Cemetery Girl

“I told her I’d turn myself in. I’d call the police if she didn’t leave. I forced her hand. I remember that night. .” He paused again and stared past me, off into the darkness. “You know what it’s like to have a parting of the ways with someone you love. There were tears. It almost broke my heart-it really did. Before she left, she swore to me she’d never tell what we did together. I guess she hasn’t, or you wouldn’t be here.”

“What happened between you?”

“Now that’s private, isn’t it?”

One corner of his mouth ticked up, and one eyebrow as well. It set me in motion. I charged forward, trying to bury my shoulder in his midsection and knock him to the ground. But he handled me expertly. I was quickly spun to the ground, his thick forearm locked around my neck. He didn’t apply full pressure to my throat. I could still breathe. But he applied enough to let me know he could do more if he wanted.

Buster came to the edge of the house and stopped. I heard his shoes against the driveway, but he remained in the dark.

“Easy now,” Colter said. I didn’t know if he’d meant it for me or Buster. He said it again. “Easy now, fella.” Colter was still on one knee. I saw Buster’s shape out of the corner of my eye. “Just stay there,” Colter said to Buster. “We’re calming down now, real easy like.”

“Let him go,” Buster said.

I tried to talk, but I couldn’t. I hoped Buster would stay back. I hoped he could see Colter held control of my airway. Apparently he did. He moved back a little, giving Colter some space. “You just go right on back where you were,” Colter said. “We have a few more things to talk about here.” He eased the pressure on my neck so I could speak.

“Go,” I said. “It’s fine.” My throat was raw, like I’d swallowed thumbtacks.

“You don’t look fine,” Buster said. “You look like you’re fucked-up.”

“Back off,” I said.

He did. He took slow steps backward until his form cleared the side of the building again. When he was gone, Colter released the pressure even more.

“Are you going to act right?” he asked.

I nodded like a fool.

He let go all the way and stood up. I fell to the ground, my face almost hitting the pavement. I reached for my throat and gulped air. It took a couple of minutes for me to feel right and push myself up. When I did, the night tilted a little like I might pass out. But I didn’t. My legs came back to me, and I cleared my throat, making sure I could speak.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Fuck you.”

“I showed you mercy,” he said. “I could have crushed your throat.”

“You’d never see Caitlin again.”

“I can see her anytime I want. I can snap my fingers and she’d be here.” To emphasize his point, he snapped his fingers in the air. “You can’t even deny it. I’m showing you mercy. I’ll let you say good-bye to her, before she comes with me.”

“I’ll call the police. I’ll tell them what you said. You confessed.”

“Hearsay.” He laughed a little. “But I guess I did make a little mistake with Caitlin. She isn’t like the girls I typically date. Look at you-she comes from a good family. Good parents. You care. There are a lot of girls in the world without that. When they go away, no one notices. When they come back and go to the police, they get ignored. Still, this is all dependent on whether Caitlin wants to rat me out or not.”

He was right. There was little I could do unless Caitlin testified. “Why show me mercy then? Why do anything for me?”

Colter looked me up and down. “Because she’d want me to. She loves you, so I’ll do this favor.”

“Did she talk about me? Did she remember me-?”

A sound from the house cut my words off. The back door was pulled inward again, and the light revealed an older woman, close to seventy, wearing a kerchief on her head and a housecoat. Her face was long and thin, unlike her son’s, and the skin around her jawline hung loose.

“What’s going on out here, Johnny? Who is this man?”

“He’s a friend, Mom.”

“Is he a cop?”

“No.”

“I’m not a friend,” I said. “I’m Caitlin Stuart’s father.”

The woman raised her hand to her chest and gathered the loose folds of the housecoat tighter against her body. She looked stricken, almost ill. She’d put her house up to secure his bond, and if he left town before a trial. .

“What are you doing at our house?” she asked, but she didn’t wait for an answer. “Johnny isn’t. . He just can’t be seeing people, any people, right now.”

“Did you know about this, Mrs. Colter? Did you know about Caitlin?”

She moved back into the shadow of the doorframe. “Johnny, you come inside now. It’s late.”

Colter walked toward the house like an obedient child. Before he went inside, he looked back. “Remember what I offered, Mr. Stuart. A chance to say good-bye this time.”

Chapter Forty-six

Buster didn’t say anything until we were buckled in the car and pulling away from the curb. “What was that about? Colter said he offered something?” He kept his eyes on me and the car weaved across the road. That scared me even though it was late and there were no other cars out.

“Watch it.”

“What were you two talking about?”