Come Get Me (7 page)

Besides, Jim wanted to find Rob not have Rob
come find him because he was coming to arrest him for disturbing
the peace or something. The guy didn’t seem concerned that Jim had
noticed him so Jim decided to adopt the same attitude. Seeming
bored with what he saw the guy eventually looked away and so did
Jim but not before risking another quick look. This time Jim
realized the face actually was familiar. He just didn’t know why.
It must be someone he knew when he’d lived here before but he
couldn’t remember who. Not wanting to walk up to somebody who quite
probably was a stranger Jim gave up the idea of trying to find out
who it was and turned to leave when suddenly something else caught
his eye. A woman about his age, dressed in a restaurant uniform had
just come out and was jogging towards him from the back entrance of
the building. Watching her bounce her way to him he thought she was
awfully bubbly. She was slightly tall, maybe a little on the thin
side but not overtly so, with dirty blonde hair that trailed in the
wind behind her and she bounced nicely in all the right places. She
almost looked like a model he’d seen on TV but not quite. Being
curious as to who it was he decided to wait and see. He didn’t
recognize her but that didn’t necessarily mean anything plus she
was a looker so he figured it might actually be a good idea to
wait. He’d been gone a long time. Hell, for all he knew the guy
sitting in the truck was Rob and this was his girlfriend. Worse
comes to worse it would all be a mistake but then again maybe not.
He thought she looked more and more familiar the closer she got. He
still couldn’t place her but he thought the possibilities of
knowing her were increasing. Just about the same time she reached
him a long forgotten memory flashed through his head. It was from
high school and a girl that looked a lot like the one smiling at
him was trailing him through the halls. He looked over his shoulder
every once in a while and there she was. Then he was back staring
at her hoping she hadn’t said anything to him while he’d been
daydreaming. The memory still lingered. Looking at her he
remembered she’d had some kind of crush on him or something. He
would tell her she should stop following him but she would never
listen. She constantly bugged him and his friends. They teased him
unmercifully. He really hoped this wasn’t the same girl but the
more he looked at her the more he was sure it was. She changed a
lot since then though. He remembered her being skinny with no shape
whatsoever.

That wasn’t the case now.

He was having a hard time keeping his eyes
above her neck especially since her chest was heaving up and down
from her running to catch up with him. Her name was on the tip of
his tongue when she finally got enough air to speak to him.

“I’m glad you stopped,” she huffed, “I was
calling you from the drive through. I didn’t think you heard me at
first. You’re Jim Collins right?”

“Yup, fraid that’s me,” he answered. “I
actually didn’t think you were talking to me. That’s why I didn’t
stop. I haven’t been around here for a long time…..” he finished
still struggling to remember her name.

“Maria,” she said supplying it for him,
“Maria Derch.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right Maria Derch. I
remember now. We knew each other in high school right?” he said
trying unsuccessfully to cover up that he hadn’t remembered her
name. “I think we even had a few classes together.” He hopped he
was right about that. It was bad enough he didn’t remember her
name. That probably made her feel real good.

If the smile that spread over her face was
any indication he’d said the right thing. Jim was still a little
vague on anything other than the fact that she used to pester him
but he figured acting like he remember more wasn’t going to harm
anyone. He didn’t really want to hurt her feelings either since she
was the first person he’d seen from the old days. It didn’t hurt
that she was good looking either. Who knows maybe she’s changed, he
thought as she began speaking.

“Right,” she said giggling like a teenager,
“you do remember me! Although we had more than a few classes
together if you know what I mean.” Unfortunately he had no idea
what she meant. The way she said it made him think she thought he
should know. Too bad he didn’t. For the life of him, all he could
remember was being in math and maybe an art class or something with
her back in the twelfth grade. Except her following him around but
she couldn’t possibly mean that. If she was talking about anything
else he was drawing a blank.

“Oh yeah, that’s right,” he said cautiously
not wanting to look like an idiot. Thinking it was a safer route to
take, he quickly changed the subject to something he was a little
more comfortable with. “So how have you been since graduation?”

