Page 50 of The Neighbor
I watch her walk back to her house and wait until she’s inside to return to the kitchen. “That was Kimmy. You know how things are in this neighborhood. I have the feeling she’s just the first one we’ll have to deal with tonight. Any chance you want to go to your house instead? I don’t think they’ll bother us there, and we’ll be able to talk without being interrupted constantly.”
His eyes light up when I mention the two of us talking. I know how curious he is about me. I suspect somewhere deep in his psyche he knows who I am or has a feeling he’s met me before but can’t place where. I don’t look the same as I did when I was that gawky eleven-year-old who hadn’t grown up yet so he isn’t sure, but somewhere deep inside him, he recognizes me.
“Yeah, sure. We can head up there right now,” he says as he stands to leave.
The drugs should be working soon, so I need him to get back to his house in the next few minutes. As long as he’s at home, my plan will work.
“Great!” I turn to follow him toward the front door and stop dead. “Oh, damnit! Give me a couple minutes. I’ll be right behind you, okay?”
“Okay. Want me to take the wine, or do you want to bring it?”
“I’ve got it. See you in a couple minutes.”
Without another word, he walks out of my house for all my neighbors to see. Now I just have to make my way to his house without any of them seeing me.
I watch as he walks up the road to make sure someone witnesses him alone tonight, and Kimmy doesn’t disappoint. She looks confused and sad, and I’m betting she thinks she ruined the entire night I had planned.
Not to worry, dear Kimmy. You’re playing your part perfectly.
He hurries by her house without even waving, not interested in polite chatting when the good stuff is set to happen just minutes from now. I close my front door and hurry through the house to leave by the back door.
The interesting thing about this neighborhood is that while we like to think Park Circle is removed from the cul-de-sacs on either side of ours, it’s all connected with pathways people use to sneak around when they don’t want to be seen or they’re in a hurry and not wanting to be waylaid by some chatty neighbor interested in gossiping. Adam knows this well enough. That’s how he got to Sara’s the other night without anyone seeing him.
Except someone did see him. Me.
That’s how I knew I could give him an alibi and not have to worry. It’s also how I know it was Jared who beat poor Sara to a pulp and not Adam.
I hurry behind Marilyn and Harold’s yard and take a deep breath to smell the sweetness of all those roses she so carefully tends. That day I spent with her chatting about all things gardening wasn’t just my being friendly. I needed to make sure the pathway continued all the way up to behind Aaron and Adam’s houses.
As I pass Aaron’s white house, I see an empty sandbox and a child’s tricycle. Of all the people in this neighborhood, he’s the one I feel sorriest for. While everyone else seems to revel ingossiping about his pathetic life now that he’s lost his wife and kids, I can’t help but think he’s pitiful yet a decent person. We’ve only talked once since I moved in, but I knew the moment he mentioned that he didn’t like Adam that he wasn’t the crazy man everyone claims he is.
His house sits dark like it does most nights, so I hurry along to my destination, the point in time I’ve dreamed about and planned so meticulously for so long I almost feel like it’s already come and gone. I can’t let myself think like that, though. I deserve to enjoy this night.
I deserve to relish watching him suffer as I make him understand that while my sister’s death so quickly left the news and the attention of the police in our hometown, it never left me or my parents. They died because of it, his second and third victims of his heinous crime. It nearly consumed me over the years, but I fought against giving in to the utter grief that never went away.
I knew if I could hold on and be that smart girl Mr. Masters told me I was I could reach this moment when I get to exact my revenge on a killer.
My heart races again as I step out of the shadows and onto Adam’s front porch. I’ve watched every night to see how much the rest of our neighbors can see up here once it’s dark, and I know because he never leaves his porch light on that nobody can see a thing up here after the sun goes down.
With shaky hands, I knock on his door and hear him call out, “Come in!”
So trusting. He naturally assumes that only he can be dangerous. Foolish man.
I push open the door and step inside, crossing the final threshold to the goal I’ve waited more than half my life to reach. I walk in and see him sitting on his sofa in his living room. Thecurtains are drawn on every window, like they always are. He does love his privacy.
Now, I love it too and plan to take full advantage of it.
Patting the sofa cushion next to him, he smiles and says, “Take a seat. It must be the heat finally getting to me because that walk from your house to mine took it out of me. How about you?”
I shake my head and grin, knowing why he feels this way. The drugs are slow to work, but they are effective. I made sure of that.
“No, I feel good. In fact, I don’t think I’ve felt this good in years. It’s amazing what a little retribution will do for a girl.”
His smile fades as he tries to figure out what I’m talking about, but the drugs are starting to make his thinking fuzzy. I don’t have long before he doesn’t understand a thing, so now is the time.
“How does it feel, Adam?” I ask as I take a step closer to him and stop.
Confused, he shakes his head. “How does what feel?”