Katie numbly walked through the living room, the kitchen and entered the dining room, expecting to have the third degree, but nothing came. She sat down quietly and waited for breakfast while her father cleared his throat and rustled his paper and her mother cooked.
"Morning sweetie," her mother commented, not turning around.
"Good morning…" she knew it was coming, but it was making her nervous that she had to wait for it. Her mother set eggs and bacon in front of her and the same in front of Mark. He put down his paper and started eating. Melinda grabbed half a grapefruit and a spoon and sat down quietly, also starting to eat.
Katie cleared her throat, and tried to get it over with quickly, "What time did you guys get to bed last night?"
Her mother looked up, "Eleven."
Katie swallowed, "Oh."
"What time did you get in last night, dear?" her father asked.
"What time did I get in?" Katie said, repeating the question.
Her father nodded, "That's what I asked.
"Oh…well…" she paused, "Uhm…about midnight."
"What were you doing?" her mother asked, as she kept eating.
Katie paused, knowing she should've planned for this. "Oh, just…driving."
"Driving?" Her mother repeated, doubt in her voice.
"Yea…driving. To relax…calm the nerves…you know?"
Her mother raised a brow, "Sure sweetie."
Mort lay lazily on his couch, where he had fallen around eleven thirty, when Katie had finally left. She had been so open with him, she had told him about her parents, her life in Tashmore Lake before, during and after college, about her husband to be, about her job and about her friends.
Nothing had felt so great.
Mort hadn't had such a connection with another human being, let alone a female, in months. It felt good to just be talked to. To be trusted with history, whether it was important or not. Katie had been so full of life, something that he hadn't hadin months as well.
He wanted to see her again.
We need to talk…since you're in the mood.
I don't want to talk to you…I want to talk to Katie again.
She's probably going to be the death of you, Mort. And as much as I might like that…you can't see her again.
I don't know what you're talking about.
Of course you don't.
Mort sighed again, next time would have to be lunch. They would talk over lunch.
"The sheriff's here to see you, honey," Mark said, coming into his daughter's room. Katie was on her bed, a couple hours after breakfast; she was continuing her read through 'Secret Window'. She sighed, taking off her glasses and putting the book down on her bed. She followed him out into the living room and waited for Dave to say something.
He cleared his throat while Melinda and Mark stayed in the room. "Hello Katie, how are you?"
She crossed her arms, "I'm fine. And yourself?"
"Good…"
"Then I'm assuming both our attitudes are going to change quickly…"
He cleared his throat again and said, "Who have you tortured with your questions?"
She narrowed her eyes, anger rising immediately. "I haven't tortured anyone, Sheriff."
"Who?"
She took in a deep breath and said, "Juliet and you…and my parents…Carol Web, Michelle Karstons, David Wenham and Marlene Morgan…and Ned Rivers and Charley Babcock. That's it."
He sighed, "Does anyone out of town know?"
"Who would need to know?"
He smiled, "Well no one needs to know…"
Katie crossed her arms, "I wouldn't necessarily agree with that."
He cleared his throat, asking the question again, "Does anyone else know? Your fiancé maybe…"
She paused, looking at her parents quickly, "How do you know about him?"
"I assumed with the large ring on your finger."
Katie's hand instinctively went to her left hand, covering the large diamond, "No, I haven't called him."
"Good. I don't want this going around town, Katie. We've forgotten about Mort and what he did. I don't want this town getting the scare again." She stayed quiet, just looking at him. "Will you do that for me, Katie?"
"What exactly does this entail?"
"Don't go asking people about him and their thoughts on it!"
She cleared her throat a little, "Okay."
"Alright."
He started to leave and Katie kicked herself to say something. "Sheriff!" she said, following him, her parents staying in the living room, "We never finished our conversation."
"It seems you finished it with plenty of other people, why would we need to?"
"Because you're the sheriff."
He sighed, and nodded, "Fine, what's your question?"
"Has there been an investigation? On the Rainey property, I mean."
Dave narrowed his eyes, "We don't have enough evidence right now to do such a thing…"
"Which means, you haven't had enough evidence in nine months…so why agree to do an article in a famous newspaper?"
Dave took in a deep breath, "I don't have to talk about this," he said frustrated and left, without listening to Katie.
"Michael, I think it'd be a good idea…I really do."
"I'm not coming down for another two weeks!"
"Still…"
He sighed into the phone and mumbled something she couldn't understand. "Sure. I'll be there tomorrow."
"Thanks, Mike."
"Yea…sure."
The rain started pouring out of no where. The temperature dropped drastically. New York had changed to November very quickly. Katie sat at her window and held her cell phone in her hand. Calling Mort and or going over to his home was awfully tempting. She didn't care if her parents found out, she wanted to talk to him again. Last night felt good. She wanted it to happen again.
She scrolled down her phone book in her cell phone and stopped at Mort's number. She looked back outside.
Cursing loudly, he went back into the house. He cursed again and shook off his jacket as he took it off. He cursed with every step he took up the stairs. Mort had never really liked the rain, so when it started pouring when he was in the middle of picking corn, he was less than happy. He put the corn on the bed and stripped the wet clothes off his body. Then going into the bathroom he got a towel and roughly dried his hair. Throwing the towel on the floor, he got warm, dry clothes and then got the corn and cursed once more before going back down stairs.
Walking past the phone, he watched it, as if it might turn into Katie. He put the corn into a pot and looked back at the phone.
Mort, don't.
She might like corn…
NO! You're not going to drag her into this! No!
Mort paused, and then walked over picked the phone, and dialed her number.
It was busy.
See? She has other plans for today…better things to do…
Mort hung up the phone and looked at it sourly. He stared at it for a minute before going back into his kitchen to fix the corn.
