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“Ah, it’ll all come back to you when you watch the video,” Dane says. “Probably.”
“How are you so calm?”
“Well,” he says reasonably, “I remembered the whole time. There’s nothing new to me on there; I was just surprised how well it worked. You arequitethe subject—”
“And you’re so fucked up!” I smack him on the shoulder. “I can’t believe you got me to do that!”
He shrugs, grinning. “You seemed to enjoy it. Or at least, your pussy did…”
My head is reeling. Of all the things I thought I’d find on that tape…that wasn’t it.
“I don’t understand…”
“What?” Dane says, still rocking us.
“I thought people wouldn’t do anything they wouldn’t usually do when they’re hypnotized…”
“That’s the point. Youdiddo that…youwould.You just didn’t know it.”
Dane looks at me like he expects me to understand.
And I’m afraid I’m finally starting to.
* * *
32
REMI
Dane and I drive up to Emma’s for breakfast because I’ve made her promise to behave herself, and even Dane can’t deny that her pancakes are phenomenal.
Emma’s become quite forgiving since I told her what happened on Halloween night. I think she feels guilty because she didn’t notice I was missing for about two hours, and only then because she ran out of money and wanted to borrow a drink ticket.
It’s funny to see her and Dane laughing and discussing mutual acquaintances—I sometimes forget that pretty much everyone here has known him longer than me.
Neither of them brings up the topic of Lila, and for that I’m grateful. I would really love it if Emma and Dane could at least not hate each other, even if there’s too much water under the bridge for them to truly be friends.
While they’re chatting, I amuse myself by reading the notice board over Emma’s shoulder. Somebody’s already put up an order form for handmade wreaths even though Christmas is almost two months away. There’s also a new missing cat poster and one for a little mutt named Fitzie. That makes four in total—nobody ever took down the posters for the gray Persian or the golden retriever, so I guess they were never found.
“What are you looking at?” Dane asks.
“A lot of pets go missing around here…”
He glances at the board. “They probably got hit by a car. Or eaten by a coyote.”
“Yeah.” I nod. “Only…the bone the sheriff found in our sink came from a golden retriever. Or so he said at the time.”
“How did he know that?” Emma perks up.
“It had a little fur on it.”
Dane frowns. “Or he was the one who put it there.”
I try to remember if Sheriff Shane seemed extra smug when I showed him the mess in the kitchen. “I thought it was weird at the time how he barely looked around the house.”
“That’s fucked up…” Emma looks nauseated. “You think he killed Mrs. Beeman’s dog?”
“Maybe. I’m more concerned with what happened to Gideon.”
