Chapter 21

Kipp

H

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E

And because using my mom’s literal remains isn’t fucked up enough of a greeting, this sick, twisted fuck displayed her arms at the ends, wide open, like they’re welcoming him to town right beside the population sign.

Bile burns up the back of my throat prompting me to ball a fist and place it against my lips to keep it down.

“These are most definitely human remains,” Dr. Arlando Raum, the ME from Crystal Waters, decisively concludes from where his rounder, large frame is squatting beside the message. “I see femurs.” He extends his glove covered fingers to point out their location. “Tibias.” His presenting shifts. “Rib pieces that if put together would probably assemble into a short, narrow ribcage, indicating those bones – at least – were likely to have been taken from a female.”

This time there’s no stopping the vomit from spewing out of my mouth and onto the feet of Bunny who doesn’t scream.

Doesn’t shout.

Doesn’t even flinch away as chunks from the burger I had for lunch land on the edges of her scribbled-on shoes.

Using the back of my wrist, I wipe away the left behind droplets in tandem with lifting my head to meet her gaze. “Baby, I’m-”

“ Don’t, Kid. ” She stretches out the edge of her chunky baby pink sweater and clears away whatever dribbles I’ve missed. “ They’re just shoes. ”

Her lack of disgust with me or what I’ve done merely encourages the tears that I’m incapable of stopping to break free.

Hit the corners of my eyes.

Make themselves seen on my lids.

Shinier in the sun.

My girlfriend’s slow nodding barely precedes her tightly winding both arms around my torso, wordlessly informing me it’s okay to cry.

To be sad.

Weak.

Except I’m not fucking weak.

I’m heartbroken and pissed and vengeful and making a long list – that I’ll be checking twice like I’m goddamn Santa – of all the fucking things I plan to do to this prick when we find him.

Road hauling him out of town is the first thing that comes to mind.

Tying one end of him to my car and the other to Nolan’s truck and driving in opposites directions is another.

Maybe we’ll have him drink a cocktail of motor oil and power steering fluid first.

Tiny hot breaths hit my torso pushing me to momentarily close my eyes and embrace Bunny in return. I rest my cheek against the top of her head and suck in deep breaths, adoring the scents of peppermint and evergreen and cinnamon that attached themselves to her when she was at Posie’s shop earlier, enjoying her afternoon.

Having a life.

Living. Life.

I swear it’s like this piece of shit lemon knew he hadn’t been getting to us lately and needed to correct that.

“Thinkin’ this is the coccyx,” Dr. Raum states, pulling my attention back to him.

“I didn’t think the cock had bones,” Post rebuts in an amused grunt. “Guess you learn something new every day.”

Dr. Raum shakes his head in disbelief before explaining, “Human males do not have a bone in their penis – unlike other mammals – however, the coccyx is this one right here,” he gestures to part of the R, “which is technically several vertebrae fused together.” His bright blue gaze oscillates between me and Post. “The fact the individual chose something this… small …this… particular to include in their message indicates – in my professional opinion – this was meticulously planned. The coccyx isn’t just a random, easy to reach or manipulate bone. It’s tiny. And hard to locate without training. And not the spur of the moment pick when in a hurry.”

Fuck, how long has he been planning this?

Was this what he intended to do with her body from the beginning?

Was this always his fucked-up end game for it?

More churning of my stomach encourages new rounds of vomit to surge up my throat, yet I swallow it.

Force it to stay down.

Unseen.

Unheard.

I gotta keep my shit together.

Bunny’s gotta know I can handle whatever’s thrown at us.

That I’m capable of being whoever and doing whatever is necessary for her.

And us.

And our child.

“You sure this is your mother, Woods?” Post cautiously investigates. “A lot of grifters pass this direction. A lot of them and college kids. And hippie honeymooners.” His eyes flood with sympathy I could do without. “These remains could belong to any one of them.”

“That’s her wedding ring,” I kick my chin to the skeleton’s spread extremities where a gold band that possesses a tiny, single emerald is nestled. “You’ll see Woods engraved on the inside.”

The ME looks up at Post, waiting for the instruction to check for evidence, and once it’s given, he carefully lifts the finger to remove the accessory. Less than a minute later, he’s twirling the ring around, relief instantly settling into his expression. “It’s not her.”

Befuddlement has me lifting my head off of my girl’s. “Then whose is it?”

“Says Abernathy,” Dr. Raum enthusiastically exclaims. “These bones belong to a woman named Bunny Abernathy.”

It’s impossible to stop her from ripping herself out of my arms. “ Baby- ”

“No…” she shakes her head in disbelief. “No…” Additional denial is effortlessly presented. “ No. ”

Dr. Raum cringes as his bald head turns upward, the late afternoon sun bouncing off it. “I take it you know this, Bunny Abernathy?”

Rather than reply in words, hitched breaths are given, and I’m not surprised.

I can’t be.

Most of the world we know thinks her last name is Ripley.

She’s absolutely become Ripley.

Much like detective Brian became illegal street racer Brian.

Hell, even Post – who is somewhat aware of the stalking situation – doesn’t know her real last name, although now he probably does.

