“Oh fine, we really didn’t learn anything new. He’s a neat freak, likes things a certain way and paid cash.” “Well, maybe if you find where he is staying you can mess everything up and piss him off.”
Shaking her head Evie noticed that there was a van following them. Since Evelyne liked to check the neighborhoods, to see what was new, on her way over to the senior center they weren’t taking a direct route, yet this van seemed to keep finding them and following where they were going.
“That’s strange.”
“What honey?”
“Don’t look, promise.”
“Sure. I can do that.”
“Don’t turn around. But there seems to be a van following us.” When she caught Evelyne starting to turn around, she hissed at her.
“Fine, but how am I supposed to describe it if you won’t let me look. You know, it could be one of Noah’s men.”
“Why would they be following us?”
Evelyne shrugged. “I don’t know, but you know how protective he is, maybe he just wants to make sure we are all safe.”
Evie didn’t think that was the case. Now she had to decide if she was going to say anything to Anthony or not about this. Trying to get a look at the license plate was proving to be more difficult than you would think. She was about to let her grandmother take a look when the driver turned onto another street and they never saw the van again.
*
Evie spent most of the day avoiding Anthony. Spending most of her time out of the house. This was unusual since typically she liked to face things head-on. After eating dinner at the diner in town so she wouldn’t have to eat with him, she decided enough was enough. She went over and knocked on his door. Taking a deep breath, she entered after he said to come in.
He was sitting at the kitchen table with files spread out all over the place. She noticed a new poster on the wall. It had all the women listed with their information, the date they were murdered and pictures, thankfully of when they were alive. Walking over to it she was struck at how much they did resemble each other.
“That’s strange,” she said.
Getting up, he came to stand next to her. “What?”
“This.” She pointed to the time between Lexi and Christina. “This was when you were in prison. So he didn’t do any killing that whole time? Doesn’t it seem strange, he was going about once a year up to that point? Then he is able to just quit for over five years? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Hmmm… you’re right. I wonder how he could do that. He did tell Lexi that he had put himself in a self-imposed prison while I was locked up.”
Turning to him she said, “Do you really think he could go that long? I hate to say it, but maybe there are other murders out there we know nothing about.”
Running his hands over his face, he sighed and looked over at Evie. “I hope you’re wrong. I really do.”
“Me, too. Me, too. So what’s the plan for tomorrow?”
She watched as he walked back over to the table and picked up a file. “I thought we could go talk to the ex-husband of the lady that was killed in the next town. He probably won’t be able to tell us anything different than this police report says, but I figure it’s worth a try. Here, you can read this report tonight.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow then?”
“I’ll come for you about ten in the morning.”
Evie knew she was spending too much time with her grandmother; it was all she could do not to giggle like a school girl at his choice of words. “Great, see you then.” She left him, quickly walking through the garden to the safety of her room, before laying on her bed and looking at the ceiling, giggling until tears started running down her face.
– CHAPTER SIX –
“Are you sure you want to be in on this?” Evie asked Anthony as they drove to Tom Cooper’s home to talk to him about Christina’s murder.
“I’m certainly not leaving it all up to you. Who knows what character you’d get into this time.”
“Fine,” she said while she crossed her arms.
Anthony was starting to get more and more nervous the more time he was apart from Evie. After their kiss the other night, he felt it would be better to take a step back. He didn’t want her in harm’s way, but he wanted her next to him at the same time. They still didn’t have any idea where Jeremy was or if he was watching him right now. He looked in the rearview mirror, a habit he’d developed since getting out of prison and learning about Jeremy. Seeing nothing back there, he pulled into the driveway.
“Let me, at least, start things out. I’m sure he’s seen photos of you and Jeremy, we don’t want him to come out swinging.”
“Fine,” he said while he crossed his arms.
She gave him a little smirk at his imitation of her and walked up to the front door. After a brief discussion, she waved him over.