Page 53 of The Neighbor

Then he smiles again and says, “But what do I know? I’m just the crazy guy in this neighborhood. Have a good night.”

I watch in stunned amusement as he closes the window and walks away. That’s exactly what the police will think if he says anything because everyone in this neighborhood thinks he’s precisely that.

Crazy, out of his mind from grief.

By the time I get home, all I want to do is relax in a hot bath. I creep up the back stairs and slowly strip out of my clothes beforetossing them in the hamper. Ten minutes later, I’m neck deep in a bubble bath.

There is no book to read tonight. Nothing would be able to keep my attention anyway. I stare at the silver faucet and temperature knobs I thought seemed old fashioned when I moved in but now seem quaint.

Into the silence of the home I bought with my parents’ life insurance money, I say the words I’ve waited fifteen years to utter. “I did it, Mom and Dad. I found him and I made him pay. I did it.”

I don’t say what I have to say to my sister out loud, but in my mind, I tell her he didn’t get away with it. I found him, and he’s never going to hurt anyone ever again.

Two weeks later,the police have stopped investigating and Harold says the coroner ruled his death a heart attack. The neighborhood has returned to normal, for the most part, although Aaron is still hiding out in his house.

Kimmy waves at me from her driveway and walks over to talk to me as I sit on my front porch. She looks troubled, and as she sits down next to me, she lets out a heavy sigh.

“Will our cul-de-sac ever be the way it used to be? I keep looking at the For Sale sign on the Meyers’ front lawn and wondering who might move in. I expect a sign to go up on Adam’s house too.”

I take her hand in mine and give it a gentle squeeze. “Things will go back to the way they were. You watch. By the time next month’s block party comes around, I bet we have new people here. I bet they’ll be even better too. Maybe they’ll have little kids for your kids to play with. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

She turns to look at me wearing a huge smile. “Oh, that would be great! I hope you’re right. I’d love to see morechildren in this neighborhood. Thanks, Caroline. You are just the sweetest person. I’m so glad you moved in here.”

And just like that, even the most sympathetic neighbor already begins to forget Adam Prentiss ever existed in her perfect suburban cul-de-sac.

---