He’s not exactly the Jeff Gordon of cop shit, but he’s not that dense.

He can put two tracks together and see the race.

“ Bunny ,” comes out of the sheriff in a less than confident tone at the same time he extends an empathetic hand in her direction. “It’s gonna be-”

“ No, ” she hisses, body still backing away from the crime scene. “ No! ”

“She shares a name with the victim?!” Dr. Raum excitedly questions. “I wonder if there’s a connection!”

There’s definitely a fucking connection.

No matter how much we wish there wasn’t.

No matter how fucking hard we keep trying to cut those break lines to make them crash into a fucking tree.

Post makes another attempt to settle the situation, “Bunny-”

“ No! ”

“Give me a sec with her,” I express, walking the same direction she is. “ Alone. ”

He reluctantly nods prior to redirecting his attention back to the medical professional that’s rising to his feet with either new questions or new information.

Her fleeing stops on the opposite side of the road, a few feet away off the paved path, in the middle of a dirt one that looks recently taken. As soon as I’m directly in front of her, she quietly barks, “ How the fuck does he keep doing this?! ” Frantic hand movements accompany her whispered screeching. “ Why can’t anyone fucking find him?! ” Pacing begins. “Or see him?! Or stop him?! ” She runs her hands down the side of her face, scratching at her own skin, clawing for freedom I’m starting to fear we’ll never find. “ How the fuck are we supposed to have a child with him out there?! ”

Unmatched honesty is attached to a small shrug. “We can’t.”

At that, Rabbit abruptly stops.

Finds my gaze.

Tilts her face in question.

“We have to kill him before our son is born. End of story.”

“Not end of story.” She lets her shoulders slip a little lower during an impish scolding. “It could be a girl.”

“Then before our little Letty is born.”

“We’re not naming her Letty.”

“Fine,” I join her in the teasing smiles, “but at least we’re on the same road about the other thing, right?”

Bunny doesn’t hesitate to bob her head in agreement.

McAdams will, absolutely fucking, meet his death date before our child receives their birth one.

Preparing to close the gap between us has me initially stepping forward; however, the gust of unexpected cold air leads to me turning my head away from it, an action that results in something small capturing my attention. “Is that a tooth?”

“Huh?”

“There.” Pointing to the ground about a foot over occurs next. “Is that a tooth?”

The woman I was moving towards lets her frame bend that direction to inspect the object. “ Maybe ?”

“Is that another one?” My gesturing moves a couple inches further away from the road. “And another?” Our eyes momentarily lock. “Did he leave a trail of my mom’s fucking teeth for us to follow?!”

Her mouth barely has time to twitch in response before I’m grabbing her hand to guarantee we don’t get separated during our pursuit.

Because we’re gonna fucking see where this shit goes.

Like my favorite film franchise, we’re in this shit until those final credits roll.

More teeth are found closer to the wooded area but eventually are replaced by bones.

These are smaller than most of the ones by the road.

Perhaps they’re from an ear?

Or feet?

Zig zagging around the dead branches and body parts continuously creates a pattern of crunches and snaps that sound like a slow clap no one should ever want, one that seems to increase in consistency as the pieces we discover grow in size.

Neck?

Upper arms?

They remain steady in placement.

I think that’s her shoulder something?

Sternum maybe?

Pelvis?

Is that her fucking pelvis?!

Similar to some sort of Wizard of Ick , morbid brick road, they lead us to a tree located closer to the less known cliffs than the cop we left behind.

“ Is that… ” Bunny breathlessly begins, both hands flying to cup her mouth. “ Is that her? ”

Despite my shaky frame, I lower myself to a kneeling position directly across from the skull, I know belongs to my mother.

The woman who raised me.

Who taught me the best values I hope to someday to teach the son I know we’re having.

It’s impossible to stop my jaw from quivering, so I don’t.

I allow it to tremble and throb and tick while reaching out to lightly caress the crack from the accident that took her away long before this psychopath. “ I’m gonna get this asshole, Mom. I promise. ”

“ Fuckme, ” Nolan’s voice abruptly darts into the conversation, indicating his late arrival. “Do all those body parts belong to who I think they do?”

“Yeah,” Bunny meekly answers on my behalf.

“ Fuck ,” he grumbles again in obvious remorse. “Sorry, I wasn’t here sooner. I ran out of goddamn gas.”

“How?” My face twists just enough over my shoulder to meet his stare. “How is that fucking possible?”

“I think the fuel gage is busted.” A small pat to Bunny’s ass is delivered in passing. “I had a full tank, then the next time I turned it on it was almost empty, and then the next time it was full again, and then I’m on my way here, and somehow ran out.”

Confusion darts my eyebrows down. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Tell me about it.” His frame lowers to match my stance. “But we can talk about that later.” One hand lands lovingly in the middle of my back. “Right now, we need to talk about that.”

“She’s not a that , Nolan.” I viciously bite, stare narrowing. “She’s still my fucking mom.”

“Not her, Kid,” he grunts in irritation prior to kicking his chin upward to a small recording device wedged on a tree branch angled downward at us. “ That. ”