"Fold it inside out," she said and I blinked at her a moment before doing what she said.
I got out of my shoes, a little loath to stand in the alley without being able to see the ground, but a pin light flashed against the ground. No glass or trash.
"Thank you," I told her before hurriedly shucking out of the pants. They stuck uncomfortably to my skin, but I refused to focus on the why of that too closely. The night air raised goosebumps across my skin and I repeated the inside out with the pants, but they were pretty wet and I had a feeling that wouldn't help.
She moved away in the dark before I could stop her, then returned with a crinkle of plastic. "In the bag."
"You shouldn't have to help me."
"You're right," she agreed with me. "Now let's go, quickly."
The words spurred me into motion. I retrieved the hand sanitizer from my bag. Probably not the intended use, but it would work, right? Using it on my legs, I tried to not think about standing there in white briefs before I dragged on fresh sweatpants and a sweatshirt. They were from a local store, I'd picked them up on my way into the sanitarium. I was pretty sure they had the town name on them and some pithy slogan, but it wasn't coming to mind.
Finally, I stuffed my feet back into my shoes and snatched up my bag. "Better?"
2
Vienna
Ilooked him over with a cautious eye, searching for any splatters of blood on his skin or shoes, since he hadn’t changed those out. He cleaned up pretty good. There wasn’t a hair out of place that screamed ‘murderer,’ but the worst of the monsters were never so easy to spot.
My father had taught me that.
But no, this Merrick wasn’t a monster. Odd maybe, but not a monster.
“Much,” I said, tying up the bag then motioning for him to open his duffle. I would have disposed of them myself, only there wasn’t a need to carry around evidence for a crime I hadn’t committed.
He held it open and I was about to drop it in, then paused. This bag had my fingerprints on it. Dispose of the evidence myself it was. “Never mind, I can get rid of these for you.”
A slow, smitten smile spread over his face. “You don’t have to do that, but I’m glad you want to help. I can do it, it will just put you in danger.”
“Don’t worry about it.” I opened my own oversized purse and stuffed the bag in. Now that my plans were shot to shit, I was heading straight home anyway.
Laughing under my breath, I still couldn’t believe what happened. This man thought he had been saving me.
Me. Someone well versed in disposing of evil men all on my own. Instead, he’d taken my evening’s entertainment from me.
Flicking my gaze over his now squeaky clean and eager form, I started walking toward the mouth of the alley. How had I let this, clearly amateur, man take my kill? And see my face. Father taught me better than that.
What I needed to do was scare him away. Every second he stayed with me opened me up to more liability than I should be comfortable with.
I should throw a bit of attitude at him, or threaten to call the cops—laughable really—to get him to scat, and quickly. Then I found I couldn’t be mean to this man. He was like a puppy following on my heels, and he’d done something pretty fucking epic in my book.
He restored a smidge of my faith in humanity. Not that I thought all was lost, but I had more experience with the horrors of the world than with the saints. And I’d just witnessed firsthand why Dad had started this mission in the first place.
Nostalgia, and a bit of pride, swelled inside my chest, giving me a motivational kick in the pants. He would have saved Merrick for his good—even if misguided—deed.
We hit the corner and I took a left, away from where I was parked. I’d circle the block to make sure he didn’t have a chance to see any distinguishing marks on my SUV.
His footsteps pounded the pavement behind me even when I took two more zig zags through the industrial side of town. I needed to be driving away from here, no matter what Merrick decided to do. The cops would find the body sooner or later and I needed to ghost the scene.
And he still followed me.
It was as adorable as it was annoying. When his steps continued to shadow mine, I blew out a breath.Save him, Vienna. He really thinks he saved you. Do the right thing and save him.
Pivoting sharply on one heel, I wheeled around to face him. Only my own awareness of how close to me he'd been when I decided on this maneuver kept me from flinching when he grasped my arms. He narrowly missed plowing into me.
Surprise lost the battle to concern as he frowned. "Are you alright? I didn't mean to run into you."