While all of the thoughts and words about Tommy from loved ones were touching, it was his little sister who really brought down the house and made everyone cry. His parents were so beside themselves that they could barely move from their seats, but not Melody. Dani was impressed as the little girl walked up to the podium with the confidence of an adult. The funeral director had to lower the microphone for her, but Melody made sure to speak up loud and clear.
“My brother was murdered,” she said.
The microphone crackled as the whine of feedback filled the air. Her mother wailed and a collective gasp waved through the crowd. Tommy’s little sister stood defiant behind the podium, saying the words that no one else dared to utter. Her littlefeatures were screwed up, two piercing eyes fiercely set as she stared at Dani. Her gaze was accusatory. Angry.
“Tommy was a good big brother, and he died for nothing. Whoever is responsible has to pay.”
The crowd moaned in agreement. Dani’s cheeks grew hot as her blood boiled inside her veins. She was right. Deep in her heart, she knew that it was her fault that Tommy was dead.
Before Melody could say anything more, the funeral director sprang to action. She snatched the microphone from the stand and the little girl’s angry expression fell apart.
“We all miss him terribly,” the funeral director said. “Will someone please help our guest back to her seat?”
Tommy’s father broke away from his grieving wife and walked up to the podium. Little Melody lost her fiery will and disintegrated into a puddle of tears as her father scooped her up. He whisked her back to their seat, but not before shooting his own accusatory gaze at Dani.
Finally, after the last teary relative said their goodbyes, the funeral director began the burial process. Dani couldn’t bring herself to get up there and say anything, not with everyone looking on. Not with everyone knowing that she was the reason that their beloved son and friend was dead.
As they lowered the casket into the earth, Dani realized they might as well have been burying her soul along with him. She couldn’t bear to watch. Her glazed expression settled on the treeline just at the edge of the funeral home as Tommy’s body went down, down, down. She couldn’t be sure, but as she tried to focus on the funeral again, she caught the flicker of a figure moving among the trees. And then …
That smell.
Cheap pine and musk.
Sweat and venom.
Dani’s stomach clenched as she glanced toward the treeline again. A burst of warm air blew through the cemetery, bringing with it thatsmell. That awful, horrible death smell. Sweet and spicy and rotten. The casket hit the bottom of the grave, six feet down where her boyfriend would rest forevermore.
Tommy’s mother wailed.
Dani stared into the forest again.
The figure was gone.
“Ithink I saw him.”
Dom Kincaid glanced at his daughter in the reflection of the rearview mirror as they drove home from the funeral that afternoon. New worry lines had carved their way into her father’s face over the past week, and his eyes were just as red and tired looking as Dani’s.
“Who?”
“Who do you think?” Dani swallowed. Saying the name Matt Vickers only left a bad taste in her mouth. “It washim.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mhmm.” Dani hugged her arms to her chest and stared out the window as they drove back toward home. “I saw someone hiding in the trees.”
“The place was surrounded by police.” Her mother turned to face her from the front seat. “Officer Owens said they set up a perimeter. If he showed his face at the funeral, they would have found him.”
“I’m afraid they’ll never find him,” Dani said. “It wasn’t just that I thought I saw him. I thought I … I thought Ismelledhim too.”
“You what?”
“Hisscent.” Dani puffed out an exasperated breath. “Whenever he came into the video store, he always had this overpowering cologne and sweat smell that made my stomach turn. I could swear I caught a whiff of it today.”
“A lot of people at the funeral were probably wearing cologne, sweetie,” her mother said.
“Besides,” her father said. “The medicine you're on makes you kinda loopy, doesn’t it?”
Dani rubbed her temple and stared at his squinty-eyed reflection in the rearview. It was useless. Her parents didn’t believe her. Her father had installed security cameras and an alarm system, but so long as her stalker was out there in the world, Dani would never feel safe. And so long as her parents kept her medicated, she wouldn't have the energy or clarity to start living again.
