The Suicide Killer Page 3

  “So, how’s work?” she asked.

  Bobby shrugged his shoulders. “It’s okay, I guess. Same thing every day. Nothing too interesting seems to happen during the day.”

  “Oh. So you get all the normal customers? And the real crazies come out at night.”

  “Yeah. They’re all too busy trying to get back to work, so I guess there’s not too many weirdos besides you.”

  “Ha. I’m not weird,” she said, and pushed his shoulder.

  “Oh yeah? Then why do you come in every day and order the same thing and stare out the window until your lunch break is over?”

  “You’ve been watching me and know my routine. Right. I’m the weird one.”

  Bobby pulled back, not knowing if it was an insult or not. Danielle laughed at him.

  “Don’t be so sensitive, weirdo,” she said, and wrapped her arms around him.

  He pulled her close. He could still smell the fruity shampoo she used. After a tight squeeze, he drifted away and grabbed her hand. They walked in silence around the lake. When they reached the woods, they continued the reverse course on their typical route. Hand in hand they walked, and she avoided the pinecones, while he purposefully crushed them beneath his foot. They stopped before they reached the path to his house when he slipped on a flattened cone.

  “You keep stepping on those things and you’re going to fall.”

  “Nah, you’ll keep me up,” he said, and threw their hands in the air.

  “Or you’ll pull me down with you.”

  She turned and faced the woods, but did not seem to be looking at anything in particular.

  “Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in the woods?”

  “What?”

  “The woods. Have you ever thought about living in the woods? I think it would be fun. Have a log cabin or something. Wouldn’t have to worry about anything. Just live and be happy.”

  “Yeah, and work hard trying to grow food and chop wood so you wouldn’t die.”

  “That’s a morbid way of looking at it. I think it would be great.”

  “I’ve heard there’s an old Korean woman who lives in the woods over there in her car,” he said, pointing back to the where they had come from.

  “Really? That’s so sad.”

  “You just said it would be great.”

  “Yeah, but in a cabin. Not in my car because I am homeless. I’m surprised they haven’t arrested her for living in the park.”

  “I think they have a couple of times, but she comes back because there is nowhere else for her to go. Her car has been back in the woods long enough that the vines and branches have grown up around it. It’s not worth the trouble for them to try and tow it out.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I’ve seen the car. I’ve just never seen her.”

  “Oh. It’s still sad.”

  “Yep,” he said with a sigh.

  They stared into the woods a while longer. Bobby looked toward the path that led to his house, but he didn’t feel like fleeing. He wanted to stay like this with Danielle for as long as he could. Of course, he would walk her back to her car before they parted. He wouldn’t just leave her in the middle of the park while he walked home.

  Charlie’s growl startled him and brought him back to reality. In all the time he had spent with the dog, he had never heard him growl before. Danielle looked uneasy too.

  “Charlie. Charlie. What is wrong with you?” she asked, pulling on his leash. Charlie barked and pulled Danielle toward the woods.

  “Maybe he smells the old woman,” Bobby said.

  “That’s not funny. She can’t help it, and he never acts like this,” she said.

  Danielle snapping at Bobby hurt. He hadn’t meant to offend her. He was trying to lighten the mood. It was hard knowing what would offend somebody at any given time. The dog pulled harder at the leash. He twisted and tried to rip it from Danielle’s hand. He turned his head and bit at the restraint and jerked it between his teeth. Danielle tried to calm the dog down, but her soothing voice was not helping. Bobby attempted to grab the leash, but his and Danielle’s hands fought for the lead. Charlie lunged toward the trees, pulling the leash from their hands. Once free, he darted into the woods barking.

  “Charlie. Come back here. Bobby, we have to get him. I can’t lose him.”

