Page 40 of The Neighbor
Then she’ll tell me what I want to know.
“I guess I better go in and get some work done. Thanks for coming over, even if you don’t drink coffee,” she says as she stands to walk inside the house.
Too curious about her job not to ask now, I say, “What do you do for a living?”
She stops and turns to face me. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she says with a chuckle.
Now I’m really curious. “Try me.”
For a long moment, she hesitates, but then she finally gives in and says, “I edit true crime stories.”
That was not an answer I was expecting.
“Really? I would have never guessed. Do you write your own too?”
With a direct stare, she looks at me and answers, “Not yet, but I have one in mind. I just need to work a few more things out before I put my plan into motion.”
“Sounds intriguing. Any chance you want to share some with me? I’m a bit of a crime aficionado myself.”
Grinning, she nods. “Next time.”
“I’ll be waiting with bated breath,” I say as I stand to leave. “Have a good day, Caroline.”
“You too, Adam. Try to stay cool. You wouldn’t want to keel over from heat stroke.”
I intentionally avoid Kimmy and Marilyn on my way up the street to my house as I have nothing more I want to say about Sara’s death. I suspect they’ve all but convicted Jared in their minds already, so I doubt I could give them anything more to add to that.
Harold waves to me as I pass by his house, and I notice he looks downright miserable this morning. He’s probably unhappy about not getting to go off fishing once again. Twice in one week to give up his favorite thing to do seems to be more of a sacrifice than he’s willing to give.
“Stay cool,” I call out with a friendly smile.
“You too!” he says back to me. “This weather has to break soon, I think.”
I nod, hoping he’s right. Something about this heat day after day is beginning to wear on me. Everyone feels off, like the temperature is making us all slightly on edge but sluggish at the same time.
“Hope so! Have a good one, Harold!”
Almost to my front door, I’m surprised to see Aaron out in his yard during the day. He waves at me like we didn’t have the most awkward encounter the other night, and as much as I don’t want to interact with him, I know if I don’t at least make an effort to beneighborly then someone’s going to see. I wave back to him and give him a smile I don’t mean as I hurry up my sidewalk.
Unfortunately, I’m not fast enough, and he catches up to me right as I reach the door. Sure that Kimmy and Marilyn, if not Harold too, are seeing all of this, I stop when he comes up behind me and turn around to deal with him.
He doesn’t say anything at first, keeping up with his creepiness that seems to be a constant with him. I glance down the road and see everyone watching us, so I need to look like I’m actually being kind to him.
“Hey, what’s up, Aaron?”
With his usual vacant and lost look, he stares at me and asks, “How do you know my name?”
I sense an edge to his question that strikes me as odd. I’ve been nothing but nice to this guy, even as he keeps popping up and freaking me out with his weird questions, and now he’s angry at me because I know his name? Of all the things I don’t like about this neighborhood, he’s quickly shot up to the number one spot on my list.
To be honest, I don’t know how to answer him. He never told me his name, but that means nothing in a neighborhood full of busybodies.
“How do you know my name?” he repeats.
I shrug, already tired of this thing he and I have going these past few days. “I don’t know. Someone around here told me, I’m sure.”
Aaron takes a step toward me and stops. “You know, I’m not crazy. Everyone thinks I’m some lost soul up here in this house who used to have everything but lost it all. I’m not lost, though. I know a lot of what goes on in this neighborhood.”
“That’s good.”