Smoking in bed? Lane wondered.
The Board of Education met last night...
She turned off the radio.
She felt cold and numb inside.
Jessica dead.
The girld been a royal pain, but God! Dead.
How could something like that happen?
Jessica smoked like a chimney. Spent half her life in the girls John, puffing away. She mustve fallen asleep with a cigarette.
Didnt they have a smoke alarm?
Lane rounded a corner. Betty was waiting beside the street. Lane stopped the car, stretched across the passenger seat and unlocked the door.
Did you hear? Betty asked, swinging the door open.
Yeah.
Holy smoke! She hurled her book bag into the rear and dropped onto the seat. The car shook. I knew that bimbod come to a bad end. She slammed the door.
Shes dead, Lane muttered.
Well Jesus, I guess so.
Lane stepped on the gas. She didnt deserve that.
Smoking in bed, itll get you every time.
God, I cant believe it.
I can. Boy, I sure can. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Know what happened yesterday? I went to take a leak after third period, and there she was, sitting on a John with the door wide open, sucking on a butt. I go, Those thingsll give you cancer, you know. And she gives me this look. Betty demonstrated, wrinkling her nose and curling up her lip. And she goes, Fuck you and the horse you rode in on, lardass. So like I cant say I feel any great amount of sympathy, you know? She did it to herself.
And her parents.
Yeah. Too bad Riley Benson wasnt sleeping over. That piece of greasy-haired shit would be improved considerably by a good dose of smoke inhalation. Know what I mean?
Lane nodded. It seemed wrong, knocking Jessica and Riley. But she didnt feel like defending them. They werecreeps.
She wondered if Riley might actually have been in love with Jessica.
Hard to imagine him loving anyone.
But maybe he did.
That babe did have some rotten luck, Betty went on. First she gets herself creamed, next thing you know shes a crispy critter.
Lane turned the radio on, volume high. Willie Nelson and Ray Charles were singing Seven Spanish Angels.
A hint? A subtle but effective hint?
I just dont think we should be bad-mouthing her.
Ahead, Henry waved from his perch on the boulder in front of his house. He hopped down and picked up his briefcase. Salutations, merry-makers, he said, as Lane stopped the car.
Betty climbed out. She held the seat back forward while Henry scrambled in behind it. Following him, she pulled the door shut.
Lane glanced back at them. Betty had an eager look in her eyes. You havent heard, she said.
Heard what? Henry asked.
Lane started driving.
Jessica got toasted last night.
Huh?
Burnt, charbroiled, cooked, incinerated.
You mean shes dead? He sounded perplexed.
Dead dead dead. She bought the farm. She bit the weenie. Dead.
Holy shit, Henry whispered.
It would appear that Miss Congeniality fell asleep smoking a cigarette.
Were talking about Jessica Patterson?
Who else, numbnuts?
Holy shit, he said again. His hand clamped over the comer of Lanes seat back. Is she shitting me?
No, Lane said. Its true. Jessica and her parents were killed in a fire last night.
Oh, man.
Good riddance, Betty said.
Hey, cut it out.
Oh, and like shes suddenly a saint now that shes cooked?
On the radio, Belinda Bernards voice said, We now have an update on the fire that rushed through the home of...
It just isnt... Henry began.
Quiet, Lane said. News.
They went silent.
...are now indicating that a preliminary examination of the charred remains has revealed that all three members of the Patterson family sustained massive, possibly fatal injuries, prior to the fire. Details are still sketchy, but it appears that an intruder may have slain the trio, after which the fire was deliberately set in order to destroy evidence of the crimes. We also have word that a youth seen entering the house earlier last night has been taken into custody for questioning. The identity of the underaged suspect has not been disclosed.
Benson, Betty said. Betcha.
We now return you to...
Holy shit, Henry muttered. They were murdered.
I bet it wasBenson. Wouldnt put anything past that slime-bag.
This is awful, Lane murmured.
Speak for yourself.
Cool it, Henry said. Its not funny.
Maybe not funny, but... somehow, deeply satisfying.
Twenty-seven
Alone as he drove to the public library, Larry at last had time to himself, time to ponder what hed done that morning and try to relieve himself of the shame.
Hed betrayed Jean.
Not really, he thought. It wasnt that big a deal. You had a little fantasy, thats all.
You really wanted Bonnie.
Jean didnt know that. She thought it was great.
The girls dead, for godsake.
I must be nuts, having a dream like that.
Hell, its perfectly natural. Ive been studyingthe poor kid looking at pictures of her, reading about her Ive got her in the garage! Who wouldnt start dreaming? I ought to just be glad it wasnt a nightmare. What if shed paid her visit the way she looks now!
Maybe better if she had. Might have scared the shit out of me, but at least I wouldnt have ended up with a hard-on and all this damn guilt.
Take it easy, he told himself. It was your subconscious. You cant control your subconscious.
Bullshit. It was a wish fulfillment dream. I wantedher to come to my bed. And it wasnt my subconscious that made me take out my lust on...
The radio news interrupted his thoughts.
A family of three murdered here in Mulehead Bend. Their house set on fire.
One of them, a seventeen-year-old girl.
He wondered if Lane knew the girl. The name didnt sound familiar, but she mustve been a senior at Buford High. Lane almost had to know her.
They couldnt have been very good friends, he thought, or I wouldve heard the name before. Jessica. No. It didnt ring any bells.
Even if theyre just acquaintances, itll be a shock to Lane. A girl in her own class murdered.
Isnt anywheresafe?
Of course not. What are you, an idiot?
You know damn well Mulehead Bend hasnt been exactly a haven. Bonnie, Linda, and Sandra are pretty good indications of that. And dont forget Martha Radley. She was over in Sagebrush Flat, but thats right next door.
All high school girls.
Jessica, too.
Larry felt a small tremor of excitement in his belly as he wondered if there might be a connection between Jessica and the others from so long ago.
Didnt seem likely.
What if we triggered something? What if taking Bonnies corpse?..
Thats ridiculous.
Besides, the radiod said that a young man had been taken into custody. More than likely, this was some kind of a lovers quarrel. Most murders come down to that, or an argument between friends, or robbery.
Maybe this Jessica jilted a guy and he flipped out.
Nailed her parents, too.
In a way, he supposed, that was fortunate. Better they should be dead. Easier on them.
If someone ever did that to Lane, Idrather be killed on the spot than...
No, Id want to kill the bastard first. Cut him up realslowly. Make him feel it. Make him...