Page 38 of The Neighbor
As I mull that over, I watch Marilyn walk to the middle of the street to talk to Kimmy, who’s changed into a pair of jean shorts and a tank top with big yellow flowers on the front. It has the effect of making her look even more matronly than usual. Noticeably absent this morning are the three boys and the baby. Since it’s a weekday, I’d expect them to be following right behind.
Perhaps in all the excitement, Tim decided to take the day off.
Caroline returns with a bottle of water and hands it to me. It’s ice cold against my palm and feels more refreshing than anything I’ve had in days.
“I don’t know how people who don’t drink coffee get up every morning, much less make it through the day. What’s your secret?” she asks as she sits down in the wicker chair on the other side of the table with her mug of steaming hot coffee.
“Clean living?” I say with a chuckle.
“Is that what the sudden interest in running is?” she asks pointedly.
I’m surprised by her question but take my time answering, enjoying a gulp of cold water first before I say, “How do you know I’m not a runner from a long time ago who’s just getting into it again?”
She arches a single eyebrow and smiles. “I wasn’t getting that feeling, but okay. Fair enough.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes as Kimmy and Marilyn talk in the middle of the street. I wonder why they don’t go to one of their houses where it has to be more comfortable than standing out in the hot sun beaming down on them. Do the women in this neighborhood have something against air conditioning? First Caroline and now those two. I can’t figure them out.
“Why didn’t you mention my running with Sara to the cops?”
Caroline shrugs and takes a sip of her coffee. “It didn’t come up. It wasn’t a lie. He never asked about it.”
“I’m sure they’ll find out. Someone is bound to tell them,” I say, hating the idea of having to deal with the cops.
“Maybe. Maybe not. I gave you an alibi for the time of the murder, so they’re going to think of that first. I just hope they find the person who did this.”
“Most murderers don’t get caught, you know. TV and movies make it seem like very few killers get away with their crimes, but that’s not true.”
I know from experience how difficult it is to be caught. That doesn’t mean the police won’t find out Jared did it. He’s an obvious suspect since he was cheating on his wife with Sara, but even more, the amount of blood that came out of her when he attacked her leaves traces no matter how much he cleaned up.
Caroline sighs and takes another drink of coffee. “I think I knew that, but it’s just so hard to accept that a killer could get away with murder.”
She’s lost someone. I get that sense very clearly by the sadness that’s crept into her voice. Was it because of a crime? Did someone murder one of her family members, or was it a friend who died?
I consider asking but decide against it. Instead, I file that detail away with all the others I know about Caroline Townsend. I’ll find out who she lost sometime.
She’ll tell me.
15
“Do you think it was Jared?”
Kimmy’s voice catches when she says our neighbor’s name, and her eyes get wide, like she can’t believe he could ever do such a terrible thing. She has no idea what people are capable of when they’re pushed too far.
She sits down on the edge of Caroline’s front porch and shakes her head as Caroline tries to make her feel better by saying, “I wouldn’t have said yes before the party, but I’m still in shock that he brought her and thought his wife would be okay with it. That tells me he wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“Marilyn said she thinks she saw someone running behind the houses last night around the time it all happened.”
My body stiffens at hearing that. However Jared got to Sara’s house, it wasn’t along that path that goes behind the houses to the next street over. How the hell did Marilyn see me? Does she think it was Jared, or is she unsure who she saw?
“Did she tell the police?” I ask before lifting my bottle of water to my lips in an attempt to hide my expression.
Kimmy shakes her head and sighs. “No. She isn’t sure it was him, and to be honest, she doesn’t want to get involved. What ifthe person who did that is a homicidal maniac and he finds out she told the police about that?”
“She’s right to be careful,” Caroline says. “Killers will do anything to protect themselves, including hurting innocent bystanders.”
In an attempt to ease both their worries, I say, “I don’t think Jared is a homicidal maniac. I’d say it was more a crime of passion than anything else.”
Caroline turns to face me and gives me a strange look. “So you think it was him?”