Page 35 of Nothing Ever Happens Here

I hear a gasp and a moan, and the grip around my neck loosens. I faintly hear footsteps crunching over icy snow, running in the direction of the woods far behind the row of houses. It takes me a few moments to pull the plastic off and gulp in air between shaky sobs. I’m on my hands and knees just trying to get my breath back, but my whole body is trembling violently and my heart is beating in my throat. I try to take in a few steady breaths, and I will myself to stand so I can catch who it is before they’re gone.

I run only as far as the edge of the house and look out across snowdrifts and boney trees. All I can see is a dark figure, too far away to make out anything, just a moving shadow. Then I look down to see a drop of blood. And another. They’ve left a trail of blood like breadcrumbs on top of the freshly fallen snow.

I run back inside my front door and lock it behind me. I slide down the back of the door and let the hysterical cries escape me. “Why?” I scream over and over again until my throat is hoarse and raw and I can barely speak. I stand and push everything off of the console table in one violent swoop, screaming as loud as I can one more time.

And when I’m done, I reluctantly call Detective Riley, because now we have DNA.

14

FLORENCE

The police are here, and it’s got everyone quite excited. Poppy is on the sofa wrapped in a Little Mermaid blanket with Gus who she is giving licks of her jumbo candy cane stick, and everyone is doting on her while June sits on the floor in front of the rec room TV and watches aTeletubbiesepisode with Herb.

Mack is in the front office asking Detective Riley a lot of questions in an annoyed tone of voice. Apparently, she was in Fargo or some such place, heading to a roadside diner or something, I don’t really know all the details, but she raced back after she heard what happened to Shelby, and after the police left Shelby’s house, she stayed the night at the hospital with them. Rumor has it Billy Curran dropped her off and that has everyone talking, but it’s none of my business.

“This is outlandish,” Herb says, perched on the edge of an ottoman and pointing at the television. “These Teletubbies are totally inappropriate looking.I thought this was a children’s show.”

“Herb,” Millie warns from her spot at the puzzle table where she is quickly knitting a green pot holder to give to Detective Riley before he can leave.

“There’s no plot. Zero conflict. I mean, what the hell? They just jump around and make irritating noises.”

“Herb,” Mort says from his spot in front of the computer where he and Evan are working on selling ads on the podcast.

“Come on, June. You gotta be bored to shit. Curious George doesn’t even talk and he’s more interesting than this, right?” She nods in agreement. He switches it toPeppa Pig.

“Oh, see now. This is good. This is quality stuff,” he says, handing June a tube of ranch Pringles, which she takes and happily watchesPeppa.

I try to listen to what Shelby and the police are talking about in the front office, but I can’t be too obvious, so I only walk over to the coffee station three times during their conversation and take my time stirring in the powdered creamer so I can strain my ears to hear. All I really understand is that they dismissed the electricity and generator being destroyed as teenagers, but now that Shelby has been attacked yet again and told them about the threat left on her car, they have now gone full swing on opening her case back up.

I suppose it’s a good thing, but they have come up with diddly-squat in all these months since the first attack, so I still think talking directly to people will be more effective than the police taking down a report, and then what? Someone out there knows something, and Detective Chipped Beef has a slim to zero chance of being the one to crack the case with the way they’ve handled it so far.

I take my time shuffling back over to my spot on the sofa. It’s a comfort having Gus and the girls here. Bernie came in with Shelby this morning when they released him, and he works on his crosswords while Millie knits and the TV murmurs in the background.The smell of tuna hotdish baking in the oven warms up the room, and it’s dark and overcast outside. Inside, a string of colored Christmas lights still hang limply over the board game bookcase and blinks. It’s a cozy, lovely moment with everyone here…except that there is a murderer on the loose ruining everyone’s good time.

After a little while I hear Mack say her goodbyes, and the detectives leave. Shelby comes out with a gray look on her face. Who can blame her? She was almost suffocated, and I’m not really sure why she even came in to the Oleander’s today except I guess I wouldn’t want to be alone at the house either if it were me, and sometimes distraction is the best medicine.

“Who wants to finger paint?” Shelby says, forcing an upbeat voice when she comes into the rec room. Herb raises his hand. “Not you, Herb. Come on, girls. Irene is gonna show you her watercolors and then we’ll finger paint in the craft room. What do you say?”

“Yeah!” Poppy says, kissing Gus on the forehead and popping up from her spot as if nothing at all has happened. Children are incredible that way. June follows close behind and they all disappear down the hall.

“Okay,” Mort says, startling me. “When we record tonight’s episode we want to lead with finding Leo’s name on the sign-in at the hospital. This will really rattle folks.” I might be mistaken but I think I see dollar signs in his eyes. He’s becoming uncharacteristically enthusiastic about the new income the podcast is generating andMort’s Literary Musingsis receiving more views by the hour.

“Bring it in, guys, bring it in,” Herb says as he pulls up a chair next to the computer desk, and I do so, but not without a roll of my eyes and a shake of my head at being told to “bring it in” like we’re in a locker room. I sit next to Millie at the puzzle table so we can all chat relatively privately.

“Of course it wasn’t Leo,” Millie says.

“Of course not,” Mort agrees. “Unless he was in some wild disguise and snuck in to kill Otis, but that seems far-fetched.”

“Or someone used his name,” I say. “To throw a monkey wrench in things if it were ever looked into—someone who had a reason to have Otis dead. Who in the world would want to hurt Otis Thorgard?”

“It makes more sense that it wasn’t Leo in disguise…because what if the person who killed Otis also killed Leo? They were in business together for years—what if this is money related?” Evan says.

“Oh, this is good,” Mort says, jotting down notes for the recording later.

“Otis and Leo were in business together—a few restaurants, but Leo was in business with damn near everyone at one point or another,” Bernie chimes in, his afghan on his legs and crossword still in hand.

“That’s true,” Evan says. “I even partnered with him for that first Pipers Pizza he opened the summer after high school. I mean, okay, he had a dozen other partners after that, and maybe a dozen people to have bad blood with him, so it might be money related, but where to even start?”

“God, I even got sucked into an Amway sales position he pitched me a few years ago,” Herb says and we all turn and stare at him. “I was looking to make a few bucks and it sounded good.”

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