Authors: Ker Dukey

Vacant (Empathy #3) (13 page)

BOOK: Vacant (Empathy #3)

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MY BLOSSOMING MOONFLOWER; WHAT A stunning creature she is. She has delusions that sometimes make me sleep with one eye open, but her craft is almost poetic. She can live in the ignorance of her darker self’s deeds and be present as my colorful artwork when she’s just Cereus. Her love for me is intense and I’ve tried to offer her a part of me I never knew existed, but if my heart beats and speeds up whenever she’s within reach then she owns it, right? We haven’t settled. Instead we travel; I want to show her the world how we view it and although a part of her doesn’t know it, our vision is the same.

“Can I get you anything else?” a server woman asks, popping her pen in her mouth and batting her eyelashes at me. My eyes haven’t left Cereus. I know the she sees me in more ways than she should, ways that are frowned upon by everyone in the world, but they also frown upon murder, and if her body craves a sexual connection as well as our souls linking I’m not opposed to giving her anything she desires. It’s just bodies joining, and knowing her animal inside is as depraved as mine, taking her completely would more than likely be a divine depravity all on its own, and a huge rule to break. I love to break the rules.

I draw my attention back to the monster about to unleash in front of me; her eyes darken, her pupils expand to swallow all the color, her teeth pierce her gum as she bites down on her inner cheek. I delight in the rouge tainting her lips when she swipes her tongue out to wet them. It’s almost as pleasurable as my own kill, witnessing this magic in front of me.

“No, nothing,” I tell the woman and she sighs and walks into a back room.

This is the third attempt this week that this server has tried to gain my attention in front of Cereus. I count the seconds in my head One. Two. Three. Cereus doesn’t speak, she just stands and leaves the table. I look at my watch—4:20—and survey the small café. There’s only us and one other couple occupying the tables. 4:24, Cereus slips back into her seat. 4: 30, a scream startles Cereus and she comes back to herself. “What the hell?”

We both stand and I touch her elbow and lead her out of the shop. “Oh, look, it’s Kathy,” she tells me, and wanders over to speak to the new friend she’s invented for this city.

It’s time for a new city, a new imaginary friend and I need a game we both can play.

ANOTHER SET OF POSTCARDS; PARIS this time. I know they’ll have moved on before Cereus even sent these but Melody will pass them on and send the private investigator there anyway. I’m left lost. I didn’t know if I should tell Melody about the killer inside our baby girl. At first, when I went to her dorm room, I was in denial and then convinced myself she only killed in self-defense. Even when they said Hannah’s body was pulled from the lake, I held out hope it was this Randal guy she mentioned. When I got to my car I brought up every student attending the universality and my heart almost shattered when there was not a Randal attending there. I researched the area for any Randal’s and the only one I found was a ninety-year-old, and it was his middle name, not first. A week later it was confirmed that Hannah had been murdered but I already knew that. The reports said she had strangulation marks, indicating she was held under the water while being choked. Ryan told me to blame Tom’s murder on him but with Hannah’s as well, they would have soon turned their attentions on Cereus and then Mel would have known everything. So I went back and staged Tom’s death to look like a suicide. I hacked his email and typed a “sorry” email to his folks. I didn’t feel good about it but I would always protect my wife and child. I wrote of his guilt for killing Hannah after she discovered that he cheated on her with Cereus and an argument got heated. The fact he took off the next day only highlighted his guilt, and all the puzzles slotted together. I wiped any evidence of Cereus, Ryan or myself ever being there that night using skills I hadn’t called upon in a long time. It was scary how easy it all was. Mel was heartbroken for the families who lost their children. She wouldn’t have coped well and maybe her own mind would have fractured if she knew the truth. Mel had a fake story that I fed her, and Ryan agreed to back me up if I used my hacking skills to give him and Cereus new identities using my computer crimes once again. I have never been more torn in my entire life than when I accepted that she’s gone forever, and stopped looking to bring Cereus home. She’s my daughter and no matter what demons live inside her, I love her as fiercely as the day I held her in my arms for the first time. Melody believed Cereus couldn’t cope with school, or everything that had happened mixed with the chaos of the year before and she needed to be away from everything and everyone, so she took off. I let her believe that because it was better than her knowing the truth. I didn’t tell her about Ryan’s involvement even though lying to her nearly ruined our marriage last time, but this would ruin her soul and we have both lost enough. Stress isn’t good for the baby. I pocket my postcard and place Mel’s on the counter for her. Soon I hear her feet tapping across the floors, her swollen stomach causing her to waddle. She’s beautiful in her pregnancy. We’re expecting a boy next month, and more than ever I’m terrified of becoming a dad again. What if’s rule the space in my mind. Melody’s feet stop short before reaching me, her eyes on the postcard. A tear leaks free and she quickly swipes it. “I miss her like crazy. Where is she now?”

“Paris.”

I wrap Melody in my arms and let her cry into my shoulder. My skin has absorbed many of my wife’s tears over the years, each one a memory of her suffering. She deserves some happiness. I can never tell her the truth; instead I will bury the knowledge deep into my soul and give her many good memories to eclipse the bad.

“I’m going to get dressed, then let’s go shopping and to the cupcake shop that just opened. I want to eat my emotions.”

I smile and tap her on the butt. “Okay, baby. Sounds like a plan.”

I watch her figure fade around the corner and pull the postcard just for me from my pocket.