Page 55 of What She Saw
I’d stared at that shed from the kitchen window when I’d been in the house last night. “I’ve seen the pictures of it.”
“The shed wasn’t as bad as anyone would think. Or I was too drunk to notice.” She ran fingers through her graying hair. “He was gentle. Maybe because he knew me or because I was young. It wasn’t terrible.”
But he’d known she was young and drunk. She was Debra’s little sister. He’d taken advantage. “What happened after?”
“He said he had to get back to work. I stayed in the shed and lay there for a while. Then I went back to the concert.”
“I don’t mean to be weird, but I’m going to ask indelicate questions.”
“It’s okay.”
“Did he talk while having sex?”
“He called me Debra once. Later, after she was gone, I thought back on that and wondered why.”
“No violence?”
“It was uncomfortable, but I didn’t know what I was doing.”
She might not have been a virgin, but she wasn’t super experienced. “And you never told this to Taggart?”
“When I sobered up after the festival, it felt like a dream. For a few days, I convinced myself it didn’t happen. But you know the harder you try to forget something, the realer it becomes.”
“You were at the trial almost every day. The prosecution called Kevin as a witness to establish timelines. Did you two speak before or after the trial?”
“No. I was ashamed, and he was nervous. He sensed he could be a suspect.”
“Taggart questioned him hard. But the sheriff couldn’t prove Kevin had anything to do with anyone’s disappearance.”
“Kevin’s big crime was that he was a shitty security guard. For all his talk of wanting to be a cop, he was afraid of conflict.”
“He failed the police entrance exams twice.”
She smiled. “Yeah, he never tested well.”
I sipped my lemonade, finding it too sweet for my taste. “This is great. Thank you.”
“I like sugar too much.”
“It’s delicious.” To prove it, I took another gulp. “Where’s Kevin these days?”
“After the trial, he left the area for over twenty years. And then about ten years ago, he moved back to Dawson. He works as a security guard for the computer company that located here a couple of years ago.”
“What’s the name of the company?”
“PH Puckett Computers.”
“Have you seen Kevin since his return?”
“From a distance. I sometimes check up on him.”
Stalking? My kind of girl. “Why?”
“I heard killers sometimes visit spaces that remind them of their victims.”
She was right about that. Killers often experienced sexual excitement when they revisited the burial site. “Do you think he killed Debra?”
“I have no proof. But if he wanted to, the concert would’ve been the perfect place to do it.”
