The Serial Killer of Kennoxie

Part 5

The storm abated sometime around three in the morning. Rose fell asleep curled up in her chair. She woke up to some delicious smell. Rose blinked her eyes and focused on Baylor who stood in front of her with a cup of coffee held in front of her face. Rose inhaled sharply and stretched like a cat before she took the coffee. Rose drank a mouthful and hummed in appreciation.

"You make the best coffee Baylor."

Baylor puffed his chest out and struck a superior pose. It made Rose giggle. Baylor grinned at her. "Hearing you giggle reminds of the good times we had as children."

"That's so sweet Baylor."

Baylor grunted and rolled his eyes. "Not really, but I'm glad you think so. I keep hold of the good memories so that I don't think of the shit hole we grew up in."

Rose uncurled from her chair and stretched again making sure not to spill her coffee. "Did you fix breakfast or just coffee?"

"I have scrambled eggs, toast, ham, bacon, and sausage."

"Yum! Is there any fruit?"

Baylor rolled his eyes at his sister. "There are grapes, apples, oranges, and bananas that we can pull out."

Rose perked up and headed into the kitchen. Her stomach growled loudly as she spied all of the food. Rose grabbed a plate from the cupboard and instantly dug in. Baylor let her pick first before he filled his plate. As they sat at the old-fashioned kitchen table, they talked about where they should go today. It was decided that they would head south of town and search along the South Fork Solomon River and the Saline River which were both tiny creeks this far west and dry most of the year. If they found nothing south of town then they would head north and explore along the North Fork Solomon River and Bow's Creek.

As Baylor did up the dishes, Rose put together snacks for them. Since they were close enough to town they didn't need to pack a lunch. Rose was thinking of what to do for lunch when she decided to go along with Baylor's suggestion from yesterday.

"How about we stop at the Deli for lunch today?"

Baylor looked up from doing dishes and smiled. "That sounds like heaven to me."

Laughter escaped Rose. "It's only heaven to you because of the cute girl who works behind the counter."

Baylor's cheeks colored as he cleared his throat.

"Ah no."

"I think it is." Rose teased.

Baylor scratched self consciously at his cheek. "Well, maybe, but it's not because of the cute girl who works behind the counter. They have really good food."

"Uh huh. Right."

"What?" Baylor demanded. "It's true."

Rose just shook her head as she brushed hair behind her shoulder. She studied her brother with a critical eye. "Maybe you should let your hair grow out again."

Baylor laughed as he ran a hand through his hair which was in need of cutting. "I have to admit that I like wearing longer hair. A man bun looks sexy on me."

A snort escaped Rose. "You look sexy in anything Baylor as half of Kennoxie will tell you. I just like watching people try to figure out which one of us is which."

"I never really understood that." Baylor grabbed the drinks Rose handed him as they headed out the door. "We're not androgynous."

"No, but we both have great bone structure. Plus you are, what they would call, a pretty boy. Just spend some time looking in the mirror and you'll realize how pretty you look."

Baylor scowled at his sister. "I don't look pretty."

"You do." Rose insisted as they climbed in Baylor's truck. "You are one of those men that is pretty, but in a very masculine way. Now if you put makeup on and did your hair like I do, then we would look damn near identical."

Baylor was quiet as he backed his truck out of the garage. "I wonder if you would look more like me if you cut all that gorgeous hair of yours off."

Rose contemplated that as they headed towards Main Street. She didn't say anything till they were passing Buffalo Bill Park on their way south of town to look at the creeks.

"I'm sure that I would look remarkably like you."

Baylor grinned at her. "I would say let's do it, but I know how you love your hair and I can easily grow mine out. Your hair takes forever to grow."

Rose gave her brother a grateful look. "Thanks Bay."

They drove in silence for a few minutes before Baylor spoke. "Do you want to turn off before the second bridge or do you want to hit the sixteen mile road and double back?"

Rose shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me. We'll see the creeks either way."

Baylor turned off at the first road before the second bridge which was about a mile and a half from town. Rose liked going this way. If you followed the road it leads you over two cattle gates through free range pasture and down into the creek bottom. One bridge is always above water unless it floods. The farther you go along the road the lower the road gets till you get to a spot where the creek with flood the road if it rains too much. That hardly happens and if it's flooded today, Baylor's pickup will get them through.

They came over the hill that led to the first bridge. Baylor slowed down so that they could look at the water in the creek. Rose peered at the full creek and nodded to Baylor as she pointed to a spot below the bridge.

"We should park down there and walk the creek."

Baylor grunted as he eased down the muddy road across the bridge. He parked on the side of the road thirty yards from the bridge. Rose opened her door and scowled at the ground. Baylor paused in opening his door.

"What's the matter?"

Rose turned and gave her brother a dirty look. "Did you have to park here?"

"Why?"

"There must be a foot of mud here."

Baylor smirked. "I can't help it."

Rose rolled her eyes at Baylor before she scrambled out after him. Baylor just shook his head. Rose punched Baylor on the arm as they headed back towards the bridge. Baylor stopped and studied the bridge with folded arms.

"Which direction do you want to go sis?"

Rose studied the terrain around the creek. Trees, both alive and dead, marched along the creek bottom. The only difference was that there were more trees to the left of the bridge. Rose knew from experience that if you headed that way you ended up going down into several different pastures. The same was true for the other side of the bridge.

Rose pointed to the left side of the bridge. "I'll head this way."

Baylor nodded. "I'll meet you back here in an hour."