take it back to the museum!”
“Wait,” she shakes her head. “You take the pen? But Barry…”
“Screw Barry! That chucklehead will just mess up again, or not take it back and say he did. Give me the pen and I’ll go straight to the museum and just hand them the damn thing. I’ll say somebody else took it and I’m returning it and that’s all they need to know. I’ll catch a little crap for it but I’m used to that. At least this way we know it will be back where it belongs and Tarlington will leave you alone.”
I could tell she was sorta hot about the way I was dissing Barry, but I could also see she was going to go along with it. Even though she would never admit it, the girl knew I was right and she was a lot better off having me do the deed instead of her pet idiot. Of course, right about then I also figured out she wasn’t ever going to thank me for any of it but I didn’t care about that anymore.
“Okayyyy…” She looked at me like she wasn’t sure about it. “But how will you get there. You don’t have a car.”
“I’ll walk. It’ll take a couple of hours but that still gets the pen back before it even gets close to being dark. You can go along with me, or go sit in some restaurant or something like that where there’s a lot of people around you. Give me your number and I’ll call you when the deed is done.”
She was nodding along with me as I talked and I knew that was the way it was going to go down. I also knew she would be staying at the restaurant but, like I said, I didn’t care anymore. I just wanted out.
“Okay. ” Laura keeps nodding and seems to be getting more in control of herself. “Okay, we’ll do it your way. My house is this way. It’s only a couple of more blocks.”
We start walking again and turn the corner to head down Wallace street. I can tell she’s eager to get home now because she’s looking ahead of her like a horse headin’ for the barn. Yeah, that’s an expression my Grandpa used to use, but it’s the best way to describe it. Anyways, it’s just as well she was because I look back to see if anybody was around to watch our little scene in the street and guess who I see…
Lamar Tarlington.
That dead bastard was watching us from the house at the intersection behind us! He was following us!
No, seriously! You know that blue house with the tall roof on the corner of Maple and Wallace? It has this big picture window in the front of it, and Lamar Tarlington was standing in it, big as life! And this time there wasn’t no way it was anybody else. He was wearing that same suit he has on in the portrait. Oh yeah, and the cleaver. What Laura was calling a really big knife was one of those huge butcher cleavers you see in some of those old movies. Probably the same one he used to kill those kids.
*Note: The weapon Lamar Tarlington used in his murders was never recovered, so this is purely speculation on the part of the suspect.
I almost crapped my pants again, because there he is glaring out at us the same way he was back at the school. He was standing there like he was both pissed and… inevitable…or something. I don’t know how to say it better than that. It’s more like the look of somebody who thinks he’s a whole world better than you and you’re just a little piece of trash that got in his way somehow. There’s anger in it, but something else too. All I know is I’m fighting not to start crying and blubbering like Laura had been, but I don’t say nothing to her and I just keep her headed for her house instead. If she had seen that, I’m pretty sure she would have just sat down right then and never stopped screaming.
But she didn’t see it. And because she hadn’t seen him since coming out of the school, her nerves were starting to settle a little as we got closer to her house. She pointed it out to me as we got closer and I could see she was even beginning to get a little excited. I guess she was starting to believe
“Wait,” she shakes her head. “You take the pen? But Barry…”
“Screw Barry! That chucklehead will just mess up again, or not take it back and say he did. Give me the pen and I’ll go straight to the museum and just hand them the damn thing. I’ll say somebody else took it and I’m returning it and that’s all they need to know. I’ll catch a little crap for it but I’m used to that. At least this way we know it will be back where it belongs and Tarlington will leave you alone.”
I could tell she was sorta hot about the way I was dissing Barry, but I could also see she was going to go along with it. Even though she would never admit it, the girl knew I was right and she was a lot better off having me do the deed instead of her pet idiot. Of course, right about then I also figured out she wasn’t ever going to thank me for any of it but I didn’t care about that anymore.
“Okayyyy…” She looked at me like she wasn’t sure about it. “But how will you get there. You don’t have a car.”
“I’ll walk. It’ll take a couple of hours but that still gets the pen back before it even gets close to being dark. You can go along with me, or go sit in some restaurant or something like that where there’s a lot of people around you. Give me your number and I’ll call you when the deed is done.”
She was nodding along with me as I talked and I knew that was the way it was going to go down. I also knew she would be staying at the restaurant but, like I said, I didn’t care anymore. I just wanted out.
“Okay. ” Laura keeps nodding and seems to be getting more in control of herself. “Okay, we’ll do it your way. My house is this way. It’s only a couple of more blocks.”
We start walking again and turn the corner to head down Wallace street. I can tell she’s eager to get home now because she’s looking ahead of her like a horse headin’ for the barn. Yeah, that’s an expression my Grandpa used to use, but it’s the best way to describe it. Anyways, it’s just as well she was because I look back to see if anybody was around to watch our little scene in the street and guess who I see…
Lamar Tarlington.
That dead bastard was watching us from the house at the intersection behind us! He was following us!
No, seriously! You know that blue house with the tall roof on the corner of Maple and Wallace? It has this big picture window in the front of it, and Lamar Tarlington was standing in it, big as life! And this time there wasn’t no way it was anybody else. He was wearing that same suit he has on in the portrait. Oh yeah, and the cleaver. What Laura was calling a really big knife was one of those huge butcher cleavers you see in some of those old movies. Probably the same one he used to kill those kids.
*Note: The weapon Lamar Tarlington used in his murders was never recovered, so this is purely speculation on the part of the suspect.
I almost crapped my pants again, because there he is glaring out at us the same way he was back at the school. He was standing there like he was both pissed and… inevitable…or something. I don’t know how to say it better than that. It’s more like the look of somebody who thinks he’s a whole world better than you and you’re just a little piece of trash that got in his way somehow. There’s anger in it, but something else too. All I know is I’m fighting not to start crying and blubbering like Laura had been, but I don’t say nothing to her and I just keep her headed for her house instead. If she had seen that, I’m pretty sure she would have just sat down right then and never stopped screaming.
But she didn’t see it. And because she hadn’t seen him since coming out of the school, her nerves were starting to settle a little as we got closer to her house. She pointed it out to me as we got closer and I could see she was even beginning to get a little excited. I guess she was starting to believe
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