Don't Look (Pike, Wisconsin #1) - Alexandra Ivy Page 0,118
broad gesture, returning to his flourishing gestures of a man onstage. “Rather than performing the deliciously evil deeds that filled my dreams, I wrote them down in letters.”
Lynne didn’t have to guess where he’d sent those letters. “Rudolf.”
“Yes.”
Pity for Kir’s father tugged at Lynne’s heart. The older man had not only been forced to leave the job he loved after putting his life on the line to protect the citizens of Pike, but he’d gone into a deep depression that had only been aggravated by the taunting letters from a madman. It was a blunt reminder that life was rarely fair. “Why him?”
He arched a brow at the edge of anger in her voice. “He was my savior. The only person who’d battled my demons.”
“And you rewarded him with evil letters?”
Parker snapped his brows together, predictably offended by her barely hidden scorn. “He was the sort of man who took pride in helping those in need, wasn’t he?”
Lynne clenched her teeth. She had to be careful. After all, the letters Parker had sent to Rudolf had been the least of his crimes. “I suppose,” she murmured.
“Besides, he had his own demons.” Parker shrugged with blatant indifference. “Who better to understand mine?”
Accepting that the man had no ability to feel remorse for the pain he caused, Lynne asked the question that had been niggling since he’d told her he’d gone to live with his aunt in Madison. “Why did you come back to Pike?”
“This is my home.”
She didn’t remind him that this was where his father had been shot and killed. Not exactly the childhood trauma most people would want to relive. “That’s the only reason?”
He sent her a sly glance, wagging his finger in her direction. “It’s what I told myself. Although deep in my heart I already knew what was going to happen.”
“You came back for revenge.”
The white teeth flashed in response to her accusation. “Sweet, sweet revenge.”
Lynne stopped trying to inch away. Instead she clenched her muscles, preparing to shove herself to her feet. There was a strange tingling in the air that warned her Parker was spiraling toward a meltdown.
“You killed Sherry because she evicted your family out of your trailer?” she asked, desperately trying to keep him focused on anything but her.
“How did . . .” He bit off his startled words, his eyes boring into her with dangerous intensity. “Have you been snooping on me, darling Lynne?”
Feeling like a deer in the headlights, Lynne tried to remain perfectly still. “A lucky guess,” she lied.
“Doubtful. You’re such a clever girl.” He shoved his hand in the deep pockets of his coat, continuing to watch her with that unwavering gaze. “But, however you discovered we’d been kicked out of our home, that’s not the reason I killed Sherry.”
“It wasn’t?” The words came out in a hoarse rasp.
His sharp crack of laughter echoed through the empty space. “No, we’d been kicked out of a dozen places. Either because we couldn’t pay the rent, or more often because my father was fighting with the neighbors.”
Lynne frowned in genuine confusion. “Then why?”
“Because she laughed,” Parker said, his expression flinty. “As if it was some great joke that a child was being tossed out like trash.” His jaw tightened. “She wasn’t laughing when I stood over her and sliced her throat open.”
Nausea rolled through Lynne’s stomach, but she grimly hid her reaction. She wouldn’t give the man the pleasure of seeing her revulsion.
“And Randi?”
Parker shrugged. “She used to babysit me. Or actually, she pretended to babysit. As soon as my mom walked out of the house, she would lock me in my bedroom so she could have sex with her boyfriend.” Parker visibly shuddered in disgust at the memory. “I’d hear them in the living room, grunting and groaning while I was caged like an animal. I spent my time fantasizing about picking the lock of my bedroom door so I could get out and use my baseball bat to bash their heads in. That would have stopped the grunting.”
“And Ms. Randall?”
“She knew.”
“Knew what?”
He took a step toward her and Lynne swallowed her scream of frustration. He’d just erased the small amount of space she’d managed to put between them.
“The dried-up bitch knew I was being abused and she did everything in her power to make it worse,” he hissed. “At least once a week she would send home bad reports or keep me after school for some minor mistake to make sure I would be beaten.”