“Oh you know,” she began without too much
enthusiasm, “not too much to do around here. We have a bake sale
every now and then and we finally have some new restaurants and a
Wal-Mart being put in but other than that it’s small town life as
normal. Still as exciting as ever.” After that she launched in to
how he was and what he’d been up to. He didn’t have much of a
chance to say anything since almost as soon as he started speaking
she took off on another topic. Something about the town and some of
the people still living there. He didn’t pay much attention. His
earlier idea about her having changed seemed to’ve been shot to
hell, she was still as annoying as ever. She did still look pretty
good he thought trying to distract himself from her voice. He could
always use a gag if they hooked up. She was in the middle of saying
something or other that he wasn’t really paying attention to when
he caught a name he recognized.

“Excuse me what did you just say?” he asked
before she could start in on another topic and forget all about the
name she’d said.

“I said, you must’ve come home because of
Tommy’s funeral. It is in a couple of day’s y’know,” she said
rolling her eyes dramatically as if repeating herself were too
troubling.

“Yeah,” he muttered, “that’s about the only
reason, other than my family, I have for coming back to this
place.” He hoped she might say something else about Tommy. Maybe
he’d left a message with her or something. She seemed like she’d at
least known him so maybe she had more information. It was like he
was expecting something from beyond the grave to explain everything
and he was looking towards anyone he met to give it to him. Looking
at Maria though he knew she definitely wouldn’t be the one. Tommy
would never be that desperate.

She looked slightly offended after hearing
his words but quickly covered it up by talking again. “The rumor
going around is that he was killed by some kind of bogeyman or
something. They say he was out in the woods all alone and was
killed but nobody knows how. I heard he was really messed up.
Stuffed on a tree or something like that. Now, I don’t know if it’s
true or not but I guess it could be considering all the other
rumors going around. The sheriff is trying to keep it all quiet but
I don’t think it’s working to well.” She looked around, then in a
slightly lower voice said, “I also heard that it looked like
someone pushed him but they don’t have any proof.”

“What do you mean all the other rumors and
what about someone pushing him? I hadn’t heard that before,” he
asked. Maybe he would get some use out this conversation after all.
If nothing else he would have a few more questions to ask Rob when
he found him.

“Well,” she began whispering as if there was
anybody else in the general area that even cared, “everybody is
saying how he was pushed out his tree stand. At least, that is, all
the people I’ve talked to. I don’t see how that could’ve happened
though. I mean a tree stand is pretty small isn’t it? I don’t know.
Anyways, the rumor going around is that Tommy was doing something
with one of the boys in towns’ wife and he kinda caught them at it.
He got him back though by going out to Tommy’s stand and killing
him. Yup, pushed him right out of it they say. Then to make it look
like an accident he tossed him on a tree or something. I don’t know
what the big deal is about falling on a tree is though. I mean
falling on a tree isn’t that big a deal. I’ve seen a lot of people
fall out of trees and on them too.” She said all of this as if it
was an everyday occurrence. Jim almost pitied her for being so
stupid. Not seeming to know any different she stepped even closer
than she already was and told him it was all being kept quiet
because the tree Tommy had landed on was way to far away for him to
have made it there by himself. There was no way he could’ve reached
it without help. Everything Jim was hearing, even considering the
source, was making it harder and harder to believe Tommy’s death
had been an accident.

Maria paused for a breath before adding a
little gruesomeness to her already macabre story. She smiled and
told him that there was also a rumor going around about there being
blood all over the place when they’d finally found Tommy. She said
she had it on good authority that it had been everywhere. Even on
the tree stand that he supposedly fell out of. That was one of the
things that were supposed to be such a secret, because if he fell
out of the stand onto a tree then how did the blood get up there?
This supposed friend of hers said the police’s shoes were drenched
in it when they got done walking around looking for clues. As Jim
stood with a look of mounting horror creeping across his face she
quickly added that everything she was telling him was just rumors
and that none of it was probably true and that if anyone asked he
didn’t hear them from her. She must’ve thought the look on his face
was acceptance of everything she said because she looked pretty
happy about everything after that.

