dress for dinner. There was no reason the other two should be late because of her.

“We can’t,” Curtis said. “We need evidence to contradict her testimony, a parking ticket, a receipt, cell phone record, anything with a timestamp putting him near the scene of the crime at the time of Casey Hammond’s death.”

“How do we get this evidence,” Maddison said.

“We don’t,” Curtis looked at her. “We need to let the police handle this. Even if you do come up with the evidence, will you be able to withstand the cross-examination given by Keith’s defense attorney? Keep in mind that you are a child, we are all children in the eyes of the law, including Veronica.”

“We can’t just sit here and do nothing,” Maddison flounced on the bed, crossed her arms and pouted.

Curtis couldn’t stand watching Maddison pout, she could put on a show that would last for hours and dinner would already be hard to get through if Veronica didn’t snap out of it, “OK, Maddison, if we got the evidence, we would have to turn it over to Lloyd, or the district attorney’s office. Then they would have to independently verify it, which shouldn’t be that difficult with a timestamp.”

“Maddison,” Veronica came from behind the screen fully dressed and putting on the jade teardrop earrings. “First, Curtis is right, this is an adult problem and we could get hurt. He chased me into the woods and would have killed me if I didn’t plan ahead. We need to let Lloyd handle this. You know, the good guys with the guns.”

“And second,” Maddison asked, starting to pout again.

“Second,” Veronica went over to her drawer and grabbed a box. “These will look wonderful with that green dress you are wearing.”

Maddison took the box, opened it and squealed when she saw the ruby and pearl set she wanted to borrow from her sister. She jumped up and ran to the dressing mirror to put the earrings on and fastened the necklace.

Curtis sighed, it really didn’t take much to satisfy Maddison.

“Well, ladies,” Curtis said, standing up and putting his jacket on, “I suggest we get down to the dining room.” He presented an arm to both of them. “Veronica, I want you to take your own advice. Do nothing.”