MALLORY
“Did you see the news?” Derek blurted into the phone as soon as I picked up.
Of course I had seen the news. The whole town was talking about it, especially everyone at Ma Shirley’s.
Karen checked her mobile phone every hour, which was unlike her.
I watched her as I brought clean glasses and ice into the bartending area.
She got on the landline, probably with her bestie, or her secret shag, the chief, though she thought no one knew about their relationship.
Both were single, so I didn’t understand why they kept it secret.
Karen was grim, like there was a bee up her ass, constantly scanning the bar, as if looking for someone.
By the time I had a breather, I had two missed calls from Derek, so I snuck out the back door and called him.
It had been two days since the night I met Sarah Holes.
When I’d driven home that night, I couldn’t stop wondering what Derek would think when he learned the news.
What I’d done didn’t bother me much. Didn’t make my heart drum.
None of the emotions I felt every time I was next to Derek.
That was how I knew that I’d done the right thing.
“Did you see the news?” he repeated.
“What news?”
“What news?” There was a coldness in his voice. “Sarah’s body was found floating in the river.”
“I heard about it, yeah,” I replied, listening closely to the sounds in the background. “Are you at the fair?” It sounded like it, and if he was there with Al, I was going to push someone else into the river tonight.
“My place. Tonight.” He hung up.
That was all I needed. He needed me.
I got off at midnight and drove straight to his place. No other cars were outside his house except his. That was a good sign.
I rang the bell and barely made it inside when he whipped me around and cornered me.
“What is this, Mal?” Derek shook the newspaper with the headline about the drowned woman in front of my face.
I pushed his hand away, raising my chin. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh yeah? What am I talking about? This!” He stabbed the headline with his forefinger.
“Sarah is dead,” he gritted out, then cocked his head.
I knew that little tell—he was either curious or angry.
Judging by his snappiness, it was the latter.
“Did you talk to her again? After you told me about her?”
Apparently, he wasn’t excited about this. Disappointing, really, considering Sarah deserved what she’d gotten for trash-talking alone. But I had to be smart about this.
“No,” I replied.
I’d never had a high like this. When I’d thought about pushing Sarah, for two days now, I’d imagined Al’s face instead of hers.
Then Vic’s. Then Dougie’s. Then Karen’s.
Stupid Karen. Anyone I couldn’t stand found their way into that fantasy.
The newspapers wrote about Sarah’s accidental drowning or speculated that she’d committed suicide—those were the theories.
Nothing suggested murder. Because it wasn’t.
Not my fault she wasn’t a good swimmer. But just like that, with a snap of my fingers, a problem had been solved.
That sure gives you a high, the knowledge that you have the power to get rid of problems. Though I had to be careful with Derek. He was rough around the edges, sure, but maybe not as rough as he played it.
“Don’t mess with me, Mal,” Derek warned as I tried to look unfazed.
“I thought you wanted her gone.”
“Mal?” he warned.
“Maybe your ex-wife missed you so much she decided she couldn’t live without you,” I said, taunting him.
He slammed into me, pinning me against the door. “You are crazy,” he gritted out. “If you were part of that, you are mental. You are deranged. You are—”
I smiled. “You are just full of endearments tonight. How about you get off me if you are not doing anything useful with your body?”
Another phrase Al had used in the past. It worked every time.
Just like right now. Despite the warnings, there was this wild admiration on Derek’s face when he studied me.
In a moment, he was undoing his jeans and peeling my panties down my legs.
In ten minutes, we were in his bedroom, going a second round.
Afterward, he lay next to me, for the first time not getting up but studying me at length.
“Not giving people the answers they want is a power play,” said the same serial killer I’d read about so much.
“See something you like?” I teased Derek with one of Vic’s lines.
He smirked. “You are a psycho, aren’t you? What’s going on in that head of yours?” He poked me in the forehead with his finger.
I didn’t answer, waiting for him to tell me that he had things to do. He didn’t.
“You are going to stay in Burnville for now, right?” I asked.
“Not for long. They found Sarah, which means her daddy will roll into town soon. It’s only a matter of hours.” He stretched lazily and folded his arm under his head, cushioning it.
