The Killing Vision - By Will Overby Page 0,60
already knew it was him. “Yeah, I was there.”
“What were you doing?”
“Following a girl.”
The detective pulled out a small photograph and showed it to him. It was the angel. “This her?”
Derek nodded. “That’s her.”
“Why were you following her?”
Derek looked at him. “I thought she was pretty. I just wanted to see where she lived, what she was doing.”
“How many times had you been there?”
“Just twice. I followed her home from the Gas-N-Pack on Thursday.”
“And you went back there on Friday?” the other detective asked.
Derek nodded. “I know it was stupid. I just wanted to get a look at her again.”
“Did you?”
Panic was starting to boil in Derek’s stomach. “Yeah. I followed her back to the college. I asked her out, but she kinda blew me off.”
“That make you mad?” the cop with the mustache asked.
“Sort of.”
“Then what happened?”
Derek looked at him. “Nothing. I came back home.”
“Did you go back to her apartment?”
“No,” Derek said, “I told you I came back home.”
“You’re sure you didn’t go back?”
Beside him, Wade sat up on the edge of his chair. “Look, he said he didn’t go back there. What’s going on?”
The detective with the mustache looked at Wade. “Look, Mr. Roberts, we know you’re acquainted with Miss Saunders. We talked to her roommate.”
Derek watched his father’s face grow red, then purple. He thought at first Wade was having a stroke. “Dad. . . ?”
Wade looked at him, then back at the cop. He licked his lips. “Yes, I know them. We partied together a few times.”
“So we’ve been told.” The cop looked at Wade squarely. “Look, Mr. Roberts, Abigail Saunders hasn’t been seen since Shelley Mitchell left their apartment on Friday at four o’clock. We’re suspecting foul play.”
Wade shot a glance at Derek. “And you think one of us had something to do with it?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out.” He shifted in his seat. “Look, we know you both know her. Maybe you found out she had a thing for your son and it made you mad.”
Honestly, now Wade’s head looked like it was going to explode. Sweat was pouring down his face. “I think we’re done here,” he said, and Derek could tell it was taking everything Wade had to stay calm. “We’re not answering anything else.”
The detective shrugged. “Suit yourself.” He and the other man stood, and Wade did the same. “We’ll be back.”
“You better have a warrant.”
“We will.”
The two men went out the front door. Wade followed them and watched them get back into their car. He whispered, “Fuck.”
Derek watched the car back out of the driveway and then looked back at Wade. “Dad? What’s going on?”
Wade kept his gaze on the black sedan. “Nothing. Not a goddamned thing.” When the car was out of sight, Wade shut the door and looked at him. “Not one word about this to your mother. Understand? Not one fucking word.”
“Do you really know that girl?”
Wade didn’t answer him. He sat back down the recliner and turned on the television. The NASCAR race was just starting and Wade stared at it without saying anything else.
Derek turned and headed back up the stairs. Something weird was happening. Something weird and big.
* * *
2:10 PM
For mid-July the day had turned out breezy and pleasant. The humidity of the past week was gone, and that made the heat easier to tolerate. Joel was glad. He was always miserable to the point of exhaustion in the heat. And today he did not want to be miserable.
He and Dana had come to Riverside Park for the afternoon. Dana had packed a picnic lunch for them—“Cheesy, I know,” she told him with an embarrassed laugh—and they had enjoyed it in the shade of the tall oaks by the river. The breeze coming over the water was steady and almost cool. Joel tilted his head back and breathed in the fresh air. It was hard to believe this area had been swarming with cops just a few days ago.
“It was right down there where they found those bodies, wasn’t it?” Dana said, making him jump.
“You sure you don’t read minds?” Joel said and gave her a grin. He pointed to a pile of brush at the water’s edge. “There, where all those limbs and branches are.”
Dana shivered. “I still can’t believe it happened here in Cedar Hill.”
“I can’t believe they haven’t caught the guy yet.”
“Wonder if you and I could solve it?” she said. “Between the two of us, reading people and objects, I bet we could find him in