CHAPTER 18
“What’s wrong with Lizzy?” Kitally asked. “Is she going to be all right?”
Hayley followed the direction of Kitally’s gaze. Lizzy sat on the edge of a cushioned chair in the darkened living room, leaning forward as she stared out one of the many floor-to-ceiling windows. It was dark out. A couple of spotlights dotted the landscaping, shedding light on countless oak trees with crooked, outstretched branches. Beyond the oaks, grass, and mossy rocks was a creek. If you stood anywhere near the property line, you could hear the steady trickle of water.
Hayley stepped into the room with her.
“Somebody’s out there,” Lizzy said as she approached.
Hayley walked past Lizzy and stood inches from the window, peering into the night, trying to see what Lizzy saw, figuring it was most likely Lizzy’s imagination getting the best of her again. This wasn’t the first time she’d caught Lizzy staring into the darkness. And it wouldn’t be the last.
“I don’t see anything.”
“To the right of the biggest rock. I can see the faint outline of his head and shoulders.”
Kitally joined them. “What are you guys looking at?”
“Lizzy thinks she sees someone out there.”
“I don’t think I see anything. He’s right there, mocking me.”
“Who is it?” Kitally asked.
“I’m not sure, but I’ve had enough. I’m going to find out.” Lizzy pushed herself from the chair.
Kitally followed her to the French doors leading to the backyard. She glanced back at Hayley, who merely shrugged.
Hayley watched the two of them walk outside and make their way across the grass toward the back of the property until they separated and slipped into the trees and she could no longer see them at all.
The moonlight against the trees tricked her, making shadows out of air.
And then she saw it—an undeniable flash of movement in the trees between the points at which Lizzy and Kitally had entered the woods.
She stood still, unblinking, daring whatever it was to move again. Somebody or something was out there.
And then it did move. It was a man, openly skirting the edge of the trees for a moment and then taking off into them.
She ran for the open door.
She was halfway across the grass when Kitally burst from the woods.
“Did you see him?” Kitally asked. “I thought he went this way.”
“Where’s Lizzy?”
They looked at one another. They both knew: she’d gone off after him on her own.
Shit. Hayley charged into the woods with Kitally on her heels. They weren’t as impenetrably dark as they’d seemed from the house, but they were plenty dark enough. She tripped over something, caught herself, then nearly fell again before finding a trail that weaved through the trees along the creek. Then, after maybe half a minute, the two of them popped out of the woods and there was Lizzy, standing in the middle of the street with her hands on her knees, breathing hard.
“Which way did he go?” Hayley asked.
Lizzy pointed into the utter blackness of the denser wooded area across the street.
“What was he doing out there?” Kitally panted.
“He was watching me.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“Since I moved in. He was watching me at Cathy’s house, too.”
“What about before?” Hayley didn’t elaborate. Everyone in their little circle knew what that meant—before the shooting or after the shooting. It was all still too raw for there to be anything else.
Unsure if Lizzy had heard her, she reworded the question, “How long has he been watching you?”
“I think forever.”
Lizzy didn’t want to call the police, and she didn’t want to talk about it. But she damn well refused to put Kitally and Hayley in danger, too. Packing my things is becoming an all too familiar event, she thought as she scrambled around the bedroom, gathering her belongings into one big pile in the middle of the bed.
“Please don’t leave,” Kitally said for the tenth time.
Lizzy shoved everything into the suitcase and zipped it shut. “Don’t you get it, Kitally?”
“No, I guess I don’t. Everything has been so much better since you’ve been staying with us. It feels like a family, living here with you guys. I like it.”
Lizzy walked into the bathroom, gathered her toiletries into a pile on the sink, and then came back into the bedroom and looked around for something to put it all in. “I never said I was going to be staying indefinitely. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t,” she muttered as she searched through the closet for her backpack.
Once that was done, Lizzy exited the closet and found one very dejected young woman standing marooned in the middle of the room. She walked over to Kitally and placed her hands on her shoulders. “Kitally, listen to me. You don’t understand. I can’t put your life in danger. I just can’t do it. If something happened to you because of my living here . . . how am I supposed to live with that?”
“You’re the one who doesn’t understand,” Kitally said. “We need each other. All three of us need each other. God forbid, not forever, but now. Right now.” She took a deep breath, then released it. “You could leave,” she went on. “Hayley could leave, too. I could get hit by a car tomorrow and die. We all know shit happens. But what good would your leaving have done me then?”
Lizzy dropped her hands from Kitally’s shoulders.
“And what about Hayley?” Kitally asked. “She’s been out trolling the streets of Sacramento every night since Jared was kill—” She stopped herself midsentence.
Lizzy moved to the window. “His sister believes he’s going to make it,” Lizzy said.
“What about you? What do you believe?”
“I know what needs to be done. At least I thought I did. His sister and his parents are hanging on tight to the belief that Jared will make it . . . They still have hope.” Lizzy put a hand to her chest. “What if they’re right? Maybe I just haven’t hung on to enough hope to bring him back.”
“Hopes and prayers are important, but they don’t bring people back to life.”
Lizzy peered out into a vast expanse of nothingness. And that’s exactly what she felt. Nothing. She felt nothing. Not scared. Not sad. Not anything. Her therapist was right. Something was wrong with her.
She was defective. Broken.
She was surprised when she realized Kitally was still talking.
“And then you moved in,” Kitally was saying, trying to sound cheerful. “Since then, Hayley’s been sticking around more. I think it’s because she’s worried about you.” Kitally laughed. “Imagine that? Hayley Hansen worried about another human being? It defies logic and understanding. And yet it’s true. I’ve seen it, and I know you’ve seen it. You can’t leave us. Not yet. Certainly not tonight.”
Lizzy expelled a breath as she turned back toward Kitally.
“If we split up,” Kitally went on, “we’re all more vulnerable. If you’re really concerned about my well-being, you’ll stay. I’m not saying that you need to protect me, but we’re all better off with each other.”
“I’ll stay for now,” Lizzy told her. “But you, young lady, better watch your back, because if something happens to you under my watch, I’m gonna be pissed.”