The Forum by Marie Reyes (short books for teens .txt) 📕

phone across the yard and the white glow only served to make the garden look even creepier, and he imagined a dark figure emerging from the bushes. Nope. He slipped his phone into his pocket and hurried to the back door. He had left it open because it made him feel safer if he needed to make a quick escape, but now his brain had decided that the murderer probably had been in the garden and had been given his opportunity to slip back in through the open door.

Then, he asked himself why the intruder would leave, only to return again. It made no sense, unless. He was just psyching himself out. "Shut up brain," he mumbled to himself. By the time he was back inside, the police were already there.

Chapter Thirty

He could hear her, still sniveling on the other side of the door. Clearly the gag wasn't enough. Every now and then, it got to him. It was only human to get affected by the pathetic sounds of a weak, terrified woman. It was like a crying baby. Designed by nature to manipulate someone into helping them. He was pretty sure most women could cry at will when it suited them.

Most of the time it angered him though, making him want to finish her off there and then, but that wasn't the plan. He hadn't had the experience and confidence before to make the most out of it. He had killed Bryony straight away through fear of getting caught. Not this time. He wanted this one to suffer.

He wondered how many men she had made feel like shit in her time, how many she belittled, and bent to her whim just through the virtue of being a good looking female. It's just what women did. They couldn't help themselves. It was just biology. They had no qualms about being nice to guys when they needed something from them, only to ditch them once they had served their purpose and go running to the first Chad that would give them attention. They fed on compliments, praise and validation. It was like a drug to them. They had no idea what it was like to be looked at with disgust and derision, like some sort of freak, to be denied the basic human needs of companionship.

They didn't understand loneliness, not really. No. They just wanted to fuck all the Chad's they could until their looks faded, and only then, would they have the humility to settle down with some beta cuck. Pathetic. He had chosen to take the power back.

When he felt like he was falling for her shtick, he would remind himself why he was doing this in the first place. It was his compassion that left him sad and alone. Compassion didn't get you anywhere. When he started to feel weak, he needed to exert his power to feel better.

Chapter

Thirty One

"And you're sure there is nothing missing?" A cop, Officer Carl Schrute, sat across the kitchen table from Kristen while his partner talked to the others. He wasn't exactly a reassuring looking person with his harsh face that defaulted to a pissed off look at all times and bright red cheeks as if he had just run a marathon.

"No. Nothing was taken. It wasn't about that." Authority figures put her on edge, made her feel like she had done something wrong, even when she knew she hadn't. She kept breaking eye contact and looked down at the table, following the patterns in the woodgrain.

"Ah yes. This theory you have. Do you know it was him?" The lamp above illuminated the shiny spot on top of his head, surrounded by short white bristly hair sticking out. For some reason, she couldn't take her eyes off it.

"Not for sure, but it makes sense. He called in a bomb threat where Aadesh worked, threatened Piper's children, and burnt down Martin's house."

"That is quite the accusation. Do you have any evidence of this?" He looked skeptical with his arms folded. She was no body language expert, but he looked closed off.

"The message he sent Piper." She watched as his partner approached him. This man was less severe looking, but his demeanor was still cold and not a hair out of place. He put a phone on the table.

"This is the message sent to Piper. I agree it is concerning. The language appears threatening, and we will look into it, although it may not be possible to locate them." The officer gave Piper back her phone and the other officer started talking again.

"Any evidence for the other things? The house fire? The bomb threat?"

"You'd need to talk to Martin, but as far as I'm aware, it was deemed an accident. They never traced the person who left the bomb threat either." She cringed inside, knowing how this was coming across.

"We don't have much to go on here."

"What about the videos? Will you at least speak to the insurance company?"

"We are going to look into everything that we've discussed. We have all your fingerprints so we can put any that don't belong to you through the database. We will keep you informed, Mrs. McBride.

"Miss."

"What's that?"

"Miss. McBride."

"Miss. McBride. If anything else comes up, please give us a call." He asked the others some follow-up questions, before leaving them on their own once again.

~~~

"Do you think they'll do anything?" Kristen paced the floor. "I think they thought we were crazy. They did not take us seriously at all. I could tell."

"I mean, it does sound a little crazy." Piper pulled at her split ends, watching Kristen pace back and forth, the nervous energy rubbing off on her.

Kristen stopped for a moment. "But what about the videos, and the fact Aadesh found the second crime scene? That's not nothing."

"It's not that simple. I'm sure there's