The Sacrificial Daughter (40 page)

At some point the snowfall had graduated to blizzard status, making what would have been an eight-minute ride into a nerve rattling twenty. But at least she got to hold Ky's hand, something that his father seemed to approve of more than Ky. He sat stiff in the back seat next to her, constantly darting his eyes about at the briefest flash of color. And flashes were all he got. Jesse could barely see the forest not twenty feet to the side of the road.

Ky's quiet demeanor didn't change much as they entered the spartan home of Jerry Mendel. Their place was clearly for bachelors only, lacking anything resembling a feminine touch. Ky went to every window, checked the locks, and then briefly stared out. There wasn't much to see.

Jesse stayed in the kitchen with Mr. Mendel feeling like a stranger in a strange land. The house was as chilly as it was barren. It was eerily silent as well. Ky hadn't spoken once to her since their kiss in front of the town hall and Mr. Mendel had been nearly as quiet. Worse than the silence, however, was that when Ky returned from touring the perimeter of the home he and his father did little besides stare at her, making her feel completely uneasy.

It was a blessing when the police officer finally arrived. She had hoped that it would have been Officer Daniels, but it was a man she had never seen before. He seemed ill inclined toward Jesse; eyeing her sourly and with pursed lips. Therefore she used the occasion of his arrival to grab Ky by the hand and pull him from the room.

"You can talk now, you know," Jesse said, easing herself down on what clearly was a rarely used living room couch. "You don't have to sit there all broody."

"Broody?" he asked amazed. "I've never been happier."

Jesse laughed, making sure to keep it a low one so as not to disturb the abnormal serenity of the home. "That's a happy look?"

"Yeah, well, I'm also more scared than I can remember."

"I find that hard to believe," Jesse said. "You've been living next door to Harold for years. I bet there were plenty of times you were more afraid than this."

With a little shrug, Ky said, "I guess, but it's just I've never had this much to lose."

"Oh." That was certainly something. Jesse waited for him to elaborate, which made for a very quiet half a minute. Finally she had to ask, "What's wrong? Really? You're so quiet."

He gave her a crooked little smile, licked his lips, and then shrugged with one shoulder. "There's nothing wrong."

Nothing wrong? His answer, even more than the silence made it clear that something was definitely wrong. Had she made him angry in some way? Was she being too forward holding his hand? Maybe it was the kiss. Maybe it wasn't as great for him as it was for her. "Then why are you so quiet?" she asked in a small voice. "You were much more talkative last night."

Another shrug. "I guess because I got to wear a mask."

"A mask?" She slid away from him. Perhaps he liked her better in her mask as well. He sure seemed to.

Ky shook his head. "I'm making you angry, aren't I? I'm sorry…it's just, I don't…I haven't…"

It dawned on Jesse just then that Kyle was nervous about being this close to her. This immediately perked her up. "It's ok, I'm not mad. I get it now. You've been alone for so long and now…" she ended lamely pointing at herself. He nodded.

Jesse was nervous as well. She felt like she was walking in a minefield; not knowing what was the right thing to say or do. It had been much better the night before when…

A small dose of inspiration struck her and she unwrapped part of her long scarf and wound it around his face, then did the same for hers. "Better?" she asked in a slightly muffled tone.

His eyes, the only part of him she could see, crinkled in reply. "Yeah. I guess I don't know how to be around people so much anymore."

"You'll get used to it again," Jesse said. In her mind she added,
I hope;
if there's time to
. The thought gave her the shivers. Hugging herself, she asked, "Why is it so cold in here?"

"My dad keeps getting his hours cut at work. We can't afford too many luxuries."

What do you say to that? "Oh, sorry. Where's your mom?" The question had just come blurting out of her and the second it did she wished she could take it back. First she gets him to admit he's so poor he can't afford to heat his house and now this. "I mean does she live here? In town or uh…"

Ky's eyes shifted away before he answered. "She's, uh…she's in Florida. My parents are divorced." Of course they were. Jesse wanted to slap herself for asking such a painfully stupid question. Ky went on, "She left us three years ago after Jason O'Brian died…got killed. By then everyone guessed what all the deaths had in common. Me. And I guess she couldn't take it."

