Page 42 of The Neighbor
“But do me a favor, okay? Don’t tell anyone it’s a housewarming party or they may get offended that I didn’t invite the entire neighborhood.”
With a smile, I look up at her and say, “You know they’re going to think it’s a date if it’s just the two of us. Fair warning, that will get the gossip mill going for sure.”
She throws her head back and laughs before waving off my warning. “I’m not worried. I’m sure most people in this neighborhood wonder about me since I’m a single woman living alone. That’s not common in these parts.”
I immediately think of Sara living alone and what happened to her, and for a moment, I feel sick to my stomach. So much blood. That Jared really is a goddamned barbarian. If you’re going to kill someone, there are far cleaner ways to do it.
Raising my hand, I solemnly promise to not tell anyone it’s a housewarming party. “Any suggestion as to what you want me to say if they assume it’s a romantic get-together then?”
With a wicked smile, she answers, “I don’t think it matters what you say. They’re going to think what they want to anyway.”
That’s true. People like Kimmy and Marilyn believe they have things all figured out no matter what they hear that runs contrary their belief in this neighborhood being some idyllic paradise.
“Well, I’ll be here on Friday at seven. See you then!”
“See you then, Adam!”
Maybe this whole living in the suburbs isn’t such a bad thing after all.
For the next three days,I work like a fiend with a newfound enthusiasm for life. I even receive an email from one of the human resources offices at one of the companies I work for commending me on how thorough and efficient my investigations into potential employees have been. It feels like I’ve finally hit my stride in life.
I haven’t even thought about killing anyone in that time either. Not even Aaron, who I still think needs a good slap upside his head to straighten him out. Creeping around people’s homes and saying all those cryptic things like he does isn’t right. I’m hoping he starts doing it to Kimmy or Harold. Something tells me if that happens, they’ll put a stop to that nonsense immediately.
The police have been a nearly constant presence in the neighborhood since Sara’s murder. They seem particularly interested in Suzanne, which tells me they haven’t gotten the DNA results from the crime scene yet. If they had, they’d know she’s not their killer.
I haven’t seen Jared once, but when I went for a walk the other night just to get out of the house, Tim struck up a conversation with me as I passed their house and mentioned that Suzanne told him he’s on the run.
Probably grabbed the second girlfriend and is right now headed for Mexico.
I’ve waited all this time for the police to come to my door to ask me about my daily runs with Sara, but they’ve never come. I have to think it’s because Caroline provided me with an alibi, so they have no reason to ask about my whereabouts that night.
Thank God for that because while I can lie with the best of them, I’m not sure I could pretend to know nothing about Sara’s murder. It’s all still too vivid in my mind, like a terrible movie I keep replaying over and over. My memory of him hitting her and all that blood spurting up at him chills me to the bone.
Yes, I’m a killer, but I’m not that kind of killer. All that blood and gore is definitely not my style.
I imagine soon the police will find Jared and arrest him once they get the DNA results back. He thinks he’s being clever running like this. I bet he assumes he’s cleaned all the blood off him, but that’s the biggest lie a killer can tell themselves. That’s reason number one why I don’t kill like that. No matter how much you clean, there’s always a speck of blood or a trace of it somewhere you didn’t notice. Maybe on the seat in your car. Or the roof in the liner. Maybe on the inside of your clothing where you’d never think it could reach. You can bleach everything in sight, but it’s never enough.
No, Jared isn’t clever enough to escape what’s waiting for him. He’s about to go from living the high life with a wife and two mistresses to living the rest of his days behind bars. So much for the perfect life in suburbia.
Maybe he should have been a little smarter and not flaunted his infidelity in front of his wife and neighbors. He might stillbe happily sleeping with two women and living the dream in a beautiful home on Park Circle if he’d been a bit more sly.
The sun is setting when I leave right before seven to walk to Caroline’s. Since I’ve been holed up in my house working since the other day, I haven’t seen anyone so I haven’t had to lie about the housewarming party. Not that I have any issue with lying. It’s nobody’s business what I’m doing at Caroline’s tonight or any night, for that matter.
I considered bringing a housewarming gift, but instead I had one shipped to her so I wouldn’t be seen walking down the street with a huge box in my arms. I found a beautiful green and gold vase online I think she’ll like. The moment I saw it, I knew it reminded me of the one my mother had at my house when I was growing up. She kept it on the hall table just inside the front door, and she always tossed her keys next to it every time she came home. By the time she passed away, it had so many chips out of that one side from the keys hitting it that I had to throw the vase away when I cleaned out the house.
The street is oddly quiet tonight. Maybe the heat has finally gotten to everyone.
As I pass the blue house, I see a light on inside and a woman’s silhouette in the window. For a few seconds, I watch her bend down and pick up things to put in a box. She’s packing up to leave, I bet. The house will be on the market within a week or so, and that will be the end of Jared and Suzanne who lived in a beautiful house in the suburbs.
That gets me wondering how often that happens around here. I’d imagine people move for benign reasons like they found another job in another city and they need a bigger house because their family has grown, but how many times has a neighborhood like this seen people move because of a cheating spouse or someone committing murder.
Suzanne, no doubt, can afford to stay here on her own. She’s a successful lawyer, so the mortgage would definitely be manageable for her. She’s not leaving for that reason.
I continue walking and see Kimmy at the front door waving at me. As odd as it is even to me, I’ve grown to like her in my time here. Other than Caroline, I think if I couldn’t live here anymore I’d miss Kimmy the most.
But I’m not going anywhere. I’ve grown comfortable here in Raven Terrace. Some of my neighbors I could do without, but overall, this is a nice place to live.
The only thing I need to worry about is keeping what I am and what I know I’ll do again a secret. As long as I stay here, no one will ever know who Adam Prentiss truly is.