Page 5 of Say Yes to the Death

Claire’s hands shook like she had just gripped a live wire. Papers scattered to the floor as she swept them aside. Where the hell was the remote? She didn’t want to listen to this conversation. Couldn’t listen to it.

Rosie growled.

“Victoria, how are you coping?” Marnie asked onscreen.

Something drew Claire’s eyes back to the screen. Victoria looked shrunken almost, smaller and timider than Claire had last seen her. Her brown eyes were glassy, skin extra pale. On the night of her proposal, she had exuded warmth from every pore. Now she looked like a prisoner of war.

“As well as anyone who was engaged to a serial killer could be, I guess.”

Marnie reached out and patted her on the hand. Victoria flinched.

“I can’t imagine. Victoria, did you ever have any inclination that Barney was more sinister than he seemed? What did your friends and family think of him?”

Victoria sighed and tugged at the hem of her pencil skirt. She must have asked herself this question a million times.

“He was kind, honest, a perfect gentleman. I truly believed that he loved me. And maybe he did, in his own way. As much as a murderer is capable of love. My family adored him. He was so good with my niece and nephew. Everyone was overjoyed that we were getting married.”

The camera zoomed in on her left hand, focusing on her bare ring finger.

“That’s right. And the woman who planned your engagement was Barney’s last attempted victim.”

“Yes, Claire,” Victoria said softly. She wrung her hands, rubbing a thumb over the place where the four-carat diamond ring no longer rested.“She sent me a lovely sympathy basket.”

Claire’s stomach twisted. A basket could never make up for facilitating a marriage proposal to a killer. She really needed to call her. But what could she say?

“How kind. Now tell me, Victoria, did you ever notice him doing anything suspicious, like disappearing for long periods of time?”

Victoria brushed a lock of brown hair behind her ear. “He always attributed his absences to work. He owns hotels all over the state, so I believed him.”

Marnie leaned forward. “Was there anything else? Did you ever catch him doing something, or trying to cover something up?”

Damn, Marnie. Give the girl a break.

Victoria stared out into the crowd, but it was clear she wasn’t really looking at anything.She was so drawn that her features had retreated into her face like a corn husk doll.

“He came home with blood on his shirt once. Looking back now, I think it was right before Courtney Stevens’s disappearance was announced. He said he had gotten a nosebleed. I helped him wash the blood out.” Victoria gasped, starting to shake.

Claire shuddered, and the wounds all over her body pulsated and burned. She took a deep breath, which made it worse.

Marnie appeared to make eye contact with someone offstage, and she straightened up.“I understand that you haven’t visited him in prison.”

“No, I haven’t. And I won’t.”

Who could blame her?

“Is there anything that you want to say to him today?” Marnie asked, gesturing to the cameras.

Victoria took a deep breath and sat taller in the beige chair. “Barney, if any part of you ever truly loved me, I wish you would cooperate with the police. Tell them where the girls are. Give their families some closure. Let them be laid to rest.”

Marnie shifted her attention back to the camera. “The bodies of the five missing women attributed to the West Haven Widowmaker have never been recovered. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Pennsylvania State Police or the FBI tip line.”

Pictures of the five known victims filled the screen, all with bright eyes and wide smiles. None of them knew of the horror who had watched them, waited for them to have everything they ever dreamed. Claire had spent hours staring at pictures of those girls last month when she and Luke had tried to identify the killer. She shivered. Why the hell was the past sniffing around her doorstep so aggressively today?

She turned the TV off and snapped a leash on Rosie. “Let’s get out of here.”

Something about the interview was odd. The way Marnie glanced offstage. Victoria’s reluctance to answer questions. Something told Claire it wasn’t Victoria’s idea to appear on the show.

Claire pulled a floppy black hat from a hook by the warehouse door and slid on a pair of sunglasses. She pressed her ear to the crack of the door. Silence.

---