Page 21 of The Guy Next Door

Very quiet.

I take my first bite of the coleslaw. The shift in conversation has sucked some of the joy out of the flavor, but it’s still good.

“Yeah,” I say after swallowing. “I knew you were gonna find out sooner or later. I preferred for it to be later, and not to have to be the one to talk about it. It does…get me emotional.”

I’m waiting for him to make a comment, like others have, about the fact that I don’t appear very emotional, but he wears a warm expression as he says, “I’m sorry. I don’t have any siblings, but that must have been hard.”

“You have to take care of Mike,” Dad said, his eyes wild and wide as he hands me the gun. “You have to always be there if anything happens to me. It’s all on you, bud.”

I nod. “As you probably already saw, we’re very close. When I heard about this letter, I was surprised he hadn’t mentioned it because we spoke on the phone pretty much every day. I guess he thought it was nothing, but God, if he knew how big this was going to get, I’m sure he would have taken a pic or something.”

“So you’ve looked for the letter?”

“I checked his room at the apartment he was staying in. Nothing.”

“It’s eerie hearing you say that mine is similar to your brother’s. It sounds like this person is trying to make someone feel special but then gives the same bizarre compliments to different people.”

“Definitely sounds like a creeper. Not that all creepers are bad.”

I immediately regret making the tasteless joke at an insensitive time, but Leif snickers, and it’s nice that, despite not knowing each other long, he seems to get my weird sense of humor.

But just as quickly, he quiets, surely freaked out about the possibility of being a serial abductor’s next victim.

“I should probably go,” he finally says.

“You haven’t really eaten.”

“I put some in the fridge at my place, and I’m not really hungry right now. You can store the rest of the chili and bring back my clay pot when you’re finished.”

“Okay,” I say as he starts to grab his plate.

“I’ll do the dishes, since you made the meal.”

“Oh, thanks.” He grabs his backpack off the chair.

I hop up, and we head for the door. “Keep me posted if you hear anything from Roth,” I tell him, mostly because I don’t know how to make his exit less awkward.

“For sure. And you…keep me posted if…I guess if someone’s trying to kidnap me.”

Silence stretches between us.

Another fucking awkward moment, and he tugs at his beanie before heading on his way.

5

LEIF

Isit ona bench in the reception area of the Wyachet Police Department, scrolling through my phone. There’s a text from Mom, letting me know Grandma’s faring well through the chemo.

I wish I could update her and Dad about everything that’s going on, but I can imagine what that series of texts would look like:

Yeah, there’s a guy who claims he’s protecting me from a serial abductor.

Oh, and I made that guy dinner the other night.

At the police department now because a detective called yesterday.

Kyra’s doing fine, btw.