"Jason was a friend of yours?"

"My best friend," Ky said. "My last best friend. First there was Steven Brownly—we grew up together and there wasn't a day that he wasn't over here playing with me. And then there was Gregory Mathew Johnson. He was murdered in 2006. Then there was Jason. And then…"

Tears came to his eyes all of a sudden and he pulled the scarf up to hide them. "It's ok," Jesse said. "You don't have to talk about this."

He sniffled and then shook his head. "I do. You kissed me…you should know what you've gotten yourself into. I'm a magnet for the killer. He kills anyone I'm close to…it's why I didn't want to fall in love with you." Ky clearly hadn't meant for that to come out. He pulled back from her and the scarf slipped down a little, showing the shocked look on his face. "I mean…"

Jesse had to smile. She was as inexperienced as he was, but his look was priceless. "Don't apologize or worse don't try to take it back. I'm guessing neither of us knows exactly what we are feeling. I've never been in love before so I don't know if this it. But I want to think that it is. Especially now."

"Me too," Ky replied. His apple-cheeks were redder than ever. This might have been the right moment for their second kiss. They moved in closer to each other and were only inches apart when…

"Are you guys doing alright?" Mr. Mendel had stepped noiselessly into the room. His words sent the two jumping apart, but because of the scarf that was still around both their necks they bounced back again.

After a quick gag, Ky answered, "We're fine. Thanks." They both held plastic smiles on their faces until he left again and then had to suppress giggles when he did. When they were able to look at each other without busting out laughing, Jesse realized the moment was gone. And this was ok with her.

Even with the presence of the police officer, and Ky, and Mr. Mendel, Jesse felt an undercurrent of fear that didn't lend itself to romance. Ky must have been feeling something close to it as well, because though he sat back next to her he didn't try anything more than holding her hand.

"Do you want me to finish with what I was telling you about?" he asked. Jess nodded. In truth, she didn't really want to hear it, but since she had voluntarily stuck her head into the noose she figured it would be wise to know as much as possible.

"Two years ago I went and stayed with my mom for Christmas vacation," Ky said, resuming the story of the killer. "I left school early hoping that since I wasn't around Ashton no one would die. It didn't work out the way I hoped. Three people died that year. My dad has family in Mackinaw and Harold went up there and killed the cousins I was closest to. How he knew which three to pick, I'll never know."

"That's terrible," Jesse started to feel a pain behind her breastbone. "And last year? Mary Castaneda?"

Ky suddenly seemed defensive. "If you've heard the rumors that she was my secret lover…it wasn't true. She wasn't. Mary was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I found her in the woods crying. She'd had a fight with her boyfriend and had stormed off. I made the mistake of thinking I should keep near her…to…protect her." The last words came out as a whisper. He took a few deep breaths before going on.

"I couldn't save her; all I did was draw Harold to her. There was this sound in the woods. I knew right away what it was and I yelled out to Mary to run. She ran…but I think she got lost. Frantically, I searched for her, but I never saw her again…they wouldn't even let me go to her funeral."

There was silence for a long time as each simply stared out at the snow swirling around the window. Finally Jesse asked, "How come he can't be caught?" She didn't want to believe the campfire version of the killer. The one where Harold could hear his name spoken from miles away and that he could walk through walls. "It just seems that a man that big couldn't be missed. There should be eyewitnesses, or fingerprints or boot-prints for goodness sakes. His feet must be gigantic."

"He almost got caught once," Ky replied. "When Gregory Matthew Johnson died there was an anonymous tip that Harold was seen dumping a body down by the north pond. The police rushed over and searched his house. They found Greg's shoes—the shoes that he was wearing when he died—sitting in Harold's garage."

