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“I bet you really keep an eye on the missus, huh?” The repairman laughed. “Not that I can blame you. She’s got an ass on her, that one.”
Theo hates that kind of talk. He knew what the man was trying to do—trying to get him to say things that weren’t true, so that later he could use those things against him. He’d made that mistake many times, and he wasn’t going to make it again. “She’s nice.”
“Nah,” he said. “Not at her core, she isn’t. No woman is.”
Theo balled his fists and then shoved them in his pockets. He thought about the man’s pliers and considered whether they’d be sufficient to pull the repairman’s toenails out, one by one.
“Anyway,” he said. “I’ve got work to do, so whatever business you’ve got, you should probably get on with it.”
“You should probably get on with it,” Theo repeated. The repairman looked at him all funny like, and Theo smiled. He knew what the man was thinking. He was thinking he knows an easy target when he sees it.
Theo knew the repairman would be back. He didn’t know when, and he wasn’t sure it would be this soon, but he was glad it was. He was having a hard time staying awake. He didn’t want to fall asleep and miss something.
He felt guilty. He’d been so sure that his mother was going to tell the neighbors what he’d done. That he’d been spying on them. That he’d placed a camera in their home. That he’d been the one to upload that video to the neighborhood website.
Theo had only ever been in the Stones’ house once. Greg Stone had been out raking leaves and doing yard work. He’d left the garage door open, and Theo went in and placed the camera.
He was doing it for the children. He hadn’t known the video would be posted everywhere. He just wanted the police to see it. That way they could arrest the man next door, and he couldn’t hurt his wife anymore. Because Theo knew guys like that; they eventually moved onto the children. He was sorry that so many people had seen it, and more sorry that his mother had. He wasn’t sure what else he was supposed to do.
If he’d called the police when it was happening, he’d have to explain what he’d done. And it was illegal, and then everyone would know it was him. They’d say he was a pervert, just like all the other times he tried to save his friends at the hospital. He thought about making an anonymous call to the tip line, but he learned a long time ago that nothing is really anonymous anymore. He needed time and proper planning, which he hadn’t had. That was what had gotten him into trouble before.
Although, this time things would be different. This time he would be prepared.
Except that he wasn’t prepared.
He planned to kill Greg Stone himself. But as luck would have it, the repairman wanted to take care of it for him.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Thursday, December 10th
11:01 p.m.
Theo failed on the first attempt. He had to turn away. He had seen a lot over the years, and he didn’t like to be reminded of the past. Theo peered through the Stones’ back door. His neighbor was on his knees, bent over the couch, his trousers down around his ankles. His hands were tied around his back with thick rope. The repairman stood behind him.
Theo could hear everything, and he could see everything. It was too much.
“Do you want to save your family?”
Theo listened to his neighbor’s cries. He heard his pleas. He watched as the repairman took the fire poker and shoved it in Greg Stone’s back. Not hard enough to pierce the skin, but hard enough that it hurt.
“I saw the video,” the repairman said. “You and I, it seems we have the same idea.”
Greg Stone pleads some more. “I gave you money.”
“Yeah—and you also had me beat to bloody hell. That character you sent…he was nothing. Nothing I haven’t seen before, anyway. I mean…what a joke. Couldn’t do your own dirty work, could you Stone?”
The repairman laughs. “Nah, I suppose your hands are too clean for that.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about…” Greg Stone stutters. “But I gave you the money and you said—”
“I lied. Remember what I told you? Money is nothing. What I want is to level the playing field.” He traced Greg Stone’s bare backside with the fire poker. “So now you have a choice. Which is it going to be—you or your wife?”
Theo bit his lip so hard it bled. He knows he should intervene, but he can’t. He hasn’t brought a weapon, and he doubts he can save the children with his bare hands. He’d intended to grab a carving knife from the Stones’ kitchen. He knew better than to take one from his own. His mother is very possessive with her kitchen utensils, and Theo doesn’t want to hear it when another one goes missing. But now he can’t get in without being seen, and now he has to watch this even though he’s seen enough crime shows to know how it ends.
The repairman will do unspeakable things to Greg Stone. Then he will turn his attention to the wife and the children. Theo can see it written on his neighbor’s face—he, too, knows this.
“Now, I know,” the repairman said as he wrung out his hands. “I know this is all your wife’s fault. But you see, Stone, the best way to make a person suffer is through someone they love.”
