AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterEighteen
The cops swarmed both properties, but especially the Jones’s. There wouldn’t be an inch of dirt left in place by the time they were finished. It was a waste of time because they’d already found all the bodies on that plot of land. But the longer they focused on that, the more time it would take for them to connect any of the bodies to him.
He’d been careful, but nobody could ever be perfect. If he’d left behind a stray hair, or a minuscule piece of saliva had landed on one of the girls, the authorities would have his DNA. He wasn’t in the system, so he had that going for him. But if they ever asked for a swab, even only to rule him out, he would be found.
So many things could go wrong. The great killers of the past were able to get away with their crimes because technology wasn’t what it was now. Most of the infamous unsolved murder sprees could’ve been caught under different circumstances. Cops were smarter now. Technology was mind-blowing compared to what it had been even just a couple decades earlier.
That meant he had to be at the top of his game. It upped his stakes. Made it more exciting.
A crowd was starting to form. Of course. It always did. Nosy neighbors with nothing better to do.
He should know. His wife was in the crowd this time. She gawked along with some of the other housewives, all wearing yoga clothes and with their hair in ponytails or buns. Whispering, gossiping. Trying to be armchair detectives.
Anger boiled inside, starting from his gut and rising to his chest. His wife was the reason he killed. This was all her fault. If she would be a reasonable spouse, he wouldn’t be driven to these extreme acts of control.
No. She wanted to run the show, boss him around. Be her own woman.
Didn’t she realize they were married? He’d tried reasoning with her. She refused to give him the proper reverence he deserved as her husband. When talking, and eventually pleading, didn’t work, he’d taken her to a church that preached the proper order of things from the pulpit.
She still didn’t get the point. Thought they were backwards, and twisting scriptures. Refused to see him as her authority. He’d brought her to the church leaders. They had set her straight. Except that she wasn’t even afraid to talk back to them.
The woman had no concept of respect. It was maddening. She’d nearly gotten them thrown out of the fellowship. But it had been a moot point. Her behavior humiliated him, and he couldn’t stand watching the other men with their obedient wives.
That had been a mistake. His wife had thought she’d won. Thought he now saw things from her perspective.
It was then that he’d looked into getting a divorce. But the attorney he’d hired said he would get raked over the coals. He was stuck with the woman who insisted on doing everything her way. She got a part time job without asking his permission. Enrolled the kids in a preschool he hated. Upgraded her car without his approval. Wore those skimpy workout clothes for all to see.
She was out of control.
That was why he’d sought out some of the neighborhood nannies. Couldn’t go for the residents’ kids. Those absences would be too glaring. But a missing babysitter? People would be annoyed, but wouldn’t start a campaign to find them.
And he’d been right. The Marins who used to live in the Jones’s house just hired another one.
He took her too.
It was like an all-you-can-eat buffet. He got to pick and choose. Most babysitters were easy pickings. Young, naïve, not very smart but easy on the eyes. The older nannies, they were a different story. More independent and mouthy than his wife. He didn’t need more of that in his life.
As the crowd grew, so did his itch to return to his latest victim. He’d kept food from her long enough that she was getting more and more agreeable.
His wife and her yoga-clad friends pulled away from the onlookers.
He backed even farther away, stepping behind a tree.
They went in the opposite direction. Heading toward home.
Of course they were. That would make it nearly impossible for him to sneak home unnoticed. She would want to know what he was doing and why he wasn’t working. The woman was so demanding.
He’d have to wait.
If he thought about it all day, his rage could get to the point where he killed his new pet already. It was too soon. He needed to let her fear build. Give it more time.
No. He would wait.
For now.
