Moni woke up in her pitch black room to the ringing of her cell phone. The time flashed four-thirty in the morning. Before answering, she rolled underneath the blanket and peeked through the window shades with an aggravated moan. She didn’t see Darren waiting outside her window for his booty call or her father crouching there demanding money. As her eyes came into focus, Moni saw the empty road under the dim street lights.
She turned her sleep-blurred vision on her phone. Oh joy: Tom Sneed.
“Mm, hello?” she answered drearily.
“What do ya know? We’ve got another body,” Sneed said in a tone dripping with blame. “Found him floating in the lagoon. Same as the others, save a bite taken off his arm.”
Moni ran her fingers through her tousled braids. Grabbing a handful of them, she yanked so hard that she nearly ripped them out by the roots. She bit her lip so she wouldn’t scream, because that would have reached the other side of the house and jolted Mariella awake. The girl didn’t need any more drama today.
Moni realized that this attitude-protecting Mariella at every step-left the killer free so he could slice another person’s head off his body. Moni couldn’t manage a reply more intelligible than a whimper before Sneed hit her again.
“There’s a witness this time,” he said. “It’s the victim’s brother. I don’t think he saw the murder take place. His story, well, the Coast Guard relayed it to me. This ain’t the kinda case you learn about in the police academy, that’s for damn sure. Come on in the office and let’s grill him together. I wanna see how you handle a witness that can actually talk.”
Moni wasn’t sure whether he meant that as an offer to her for a permanent spot on his homicide team or a dig at Mariella’s silence. Either way, she couldn’t leave the girl home alone in the middle of the night, and Sneed knew it.
“I’ll drop Mariella off at school at seven-thirty and be there first thing,” Moni said.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
He hung up.
Mariella acted more clingy than usual that morning. She insisted on sitting on Moni’s lap at breakfast and sharing the food on her plate. She hadn’t told Mariella about the potential stalker in the blue pickup or the sixth murder in the lagoon. Moni did a poor job masking the distressed look on her face and her hectic movements that nearly knocked the coffee mug right off the counter. The girl picked up on it rather easily. Moni couldn’t tell whether Mariella stayed close because the child needed comfort, or because the child detected that her foster parent needed a tiny shoulder to lean on.
When she dropped Mariella off at school, the girl followed her halfway back to her car before Moni realized it. She led her back to class.
“It’s okay, baby,” Moni told her. “I’ll speak to the security officer and make sure everything is safe here. If you need me, ask Mrs. Mint and she’ll give me a call.”
She kissed the girl on the forehead. Mariella shot her one more glance before she entered the classroom. Mariella looked remorseful-like she felt responsible for the bloodshed because she couldn’t stop that monster from killing her parents.
Moni propped the door open and took the girl’s hand.
“What’s happening isn’t your fault, Mariella. When I was a young girl, I used to blame myself for my father beating me and hurting my mother. I thought that if I was a better kid, he would stop and become like all the other fathers. He never did… you’re a victim like me. Don’t be ashamed.”
Sharing her deepest darkest secret with the eight-year-old girl untied the knot in Moni’s heartstrings. The child embraced her.
Moni needed all the love she could get. The rest of the day would drain just about every ounce of it out of her.