Dead Girls Walking: A Novel

Chapter Ten

Lacey

Lacey stood before the Keller household, which was small and ranch-style. The snow wasn't shoveled. A pile of logs sat next to the front door. She hadn't been here in years. She glanced over at Viola's house next door. It must have been scary being this close to Olivia. Not physically, of course. Whatever was left of her.

Here goes nothing, she thought.

She rang the doorbell. A few seconds later it opened, and Sophie Keller materialized in the doorway. She was the same age as her mother. She was a tall woman with dark brown eyes, her hair the color of honey. She was always wearing long gray cardigans and tight black pants. She had this deep sadness in her eyes, the type that doesn't go away no matter what you do to repair it.

That's the type of thing that happens when you witness the death of five people at 17, your husband leaves you, and your only child vanishes without a trace.

"Hi Mrs. Keller." Lacey said hesitantly.

She smiled as if she hadn't smiled for years. "Hi Lacey. Please, call me Sophie. You can come in."

Lacey entered the house. It felt so foreign to her although she spent so much time there as a kid. It looked the same, it was filled with boxes and random household things littered everywhere. There was a slight aroma of dust. "Are you moving?" She wanted small talk to eliminate the awkwardness.

Sophie shook her head. "Oh no. John's just moving his stuff out."

Lacey mentally cursed at herself. She almost forgot about the Keller's divorce. She sat down on the small couch in the living room. Sophie sat on the old rocking chair in the corner. The creeping gave Lacey the chills.

She pulled out a pen and her small notepad. She had no idea where to start. "So, um, do you think the police have made any progress?"

Sophie sighed. "In all honesty, no."

There was a beat of silence. Lacey scribbled down some notes. "How come?"

"I know my daughter," Sophie continued, "If she ran away, I would know about it."

Lacey knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. "What do you mean? Has she..."

"She would find a way to talk to me."

Lacey's hands were shaking so hard, she nearly dropped her pen. "Has she talked to you at all?"

Sophie shook her head. "No. Not a phone call, nothing."

Lacey sucked in a breath. "What do you think happened, then?"

A tear poured out of Sophie's eye. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Lacey said.

"It's alright. My daughter was a very complicated girl. Very depressed, lonely. I wish I could've done more to help her. But I guess it was all just too much."

"Could that have been the reason she's gone?"

"Lacey, I believe Olivia killed herself, and she's yet to be found."

Marissa

The sound of a door opening woke up Marissa. She bolted awake. It wasn't her bedroom door. Must have been the front door opening. Muffled voices came from the living room, but Marissa had no desire to speak to anybody.

She pulled the covers over herself and curled up into a ball. She collapsed onto her bed when she got back from the police station, and had been asleep ever since. Her mother and Ella hadn't bothered her. They knew she needed her space.

A million thoughts went through her mind. She thought of David, and all the happy memories they shared together. Memories that came to an abrupt halt yesterday. She thought of freshman year when she cut herself almost every day after school and sobbed in the shower so nobody could hear her. She thought of when her mom picked her up from school early one day in first grade and told her that daddy didn't make it out of a burning house. She thought of Olivia, and all the memories from childhood of them and their friends having the times of their lives. Then came high school, where it all fell apart. She thought of the note that was left on her night table at the hospital, which confirmed the theory that David's killer and the blackmailer are the same person. She needed to figure this out before anybody else got hurt. But she wasn't sure if she had the strength to do it.