“What kinda things?”I asked, dodging a pole in our path. But something caught my eye. I backtracked to stare at a poster tacked to the pole. And then I started freaking out.“Dennis, what if they catch me? I can’t do this. We have to go away somewhere.”
“Act natural.”He caught my arm as I tried to push past. And then I saw why: aman was purposefully approaching with a stack of papers in hand.
“Hey, do you have a minute?” he asked breathlessly. I put on a confused face. “My girlfriend is missing since a couple days ago. Police have been helpful, but I’m putting these up around town. Have you seen her? Anywhere at all? Even for a second, anything helps.” He held up a paper with the face of the girl I’d murdered.
My eyes scanned the large‘HAVE YOU SEEN THISWOMAN?’title and the minor details, stating she’d been missing since Tuesday morning and had been last seen by her boyfriend androommate.
As if I needed to stare at the picture to answer.
“No.I’ve never seen her.”
“I’ve never seen her, either.”Dennis was putting on a perfect façade.
The man frowned. “Makes sense. She’s new in town. She moved here with me.” He started to leave before hesitating. “I feel like I’ve seen you before.”
“Yeah?” I cocked my head.
“Yeah. Near my place. Our place. Going for a walk or something?” He was staring at me. His face was determined. “Or maybe it was another day. Have I seen you before?”
“I don’t think so? I doubt it was me that day. Tuesday, right?” I gestured to the date on the poster. “I was at a bar. The one across town for a job interview that night.And I spent most of the day at home.”
“Oh.” His face dropped. “Well thanks, anyway. Please keep an eye out.”
“Yeah, of course. I hope you find her.”
He nodded and trudged off, heading for the next block to continue tacking up posters.Out of every lie I’d ever told, this was by far the worst. My heart nearly ached—it feltsowrong, but I had to do it.Dennistook my hand and steered us away without a word. My head and ears were both throbbing. We passed another poster. And another. Half a block, and then another.
“Try not to worry so much,” Dennis said. “It’s not like anyone found the body. And if they ever do, she’ll be hard to identify.”
“Are yousure?”
“Positive. I burned her prints, ground her teeth to powder and dumped it in the lake, and buried her head deep enough that her face will decay before it’s ever found. We’re good.”
My stomach churned at his words—he’d said it all so casually.“Do you hear that?”I stopped walking as faint police sirens were joined by more. They were getting closer. I glanced over when Dennis didn’t answer. He was looking elsewhere.“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Let’s go this way.”Heled me away before I could see what he’d been looking at.
“Why are we switching directions?”I tripped and almost fell off a curb, making him laugh abrasively.“You’re mean. I could’ve died, you know.”I staggered a bit but tried to play it off.
“You seem extra disoriented today,”Dennissaid, eyeing my precarious stance. It felt like I was tipping over.
“It’s a side effect,”I said glumly.“This happens every time I change my meds. I get really dizzy and confused and it’s like my brain stops working for a while. It goes all fuzzy and weird.”I trailed off at the way he was looking at me. He usuallyunderstood my weird sentences, but this time he didn’t seem to get it.“Can you hear my thoughts right now?”I asked. He shook his head.“No wonder. You don’t know what I’m saying. Basically, I getdizzyand confused when I change my meds, and feel sick if I take it too late in the day. The useless brain also happens after bad episodes. Especially mixed ones.”I paused before asking,“Do you know what those are?”
“Yeah.”
“Figures.You already know all this stuff.”I kicked a pebble along the road.“You do know these things, right?”
“In general, yeah. But I don’t know how they affect you personally. That’s what I’m trying to figure out. You.”He glanced at me and smiled.
“Oh. Kay.” My voice faltered because I didn’t know what to say. His background in abnormal psychology was convenient, but now that I knew about it, I felt even more self-conscious than before.
“Shit.”
“What?”I stopped walking when he did.
He was staring straight ahead.Thiswas where all the sirens were headed. My brain had apparently tuned them out, but the noise was coming back. Sirens, police cars, news anchors, and a shit ton of caution tape around a nearby alley.
I knew this alley. And the dumpster inside it.
