Officer Janet Owens, an athletic woman with kind eyes and a no-nonsense attitude, nodded. “We called them. They’re on their way.”
“So, you knew this Vickers guy then?” Officer Jim Marshall sighed and scratched the temple of his receding hairline with the end of an ink pen, his notepad poised and ready. Officer Marshall seemed to have little patience for Dani’s currentemotional state, and Officer Owens pulled a face that showed she had even less patience for him.
“Sort of. We went to school together. He comes into the video store to check out tapes sometimes.”
“Ms. Kincaid, are you sure this Vickers fella is the guy that killed your co-worker and your boyfriend?” Officer Marshall glanced up from his notepad, his lips pursed into a frown.
“Isawhim stab Kyle. I didn’t actually see him kill Tommy, but he admitted it to me.”
Fresh tears welled up in her eyes at the mention of her boyfriend’s name. She stared at the boardwalk as grief deadened her limbs. She wanted to cry, to scream, to pound her fists into Matt Vickers’ ugly face, but she couldn’t conjure up any emotion. At that moment, she only felt numb.
“So he chased you down here, and then what?” Officer Marshall asked.
“I saw a man fishing, so I ran toward him for help.”
“Where is that man now?” Officer Owens passed her a tissue.
“He jumped into the water to get away.” Dani swallowed. “Then after that, Matt lunged at me, but I ducked before he could grab me. He went over the rails and ended up diving into the water too.”
“Well, don’t you worry,” Officer Marshall said, suddenly taking a more sympathetic tone. He waved toward the shoreline. “We’ve got our best men combing the area. He’ll either have to swim all the way to Mexico or take his chances with the sharks.”
“We got one!” An officer that had been searching the shoreline pointed a flashlight toward the ambulance.
Her pulse ratcheted up again as all of the police officers, with the exception of Officer Owens, rushed to the beach. Part of her couldn’t handle seeing yet another dead body that day, but an even bigger part of her wished that the body washing up on shore belonged to her attacker.
Dani’s face heated, but her body still felt cold as a corpse. Her voice betrayed her, cracking as she struggled to speak. “What’s going to happen if they don’t find him?”
“Oh, we’ll find him. Maybe not tonight, but eventually. We’ll make sure you’re safe until then.” Officer Owens gave her shoulder a reassuring pat.
“I tried to tell my boss about him.” Dani sniffed. “I couldn’t get anyone to take me seriously. Now Tommy and Kyle are dead. Because of me.”
“Listen to me,” Officer Owens said, squeezing her shoulder harder. “None of this is your fault. But you gotta be brave, understand? You gotta be tough now. You’ve got a long, hard road ahead of you, and the world isn’t going to make it easy.”
Dani nodded and turned her attention toward the shoreline. All of the hope she had been holding onto fizzled as they dragged a waterlogged body from the ocean. Even from her faraway position, she could tell that it wasn’t Matt Vickers, but the much smaller fisherman.
“Is that your fisherman?” Officer Owens said, nodding toward the beach.
“I think so.” Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. Matt Vickers’ body count was climbing by the minute. Three men had died that night because of her. Three innocent people were gone, all because they got in between her and Matt. She could still smell his scent in her nose, taste its bitter, appalling flavor on her tongue.
“Dani! Get out of the way, that’s my daughter!”
Dani let out a relieved sigh as her mother, Brenda, pushed past a police officer. Her father, Dom, followed right behind. Her heart broke a little as she registered the pale, stricken expression on their faces as they approached.
“Mom!”
Dani’s stony expression broke as her parents wrapped her up in their arms. She sobbed, her chest heaving as hot, fresh tears disappeared into her mother’s hair. They held her as she cried in the back of the ambulance. They held her when they brought her home from the hospital. Her parents held her and held her because that’s all that they could do.
Calls and visits from friends flooded in as Dani attempted to resume some semblance of life. Every knock on the door or telephone ring caused her insides to flip. Well-wishers, flower deliveries and notes of condolence were given a suspicious eye. So long as Matt Vickers was at large, no one and nowhere felt safe. Dani refused to see anyone during those first touch-and-go days. She spent most of her time in bed hiding from the world and watching reruns or pouring over photos of her and Tommy in happier times.
Tommy. Kyle. The fisherman. They were all gone because of her. Because ofhim. The same Matt Vickers whose whereabouts were unknown.
“How are you feeling today?” Her mother peeked her head into the room and padded across the floor. Four days had passed since the attack and Dani didn’t feel any different.
“Same as yesterday.”
“Looks like there’s still two squad cars out front.” Her mother squinted and peered out onto the street through the horizontalblinds over the bed. “Must be taking extra precautions because of the funeral.”
“Any updates from Officer Owens?” Dani sat up and pushed a mop of greasy, limp hair from her eyes. She lifted her shirt away from her body, sniffed, and made a disgusted face. When was the last time she showered anyway?
