Page 41 of Burn For Me

I just finished mopping the floor when Dora walked out of the bedroom. The sun wasn’t up yet, so I was surprised to hear her soft footsteps coming down the hall.

“Derek, you didn’t have to do this,” Dora said as she looked around at the room that was back in order. “Oh, my gosh, Derek,” she exclaimed, her hands covering her mouth as she made her way to the fireplace and picked up the stolen watch. “Do I want to know?” She clutched the golden-colored watch to her chest.

I smirked as I picked up the bucket of soapy water.

“Probably not,” I said honestly, but not expanding.

I dumped the water into the laundry room sink and put all the cleaning products away before heading out to the kitchen, where the scent of fresh coffee was already strong as it dripped into the pot.

“Did you want breakfast? It’s the least I can do after you did all this for me,” Dora offered, and I gave her a little smile, resting my hands on her center island. She mimicked the pose, and I laughed at the size difference in our hands.

I was tempted to say no, but my stomach growled, reminding me that I had skipped dinner to play last night. “Alright, maybe a quick bite. Lots to get done today.”

“You should sleep. You look like something the cat dragged in.”

Dora certainly didn’t pull any punches. She had every reason to be terrified of me, but she simply smiled and went about making bacon and eggs like she didn’t know I’d burnt down an asylum with a few hundred people inside. Kinda made me wonder which of us needed our head examined.

Breakfast was quiet, and I had just gotten up to put our dishes in the sink when a knock sounded at the door. Dora and I looked at one another, and I immediately took up residence in my hiding spot.

“Well, good morning, officers. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” I heard Dora say.

Immediately, I ran every second of last night through my mind, needing to know if I’d screwed up. If they were able to track me…but, no. There was nothing I could think of that would lead them to this house.

“Hi there, ma’am. Sorry to bother you so early, but we just wanted to let you know that those responsible for yesterday’s break-in were in an unfortunate accident last night. Although we recovered these items from one of the suspect’s home, we could not find the watch you mentioned. I’m afraid they might have already sold it.”

“Oh my, I’m sorry to hear that, but I can’t deny I’m happy to have my things back. They weren’t worth a lot of money, but they meant so much to me.”

“We just need you to sign here for the items.”

There was the sound of rustling, and then Dora was saying goodbye. I was a little nervous about stepping out of the pantry. It felt strange to be nervous of a woman that I could snap in two, but she was the only real friend I’d ever had.

Pushing open the pantry door, I peeked out as Dora sat the box on the table.

“An unfortunate accident?” She looked over at me, and I couldn’t help rubbing the back of my neck.

“It needed to be done,” I said.

“Mmhmm. I guess it’s a good thing then that by tomorrow I will have forgotten all about this conversation,” she teased.

But Dora didn’t fool me. I could see the terror she had over losing her mind, and I couldn’t blame her. It was a terrible thing to have your own brain turn against you.

Heading to the door, I paused and looked back at the woman I barely knew and yet trusted more than I’d trusted my own mother.

“I’ll make sure you never suffer, Dora. All you need to do is ask when the time comes.”

She stared at me, the corner of her mouth curling up. “Thank you.”

It was all Dora said, but there was weight to those two simple words, and I felt it in my soul. Nodding, I made sure the cops were gone before heading out. I needed to find Jason, and the only way that was going to happen was if I got my hands dirty differently since neither Jim’s nor Dave’s phone had given me anything useful.

An hour later, I was tucked away in a safe hiding place, watching an open concept backyard at work. Dr. Wallace was not my next target, but I wanted to build a daily schedule of his habits.

“And maybe you’ll lead me to Jason’s mysterious location,” I mumbled as I watched.

It became glaringly obvious that Dr. Wallace either didn’t know that Dave and Jim were dead or didn’t care because he certainly didn’t look spooked. I’d seen men scared for their lives, and the way he smiled and held up his beer to clink with his neighbors was certainly not it.

This whole open-concept thing was strange to me. I couldn’t even picture having a backyard without a fence. The one I had growing up was like an overgrown shoebox with fences so tall that it wasn’t until I turned twelve that I could even climb them. Dr. Wallace was currently barbequing while socializing like a rock star. Even from my hiding spot, I could hear their laughter and voices, and each time he smiled, the urge to take everything from this man burned a little brighter.

More neighbors arrived, and it reminded me of a pack of dogs surrounding their source of food as they went straight to the large shiny barbeque and stood around it. It was kind of like a siren’s call. Each one of them would lean over his shoulder and smile and then tap their drink to his like he was doing something miraculous.