"That's not enough for a conviction?" Jesse asked in puzzlement. "An eyewitness
and
evidence linking him to the murder isn't enough?"

Ky gave her shrug. "The eyewitness was afraid to come forward and the police went into the house without a warrant. It screwed up the entire case."

There's something missing here
.

Right. Why dump the body, but take the shoes only to leave them in the garage? Why wouldn't the eyewitness come forward? Finally, how could a man as big as Harold ghost around killing five more people without leaving a shred of evidence either on the victim or himself?

"What I…" Jesse had a question on her tongue, but just then she noticed Mr. Mendel standing in the doorway to the kitchen watching them. Despite the danger to Jesse, Jerry Mendel seemed absurdly pleased that his son had a girlfriend sitting on his couch.

"Go on," he said. "Don't let me bother you." Clearly he was a bother as neither Jesse nor Ky spoke. He got the hint. "Ok…ok. You two can go upstairs if I'm disturbing you that much."

Ky was quick to pull Jesse out of the room. He led her up to his bedroom, which was nothing like she expected. There wasn't a single bikini clad super-model adorning the walls. Nor any posters of fast-backed muscle cars. And the place was neat. No dirty socks or old pairs of underwear.

"My dad doesn't like clutter," Ky explained. "It gets him weird."

Jesse went the window and pulled up the blinds. "Wow. We'll get at least a foot at this rate. What a waste of a snow-day." Just then she noticed Ky's mask that he had worn the night before. It sat propped up on the sill as if it had been looking out at the weather, or at Jesse's room. She went to pick it up, but because her left hand could still barely clutch anything it fell to the floor.

"I thought you were going to get that checked out," Ky said, bending down in a fluid motion to get the mask.

"You can see right into my window," Jesse said, stuffing her hand into the pocket of her white jacket.

"You changed the subject." Ky went to her and pulled out the injured hand. He shook his head at it. The swelling was obvious.

"The hand's not important."

"You think that you're going to die is that it?" Jesse dropped her gaze to the floor. Ky lifted her chin and looked into her eyes. "If I can, I'll keep you safe. I'll give my life for yours." His hazel eyes were beautiful. It wasn't their color or shape. It was the fact that they held so much love for her. Ky moved in closer…

"Sorry to bother you two, again," Jerry Mendel said stepping into the room. Ky groaned at the interruption, but Jerry ignored it. "I'm going to go pick up some take-out from the Dim Sum. Jesse, are you ok with sesame chicken or Mongolian beef?"

She wasn't hungry at all and with her fear sitting like an ice-ball in her stomach she didn't think she would be eating much that day. "You're going out in this?"

"I wasn't expecting company and we don't have anything in the house. You can ask Kyle." Ky's embarrassed look was enough of an answer.

"Please don't worry about me," Jesse said. "I'm really not hungry."

"Actually it's Officer McCew that I'm worried about," Mr. Mendel replied. "I've seen him eat before. He can really put it away. Now you two stay up here and keep out of the way while I'm gone."

Jesse waited to hear his footsteps on the stair before she whispered to Kyle, "He's really not leaving, you know. He's only saying that so that the next time you try to kiss me he'll pop out again."

Though she joked, Jesse didn't like the idea of Ky's father leaving. When dealing with Harold she preferred the layered approach; she wanted as many people between herself and him as possible. Ky didn't seem to like it either. He went to the window and stared out, trying to catch a glimpse of anything that moved. A few minutes later a sound from downstairs caused Jesse to jump.

"Don't worry, that's only the garage door opening," Ky explained. Jesse worried anyways and tense minutes slipped by. She tried not to make it obvious, but Ky saw. "Do you want to go hang out with Officer McCew down stairs?"

"Yeah…kinda I do."

He smiled with a show of bravado, however his hand practically dripped sweat and he moved through the house with more care than was needed. Or so Jesse thought at first. When they got downstairs she realized they hadn't been careful enough.