Death by the River by Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor

Author:Alexandrea Weis & Lucas Astor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror, rape, American Psycho, psychopath, revenge, Halloween, football
Publisher: Vesuvian Books
Published: 2018-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

The gray light of dusk blanketed the town of St. Benedict. The curved wrought iron streetlights came on as Derek drove his mother’s blue pickup truck along Main Street to Mo’s Diner. He rubbed his thumb along a torn spot on the leather-clad steering wheel, hunting for a way to say what was on his mind.

“You look worried.” Carol, wearing her yellow uniform, reached over and ruffled his thick brown hair. “You thinking about school?”

Derek inhaled a breath and held it. “Actually, I’m worried about you.”

His chest contracted as he blew out the breath, glad he had finally found the nerve to say something.

“Me?” Carol chuckled. “I’m fine, sweetie. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

He examined the bags under her eyes and cheap uniform. There had to be more for her than a life of filling coffee cups and serving po-boys.

“Mom, you work too hard. You put in too many shifts.”

She rested her head back against her seat, giving him an indulgent smile. “We gotta eat, Derek. And the diner isn’t so bad. I get to pick my shifts, and the tips are good at night, and we’ve got everything we need, right?” She patted his hand.

Derek couldn’t go off to college with a clear conscience thinking of his mother spending her days and nights at the diner. His biggest fear was once he was gone, she would work even more to avoid the empty house.

“Perhaps you should consider doing something else. Another job, or maybe even getting a hobby.”

“A hobby?” She ran her hand across her brow. “It’s been a long while since I’ve done anything for me. You’ve been my motivation for so long. I’m not sure where to begin.”

He had to know his mother had something other than him to fill her days. He wouldn’t be around much longer to encourage her to pursue her interests.

“What did you like to do in high school? What hobbies did you have? Things you liked to do? You never speak much about when you were growing up in St. Benedict.”

“Probably because growing up in St. Benedict was about the same then as it is now.” She glanced out the passenger window. “Everyone went to the river, had parties, hung out at Ed’s Diner, which is now Carl’s Pizza. Not a whole lot has changed.”

A thought popped into his head. “And the Devereaux family? Are they any different?”

She kept her face turned away, but he detected a change in her mood.

“Their influence is the same, yeah.”

Derek pushed on for answers. “What about Gage? How was he?”

Carol gave a slight shrug, not appearing too interested. “He was the quarterback of the football team, like his son, and very popular.”

Derek considered the slight tremor in her hands. “What happened between you and Gage Devereaux?”

The long, loud breath prepared him for something he might not want to hear.

“We were pretty serious, but his father never approved of me. I wasn’t the right material to be a senator’s wife, or so Edward Devereux believed. His mother, Amelia, was a snooty Uptowner from New Orleans.

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