  “I’ll go and get him. Just stay here in case he comes back or pops out somewhere else,”

  Bobby pushed into the woods. They were having a great time, and the stupid dog had to ruin it. Now he was climbing through the dense growth after Charlie instead of being with Danielle. Why hadn’t the dog decided to take off down the path beside them? It would have been much easier to follow him. Bobby could see the bushes in front of him thrashing around. The dog disappeared, but he could make out the bright red leash tangled in the branches. He stumbled to the bush and pulled at the leash. Charlie managed to wrap it around a thick branch, and hook another branch with the loop at the end. He pulled the leash in one direction and the animal pulled in the opposite.

  “Calm down, Charlie,” Bobby said, and jerked the leash hard. Charlie let out a strangled yelp and took off running again.

  “Bobby. You didn’t hurt him, did you?” Danielle said. Her voice was faint, and he couldn’t tell which direction it was coming from.

  “No. I didn’t hurt him. His leash got tangled in a bush,” he yelled back and continued his pursuit of the dog.

  Bobby pushed into a small clearing on top of a cliff. He walked to the edge and leaned against a tree. From where he stood, he could look across one of the lakes in the park. He had never been in this part of the forest, but when he looked to the right, he could almost make out the clearing on the hill as it made its way to the back of his subdivision. Charlie barked, and he looked down the bluff. The bushes moved as the dog jumped forward and then backward again.

  Bobby looked around for an easy way down the slope, but couldn’t find one. The dog was still barking but seemed to have stopped his running. He had found whatever he’d caught a whiff of in the park. Bobby watched the dog creep toward something white on the ground. A fallen tree blocked his view and he couldn’t tell what the dog found. He realized there would be no easy way to get to the bottom and slid down the Georgia red clay hill. When he got to the bottom, red dust and patches of mud covered his clothes.

  “What you found better be worth all of this,” Bobby said through clenched teeth.

  Charlie ran to Bobby and licked his hand. Bobby ignored the dog and crept closer to what was on the ground. He walked around the tree and saw what Charlie had been after.

  The girl was pale. She wore her hair in a ponytail, but black dirt running off of the tree she leaned against streaked her blonde hair. Dirt and debris from the surrounding trees covered her white sundress. Pink hibiscus blooms circled the bottom of the dress and green vines climbed toward the conservative neckline. The vines ended in pools of red on her stomach. Then he saw the deep gashes on her arms. Bobby stumbled back and tripped over Charlie.

  “Oh shit. What the hell? She’s dead,” Bobby said to the dog, wagging his tail over his find.

  Bobby walked back to the girl. He reached out cautiously toward her neck, slowly, in case she tried to move and scare the hell out of him. With two fingers he felt for a pulse. He didn’t know exactly where he should be looking for it; he just knew it was somewhere on the throat. He couldn’t find a pulse, but he knew from the cold, clammy feeling of her slick skin that she was dead. A slight tinge of recognition or maybe it was something else surged through his body as he brushed her bangs out of her face. He slid the back of his hand down her face. With his fingers, he traced her collarbone until it ended at the necklace on her chest. He carefully picked the golden cursive letters up.

  “Emily. I guess that’s your name,” he said, and let the necklace drop.

  He ran his hand down her shoulder and across the slits on her arm, stopping at her wrist. A cracking branch from the top of th
e cliff startled him, and he stood up straight. The hair on his arms stood on end. He searched the top of the hill for who had interrupted him and Emily.

  He saw movement and Danielle broke through the brush. He had forgotten she was waiting for him in the park.

  “Bobby? What are you doing down there? Did you find Charlie?”

  “Hey, yeah, I got him,” he said, and picked up the end of the leash from the ground. “He finally stopped running from me.”

  “Why did he stop?” she asked and moved closer to the edge, peering down at him.

  “No. No stop there.” Bobby yelled with outstretched hands. His outburst scared Danielle, and she jumped back from the edge of the cliff. At least she didn’t fall down the hill. How would he explain Emily? And Danielle might hurt herself if she tried to get to him.

  “What’s wrong, Bobby? Is Charlie hurt? He looks fine from here.”

  “He’s fine. Just back away from the edge. It’s not safe. I don’t want you falling and getting hurt.”

