Down Under

Chapter 12

The atmosphere compared to your last visit was a welcome change. Nobody seemed to be pointing fingers or eager to leave you alone with your own thoughts. Normally this amount of surveillance would put you off, but when your everyday routine was being continuously interrupted by a serial killer, what else was there to do but accept it.

Sidney sat next to you, blanket still sitting on her shoulders as her nails picked loose skin. The edges of her fingernails were a bright pink, abused by her nerves, as Dewey nervously looked between the two of you. While his hands didn't stop typing on the computer, his gaze told you that he was hitting dead end after dead end.

"Are you sure it was the Hilton?" he asked, voice twinged with remorse for having to make Sidney do more than she should after her encounter. She nodded her head, repeating that it's the only place her father mentioned. "He's not registered there, Sid. Maybe somewhere else?"

"Well... I guess. He didn't tell me anything though" she sighed, letting her nail dig in deeper into the center of her palm. The stale smell of paperwork and coffee wafted through the air as she tried her best to not let her exhaustion take over her emotions. Taking her hand in yours, you provided the smallest bit of reassurance as the burning gaze of Billy cut through the tension.

Sensing that pushing her any further wasn't going to lead to anything, Dewey patted her leg in reassurance before the mask evidence was given to him. The sheriff passed off the information, gave you two an assured nod and moved forward to the next room where the cause of all these issues still proclaimed his innocence.

"He's still staring, you know," Sidney whispered, squeezing your hand in hers. "He hasn't stopped."

"Let the fucker stare," you replied, rolling your neck as shivers went down your back. It was one thing for you to feel the stare, but Sidney affirming it made it that more offputting. Billy did always have a staring problem, but you could also feel his father's glare. Perhaps he had already heard about you and your issues, or maybe the habit just ran in the family.

"Do you think he did it? Like, if he's actually capable of something like that?" There was a glimmer of hope shining in her eyes just beneath the tears threatening to spill out. How could you be the one to push for the narrative of her basically childhood friend being out to get her. With an assuring squeeze, you raised your shoulders.

"I don't know. I mean, all the signs are there, but I guess it all falls on how much we trust him and his word," you replied, eyeing up your phone in hopes of seeing it ring. "Even if we do believe him, we still have to be cautious. For all we know, it could be one of the cops, you know?"

"What about Randy?" she offered, pushing your hand away to discretely peek over your shoulder into the room.

"Randy? Horror movie geek, Randy, who can barely lift more than 40 pounds. If it's Randy, then we have a good chance of surviving all encounters if they decide to come back."

Her gaze quickly shifted back to you, shoulders tensing as she gripped the blanket tighter around herself. "Do you think they will come back?"

"Maybe not us, but they are a killer. I mean if we were a failed attempt then surely they want to gain back those numbers right?" Your words did little to calm her, even if that wasn't what you were trying to do. It was better for her to know and understand the implications of everything going on. The more people who were up and alert the better since they would be your makeshift alarms to action. "What was Billy even doing coming to your house so late in the day?"

"I'm not sure," she replied, her gaze once again drifting away but quickly looking away as though she was scorched.

You looked behind you to be met with Billy's betrayed and rueful glare. It seemed to somewhat soften the longer you maintained eye contact, but it quickly hardened once again as the sheriff seemed to come to his own conclusions and stood up. Two other officers walked into the room and quickly grabbed onto his arms as they dragged him away to the cells.