Page 39 of Bad Mother

“I think that’s a safe assumption,” Sienna said. She thought for a moment as the light turned green and Kat accelerated through the intersection. This was the neighborhood where she and Gavin had rented that tiny house so many years before. The one neither of them had ever lived in. She wondered what had become of it. After their wedding-that-wasn’t, she had called the landlord and left a message on his machine telling him they had to renege on their lease agreement. She hadn’t pursued the security deposit they’d scrounged up, even though she’d needed it, but she supposed the landlord could have attempted to force them to make good on the contract and pay in full, and he hadn’t, so Sienna had cut her losses on that front. Sienna had cut a lot of losses that year. A few hundred dollars was the least of them.

Her mind had begun to wander as she looked out at the neighborhood, and she forced her thoughts back to order. “Do you get a strange Oedipus vibe from these notes?” she asked Kat.

Kat made a clicking sound with her teeth. “That’s a good way to put it. There’s definitely something off about the way he talks about his mother. That’s why I still question the factual nature of the story,” she said, nodding to the papers in Sienna’s lap. “It has a fictional quality to it.”

“Yeah,” Sienna said, “I agree. It could befictionalizedtoo. Like it’s real, but he’s putting his own fantastical spin on it.”

“Right. Because if it’salla head fake, what’s the point, you know?”

“I still think we should assume there’s something truthful to his story but continue to question what feels off...” Sienna’s words faded as the GPS instructed Kat to turn, and Sienna realized this wasn’t only the neighborhood where she and Gavin had rented the house they’d planned to live in as husband and wife; it was the very same street.

Kat pulled up in front of a ramshackle house, a large tree shading the curb.No, this is different. It has to be.Kat was saying something, but Sienna was only half listening as she got out of the car, following along behind her partner, trying to make sense of where she was. Surely she was mistaken. She’d been thinking about the house and confused herself.This isn’t it, merely similar.The place they’d rented had been shabby, but it hadn’t been dilapidated like this one. There hadn’t been a foreclosure sign lying flat in the patchy grass. The tree near the fence had been twiggy and small. Kat and Sienna approached the house, the door open just a crack. A hum took up under Sienna’s skin, and she held her breath as Kat nudged the turquoise door open with her foot, the pent-up air coming out in a harsh exhale.

She remembered this door, the way the turquoise color had seemed like such a happy omen. What would be a beautiful new start. The way the color turquoise always made her stomach sour now.

“No way,” she whispered, a guttural quality to her voice.

“What is it?” Kat asked, obviously sensing her shock as, weapons drawn, they went inside the house.

She blinked at the room they’d entered, feeling as though she’d been shot back in time, a trip that left her shaky and reeling. It was. It wasthehouse. “I rented this house eleven years ago,” she said.

Kat stilled, turning toward her. “Hold up. What?”

“I told you Gavin and I dated, but it was more than that. We’d planned to be married... this is the house we rented. We never lived here, but...”

Before Kat could answer, music started playing from the room beyond. Kat’s and Sienna’s eyes met, Kat’s widening before they crept forward. Sienna knew the room they were moving toward was a shoebox kitchen with yellow cabinets and brick-printed linoleum. She knew because it had almost been hers.

“How charming!” Mirabelle had said when she’d stepped inside. Even then, Sienna had known that was an extremely generous description, but the rose-colored glasses she’d worn had meant she’d agreed anyway. It would be beautiful. Because it would be theirs.

Kat gestured to Sienna to take one side of the doorway, and she took the other, calling, “Reno police! Show yourself!”

Not a creak could be heard, even though the music played softly, a children’s sing-along version of “Camptown Races,” a jubilant harmonica accompanying the vocals.

Camptown racetrack five miles long. Oh! Doo-dah day!

Oh no.

Kat called several more times, and they listened carefully, hearing nothing. Sienna had managed to clear her mind of the shock of where they’d been... lured, was that the right word? It was certainly how it felt. She couldn’t think about what it meant, though. Not now.

With a gesture and nod, they rounded the corner, each sweeping the room so all corners were covered.

“Oh crap,” Kat said, letting out a breath. There was a window, but it’d been boarded over from the outside, thin shafts of light streaming through. But there was plenty of light coming in from the front of thehouse and no corners to hide in. They both lowered their weapons. The man in the center of the room wasn’t going to harm them. He was all but mummified, threadbare clothes hanging off his bones. Next to him was an old crate, and on top of that sat what looked like a battery-operated radio. There was actually an extra battery next to it, as though the person who’d set this up had brought a spare in case they hadn’t figured out enough to follow the clues here before the ones inside the radio went dead. Sienna leaned slightly, confirming her guess, seeing that there was no cord just as the song came to a stop and, seconds later, began again.

“It’s on a loop,” she said, letting out a breath.

Kat stepped forward before slowly pulling something from beneath the radio. Yet another of Danny Boy’s installments, when they’d only just finished one.

Sienna stared at the decomposed corpse, bending and tilting her head. “Kat, look,” she said, pointing to the rotted fabric hanging from the arm. It was difficult to tell what color the material had once been, but one thing was clear: there was a round leather patch at the elbow.

Kat bent, looking to where Sienna indicated. “Mr.Patches?”

“It could be,” Sienna murmured, straightening.

“Let’s get out of here and call the coroner,” Kat said.

Sienna nodded.And read Danny Boy’s latest note.Her muscles felt sore and tight, and she didn’t hurry as they made their way through the house and back to the car. The man inside wasn’t going anywhere.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

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