Devil in the Details

Chapter Thirteen

"Are you sure drinking is the way you want to handle any of this?" Evelyn looked up from her beer to meet Diana's gaze. She stood in the hallway, a bag of groceries in her arms. Evelyn sighed and turned up her beer, finishing it instead of answering. "I guess so." Diana added, answering her own question. Evelyn watched her put the items away for a while before responding.

"No, you're right." She said, pushing the rest of the six-pack and the empty bottles away from her, "it's not the answer. I'm just stressed, baby. I'm not sure that Floyd was wrong." She shrugged when Diana gave her a sharp look. "I'm not! I don't know if I want to know which one of them it is! What if it's neither?"

"Evelyn."

"No!" Evelyn said, "I know it's wrong, but I don't know- nobody knows, Diana! Mom isn't here to tell us either way. We can't get her side of the story."

"That's true." Diana replied. She retrieved cold bottled water from the door of the fridge. "drink that or you'll feel like shit in the morning." Evelyn took it and opened it.

"Plus," she went on after a drink, "I'm having all these nightmares." She took another drink, stopping herself from telling Diana too much. "And I got taken off the case. I just... I need something good to happen."

"I have good news." Diana offered, grabbing another bottle and sitting down beside her. "I got several emails today from the big corporations." Evelyn sat up straighter.

"Oh?"

"That's right." Diana grinned back at her. "My coverage of this mess has been getting noticed. I got emails from CNN, The New York Times, CBS... there were a lot."

"Really?" Evelyn asked. She knew this was what Diana had dreamed about. Diana laughed. She pulled out her phone and opened it, scrolling through her emails to show Evelyn all the different senders. They were all interested in Diana's work and in her coverage of the serial killer.

"They're flooding in." She said, her face flushed. "This is huge for me. It's huge for us."

"It is." Evelyn agreed. "I'm so proud of you."

They talked for a long time while Evelyn tried to sober up a bit. Diana told her what the emails said, what she was going to say back, and what articles she was going to write for each of the companies who had emailed her. She focused on working alongside a famous reporter at CBS and with the New York Times. It was possible this was the 'big break' she had dreamed about. It didn't take long before Evelyn was too tired to keep going. She took a quick shower with Diana before collapsing into bed.

It didn't feel as though Evelyn had gotten any rest at all when she found herself standing in a nearly empty parking lot. She looked around, watching a bit of trash blown by the wind bounce across the pavement. The air was icy and left goosebumps across her skin. By now, Evelyn knew what was happening. She wasn't in an empty parking lot. She was at home, curled up with Diana, asleep. She tried to focus on her surroundings, to determine where she was, but she was having a hard time. Everything was blurred, though she thought she was at the Shop and Sip.

Evelyn turned in place, looking for the corpse she knew she was bound to find. She stood not far off, her stringy red hair blowing in the wind. This one was young. She couldn't be any older than twenty-two. She was the one clearly visible thing in the large parking lot. Walking to her was just as difficult. Once Evelyn reached her, the redhead took her hand and intertwined their fingers. There was no body this time, none Evelyn could see anyway.

"I made a mistake." the girl said.

"Who did this to you?" Evelyn asked. She tugged at her hand, but the redhead would not release it. Her grip was tight, her fingers ice cold.