Sam happy, but she started pulling back. She didn’t need all those
other friends of hers, they just -wasted her time, took her away from
me. Then she told me that night that she had to leave me, that she
couldn’t stand it anymore.”
“Stand what?”
“I don’t know. I tried to give her everything she wanted, both
her and Sam. I just wanted her for myself, wanted her to commit
herself only to me, and all I asked was that she stay close to me, that
she look to me for everything. And she did for a while, and then
she didn’t want to anymore.”
“She left?”
In that instant, Becca knew that Ann McBride hadn’t gone anywhere.
She was still here in Riptide.
“Where did you bury her, Tyler?”
“In Jacob Marley’s backyard, right under that old elm tree that
was around when World War One began. I dug her deep so no animals
would dig her up. I even gave her a nice service. She didn’t
deserve anything, but I gave her all the religious trappings, the
sweet and hopeful words. After all, she was my wife.” He laughed,
remembering now and said with a smirk, “Old Jacob had been
dead by then nearly three years so I didn’t worry about getting rid
of him that time.”
He started laughing then. “I killed that ridiculous old dog of
his–Miranda–a long time ago. The bitch didn’t like me, always
growled when I came near. The old man never knew, never.”
She remembered the sheriff telling her how much Jacob Marley
had loved that dog, how she’d just up and died one day. Her heart
was pounding, slowly, painfully. Somehow she had to reach him.
She had to try. “Listen to me, Tyler. I didn’t betray you. I would
never betray you. I came here to Riptide because of what you’d
told me about it. I was here to hide out. This was sanctuary for me.
You helped me, so very much. You don’t know how much I appreciate
that.” Were his eyes calmer now? Maybe, but he frowned
and she tried to still her fear, said quickly, “That madman was trying
to kill both me and my father. The last thing I wanted to think
about was falling in love with anyone. I never meant for you to believe
there was more to it than friendship.”
His eyes were darker now, a barely leashed wildness that scared
her to her soul. He said, his voice sarcastic, “You didn’t want to fall
in love, Becca? Then why are you marrying that bastard Carruthers?”
For a moment, her brain refused to work. He was right, oh God,
he was right. She had to think, she had to do something. She was
alone in the basement with a man who wasn’t sane, a man who was
somehow twisted, a man who had murdered his wife and buried
her in Jacob Marley’s backyard. Sheriff Gaffney had been certain
that Tyler had murdered his wife. Everyone believed that the skeleton
that fell out of the basement wall had been Ann McBride. But
it wasn’t.
She couldn’t bear it, just couldn’t. She had to know, all of it.
“Tyler, the girl in the wall. Was it Melissa Katzen?”
He said, his voice indifferent, bored, “Yes, of course it was.”
“But she was young, not more than eighteen when someone
killed her. That was more than twelve years ago. Did you kill her,
Tyler?”
He shrugged. “Another faithless bitch, little Melissa. Everyone
thought she was so sweet, so giving, so yielding. And she was with
me, at first. I gave her attention, small presents–lots of them, all
clever, imaginative. I told her how pretty she was and she soaked it
up until one day she turned down my latest gift to her. It was a
Barbie, all dressed to travel, ready to elope.
“She didn’t want to tell anyone about us, and that was okay by
me. I was going to laugh my head off when we came back married.
She called me that night, asked me to meet her. She gave me back
the Barbie, then told me she didn’t want to run away with me after