She was actually a lot happier about
everything than he would’ve expected someone in this type of
situation to be. She must've sensed something was wrong though
because she suddenly let out an eep and a look of embarrassment
sprang across her features. Jim had never heard anyone make an
“eep” sound before now and if the situation were different he
might’ve laughed but after what she’d just told and how much
pleasure she’d taken in the telling he didn’t care.

“Oh!” she squeaked. “Wait a minute! You were,
like, best friends or something with Tommy weren’t you?” She hadn’t
waited for an answer to any other of her questions so why start
now. “Oh God! I totally forgot! Here I’ve been going on and on
about it like it was just regular everyday gossip, not thinking for
one minute I was talking to one of his best friends. I am so
sorry.” She would have stood there apologizing for the rest of the
day if he’d let her and he was half tempted to but it eventually
got on his nerves, plus he didn’t really think she was for some
reason so he cut her off.

“Maria its ok, really,” he began, trying to
keep his voice under control. “You made an honest mistake. Don’t
worry about it. Really. I’m trying not to think too much about
everything but I’m glad you told me what you did. It’ll give me
something to ask Rob about if I ever find him. You made a mistake
and now you’ve apologized. End of story. Let’s leave it at
that.”

She didn’t look like she believed him but he
didn’t really care what she thought anymore. He had bigger things
to worry about than whether or not she believed him.

“It look it’s getting late,” he said looking
at the darkening sky. “I think I should probably get back to my
mom’s house before she sends out a search party. We’ve been talking
for longer than I thought plus it is only my first night back so I
guess I should at least go spend some of my time with her.” As he
was talking he slowly began backing up hoping she would get the
hint and let him escape before he said something that really would
hurt her feelings. Not that it mattered. He definitely wouldn’t be
hooking up with her while he was home, so it didn’t really matter
what she thought of him, but he was trying to be nice.

She must’ve understood because she quickly
said “Oh yeah, I understand. I really need to get back to work
anyways.” She turned to go and Jim thought hoped he was free but
unfortunately he wasn’t that lucky. After taking only a few steps
she stopped and looked back over her shoulder.

“If you need to talk to someone or just want
to, you know, go out or something, you can give me a call,” she
offered sweetly. “I’m in the book or you can, you know, just come
by here. I’m usually here if I’m not at home. Don’t be afraid to
call me day or night. I’m here for you if you need me. Ok?”

He hesitated before replying. “I don’t know
Maria. I think I’ll be ok. I’m only going to be here for a few days
and I’ll probably be pretty busy. But, uh, you know, if I get a
chance you’ll be the first person I call… We’ll see what happens.
But if we don’t get a chance to get together, it was really good
seeing you again.” As he finished he turned and started walking
away so she wouldn’t have a chance to say anything else.

He almost felt bad. He hoped he hadn’t hurt
her feelings too much by being so abrupt. He guessed her heart
might be in the right place but after hearing her rendition of “The
Killing of Tommy” he didn’t think he wanted to be around her too
much. Something about her was just a little bit weird. She seemed
like she just wanted to help him get through everything but you
never knew with people like her.

He was about to turn around and check to see
if she was watching him walk away when he heard an engine roar to
life behind him. Stifling the urge to spin around he casually
glanced over his other shoulder, the one he would see Maria over if
she was there, and looked to see what was going on. The guy who’d
been sitting in the parking lot fish tailed out onto the road and
squealed tires as he raced away into the fading light leaving
nothing but the smell of burnt rubber behind. Wondering what that
had all been about, Jim noticed almost as an afterthought that
Maria was nowhere to be seen. He again had a strange feeling that
he knew the guy acting like a race car driver but just couldn’t
place his name.