Katie hung up and let out a deep breath. Try again, Kate. She took in another deep breath and tried once more, hoping to get a human voice.
The phone rang and Mort ran for it, "Hello?"
"Mort?" Katie let out the breath.
Hello, Mort. Are you all right?
"Mort?" Katie repeated, finding no answer on the other end of the phone.
Mort snapped to and shook his head, as if to shake the memory from his mind. "Yea…I'm here."
"Oh…well…it's Katie…"
"Hi…how are you?"
"Fine…fine…and you?"
"I'm good. Just fine."
Katie paused, "Well uhm, I thought I might call you…"
I had one of those feelings I get.
Mort tried to focus as words blocked out Katie's explanation. "…freaked you out last night. I just wanted to make sure that you-"
"Oh no," Mort said, cutting her off, "It was actually pleasant to communicate with another human being."
"Oh…" Katie frowned, "You make is sound like a surprise."
"Well…no…It's just not a whole lot of people come up here…"
You're up there all alone. Anything could happen and nobody would know.
I'd know.
Mort kept going, "…so I was just surprised when you showed up…but it was nice…really."
Katie smiled, "So you wouldn't mind if it happened again?"
"How about lunch?"
"Sure."
After talking with Mort and making plans for the next day, Katie fell asleep on her bed, hoping a nap would help calm her down. About two hours later, she heard voices from the next room; laughing. But still mildly asleep, she began to dream with reality mixed in.
She was home late again. She slinked in, thinking she was going to see George in the other room, sitting at the dinner table, asleep. But instead she saw the food was eaten, and the candles which were once tall, were still lit and short. Then she heard the giggling from upstairs. She put her bag down and hung up her coat and slowly made her way upstairs. Once more the giggling came from outside her bedroom door. Taking in a deep breath, and knowing what she might see, Katie went in. There on the bed, was an astonished George and a skinny, pretty blonde. Both were naked.
Katie woke up with a jolt and took in a deep breath. She rubbed her forehead, finding it a little wet with sweat. Again she heard the laughing from the other room. She sighed and wiped off the sweat and made her way out of bed. Walking out into the living room were her parents, and surprisingly, her brother, Kevin. They both smiled and he got up to hug her.
"We were just talking about you Kate…about old times…"
They pulled apart, "I didn't know you were coming…what are you doing here? Where's Cindy and Jordan?" She asked, speaking of his wife and son.
"They'll be here a few days before Thanksgiving."
Katie paused, "But why come early? You live in California!"
Kevin frowned, "I didn't think I'd get the third degree…"
"Well…I'm just…surprised. That's all."
"I wanted to see my baby sister! And making sure you weren't stressed being mom and dad," he said with a smile. Katie's smile went off her face however. Kevin cleared his throat, seeing the emotional change in his sister and said, "So what do you want to do?"
"Oh, well…I was actually…going to go meet Juliet for coffee…hope you don't mind."
"No…no…go ahead."
Katie nodded and went to her room to get her purse, but quickly stuck Mort's book in it, with no intend of going to coffee.
Katie didn't even get to read any of Mort's book. She decided, after reading a chapter of the book, that knowing how Mort supposedly killed Amy and her lover would be something to look into. No one had actually told her how they died, and she was glad, because no one would really know.
There was no morgue in the small town, so Katie went to the next city that did. New York City. After driving for a couple hours, Katie made her way into her home- where she felt most comfortable. It was amazing how calm she felt afterward.
Finding the city morgue was easy enough, considering she knew the city pretty well. She knew the bodies probably wouldn't still be there, but the records would be. The bell over the door rang clearly as Katie stepped into a large office area. There was a middle-aged woman behind the desk and she looked up with Katie entered.
"Can I help you?"
"Uhm, yes, I'm Katie Culver and I'm from the New York Times. I need to find some records."
The woman paused, "What kind of records?"
"Well, two people. A male and female…that were murdered."
"And?"
"Well I need to know how they died."
The woman paused again, raising an eyebrow, "Follow me." She got up and walked away and Katie went through a swinging door, hot on her heels. The woman led her into a large room filled with filing cabinets. "What year?"
"Two thousand and three."
"Month?"
Katie paused, "Fall…I think…"
The older woman sighed, "State? Town?"
"Lake Tashmore, New York."
The woman paused, "Who did you say you were?"
"Katie Culver, with the New York Times."
"Not the police?"
"No…"
The woman shrugged and stopped looking. Katie frowned though, "Wait, why?"
"I know the two people you're lookin' for. Amy Rainey and Ted Milner. Right?"
Katie suddenly felt sick to her stomach, "They've been famous?"
"Ms. Culver, the two bodies haven't been found yet. Don't you read the papers? None of the bodies have."
"The bodies haven't even been found!"
"Katie, this isn't any of your concern! You're not investigating, you're not with the police, and you're not family of Mort or of the deceased. The fact of the matter is Ms. Rainey and Mr. Milner are gone. Dead or not, they are gone. And that same day, Mort was seen arguing with Mr. Milner. Both their cars are gone from Mr. Milner's house. The signs point to Mort."
Katie shook her head, "I don't understand how you can do that to that man!"
The sheriff sighed, fed up with Katie. "You don't have to understand, because it's none of your business!" She opened her mouth to object but he kept going, "You have no legal aid to offer Mort, even if he did confess, which I know is beyond him now. He's so far gone in la-la land that I doubt he knows what he's done! I want you to STOP talking about him to me, or anyone else in this town, do you hear me?"
Katie frowned, angry, "Yes, sir."
"Good."
Author's Note:
Thanks to everyone who reviewed! But once again, I'm horridly late. Hope you all have a Merry Christmas.