Free Family Murders: A Thriller by Henry Carver

near-tangible heat coming off of him. At the same time, Rocky started taking a step forward. For a second Angela thought about just letting him go, letting it happen, but instead she reached down and grabbed his collar. She could feel him surge against her, and then he was barking and snapping. She had never seen him like this before. Rocky was a member of the family, with a seemingly human personality, but that personality had dissolved. He was all animal.
    "Control your dog, Angela," Eric said.
    Angela said nothing because she was putting all her energy into an act of will, forcing herself not to open her hand.
    "You know, I'm glad we have this chance to talk. Just you and me. You've been reading up on me. Did you get a copy of the trial transcript too?"
    "Yes," she said.
    "Did you read it?"
    "Yes."
    "So then I don't have to tell you—you already know." The edges of Eric's eyes turned downward; a perfect mimicry of sadness. "You're not the first person to treat me like a monster. Hell, you're far from the first person to say it to my face. The funny thing is, I've never harmed another person in my whole life."
    "I read your bullshit story."
    "That's what it was to you? Bullshit?"
    "You raped your sister and got away with it. Yes, it's bullshit." Angela half-turned, disgusted with the idea of being so close to the hands that—
    "Look at me. Look at me! " Her eyes met his, and for second they just both just stared. "I. Never. Touched. Her. Do you understand?" The earlier sadness returned, but this time is was mixed with his current fire. The combination distorted his features. He seemed angry and broken in a way that would be impossible to fake. Angela began to consider that he believed what he was saying and wasn't sure if that made things better or worse. A calculating sociopath was one thing, was what she had prepared herself for. An unhinged nutcase was something else entirely.
    Eric perked up, smiled at her. "So now you're thinking I'm crazy."
    "Either you must have done it in cold blood and planned to get away with it, or you did by accident and got lucky. And you know what? I don't care which. I really don't."
    "That's good. That's progress. If you can make the leap from evil to diseased, maybe you can take a few more leaps for me."
    "The police know about you. They have the locket. They found out what it is."
    Eric threw back his head and laughed. "Good! I only got a glimpse of it before your loyal friend here chased me into the woods. I had a feeling that's what it was, but I didn't get a good look."
    "You didn't get a good look before you buried it?"
    "I've got news for you, Angela—a locket isn't all the police are going to find."
    "Yeah, they're going to find you," she said.
    "Yes. Yes, they are. But not quite yet. This is the first we've had any time together, so let me tell you a little story."
    "I've heard enough."
    "Indulge me."
    "Why should I?"
    "Should I threaten you? Because I'll hurt you if you don't and blah blah blah. You could have run away the moment you saw me. Instead you're standing here. I don't need to make any threats. This moment, this is the whole reason you're still here. You want to hear what I have to say."
    Angela said nothing. And inside, deep inside, she admitted that she did. So she held tight to Rocky's collar, ready to let go if the moment called for it, and started to listen.

10
    What do you think I did after the trial ended? I tried to live, of course. Tried to re-enter my life at all the points I thought mattered, tried to forget, as though six months had just been snipped out and lost forever. I put that time into a box in my head and marked it Do Not Open. For a long time, I didn't.
    My mistake was also forgetting about everyone else. I assumed they would want to forget as much as I did, that they would assist in an act of collective memory erasure by never, ever mentioning what had happened. At the time it seemed obvious. I mean, who would want to think about that if they