Evil Never Dies

“Did he know you were in love with him?”

“I don’t know. Probably. I think Zachary knew all the girls at school were in love with him. Like I said, he had magnetism. He could have had any woman he wanted.”

“Did he date anyone?”

“No. Not that I know of.”

“Do you think he preferred the same sex?”

“I don’t think so. It never once crossed my mind. I think he liked the girls to know he was single and yet they couldn’t have him. I don’t know for sure; it’s just the feeling I got back then.”

“Sorry to break things up,” Hayley said, “but if we’re done here, I need to get going.”

Lizzy thanked Kathryn, and they all walked to the door.

When Lizzy got to the car, she looked back at Kathryn with a flash of concern, hoping the woman would stay safe until they found Zachary.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Hayley and Kitally found Naomi Griffiths searching through a Dumpster outside a grocery store off Ahern.

“Naomi,” Hayley called out. “I brought you some food.”

The woman turned, and recognition lit up her face. “Thank you, Jesus. I’m starved.” She might’ve been in her forties or early fifties, but she looked much older.

As they watched her eat a hamburger from a fast-food chain, Hayley told Naomi their plan. They wanted her to do exactly what she always did each evening, but for the next few nights they were going to stay close by and keep an eye on her.

After Naomi finished eating, she spent most of the night talking, telling them her story. It was, no surprise, a sad one. It all started in 2009 when she was laid off from her job as an administrative assistant. She was working for the state, and she had all kinds of great ideas about retiring someday, putting her face to the sun and watching her grandkids a few times a week. But the state budget had become strained, and she was one of the first to be laid off. She hadn’t been worried, though. She’d saved some money and was confident she’d be able to find another job quickly. But it didn’t happen that way. A week became a month, and a month became years. She lost her apartment. Her daughters lived in other states and had problems of their own.

And yet Naomi still had hope that someday she would find a way to get out of this mess and find a job. Most of the women she knew on the streets had been abused and had nowhere to go.

At a little past eleven, Naomi had fallen asleep in a doorway down the alley from them. It was one in the morning now, and the sky was lit up with stars.

“I’m freezing,” Kitally said.

Hayley sat up in her sleeping bag, pulled her sweatshirt off over her head, and handed it to Kitally.

“Are you sure?”

“I’m not cold. Take it.”

“Thanks.” Kitally slipped it on over the rest of her clothes. Then she rubbed warmth into her arms and snuggled deep into her sleeping bag, trying to get comfortable.

Hayley hunkered down. It wouldn’t do any good if the Ghost came by and saw them chatting.

“Any sign of her?” Kitally asked.

“Nope.”

“Any sign of life at all out there?”

“Just the stars and the moon.”

Kitally peeked out. “It’s pretty, isn’t it?”

“Hmm,” Hayley said with a nod.

“Are you still mad at Lizzy?”

“Yeah, a little. She put us all in danger without any thought to what she was doing. Her actions were shortsighted and she acted on emotion. Big mistake.”

They were quiet after that, lost in their own thoughts until they both drifted off to sleep.

It was after ten the next morning when Lizzy made her way downstairs to the office. Nobody was around.

She opened the blinds to let the sunlight in, then took a seat at the desk. It wasn’t the thought of being pregnant that was at the forefront of her mind, although she figured the notion certainly should top her list of concerns. Instead, it was the name Jake Polly that kept repeating itself over and over inside her head. There was something right there within her reach, something that could tie everything together.

But what was it?

Jake Polly was an artist.

He had scratches on his hands.

She found the picture Hayley had drawn and took a closer look. Kathryn was certain Zachary Tucker matched the image to a tee. Other than the nose and longish curly hair, Lizzy guessed Jake Polly did look a little like the man in the drawing. Maybe more than a little. Noses could break and hairstyles could definitely change over the course of twenty years.

Could Zachary Tucker be Jake Polly?

Lizzy doodled on her notepad while she stared at the picture. She wrote the name Zachary Tucker and then Jake Polly. She then scribbled jp and zt. She repeated the process using capital letters.

Nothing.

There was nothing particularly “magnetic” about either the man in the picture or Jake Polly in person, but Kathryn had been or still was in love with him, so of course she would think he was magnetic. Hell, the woman hadn’t seen Zachary in twenty years, so how would she know any longer?

Lizzy’s instincts hollered at her to drive to Kathryn’s house and take a closer look at the note and the rest of the letters Zachary Tucker had given Kathryn. She should have asked for the shoe box full of goodies the last time she was there, but she’d really had no reason to do so at the time.

Before Lizzy could decide whether or not to make the drive to Newcastle, Jessica entered the office. A stream of sunlight sliced through the window and made a line across the floor between them. “Good morning,” Jessica said. “Or should I say good afternoon?”

“Either one works,” Lizzy said. “The house was so quiet I thought you had left. What have you been up to? Did you just get up?”

“I spent most of the morning helping Salma with the baby, but then her boyfriend showed up. Joey’s helping her now. I can’t believe she hasn’t named the baby yet. I tossed out a few suggestions, all of which were nixed. After that, I called in for an update on Jovan Massing, left a message for my brother, and then I talked to Magnus.”

“How is Magnus?”

“The same. Stubborn as hell. He thinks he’s holding me back, ruining my life because I chose to live with him and be with him. He calls himself a cripple.” She sighed, shaking her head. “He’s way too hard on himself. It’s difficult to watch at times. He told me he couldn’t do anything on the list I left him, which isn’t true.”

“You left him a list?”

“I do it all the time. The doctors want him to keep active and busy. They want Magnus to challenge himself. And it’s not like the lists are that daunting. Things like getting the mail, watering a few plants, feeding the hamster.”

“You have a hamster?”

“Squeaky wheel and all. It’s supposed to be therapeutic, keep his mind off the pain, but I think the little rodent is mostly just a

Lizzy did her best to give Jessica her undivided attention, but wasn’t succeeding since she was unable to stop picking at the idea of Jake Polly and Zachary Tucker being one and the same.

“I wonder how Hayley and Kitally are doing out on the streets?” Jessica asked.

“Kitally has her machete and Hayley has her badass attitude. They’ll be fine.”

“Why is Hayley so angry with you?”

“We don’t always see every situation eye to eye, that’s all.”

“What was that list of names I saw, the one you snatched away before I could get a good look at it?”

“Why do I feel as if I’m being interrogated?”

“Maybe because the questions are making you feel uncomfortable.”

“I don’t remember any list.”