The Bone House - Brian Freeman [116]
Katie tapped ash outside the car. 'I couldn't sit in the dorm and do nothing. I'm a reporter, so I figured I'd follow the story, you know? I went to the athletic department to find out if Gary was at work today.'
'Was he?'
The girl shook her head. 'He called in sick.' 'And you still haven't heard anything from Amy?'
'No, I've called and texted her, but nothing. I think he's got her, the bastard. Jeez, I was stupid.'
'How did Amy get involved in this?'
'We were in Florida with the dance team. Amy found out about the girl who was killed down there. She said on the bus that she saw Glory and Gary together, and she heard Gary going back to his room late the night she was killed. There are a lot of rumors around town about Gary's wife, too. She died in an accident, but some people aren't sure it was an accident. Anyway, Amy got it in her head that Gary may have been involved in Glory's death.'
Hilary nodded. 'Were you in Florida with Amy?'
'Yeah, I snuck along for the ride, but I didn't see anything weird down there. I hung out with the dancers during the competition so I could write a story for the paper.'
Hilary stared at the house tucked among the trees. She couldn't see lights inside.
'You said you knew Gary was inside,' Hilary said. 'Have you seen him?'
'Yeah, I told you I checked out the athletics department, right? He was sick? Well, when I got back to the dorm, I saw him coming out of the front door at Downham. That's our building. He didn't look sick.'
'Did you talk to him?'
'Sure. I played dumb, because I'm not sure if he knows that I'm Amy's roommate. I mean, I know him, and he knows me, because of my job at the paper, but that's it. At least I was able to ask him why he was at the dorm.'
'What did he say?'
'He had a good excuse. Like he'd been working on it. He said Amy came over to his house to talk about dance strategies, but she said she wasn't feeling well, and she left right after she arrived. So he came by to see if she was OK.'
'He could be telling the truth,' Hilary said.
'Yeah, or he could be giving himself an out.'
'Did you spot her car?'
'No, I drove around and looked. It's not here. He could have ditched it somewhere. Or maybe it's in his garage.'
Hilary frowned. 'Let's go to talk to the police, but I'm not sure they're going to do anything. Not yet.'
'We're running out of time,' Katie told her, grabbing Hilary's arm as she placed it on the wheel, if Amy's alive, we need to do something now.'
'What do you mean?'
The girl flicked her cigarette out the window into the wet ground. She took a deep breath and coughed into her sleeve. 'After I saw Gary at the dorm, I followed him. He made one stop, and then he came back here. That was an hour ago. If you didn't get here soon, I was going to go over there myself.'
'Don't be crazy,' Hilary said. She looked at Katie's face and then added, 'Where did he stop? What did he do?'
'He stopped at a hardware store,' the girl told her. 'He bought a large roll of plastic sheeting and a shovel.'
Delia grew nervous when Tresa didn't come home.
She dialed her daughter's cell phone number, but there was no answer. She called the store in Egg Harbor where she'd sent Tresa for groceries, and the manager told her it had been more than an hour since she left. Tresa should have been back long before now. It wasn't like her to be late without calling.
Delia stood outside on the porch, watching the empty driveway and the rain falling on the unkempt yard. She struggled with a horrible sense of anxiety. Part of it was her grief over Glory, which triggered an immediate, irrational fear when Tresa was overdue. Part of it was guilt, as she wondered what awful chain of events she had set in motion because of Troy.
Vengeance was so seductive. She was tired of the world taking things from her and offering no retribution. Mark Bradley deserved no mercy, not after what he had done to her and her family. Troy killing him would be a way to right the scales. One man would finally pay the price for the others who had escaped.
It was a simple thing, but she knew