  “Oh,” she said, and looked at the crumbling earth around her feet.

  She appeared relieved nothing was wrong with either of them, but still looked at Bobby curiously. “Well, what was he barking at?”

  Bobby looked around confused before he said, “It’s nothing. Only a dead animal. I guess he smelled it from where we were and wanted to see what it was.”

  “Dead animal? I wonder what happened?” she asked.

  “I don’t know, but wait right there. Charlie and I are on our way back up,” he said, then turned and cupped the girl’s cheek in his hand and rubbed the dirt off with his thumb. He wiped his hands on his jeans and climbed up the hill, pulling Charlie.

  “What are you going to do about the animal?”

  “Just leave it where it is. Something will eat it.”

  “That’s gross, Bobby.”

  “Nah, it’s just the way of the world. Something dies, then something else cleans it up.”

  Bobby looked back down the hill. He could just make out Emily’s bruised heel sticking out from behind the large tree. Charlie whimpered and pulled on his leash. Danielle looked over his shoulder.

  “Are you sure everything is okay?” she whispered into his ear.

  “Yeah, everything is fine. Let’s go before we both end up down there.”

  He gave the foot one last look and turned toward the old bike path.

  “Hey. Where are you going? The park is back this way.”

  “Sorry. I was headed back to my house. Force of habit.”

  Danielle looked past Bobby and smiled.

  “Well, we could go back to your house, and I could cook you dinner. I’m a pretty decent cook,” she said, and looked at the ground while she brushed her hair behind her ear.

  “I … uh, don’t really have anything to cook.”

  “I could order you a pizza. I’m pretty good at that too.”

  Bobby realized this was the turning point he had been expecting. He knew there was only one answer.

  “Okay, sounds good,” he said. He tried to sound as natural as he could. He also had to figure out how to get Danielle to the path and not look down to try to see what he and Charlie had found. Finally, he grabbed her hand and led her back the way they had come. When he felt hesitation in her hand, he turned left and headed for the path.

  “Trying to find an easy way out of here so we can get to the path,” he said over his shoulder.

  The tension in her arm eased.

  As they walked up the path, he couldn’t get the girl lying against the tree out of his head. Who was she? Did she do that to herself? Why? The questions stopped as they stepped into the cul-de-sac. His thoughts went back to the woman he was leading to his house. There was no turning back. He had already brought her this far. She walked up the hill to his house beside him, her head leaning against his shoulder.

  Climbing the steps, he looked back toward the park. He stopped on the top step and a cool breeze blew through his hair. He slid the key in the lock but stopped from unlocking the door when he heard his name.

  Bobby…Bobby.

  The soft voice was barely auditable. He looked at Danielle, and she only smiled. It wasn’t her. He looked back to the woods and could hear his name floating on the breeze.

  Bobby.

  It was Emily, she was calling to him, and she wanted him to be with her.

  Bobby, don’t leave me out here, it gets cold and lonely at night. I need you.

  He froze at the thought of a dead girl trying to communicate with him. He was going crazy. She couldn’t speak. She had been dead at least a day, maybe two. But still, he heard somebody calling his name whether they were dead or not. It was her calling to him.

  He twisted the key in the lock and pushed the door open, hurrying Danielle and Charlie in before him.

  Bobby.

  Bobby shut the door on the voice and leaned against the solid wood. There, he couldn’t hear her anymore. All he had to do was stay inside, and he couldn’t hear her. He would just drive to work in the morning, and everything would be better once somebody found her. It was too late to call the cops. He didn’t want to answer any questions, and Danielle would know he lied to her about what he had seen and she wouldn’t want to see him again.

  “Bobby?”

  He jumped at the sound of her voice.

  “Are you okay? If you’re not feeling up to it, we can do this another time.”

  “No…no, I’m fine. Really, I just had a cold chill and wanted to get inside.”

  “If you’re sure.”

  “Yeah, of course. I thought you were good at ordering pizza.”

