“Absolutely, Mrs. Privet. I hate that tree. It should have been cut down years ago,” Shannon said, his voice soothing and warm. It rang a little hollow to me, but June didn’t seem to notice.
I was certain that Shannon didn’t give a shit about whether or not the tree in front of the courthouse was removed. I was surprised he actually attended Stoney Oak town meetings. It didn’t seem like the kind of thing Shannon would do. But then I remembered how he’d said he wanted to fit in when he was a kid, and I thought maybe there was a part of him that still did. Though, I was sure it wasn’t just that.
All at once his choice to live in a small town began to click together for me. These were the he was such a nice man, I can’t believe he would do that people who always seemed to pop up out of the ether to defend serial killers and other violent criminals. The people of Stoney Oak were an unwitting line of defense for Shannon. Should suspicion ever fall his way, they would instantly leap to his defense as character witnesses and alibis—unwitting accomplices to his illicit jobs.
“I noticed you two weren’t talking much. Everything all right, I hope?” she prodded.
Shannon smiled, a practiced friendly smile. I couldn’t believe he could actually pull this off. Ladies and gentlemen of the academy, give this man an Oscar.
“Everything is wonderful,” Shannon said without missing a beat. “I’m afraid I’m a bit pre-occupied planning our next trip.”
June appeared immediately interested. “Oh? What exotic locale is it this time?”
“Thailand. We’re going to a small village that is in need of clean water and helping with the effort there.”
“That’s just lovely,” June said, clasping her hands to her chest. I thought she might swoon at any moment if someone didn’t show up to catch her. “When do you leave?”
“A few days,” he said.
I wondered where Mr. Privet was. Shannon had given her the married form of address. I wondered if her husband knew how she pined for Shannon.
She turned to me, suddenly, “This one’s a keeper. You hold onto him. I don’t believe I caught your name?”
Smooth. No, I hadn’t told her my name during my earlier visit to the boutique. I imagined she’d already asked half the town trying to gain that information to no avail.
“Elodie,” I said, forcing an artificial smile that didn’t seem to come as naturally to me as it did to Shannon.
Before June could intrude further, the waiter rematerialized with Shannon’s card and receipt. He signed and added a tip, then stood.
“Well, Mrs. Privet, I’ll see you at the next town meeting, after we return from Thailand.”
“I hope you’re bringing Miss...”
Damn, she did not let up.
“Evans,” Shannon supplied. Not my real last name.
“Elodie Evans, yes we do hope to see her at the meeting.”
Shannon navigated the social etiquette of disentangling ourselves from the curious Mrs. Privet, and we made our way out to the car.
“I don’t think you should have given her your real first name. It’s too uncommon,” he said.
“I was put on the spot. What was I supposed to do? Besides, if I’m going to live here, it makes little sense to give a fake name I won’t remember to answer to. It’s not like nobody has my name. Besides, if somebody did remember it, they probably remembered it wrong. They probably think my name is Melody. People called me Melody all the time.”
Shannon was quiet as he started the car and we pulled out onto the road. Finally, he said, “I’m just careful. You know that.”
“I like that about you.” I’m not sure why that popped out of my mouth. It just felt like the thing to say. I did like that about him. It made me feel safe because he always thought of everything. I felt as though nothing could ever thwart or harm me while Shannon was around thinking so many steps ahead, always on high alert.
There was a little moment between us that I can’t quite describe—as if he were trying to determine if he should acknowledge that I’d said I liked something about him.
Apparently deciding against it, he instead said, “I hope you know, she’s going to Google you the moment she gets home. Let’s hope if there’s an Elodie Evans, she proves interesting. But not too much.”
Chapter Ten
A few days later, Shannon had worked out all the logistics of killing Professor Stevens and had agreed to let me join him. He left a large amount of food and water out for the white cat and left all the toilet seats in the house up in case she knocked her water over. For someone with no soul to speak of, he had grown skilled at caring for small animals.