Page 107 of Roses Are Dead
“That’s an accident, not murder.”
Unless you’d lured the victim up there to make him fall. Not even my counselor got that part. Carl knew. He was the one who’d thought it up.
He also was the one who climbed down and made sure he was dead.
“Guilt is guilt. It doesn’t listen to reason.” That was something one of the psychologists said during the trial.
Bear’s eyebrow lifted. “Listen, only the innocent feel guilt. The rest of us can’t afford it.”
The rest of us. He’d called KC. That’s why he was angry with Carl. “Murderers. Plural.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I was commenting on the underlined.”
Whatever connection we’d created was gone.
26
Bear
Carl’s house turned up a big fat zilch. KC and I were thorough. We planted a couple of miniature cameras and motion detectors. I checked the hidden stash point behind his toilet that Rose mentioned. Empty. The computer he used to spy on the neighbors? Gone. No vehicles, nothing.
In an act of sheer spite, I ran my muddy boot across his rug. The mark I left was simple. It was a zig-zagged lightning bolt. In runic symbolism, it said, “see you on the dark side.” That was an invitation to escalate. He’d know who made it. And since the mud came from his own backyard, no nosy cop could prove it was me.
KC stopped by the back door. He ran a finger down the scratched surface. “That’s odd.”
“What?”
He stopped with an index finger touching the bottom row of marks. There were twenty in total. “I could have sworn there were only three rows of five and that odd first row. Now there’s four more. Carl’s so weird.” He shrugged and led the way out.
The neighbor hadn’t replaced their dog yet. Which meant Carl had to have been spotted recently. I stomped over to their backyard and hammered on the door. A kid answered and promptly shut it. Like that could keep me out if I wanted it. “Is a parent or adult home?”
“Not talking to you.”
Fuck. Smart kid. “Listen, I just want to know if you’ve seen your neighbor recently?”
Silence.
“Dude, you scared the shit out of him.”
“Did not.” But I probably did. “You try.”
KC knocked like a normal person. “You don’t have to open the door, just say yes or no. Have you seen that weird guy next door in the last two days?”
“No!”
“In the last week?”
“Maybe?”
KC shot me a look. He was getting farther than I was, so I gave him the lead.
“Okay. What about in the last two weeks?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks kid. That’s all I needed.”
