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“Save some for when we stop,” Lisa said, laughing.
Lily hadn’t cleaned herself up from being with Alan, and had planned on using the public restroom there to do so. But by the time they got to the picnic area north of Sea View, Lily felt unexpectedly drowsy and woozy from the wine cooler.
“Help me take my pants off,” Lily complained. “I’m so tired!”
“Just lie down,” Lisa said, helping her to the ground. “We can do it later.”
“I just need to take a nap.”
It could have been ten minutes or an hour later when Lily came to, lying on her back in the freezing sand, her lower body in the painfully cold water, the surf lapping at her. Forgetting that she’d been with Lisa that night, she vaguely remembered seeing Alan at the marina.
Lily struggled to get to her feet. When she finally stood, rocking back and forth, she realized she was naked from the waist down. On top, she wore a long-sleeved V-neck T-shirt and a sweatshirt. With difficulty, she peeled off the wet sweatshirt and tied the arms around her waist, covering at least her buttocks.
Looking around to get her bearings, she saw the causeway to the north. She must be at the public beach. Her car was a fifteen-minute hike south. Were her car keys in her sweatpants pocket? Where was her phone?
Hysteria bubbled up. She’d bang on Lisa’s door for help if she had to. Then she remembered that she’dbeenwith Lisa. Tears came with the memory. Lisa had left her there, unconscious on the beach. Or had she? What had happened to Lisa? All the events of the night came flooding back. How had she ended up in the water, alone?
She was on the unpopulated stretch of beach when a figure came into view, running between a beach access road and the frame of a timber house at the beginning of construction.
“Hello?” Lily called out, thinking,My rescuer!There was no light from the moon to make out more than a figure with a hoodie pulled up over its head.
“Lily Porter?” It wasn’t a familiar voice, but it was soft, low, like a man, but maybe not.
“Yes! Oh, thank God. I’m sick,” she cried. “I need help.”
There was no reply as the form got closer.
“Who are you?” Lily asked.
When the figure was nearly on top of Lily, it lifted an arm and pointed something at Lily’s head.
Alan arrived home. Pulling into the driveway next to Shelly’s car, he hoped she’d slept through his absence. After working twelve hours and having to do it over again the next day, she always went to bed early. Their routine rarely varied. Alan stayed up until midnight or later. Tonight, he’d left under the guise of going into the precinct, leaving her a note.
But back at home, when he got out of his car, he heard a familiar ticking sound coming from under the hood of Shelly’s car. Reaching out, he placed his hand on the hood, and it was warm. He paused and looked up at the house, frightened. She must have gone out. Hopefully, not to follow him. Whatever had happened, he had to face it.
There were no lights on, and he remembered leaving the lamp on next to the couch. Looking through the window, he carefully unlocked the door. The darkness and silence concerned him, but for just a moment. Tiptoeing into their shared bedroom, he saw Shelly on her side, facing away from him. He listened for a while and could hear her soft, uniform breathing. Relief.
It was serendipity that Shelly had followed Alan on that fateful night. She’d planned on threatening him and Lily but was unable to do it. She couldn’t do theatrics. After Alan drove off, she waited for Lily to get into her car, and she crossed the road to the beach instead, staying close to the water’s edge. Creeping up to the street, Shelly was able to sneak along and keep Lily in her view between the houses as she walked. And then, surprisingly, Lily met up with a young woman who seemed to appear on the beach out of nowhere.
They walked along together, laughing, kissing, and holding hands. Shelly wished she had a means to photograph them, to show Alan his girlfriend was betraying him with another woman. She wished she knew who the girl was.
A confusing fumble ensued at the picnic area of the public beach; the young woman helped Lily get her pants off, but then led her to the water’s edge, where Lily lay down in the surf. Shelly watched, fascinated, as Lily passed out. The young woman disappeared up into the trees.
But not for long. Shelly was going to search for the other woman, but within minutes, Lily got up on all fours and crawled away from the water, barely able to stand. It was at that moment, watching Lily, naked from the waist down, knowing that Alan had preferred that to Shelly, that the rage won and the confrontation ensued.
The new plan was to incriminate Alan. Hewasto blame. Shelly had absolutely no remorse after killing Lily. She’d separated the part of her mind that helped save lives in the ER from the part that fostered revenge. And she was going to get away with it.
At his side of the bed, Alan unzipped his pants and let them drop to the floor, leaving on his dirty underpants, wafts of rank female scent emanating from his crotch. Exhausted, he didn’t bother unbuttoning his shirt but simply pulled it over his head. The sheets were cool as he slipped in, and the moment his head hit the pillow, he fell asleep.
Next to him, Shelly lay as still as possible, her eyes open, waiting.
The End
