Page 10 of Dark Roads
“Too many lowlifes hang around there. Tell you what, how about you help us out with Cash? We’ll add the money to your college fund, give you a bit for an allowance.”
He wanted me to babysit. My mind blurred, a rush of confusion. I’d be stuck at their house all the time—and what did he mean byallowance? Like I couldn’t spend my own money?
“But at the diner I’ll make tips.”
“Yeah, and you’ll have men harassing you constantly.” He looked at me. “Then what? You’re going to ride your bike home at night? In the morning when the roads are empty?”
This couldn’t be real. He couldn’t be this paranoid.
“I’ve done it for years.”
“You want to end up like her?” He pointed through the windshield. I knew who he was talking about without seeing the guardrails ahead, the silver culvert. Shannon Emerson. We’d gone to school together. She was cute, with big brown eyes and brown hair. Eighteen. Only a year older than me. I would have been at the party too—the cattle-field campout was an annual event—but Dad and I had gone on a fishing trip. Now the farmer didn’t let anyone into his fields.
The cross on the shoulder was still fresh white, her name, birth date, and the date she died written in black. Her photo was anchored to the bottom in a gold frame. There were other crosses along the miles of highway. Whenever Dad and I had totravel to Forgotten, the next town to the north, I would sneak glances at them, not wanting to see them but feeling like I had to. They were so eerie and lost-looking. The rotting wood covered in moss, names worn away, flowers dried out. Mildewed teddy bears falling over.
Someone had left Shannon fresh flowers, a bundle of pink and white carnations. Her parents had left town, but they came back for the memorial walk last month. All the victims’ faces were familiar to me, their names. I’d been a little kid, or not even born, when most of them died, but I’d grown up with their photos and stories. Dad and I attended the memorial together.
“It’s coming up on a year,” Vaughn said, “and this anniversary is going to trigger a lot of people. The smell of summer, a bonfire, a hay field. It will bring that night back. Maybe they’ll remember seeing headlights. A truck that was in the wrong place. Maybe they overheard an argument that they didn’t pay attention to at the time. Something made Shannon take off.”
I didn’t want to talk about Shannon, or anyone, with Vaughn, but something struck me strange about what he was saying. “You think it was someone at the party?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know, but it’s never sat right with me. I’m going through all the statements again, having another talk with some of the kids who were there.”
I stared at the side of his face. “Everyone says it was the highway killer.”
“There’s never beenonekiller on that highway. There were at least two, maybe even three over the years, but this is someone new. I got to her body first, and there wasn’t much left of her, but that image is still burned into my brain. You ever hear the termoverkill? Coroner said he beat her so hard he broke bones, then he strangled her. Whoever this guy is, he likedhurting her, and he’s not going to stop now.” Vaughn was taking the corners fast, tires squealing, my body forced against the door. “My bet is that he’s already looking for his next victim.”
I felt sick, acid burning in my empty stomach, lurching into my throat. I gripped the door handle as he took another bend. “Why are you telling me this?”
“You think you’re safe as long as you don’t hitchhike, but I’m telling you, this killer is different.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder to my bike rattling in the back. “You know how easy it would be for a guy to knock you off that? He just has to tap it with his bumper and you’re on the ground.”
“You’re trying to freak me out.”
“I’m trying to keep you alive.” He gave me another look through his sunglasses, turned back to the windshield. “You don’t like me much, do you?”
I blinked, held my breath for a minute. Did he actually want me to say something? There was no way I could answer that without lying.
“Hey, I get it. Cops are the enemy, right? We bust up your parties and ruin your fun. But you and me, we have more in common than you think. My dad took off when I was a kid, and my mom had problems. She dated a lot of men, okay?” He slid his sunglasses up onto his head and gave me a quick, hard stare. “I tried to look out for her, but she still got hurt. It’s why I became a cop. I take care of my people. Thistownis my people. When I married your aunt, you became my people.” I shifted my gaze to stare at my feet. He was wrong—we didn’t have anything in common. My dad and mom loved each other, and Dad didn’ttake off.
“My ex-wife and I broke up because she didn’t want kids, and you know what? I still go by her house and make sure everything is okay. I still check up on the guys she brings home. Iwatch out for mypeople.” He punctuated each word with a slap of his hand on the steering wheel and met my eyes, unblinking. “You understand what I’m saying, Hailey?”
Yeah. I understood that he had a hero complex and he was expecting me to be grateful that he’d chosen me as a project. “You want to keep me safe.”
He slapped the steering wheel again. “Now she’s getting it.” The truck slowed. We were at the entrance to the campsite. I looked at him, confused.
“I’m going to take a run through here first.” Vaughn pulled in slowly, cruising down the center road, his eyes darting from side to side. Checking out tents and campers.
He stared at a group of girls. A little older than me, in booty shorts and crop tops, sipping from their red party cups, probably full of cider or hard iced tea.
“See them? They’re going to get drunk, wander off into the bushes alone or down to the lake for a last swim, then they’ll pass out cold in their tents for anyone to mess around with.” A shake of his head. “They’re asking for trouble.”
“They’re having fun. It’s not their fault if guys are assholes.”
“If a mouse is dumb enough to walk in front of a cat, it’s going to get eaten.”
I wasn’t going to keep arguing with him. I just wanted to get this over with. Frowning, I stared out the side window. We’d circled the campsite and now we were heading to the lake.
We drove down the highway, bumped onto the gravel road that ran behind the lake. Trees blocked out the sun and cast long shadows. I chewed the inside of my cheek.
