Heartless by John Matthew Walker

Author:John Matthew Walker [Walker, John Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: psychological thriller, makes me think, overcoming trauma, sympathetic villain
Publisher: John Matthew Walker
Published: 2022-05-15T06:00:00+00:00

DANNY CHOSE SWEET TREATS because everyone would be there and would see him with Peggy. Sweet Treats was a 1950s-style drive-up restaurant with curb service. Danny parked beneath the neon sign and flashed the headlights.

“Two Cokes please. Make that two Cherry Cokes.” Sweet Treats was famous for their flavored Cokes. They added their own syrup. But no amount of sweetness matched the feeling Danny had as he showed off his prizes in front of the summer Sunday night crowd.

Danny made googly eyes at the carhop wheeling toward him with two tall Cherry Cokes. He ignored her eye roll and snatched the drinks. He turned to hand Peggy hers, but she frowned, hopped out of the car and trotted toward the restroom.

As she walked away, Danny slipped the sandwich bag from his pocket. Looking around, he smiled and nodded as though he were everyone’s friend, as though this were a perfectly normal event. He felt collectively ignored as everyone looked away—their eyes followed Peggy. A smug smile covered his face. He didn’t need them any more than they needed him. He just wanted them to see Peggy with him instead of Joe. As everyone watched Peggy’s walk, he lowered her drink into his lap and dumped in the powdered sleeping pills.

His heart leapt as the bathroom door swung open and she walked toward him. He watched her walk. Her stern eyes. Deliberate steps. Even when she looked disgusted, she was stunning.

When her gaze met his, she looked down and kept marching toward her car. It was obvious by the way she avoided the other kids’ gazes and by her quick steps that she was mortified to be seen with him. His pulse raced. His face warmed. He squeezed the steering wheel with his left hand, imagining his hand around her throat.

Peggy slid into the passenger’s seat. “You’ve got your drink. Let’s get out of here.”

He handed her the Cherry Coke. “Drink it while it’s cold.” He waited for her to take a few healthy sips, then he backed out of their spot and eased her Mustang around the building, waving at everyone—everyone who knew that Peggy was Joe’s girl.

Peggy slid down in the seat and slurped that Cherry Coke. He felt his smile stretch a little more each time she sucked on that straw. He couldn’t wait ‘til she was passed out cold.

He drove as slowly as he could while she downed her entire soda.

Peggy made a sour face with the last few slurps. “They put a little too much syrup in mine. It had a bitter taste.”

“Yeah, but it was still good. Wasn’t it?”

She shrugged. “Where are you going? My house is that way.”

“My mistake.” He took the longest route possible back toward her house.

And timed it perfectly. By the time they turned down her street, she was out cold.

Danny giggled with excitement. He burned past the house, knowing her father would hear the car and wonder why she wasn’t pulling into the driveway. He could picture Peggy’s father looking at their silhouettes through the window.

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