Page 36 of The Neighbor

14

Even before myeyes are open, I know something’s wrong. I can feel it in my bones. My mind is slow to come around this morning, but when it does, I know what’s happening.

They found Sara.

I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling as I strain to listen for the sound of sirens. I think I dreamed of an ambulance as I slept, but now I know the truth.

That was no dream. Someone called the police, and they found her dead on her couch, beaten to a pulp by her ex-boyfriend.

As I slowly wake up, my mind begins to race. Who called? Why? Then a horrible question comes to me. What time is it?

I frantically reach for my phone to see if it’s after seven. If so, then I need an excuse why I didn’t wake up like I have every other morning this week to go on a run. The police will want to know.

Holding my phone up in front of my face, I look through bleary eyes to see it’s not even six-thirty yet. That gives me time to get ready and appear at the end of the street like I’m ready to run this morning.

The next nearly half hour goes by in a blur as I try to keep calm and get ready to leave. Dressed in my running shorts and a black T-shirt, I walk outside into the humid morning air, making sure to lock my door behind me before I begin to make my way toward the spot where I usually meet Sara.

Halfway down the block, Kimmy comes running out of her house in a yellow sundress and practically tackles me. Blocking my way, she grabs my hands and holds them tightly, shaking her head the entire time.

“Oh my God! You haven’t heard! I know you’ve been running with that Sara woman every morning, so I guess you wouldn’t know yet.”

I try to put on my best confused face as I ask, “Know what? What’s going on?”

She shakes her head sadly, her eyes filling with tears. “I’m so sorry, Adam. They found her dead in the middle of the night. Someone had beat her to death. How horrible!”

My mouth drops open as I pretend to be shocked. “Oh, no. How is that possible? This is such a safe neighborhood. Do they know who did it?”

I know that will give Kimmy her chance to gossip since she absolutely has an opinion on who the killer is by now. This is the town crier here. Of course, she has an idea about who killed Sara.

“No, I don’t think so, but I think they should be looking at Jared. Suzanne told me before she left for work this morning that he was furious yesterday. I guess Sara was blackmailing him or something. I don’t know all the details, but if he was that angry with her, I wouldn’t put it past him to hurt her. The guy’s no good. I’m so happy Suzanne threw him out and he’s gone from our safe little neighborhood.”

As I struggle to keep the smile from my face at hearing Jared’s scorned wife is dropping enough hints to make anyonethink he’s guilty of something, Kimmy gives my hands a sympathetic squeeze. She really is torn up about this.

“I was going to check on her this morning after I went on my run since she hurt her ankle yesterday and I had to help her back to her house. God, this is so terrible. How is everyone else around here taking the news?”

Kimmy leans in toward me as if she wants to tell me a secret and whispers, “Marilyn is very upset, and Harold isn’t even going fishing today.”

Well, that must mean this is a horrible tragedy if Harold is forgoing his daily drinking out on the boat. I do my best to hide my feelings about that as I say, “Oh, that’s just awful. This looks like such a safe place on the outside, but I guess you never know.”

Horrified, Kimmy’s eyes open wide. “Don’t say that! We love our little neighborhood here. We can’t let something like this ruin it.”

Something like this. She can’t even bring herself to say someone was murdered in cold blood. What an odd creature she is.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Caroline hurry toward us. Kimmy drops my hands and rushes to her to grab her hands like she did mine.

“Did you hear?”

Caroline nods somberly. “I just saw it on the morning news. Who could do such a thing?”

The two women sigh as they try to figure out why anyone would kill Sara. It seems obvious to me, but I have to remain silent and pretend I’m merely horrified by this turn of events.

“And you were going to meet up with her for a run this morning, weren’t you?” Caroline asks me in a sad voice.

I shake my head, happy to mention her injury again. “No. She sprained her ankle on our run yesterday, but I was going to stop over after I finished today and see if she needed anything.”

A police car turns the corner and heads directly toward us. Kimmy turns around to watch it and then looks at the two of us in horror. “Oh, God! I need to put on some decent clothes. I can’t speak to the police like this.”

And with that, she sprints away into her house, leaving the two of us standing on the road as the cops drive up. A heavy-set officer slowly gets out of the car and walks up to us looking very serious.