  “The best,” she said, and pulled her phone out of her back pocket.

  Bobby walked into the kitchen, stared at the white and harvest gold flowers on the faded wallpaper, and drank a glass of water. He wasn’t going crazy. Seeing a dead body was a traumatic experience. He had never seen a dead body. At least he had never seen one out in the open like that. He had only seen bodies after the mortician finished with them. Death looked different when it was natural. There was nothing natural about Emily’s death. It was painful. Both physically and mentally for the poor woman.

  “Okay, pizza is on the way. I hope you like chicken and pineapple. They said they’d be here in forty-five minutes. If you don’t want Charlie in here, I can put him outside.”

  “He’s fine. Do you want something to drink? I don’t have any coffee. I get enough of that when I’m at work.”

  “I’m good with water,” she said with a laugh. “So, you want to take me on a tour of this place?”

  “Sure, but it’s nothing special.”

  Bobby handed Danielle a glass of water and walked through the kitchen and back into the foyer.

  “There’s not much to see really, my grandparents never redecorated, and I haven’t felt like it either,” he said. “This is the dining room, and the living room is through there. It pretty much looks like this, wood paneling and all. Well, except it has a sofa instead of a table.”

  They walked into the living room and back into the light cerulean blue hallway. They stuck their heads into a room, and Bobby turned on the light.

  “This is just a spare room, I don’t do anything with,” he said, turning off the light before Danielle could see the empty room. “And this is the ugly pink bathroom.” Bobby turned on the light. Light pink tile covered the bathroom floor and walls. The grout used to be bright white, but years of neglect left it dirty with a light pink hue giving the bathroom a strange glow.

  “Wow.”

  “I know, right? The twin is upstairs,” he said.

  They walked up the stairs as they squeaked in protest. Bobby turned on the light to a small hall that had three doors running off of it.

  “That’s the twin bathroom, no need to see that again.”

  “What about in here?” she asked and turned the knob.

  “No. Don’t,” he yelled. “That was my grandparent’s room. I don’t go in there.”
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  Danielle slinked back to the head of the stairs. She looked scared of him. It was the second outburst he had since Charlie had run off.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. I shouldn’t have just gone in.”

  “No, I’m sorry. I kind of overreacted there. I don’t know what’s wrong with me tonight.”

  He checked to make sure the door was still closed and walked to the end of the hallway.

  “And this is my room,” he said, throwing open the door like it was the grand reveal at the end of a murder mystery.

  I’m waiting for you, Bobby. Don’t be too long. I need you. I can’t come in your room like her, but you can come to me.

  “Shut up,” he yelled and ran to his window and slammed it shut.

  “Who are you telling to shut up? I didn’t say anything.”

  “Sorry, not you. I thought I heard my neighbors. They can get loud when they argue.”

  “Oh. I didn’t hear anything.”

  “Neither did I apparently,” he said with a grin.

  Before he could say anything else, the doorbell rang.

  “Great the pizza’s early. I’m starving, let’s go,” he said, and ran out of the room. He took the stairs two at a time and yanked the door open.

  Come to me. I’m so lonely down here in the dark.

  “Good evening. That’ll be $21.76,” the driver said, giving Bobby a strange look.

  He fished his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out the cash without counting it.

  “Here, keep the change,” he said, and shut the door.

  He walked past a bewildered Danielle, grabbed a couple of plates and sat at the kitchen table.

  “Are you sure you’re okay? I think you scared the hell out of the pizza guy.”

  “I’m fine. I think I gave him an $18 tip, so he’ll be fine too. I’m just hungry. I haven’t eaten today.”

  Bobby sat at the table and forced himself to try to eat the pizza. There were three loud knocks on the front door. Danielle didn’t seem to notice them. She kept eating her pizza, playing with Charlie in between bites. The knocking grew louder. The old wreath his grandmother put on the door at the beginning of fall three years ago bounced, but still no acknowledgement from his guests. The banging finally stopped, and the door slowly swung open.