Page 47 of Say Nothing
"Dr.Payne!"the reporter shouted."Do you have anything to say about the murders?Special Agent Sullivan!Are you any closer to arresting someone?"
"Give me a second," Derek said."Stay in the vehicle."
Derek got out and approached the reporter, and the reporter approached Derek, tape recorder held out to get anything on the record.
"Step aside," Derek ordered."We’re trying to do our jobs."
"How is that going?"the reporter asked."One quote, and I’m out of here.I knew you’d come back here eventually, Dr.Payne!"
Alison sat in the car, looking out of the window instead of giving the reporter the pleasure of her attention.Derek pushed the reporter gently but firmly to the side and away from the gate.
"Get out of here or I will arrest you," Derek said.
"On what grounds?"the reporter asked.
"Trespassing."
"Trespassing?I’m on public land," the reporter claimed.
"You weren’t during the night, were you?"Derek asked."It’s all on camera.The gate wasn’t open, so how did you get in?"
The reporter looked past Derek to Alison in the vehicle and then back to Derek.He held the recorder before him as if it were a shield that could protect him, and eventually relented and moved from the gate, taking a few steps but not leaving the front of the property.
Derek came back to the car and drove up to the gate.He lowered the window, and Alison whispered the code to him.He entered it, and the gate slid to the side.He drove onto the property and stopped the car, getting out quickly and looking behind at the gate to ensure the reporter didn't follow them in.
Alison also looked back, watching as the gate slid closed.When it did, the reporter walked back to his vehicle, got back in, and started it.
Alison went to the keypad on her door, and was about to enter the code when she saw the small green light indicating that the door wasn’t locked.She reached for the handle and opened the door as the reporter drove off.
"Derek," she hissed.
Derek rushed to her side, already drawing his gun.
"It wasn’t locked," she whispered."I always lock the door and set the alarm.Someone’s in there."
"Stay here," he ordered.He held the gun pointed at the door, and used his free hand to push the door slowly open.He took slow steps into the house, moving his gun in a wide arc to cover as much of the interior as possible.
Alison looked back toward the gate, where the reporter was no longer.She reached into her bag and took out her gun.
This is my home and I won't be scared in my own home.
She followed Derek silently into the house.Her heart was racing as she stepped inside.She told herself not to be scared, but that didn't do much when there could be a killer hiding somewhere inside.Even with her gun and Derek with his, she couldn’t be anything other than afraid.
Derek pointed his gun into the living room, holding it at chest height, his breathing calm and even.He moved through the room with Alison following, and into the kitchen, moving in a circle.He looked back into the living room to see Alison with her gun, and a look of frustration crossed his face.
He pointed his gun to the side as he walked toward her, getting close enough to whisper, "Stay here.I mean it, this time."
He moved past her to search the rest of the house.
Alison pointed her gun at the large window that gave a view of the open land directly outside, leading down to the city.Trees and bushes marked the land, and dotted on the hillside, spread apart, were the houses.
Are you down there now?Was that your escape route, or…
Only one reporter had remained at her house.Only one had come to her door in the middle of the night.Was he the one who had entered her home and been caught when he was leaving?Was he looking for a story, or was he up to something else?She hadn’t followed up on who he was or checked that his credentials were real.
She turned from the window and found her sister’s old swim photo, the one where she posed in her swimsuit with three other female swimmers after they broke the high school freestyle relay record.Only, there was an addition this time.
Scrawled across the front of the photo, in lipstick which couldn’t have been hers as she didn't own any, were the words:You’re next!
