The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires - Grady Hendrix Page 0,105

didn’t know why Miss Mary gave me this photo,” Mrs. Greene said. “I don’t know why she didn’t give it to you direct. But she wanted you to come here, and that must mean something. If she still cares about you, then maybe I can put up with you, too.”

Patricia felt scared. Miss Mary had come to both of them. James Harris didn’t age. Neither of these things could possibly be true, but they were and that terrified her. Vampires didn’t age, either. She shook her head. She couldn’t start thinking that way again. That kind of thinking could ruin everything. She wanted to live in the same world as Kitty, and Slick, and Carter, and Sadie Funche, not over here on her own with Mrs. Greene. She looked at the photo again. She couldn’t stop looking at it.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

Mrs. Greene went to her bookshelf and took a green folder off the top. It had been used and reused and had different headings written on it and scratched out. She laid it open on the coffee table and she and Patricia sat back down.

“I want my babies to come home,” Mrs. Greene said, showing Patricia what was inside. “But you see what he does.”

Patricia paged through the folder, clipping after clipping, and she got cold.

“It’s all him?” she asked.

“Who else?” Mrs. Greene said. “My service cleans his house twice a month. One of his regular girls is gone. I volunteered to fill in this week.”

Patricia’s heart slowed to a crawl.

“Why?” she asked.

“Mrs. Cavanaugh gave me a box of those murder books y’all read. She said she didn’t want them in her house anymore. Whatever Mr. Harris is, he’s not natural, but I think he’s got something in common with those evil men from your books. They always take a souvenir. They like to hold on to a little something when they hurt someone. I only met the man a few times but I could tell he was real full of himself. I bet he keeps something from each of them in his house so he can pull them out and feel like a bigshot all over again.”

“What if we’re wrong?” Patricia said. “I thought I saw him doing something to Destiny Taylor years ago, but it was dark. What if I was wrong? What if her mother did have a boyfriend and lied about it? We both think we saw Miss Mary, we both believe this is a picture of James Harris, but what if it’s just someone who looks like him?”

Mrs. Greene pulled the picture over to her with two fingers and looked at it again.

“A no-good man will tell you he’s going to change,” she said. “He’ll tell you whatever you want to hear, but you’re the fool if you don’t believe what you see. That’s him in this picture. That was Miss Mary who whispered to us. Everybody may be telling me different, but I know what I know.”

“What if he doesn’t keep trophies?” Patricia asked, trying to slow things down.

“Then there’s nothing there to find,” Mrs. Greene said.

“You’ll get arrested,” Patricia said.

“It’d go faster with two of us,” Mrs. Greene said.

“It’s against the law,” Patricia said.

“You turned your back on me once before,” Mrs. Greene said, and her eyes blazed. Patricia wanted to look anywhere else but she couldn’t move. “You turned your back on me and now he’s come for your children. You’re out of time. It’s too late to find excuses.”

“I’m sorry,” Patricia said.

“I don’t want your sorry,” Mrs. Greene said. “I want to know if you’ll come in his house and help me look.”

Patricia couldn’t say yes. She had never broken a law in her life. It went against everything in her body. It went against everything she’d lived for forty years. If she got caught she would never be able to look Carter in the eye again, she’d lose Blue, and she’d lose Korey. How could she raise the children and tell them to obey the law if she didn’t?

“When?” she asked.

“This coming weekend he’s