One Tiny Secret - By Adam Kunz Page 0,79
handle that releases the top of the truck’s bed. “What if Kevin’s in here?” I ask, wrapping my hand around the handle and preparing myself to press the button with my thumb.
“Dani, don’t. Just wait until your dad gets here, okay? He should be here any minute now,” Alex tries to plead with me.
“I have to see,” I insist, pressing the button and turning the handle.
I open the cover over the truck’s bed.
It takes a few moments for my eyes to adjust in the darkness, and I can’t make out anything in particular because my car’s headlights aren’t illuminating the inside. As I lean in closer, I see a shape lying in the middle of the bed. I turn on my phone’s flashlight and point it into the back of the truck.
Alex lets out a blood-curdling scream before I can fully comprehend what I’m seeing. The only thing I know for sure is that a body lies there, but it’s not Kevin.
“Janice?” My heart constricts when I recognize the muddied white dress as my Bride of Frankenstein costume. I’m screaming on the inside, but I feel paralyzed. I stare at her lifeless body with tears filling my eyes. “Janice!” I finally release the scream I was holding in. I fall to my knees in a fit of crying. I thought I had tapped out my tear ducts over the past few days, but I was so wrong.
I see through my tear-distorted vision the lights from my dad’s cruiser as he pulls up.
“Dani, Alex, are you two all right?” he asks, rushing over to us. I hear Alex’s shaky reply of, “No,” but I can’t assemble any words right now. I feel his hands clasp my arms as he pulls me to my feet. “Dani, snap out of it. What’s happened?”
I point to the open bed of the truck and whisper, “We found…Janice.”
“What?” He steps past me and peers into the back of the vehicle. Brushing his hair back with his hand, he stands there analyzing the scene. He brings the radio attached to his shirt pocket up to his mouth and releases a sigh before pressing the button to talk. “Dispatch, come in.
I hear a crackled sound, “Copy Dispatch. Go ahead, Sheriff.”
His pained gaze meets mine as he responds, “I’m going to need backup out here on Edgemount Road. I’ve found the Oliver girl.”
Chapter Twenty Nine
I spin the Styrofoam cup in my hand and watch the coffee swirl at the bottom. It mimics how I’m feeling as I sit in my dad’s office at the station. The harsh fluorescent lights overhead hurt my eyes, so I keep my focus on the cup. I feel emotionally numb at the moment, and I don’t think the fact that I saw Janice’s lifeless body has truly sunk in. I can’t believe she’s dead, and now Kevin’s missing too. What’s next?
My turn for questioning is coming up after they finish with Alex. I never should’ve dragged her into this. I wonder how she’s doing over in the next room. Unfortunately, I can’t eavesdrop, since the walls of the building seem to be thick and don’t allow for a lot of noise travel.
Resting my head against the cool surface of the wall, I briefly shut my eyes. I try to think back to everything that’s happened tonight, but it all seems to have blurred together into one big mass of confusion. I don’t even know if I’ll be useful for questioning at this point.
I reach for my phone, but remember it was confiscated when I claimed to have received texts from Unknown again. My dad wasn’t too happy to hear the same old song and dance from me. Hopefully Alex is telling them about all the messages.
Through the large glass windows that look out from the office into the rest of the station, I spot Hattie Oliver talking to one of the deputies at his desk. When she begins to cry into her hands, I have to look away. No matter how much I don’t like the woman, no one should ever go through what she is right now.
The door to the office swings open, drawing my attention to it. My father and his head deputy, Samson, walk in. My dad takes a seat behind his desk and Samson posts up next to the door after it’s closed, like he always seems to do.
“I know this is going to be hard for you, but we have some questions that need answering.”
“Where’s Alex?”
“We sent her home