A Deep and Dark December(78)

He reached the top of the stairs of the front porch of the station and turned back to look up Main Street. Folks stood around, watching the tow truck operator and police do their jobs. Off to the side, the mayor huddled with his cronies, no doubt plotting their next move to get rid of him. They’d ratcheted up their recall campaign and now a few of the businesses in town sported flyers damning Graham as the worst thing to happen to San Rey since the storm that wiped out the original 1910 pier.

He turned his gaze away from Mayor Behre and his henchmen and scanned the other faces. He knew them all… Well, most of them anyway. He watched while Mr. Pasarelli passed out samples of cake from his bakery, trying to drum up business in the slow economy. He watched the Bercher boy swipe a second sample when Mr. Pasarelli’s back was turned. The ladies from the Clippity-Do-Da talked to each other from behind their hands, no doubt passing more gossip and innuendo. A girl he’d gone to high school with passed her crying baby over to old Mrs. Gladstone who was known for her touch with fussy infants.

Just a normal town full of normal people in the middle of the most extraordinary and horrifying events of their lives. Between their neighborly smiles and nods of recognition, their brows knit in anxiety and confusion. What was happening to their town, their home? When would it end? Who would make it stop?

He would.

Graham pulled in a slow breath and squared his shoulders. He would. He would make it stop. He’d catch the * who was manipulating these good people to do strange and terrible things. And life in San Rey would go back to normal. A nice, boring normal where the worst thing that could happen would be that they’d run out of shortcake at the Strawberry Festival.

This was his town, his home. There was no way in hell he was going to let them down.





Word was definitely out if the glances and stares Erin was getting while shopping the aisles of Goldman’s Drug Store were any indication. Mabel had done her job. Erin hoped her plan would work or else she’d exposed herself for nothing.

“…disgusting little weirdo, just like the rest of them.”

Erin turned from perusing toothpaste to find Emily Talbot and Morgan Davies glaring at her.

“What are you looking at?” Emily sneered.

“She thinks she’s so much better than us,” Morgan said. “You use your woo-woo power to get the sheriff to screw you?”

“She’d have to. No other explanation for why he’d touch a freak like her.”

Erin grabbed a box of toothpaste, threw it in her basket and bolted. The women’s laughter reached out after her, scratching at old wounds. Her mother had used that word.

Freak.

She stumbled two rows over and grabbed onto an end-cap shelf. She’d expected curiosity, maybe even standoffishness, but aggression? No. None of that.

Hurrying toward the cash registers at the front of the store, she kept her head down, hoping to evade Emily and Morgan. She put her basket on the conveyor belt and waited for the man in front of her to finish paying. Mr. Felix, her third grade teacher, the man who had encouraged her in the months after her mother had left, now turned to look at her with a mixture of suspicion and revulsion.

She backed out of line right into Candy. “Oh. Sorry.”

“Sorry? You’re sorry? Watch where you’re going!”

Erin sucked in a breath at the hatred coming off her friend and hairstylist. Suddenly the whispers were everywhere, the stares fixed and accusatory. Weirdo. Freak. Monster. Erin brushed past Candy, bumping into a display and scattering it. Then she ran, passing face after face twisted in hatred. Their loathing followed her like a rabid dog.

She dove into her car and slammed the door, her breath harsh in the quiet. Her worst nightmare had come true. They were all against her. The whole town. She’d never fit in now. All her life she’d only wanted to fit into the town she belonged to and now…now that wish would never come true. What had she done? It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Her phone rang, startling her. She fumbled around in her purse until she finally located it.

“Hello?”

“What did you do?”

Graham. Oh, God. Not him too.

“Why did you tell Mabel about your ability?” he demanded.

“What?”

“Why, Erin? You had to know she’d tell everybody.” He let out a heavy breath. “That was the point, wasn’t it?”

She dropped her head back against the headrest. “We have to catch him.”

“We don’t have to do anything. You work for a property management company, not the sheriff’s office. Goddammit. What if he came after you physically like he did Deidre?”

She wasn’t an idiot. She’d considered the probability that the killer could come after her the way he’d come after Deidre. He’d already attacked her and her family mentally and it was clear he wouldn’t stop. She didn’t like hearing the fear in Graham’s voice, but what choice was there? How else were they going to stop him?

“He might,” she said, closing her eyes against that thought.

“And what? You don’t care?”

“He’s already come at me, into my head.”

“That’s not the same as coming at you with a gun. You can’t fight off a bullet with a little mental gymnastics.”

“I just want my dad and aunt back.”