My heart skipped a beat. “But you had nothing to do with it. You weren’t even together.”
His expression hardened. “I don’t want to take a chance of running into her dad. He’s one of those controlling assholes with a badge and an inflated ego.”
“How would he even know that you are still in town?”
“That bitch Karen hates my guts. She cut me off once. She might just say something stupid to the cops.”
“I know.”
“Well, you work for her.”
“Yeah, it’s called ‘a job.’ I need money. But she’s annoying. She thinks her shit doesn’t stink and her daughter is a princess, while Alysha sleeps with every guy in a fifty-mile radius.”
Derek snorted and looked away. I knew I’d hit a sore spot.
“I was accepted into college in Philly,” I lied, getting a brow raise from Derek. “Yeah, I’m not sure that’s my plan, though. I’ve worked since I was fourteen. I might just travel for a year.”
I didn’t have the money to travel. Mostly, I had no clue where to go and what to do out there, outside Burnville. That was where Derek came in.
“I work hard, you know. Unlike some girls,” I said with a sigh. “I should’ve gotten a raise a long time ago, but Karen is Karen.”
“She’s a bitch.”
He obviously had a beef with her, so I went along. “Yeah. I can’t stand her. Every time she shakes that ice from her tumbler and crushes it between her teeth like a squirrel, it makes me cringe.”
Derek laughed.
“No wonder she has no man,” I carried on, fueled by his approval. “Her late husband probably died of disgust.”
“What did he die of?”
Cancer. But I shrugged. “Maybe she killed him. Who knows?”
Derek laughed again. “Yeah, someone needs to put glass in that ice of hers, teach the old bitch a lesson.” Derek’s brows flicked at me with a dare.
“That’s…harsh,” I said with unease.
“That’s reality. Some people need to pay for their shitty attitude.”
I didn’t know how to respond.
Derek leaned into me, his lips almost touching mine. “Do it,” he mouthed, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
“Do what?” I asked nervously.
“You should do it. Without anyone knowing. She’d never suspect you. But she’ll be out of commission for a while. I’d love to see her face when she bites on glass. Want a drink?” Derek offered as I stalled in surprise. “Wait here. I’ll be back.”
I don’t know what had gotten into him that night, but I liked it.
We had a drink, then another, and they went to my head quickly.
I asked him questions about what he liked, about the cities he’d been to, what he did for a living.
His answers were evasive, mysterious. That was the thing about Derek—he was Pandora’s box, and I loved it.
The conversation made the full circle.
“What happens after you leave Burnville? San Francisco?” I asked, hoping not to sound too needy.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “Good memory. How much stuff do you keep in that head of yours?”
“Enough of what’s important.”
“Is that right? And how is San Francisco important?”
I shrugged. “You are going there. I’ve never been. Maybe I’ll go too.”
At first, it was a chuckle. Soon, it turned into laughter. “You sure are full of ideas,” he said, licking his lips and studying my face.
“I am. Wanna show me San Francisco?”
He didn’t answer, but round three for the next half an hour showed me what else he had to offer.
That night, he said, “Stay,” and I did, reeling at the thought of being in his bed all night.
The next day, I got up early. He was still asleep as I picked up my clothes off the living room floor and got dressed except for my panties. I tucked those between the couch cushions, for other guests to find them.
I giggled like a fool the whole way home. I was going to San Francisco with Derek, I decided, whether he wanted me to or not. He just had to see that I was willing to go the extra mile for him.
The sight of the junkyard in front of my parents’ home made me cringe. I hated this place, my family, this town, and everyone who ever underestimated me.
The moment I got home, I went straight to the kitchen and picked up a glass, then walked to my room and locked the door.
I wrapped the glass in an old rag and folded the edges together into a sack, with the glass inside.
Then I smashed the glass against the floor multiple times.
Next, I took a plastic baggie and dumped the crushed glass in it.
I was getting tired of everyone’s shit. Including Karen’s. About time she learned a lesson.
I shook the baggie, studying the sharp edges of the bigger shards.
A little gift for you, Ma Boots.