The Aftermath

06

Sunday 10AM

Tom pulled the SUV into the driveway. As he did he saw things on the lawn he was sure he didn't want his girls to see. He tripped the garage door opener. "Do me a favor babe, and go through the garage. I need to clean up the lawn."

"Why?" Angie asked, "What is out there?"

"Angie, don't." Tom told her as she leaned across the backseat to the lawn side window.

"Why not?" Angie asked.

"Because there are things you can see in five seconds which take years of therapy to get back out of your head,."

"Ha ha!" Angie said, and opened her side door.

"Just do what your father says Angie." Samantha told her, and took her hand, walking with her through the open garage.

Tom got out of the SUV and walked to the front yard. The grass was still green from the wet cold winter they had that year, and the spring had been cool so far. He didn't mow the lawn down yesterday, so it was still up a week's growth. There were two lumps on the yard, partially covered by the grass, but Tom could tell there was fur on the lumps. As he walked closer he saw they were cats. Two of them. The cats were cut open and their rib cages were split so their insides were fully exposed.

There were also several pieces of paper on the lawn which Tom discovered were wrapped around rocks. Unwrapping one of them he found himself looking at the wadded up face of Karen Arbor, 17, starting college early through an advanced course program. Karen wanted to be a veterinarian. Tom looked over at the cats and wondered what Karen would think of the protest method. Karen Arbor was the first of the five victims of the Coroner Killer. At least she was the first one the police knew about. From his days in court Tom knew all about Karen, as well as Robin, Beth, Tammy and May.

Tom stood and sighed. As he did, he turned and examined the front of his house, noticing both front windows were broken by rocks. He shook his head again and walked to the garage. He came back to the yard with a shovel and trash can. After scooping up the dead cats, he picked up the wrapped up rocks. He would need to get the windows fixed today.

"Have you seen the windows?" Tom asked Samantha as he came in through the garage door into the kitchen.

"No, what's wrong?" She asked, closing the refrigerator.

"Broken. Probably rocks. Need to get someone out here to fix it today." He told her.

"I'll find a place on the Internet. What else?" She asked.

He told her about the dead cats and showed her the picture of Karen.

"Assholes." She said and turned back to her lunch preparations.

"Where is Angie?" He asked, walking up and slipping his arms around her waist, then sliding his hands down her hips.

She looked up over her shoulder at him, "In her room, probably on Facebook and YouTube, finding out everything she can about what is going on with you."

Tom kissed her neck, "I really appreciate you. More than you know, because I'm not able to say it any better than that."

She turned from the counter and put her hands around his neck, "Watch it Tom, you are dangerously close to being romantic."

They kissed for several minutes, simply feeling the closeness of each other. During the trial their sex was frantic and needy. They clung to each other in their sleep, and woke having sex again. Now they simply enjoyed the moment, renewing their memories of touch and scent and warmth.