Catholic Guilt and the Joy of Hating Men - By Regan Wolfrom Page 0,65
stay with us.”
“I’m okay. Whatever happened to those girls didn’t happen to me.”
“Please, Ness.”
“Don’t worry so much. I wasn’t drunk. And I won’t be drunk anytime soon. And I’ll stay out of the woods... and I’ll stay away from strange men who reek of drunk girls.”
He shook his head at me. He knew me well enough to know that I wasn’t about to change my mind.
Once he was gone I got dressed and went out for a walk in the woods. That was the quickest way to get to Quinn’s trailer.
I found Quinn halfway along the trip, walking through the trees in the opposite direction. He was dressed like it was a lot colder out, with a heavy coat and long and shiny-black gloves.
“Where ya going?” I asked as we came up to each other.
“To find you,” he said. “I was worried.”
“What is it about me that every man in my life assumes I’ll be the next murder victim?”
“What murder?” He sounded genuinely surprised.
“Didn’t you run into any police?”
“I thought there was another break-in. Or maybe that Horny Rich finally tried to make his move on one of the new girls and got himself stabbed or something.”
“Two missing girls,” I said. “And blood.”
His face changed. He had started to look worried, for real.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“We should get back to your trailer.”
I wasn’t sure what he really wanted to do in my trailer.
Danger.
I wasn't scared.
“I’m out of beer,” I said.
“We need to hurry.”
He grabbed my hand with his glove and started moving again, picking up the pace by quite a bit.
We reached my camper and I unlocked the door.
“I’ll go in first,” he said. “Wait here.”
I didn’t argue, although I wondered why whatever monster he was now chasing would be hiding in my camper when I’d been alone in the woods a few minutes before.
“Come in,” he said. “It’s safe.”
I walked in.
Quinn locked the door to the camper.
I felt my stomach growl. I started wishing my uncle hadn’t stolen my last pasty.
We sat down at my table again, but the romance was dead. Especially since he was still wearing his jacket and goddamn butcher gloves.
“I need to do something,” Quinn said. “Something you won’t like.”
“Not the best come-on I’ve heard.”
“There is a young man who’s been following me. He’s been... I guess ‘obsessed’ is the best way to put it.”
“Teenage boy with fake fangs?”
“So he’s been talking to you.”
“Not just talking. He came after me a few hours ago.”
Quinn sighed. “I’m sorry, Vanessa. I should have done something about this before. I should have realized that the boy is unbalanced.”
“I’m okay.”
“He’s dangerous. I know that now. I think he attacked those girls tonight.”
“I doubt it.” It wasn’t that I didn’t think the boy had a mean streak; I hadn’t forgotten the part where he tried to squeeze my windpipe until I passed out. It was more that I doubted he’d be able to take those girls on with his piss-poor hunting skills. They would’ve had to be really, really... really drunk.
“You are very special to me, Vanessa. I don’t want him to hurt you.”
“I’m fine. If you really believe that kid is dangerous, you should be talking to the police. I don’t do a lot of crime-solving these days, you know. I mostly dive for pearls for slightly more than minimum wage.”
I felt his hand on my thigh again, or his glove, at least. It gave me a cold chill. Something felt wrong.
“I’ve been watching over you for a long time,” he said. “Ever since you arrived here.”
It sounded like he’d been taking lessons on being creepy from the pervy kid.
“Are you high or something?” I asked.
“I took care of Anastasia for you. You hated her, so I sent her away. And I did the same to Sandra... just so you’d be happy... so you wouldn’t leave us.”
“You’re telling me that fucking Anastasia in the woods was doing me some kind of solid?”
And Sandra? Eew.
“I’ll get rid of this kid, too.”
That was a good way to clue me in that we hadn’t been talking about the same thing.
I felt his grip hardening on my leg.
“Did you kill those girls tonight?” I asked.
“That boy killed those girls. I’ll protect you from him.”
“You’re really freaking me out. I don’t get the joke here. I really don’t.”
“I’m going to find that boy and I’m going to slit his throat. Is that clear enough?”
“No... please don’t. If you love me, you’ll leave him alone.”
Quinn started to laugh. “Love you? Really? That’s what you think