Page 3 of Secrets Along the Shore
My one-word answer might seem calloused. Unempathetic. Or even unemotional considering my past experiences. The truth was, all of that was true. I had to be calloused just to endure. Empathy was the sure way to an emotional break. Emotions were the kryptonite to survival. So. “Yep”, it was.
“I knew her.” Livia stated, already referring to the missing woman in the past tense. But I noticed, and because it was Livia, I didn’t hold it against her.
“She used to stop here at the coffee shop with her friends. I think she’s seventeen—maybe eighteen?”
“Eighteen,” I supplied. One year older than I had been.
“I suppose this dredges up old?—”
“Nope. There’s nothing similar about her disappearance. She just—disappeared. There were signs when I vanished. There was evidence.Hewanted people to know I was missing.” That, and the fact that if my abductor hadn’t let people know, no one would have noticed, and he wouldn’t have gotten any further credit. It must suck to be a celebrity serial killer. Hard to keep up the image.
“Right, but?—”
“Not to mention, it’s only been twenty-four-hours. The odds are still high she’ll be found.” I argued, knowing that my nonfactual statement gave away my internal desire to feel better about ignoring it. Always ignore it. It wasn’t my story. It wasn’t about me. Not any more. It’d been ten years.
Livia was quiet so long that I was afraid my curt responses had hurt her feelings. I opened my mouth to offer an empty apology in hopes of making her feel better. I wasn’t quick enough.
“Noa, they found a snake outside of her bedroom window.”
If you’ve ever cut yourself with a well-sharpened knife, you’ll know that when you slice your skin, you don’t even feel it. It’s not until the blood is dripping onto the floor and your brain catches up with your nervous system that you suddenly realize the severity of the cut. That was how it was with Livia’s announcement.
Oh. A snake.
Crazy weird.
Are snakes amphibians or reptiles?
Amphibians.
I think.
A snake.
Oh God. A snake.
Everything inside of me hurt, and if a statement could make me drip blood, this one made it pour.
I almost dropped the phone.
“Noa?” Livia’s voice was far away. “Noa? Are you okay?”
A snake.
A snake coiled in a basket.
It was his symbol. He’d carved it into his victim’s neck like avampire leaving behind teeth marks. The autopsies of the three women found prior to me escaping had indicated they’d been carved while they were still alive.
“But it could just be a coincidence.” Livia was still chattering, her nervous energy making it very obvious she knew how this would potentially affect me. “It was just a garden snake. A totally sus garden snake, sure, but—I mean—it could’ve justdiedthere, under her window. It doesn’t mean it’s a calling card.”
But it did. It did mean that. I knew it. Livia knew it.
He had given himself the moniker of TheNahash—some weird Hebrew word that the press had swapped out for its English equivalent. The Serpent.
It sounded so ominous. So ridiculous.
“Noa?” Livia tried again.
I didn’t answer. I just—ended the call.
