Kevin stepped into the room. A bandanna lay in the corner. The boy’s bandanna. He had definitely locked the boy in this cellar, and there was no way out that he could see. That meant one of two things had happened. Either the boy had died in here and someone had found him, or someone had found him before he’d died.
His mind ran through the possibilities. If he’d been found alive, it would have been in the first couple weeks. Which meant he’d been free for over three months and said nothing to the police. If he’d been found dead, of course, he couldn’t say anything. Either way, he was probably gone for good. Maybe even alive and gone for good.
Kevin hurried out, slammed the door closed, latched it, and ran into the night, determined never, ever to even think about the boy again. He’d saved Sam, hadn’t he? Yes, he had! And he hadn’t been arrested or sent to the gas chamber or even accused of doing anything wrong. Because he had done what was right!
Elated and overcome with relief, he ran straight to Sam’s house, even though it was past her bedtime. It took him fifteen minutes to wake her and convince her to climb out.
“What is it? My father will kill us if he finds us, you know.”
He grabbed her hand and ran for the fence.
“Kevin Parson, I am in my pajamas! What is this all about?”
Yes, what’s this about, Kevin? You’re acting like a maniac!
But he couldn’t help himself. He’d never felt so wonderful in all his life. He loved Sam so much!
He stepped past the fence and she followed him. “Kevin, this is . . .”
He threw his arms around her and hugged her tight, squeezing off her words. “I love you, Sam! I love you so much!”
She stood still in his arms, unmoving. It didn’t matter; he was so overwhelmed with joy. “You are the best friend a boy could ever, ever have,” he said.
She finally put her arms around him and patted his shoulder. It felt a bit polite, but Kevin didn’t care. He pulled back and brushed blonde strands of hair from her face. “I won’t ever let anyone hurt you. Ever. Not if I have to die first. You know that, don’t you?”
She laughed, caught up in his show of affection. “What’s gotten into you? Of course I do.”
He looked away, wishing for a response as enthusiastic as he felt. It didn’t matter; he was a man now.
Her hand touched his chin and turned his face toward her. “Listen to me,” Sam said. “I love you more than anything I can imagine. You really are my knight in shining armor.” She smiled. “And I think that it’s incredibly sweet of you to drag me out here in my pajamas to make sure I know how much you love me.”
Kevin smiled wide, stupidly, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t have to pretend with Sam.
They hugged tight then, tighter than they had ever hugged before.
“Promise to never leave me,” Kevin said.
“I promise,” Sam said. “And if you ever need me, all you have to do is knock on my window and I’ll come flying out in my pajamas.”
Kevin laughed. Then Sam laughed, and Kevin laughed at Sam’s laughing. It might have been the best night of Kevin’s life.
“—Samantha?”
Kevin faced Jennifer. “Pardon?”
She looked at him. “Why was the boy after Samantha?”
“Because he was a demented wacko who found pleasure in cutting up animals and terrorizing the neighborhood. I didn’t exactly have the time or the presence of mind to sit him down and run a psychological profile on him. I was scared to death.”
Jennifer chuckled. “Touché. Too bad, though. Now we’re sitting twenty years beyond that night, and I have the formidable task of trying to do it myself. Whether you like it or not, you may be my best hope of understanding him. Assuming the boy and Slater are one and the same, you’re the only person we know who’s had any meaningful contact with him, then or now.”
As much as the thought of going back to the past made Kevin nauseated, he knew that she was right. He sighed. “I’ll do whatever I can.” He looked out the side window. “I should have made sure he was dead then.”
“You would have done society a favor. In self-defense, of course.”
“And what if Slater does show up on my doorstep one of these days? Do I have the right to kill him?”
“We have law enforcement for a reason.” She paused. “On the other hand, I might.”
“You might what?”
“Take him out. If I knew for sure it was Slater.”
“What evil is man capable of?” Kevin said absently.
“What?”
“Nothing.” But it was something. It struck Kevin for the first time that he had not only had the capacity to kill Slater, but also the desireto do so, self-defense or not. What would Dr. John Francis say to that?
“So. The boy was taller than you, about thirteen, blond and ugly,” Jennifer said. “Nothing else?”
The sensation that there was something else nagged at Kevin, but he couldn’t remember. “I can’t think of anything.”
They passed a store that Kevin recognized. “Where are we going?”
Suddenly he knew. His foot began to tap. They drove around a deserted park filled with elm trees.
“I thought I’d take you to your aunt’s home. See if we can jog loose a few memories. Visual association can do wonders . . .”
He didn’t hear the rest. A buzz lit through his mind and he felt claustrophobic in her car.
Jennifer looked at him but said nothing. He was sweating; she could surely see that. She turned onto Baker Street and drove under the elms toward his childhood house. Could she hear his thumping heart too?
“So this is where it all happened,” she said absently.
“I . . . I don’t want to go to the house,” he said.
She looked at him again. “We’re not going to the house. Just down the street. Is that okay?”
He couldn’t say no—might as well wave a red flag in front of her. “Sure. I’m sorry. I’m not on the best terms with my aunt. My mother died when I was young and my aunt raised me. We’ve had our differences. Mostly over college.”
“Okay. That’s not uncommon.”
But she saw more in him, didn’t she? And so what if she did? Why did he feel so compelled to hide his upbringing? It was weird but not demented. Samantha said otherwise, but she was biased. It wasn’t like he was a victim of physical abuse or anything so horrifying.
He took a slow breath and tried to relax.
“You think the boy chased you into one of those old warehouses across the tracks, that’s what you said?”
He looked to his right. The memory of that night came back fresh and raw. “Yes, but I was scared out of my mind, and it was dark. I can’t remember which one.”
“Have you ever checked any of them? To see if there even is one with a basement?”
Kevin fought a wave of panic. He couldn’t let her into the past. He shook his head. “No.”
“Why not?”
“It was a long time ago.”
She nodded. “There are only a few possibilities. Hopefully nothing’s changed. You know we’ll have to search.”
He nodded. “And what if you find him?”
“Then we know he’s obviously not Slater.”
“And what about me?”
“We’ll know that you killed him. In self-defense.”
They drove past the white house. “This is where your aunt lives?”
“Yes.”
“And that’s the old Sheer residence?”
“Yes.”
“None of this jogs your memory of any details?”
“No.”
She remained silent to the end of the street, where she turned around and headed back.
Kevin’s world felt like it was crumbling around him. Coming here alone was hard enough, but doing it with Jennifer somehow seemed profane. He wanted to tell her what Balinda had really done. He wanted her to comfort him, the little boy who had grown old in this world of madness. Waves of sorrow swept through his mind. His eyes went misty.