Page 27 of The Neighbor
Great. Now we’ve moved on from gossiping about unhappy marriages to the weather. At this rate, I’ll never learn anything about her.
Maybe if I give her a little taste of my past she’ll open up more. We do share Maryland in common, so why not mention that?
“You know, I haven’t told anyone else around here this, but I lived in Maryland too. I grew up there.”
That makes her eyes grow wide. “Really? Where?”
For someone who shares so little of herself, she’s quite eager and willing to ask others to share about themselves. Okay, I’ll play along. There’s no reason to lie about what town I lived in. Even though she’s from the same state, I doubt she’ll even recognize my hometown’s name.
“Danton. It’s a little town I bet you’ve never heard of, but it was a nice place to grow up.”
Narrowing her eyes, she appears to think about what I’ve said and mumbles, “Danton. Danton. Why does that name sound so familiar?”
I can’t imagine anyone other than the people who live in Danton would say it sounds familiar, so I chuckle and shake my head. “I don’t think it is. You’re probably confusing it with somewhere more popular or bigger. Trust me. No one knows about my small town.”
But that doesn’t make her stop repeating the name. “Danton. Danton. I know I’ve heard that somewhere. I’m not remembering it right now, but I know I’ve heard something about that place. It’s going to drive me crazy if I can’t think of it. Do any famous people come from there?”
I throw my head back and laugh at the ridiculous thought of that happening. “No, trust me on that. Nobody famous has ever even heard of Danton, much less lived there.”
“Hmmm…what about news? Any reason that town would have appeared in the news in Frederick?”
I shake my head as I file away that little detail. Caroline Townsend is from Frederick. That’s interesting. I don’t know if she meant to let that little fact out, but I’m sure I’ll be able to use that in my search when I return to my air-conditioned house.
“Highly doubtful. I don’t think we even had a full police force. I remember seeing maybe two officers during my entire childhood. The worst crimes that ever happened in Danton involved some guy lighting his garbage on fire every fall because he wanted to have a bonfire.”
That’s actually true, even though Mr. Merrick’s need to set fire to his trash every autumn wasn’t the worst thing that ever happened in Danton. Amanda Michaels’ murder was.
Like all tragedies, though, it was all over the news for a short while and then disappeared from existence, replaced by something else deemed more interesting. If it bleeds, it leads. Not being able to find the killer of a teenage girl isn’t newsworthy.
Caroline abruptly stands up and looks at me oddly. “I’m going to keep thinking about this because I know I remember hearing about that town of yours. Right now, though, I need to get back inside since I have things I need to do. Have a great day, Adam. Be sure to stay cool.”
And with that, she walks away, slamming her front door behind her and leaving me sitting in that uncomfortable wicker chair unsure what just happened.
11
For an hour,I pace back and forth across my living room, frustrated by my encounter with Caroline. That should make me want to kill her. For God’s sake, Amanda angered me a single time and that’s all it took with her. Tess never even irritated me and I knew I had to kill her.
Yet this one I can’t seem to figure out, so maybe that’s why I’m not ready to take that step. It will happen. I knew it from the moment I saw her the first time right after she moved in, even if I didn’t consciously acknowledge it.
Caroline Townsend will take her last breath as I choke the life out of her.
I’ve tried all the things I know that work to keep me from acting on my desire to kill. I focused on research. I told myself someone would find out and then my life here would be over. I tried to dive into work.
None of it has worked.
I know what I have to do. I have to kill someone else. But who?
It doesn’t take me long to figure out who my next victim is. She has to deserve it. I always know my targets deserve whatthey get. To me, that’s important. Other killers may not have to justify their deeds, but I do.
She has to be someone I think the world can do without. That opens up the pool to many people, but I prefer to stay close to home. That’s always been how I work. I like seeing the police as they try to solve the case. I like watching the details of it all on the news. So I need someone in the neighborhood or nearby.
You’re probably thinking it’s going to be Aaron. There’s just one problem with that. He’s not a woman. Not that he doesn’t have it coming, for sure, especially after that bullshit he pulled on me the other night. Even more, I’m still not sure he doesn’t know about me and my past.
Still, I don’t kill men. Don’t ask why. I just don’t.
So that leaves only women as possible choices. Kimmy? Marilyn? Suzanne? I know this may seem hard to believe, but I think Kimmy is actually growing on me. I can’t believe it myself, but there it is. As for Marilyn, I don’t like or dislike her, so she won’t work. And Suzanne might deserve it since she’s a lawyer, but to be honest, her husband deserves to have the fucking life strangled out of him more than her. Asshole runner.
His partner in crime, so to speak, is another story entirely. The other woman who knew full well she shouldn’t have come to our party the other day and still did, even after Suzanne came home from work. Yeah, she’s got it coming in spades.