7
Danica
I’m falling for two guys. Neither is a safe option. I tap my pen on my journal, thinking. My shiny engagement ring sparkles on my finger. I ended up choosing something generic. Plain stone, plain band, no flash. This is a generic engagement, after all. Edmund frowned at the bland ring, but because it wasn’t the ugliest, smallest piece in the store, he couldn’t complain.
I think sex in the bathroom calmed us both down, too. It allowed us to reach a compromise without even needing to talk about it.
I shouldn’t let myself fall for him. I put my pen to the paper.
Edmund, while overbearing, says he’s completely on board with a relationship.
Troy, sweet, seems to be pulling back already. Like he thinks the wedding will change things. Maybe it will.
And me? I’m afraid of getting my heart broken…but I think it’s already happening.
“Dani, get in here!” Elias’s voice holds a note of panicked excitement.
“Is it another murder, you psycho?” I call back.
“Shut up and come look!”
Tossing my journal to the side, I ease out of bed in such a way that I don’t disturb Cackle. He sleepily bites the blanket where my foot used to be, but returns to his nap.
“Elias!” I slam open his door. “This better be fucking good, and not some macabre murder porn.”
He doesn’t look up from his laptop. “It’s not porn, God, Danica. Someone was killed and it’s old. Long time ago. No gore, I promise.”
I peer over his shoulder as he replays a news clip. A man in a suit says, “Here we are at the scene of a very old crime.”
Something smells like stale popcorn. I sniff. “Elias, when’s the last time you washed this hoodie?”
“I dunno, shhh. Listen to this next part.”
The newscaster continues. “Just last week, remains were uncovered on the north side of Danish Lake. It has just been confirmed that these are human remains, and authorities are working hard to uncover the identity of the victim.”
“Danish Lake—that’s where we had my engagement party.” I shiver. I remember looking out over the water and thinking about how spooky it was in the dark.
“Well, someone was buried in the mud there.” Elias nods while the newscaster goes on a tangent about Danish Lake. “I think it’s our serial killer.”
“Hold up.” I reach around him to pause the video, which is currently showing nothing but a sunlit, sparkling Danish Lake marred with crime scene tape that looks like it was propped up by the news network, solely for dramatic effect. “Say that again?”
“I think these remains are the work of the serial killer.”
“What serial killer?”
He widens his eyes at me. “The one from the alley—remember what we saw outside the movie theater last month? You know, the dead body?”
“First of all, we did not see a dead body.”
Cackle wanders in. He does a stretch next to Elias’s desk chair before leaping up on the desk. Elias tries to guard his laptop keyboard with his arms, but Cackle paws at him.
“Second of all.” I stroke Cackle’s fur. He arches into my touch. “Second of all, that was a single murder. One. Not the work of a ‘serial killer.’”
“The body at the lake makes two.”
“For as much as you study this shit, I’d think you would see the two crimes are entirely unconnected.”
“As of yet, they’re unsolved. That’s one connection. And the next connection just hasn’t been made yet.” He gives me an earnest look. “I’m going to solve this.”
