With that, he walked away and I watched him do it until he disappeared in the office. I stayed where I was until I saw Stella leave the office and stand outside, her hand lifted to her forehead to shield her eyes from the sun. I knew she was looking at me and when she looked ready to make her approach, I got in my car and drove away.

* * * * *

It took two days of no Tate and no word to ask Krystal where he was.

We were at the bar and it was raining, a lot, a downpour that followed thunder and lightning, so much rain that no one wanted to be out and business at the bar was slow.

I was on with Jonelle and Jonelle had obviously heard what Tate did to Tonia because she came in on time, she wasn’t dressed one step up from streetwalker and she was actually waiting tables.

While she was busy but Krystal wasn’t, I stood beside Jim-Billy and called, “Hey Krystal, where’s Tate?”

I felt Jim-Billy straighten by my side and I saw Bubba, who was at the other end of the bar shooting the breeze with some patrons, turn to face us. Krystal looked at Jim-Billy then she looked at me.

Then she came to me as Bubba ambled our way.

“Didn’t he tell you, Lauren?” Krystal asked cautiously, her gaze sharp on my face.

“Um…” I mumbled. “No.”

“He’s huntin’, gorgeous,” Bubba entered the conversation.

“Yes, I know. Tonia’s killer,” I said.

Krystal looked up at Bubba but Bubba didn’t take his eyes off me.

Then he asked, “Coupla nights ago, weren’t you on the back of his bike?”

“Yes,” I answered and Bubba looked down at Krystal but I saw his brows go up.

“Shit,” Krystal muttered.

“What?” I asked and Bubba looked back at me and they all got closer. I even fancied Jim-Billy scooted nearer.

“Guy who did Tonia is serial,” Bubba said quietly so only our huddle could hear.

“Cereal?” I asked, perplexed.

“Serial, gorgeous. A serial killer. Tonia’s one of seven,” Bubba explained and my hand shot out so my fingers could wrap around the edge of the bar.

“Seven?” I whispered.

“Seven,” Bubba said. “Seven in four years. Pisses the Feds off since they don’t like nicknames but cops’re callin’ him the May-December Murderer. He kills in May then he kills in December.”

“Oh my God,” I breathed.

“They ain’t all in Colorado either,” Bubba went on. “But they’re all in the Rockies and Colorado is a hot spot. One in Utah, one in Wyoming, two in Nevada, the rest in Colorado.”

“Tonia,” I whispered thinking, for some asinine reason, this made her death all the more worse and it was bad enough already.

“They don’t got shit,” Bubba informed me. “Tonia was the one who lasted the longest. Dumped her alive, found her alive, that’s a first. She never regained consciousness so they couldn’t ask her questions. She was dumped away from where he hurt her, left no evidence at the scene. They don’t have any witnesses, have no idea where he picked her up, her car was outside her apartment, keys on the kitchen counter, no forced entry, no fingerprints, last anyone saw of her she was in here. They haven’t found her clothes, her hair. They don’t have nothin’.”

My eyes stayed glued to him and I didn’t look at Krystal. “You know about her hair?”

“Tate came to us before he left, Lauren,” Krystal said in a voice that wasn’t very Krystal. There was a soft edge to it and my eyes finally went to her. “Explained things.”

He didn’t explain things to me.

“So Tate’s got a lot of ground to cover, he’s trackin’ this guy, puttin’ pieces together. Four years, four states and seven murders worth of ground to cover,” Bubba finished.

This made sense.

He still didn’t explain things to me.

I changed the subject and I did it after looking Bubba right in the eye.

“Do you know Neeta?”

Bubba’s upper body moved back, it was almost imperceptible but I saw it.

“Laurie,” Jim-Billy said quietly and put his hand on mine on the bar.

“Don’t you think about Neeta, Lauren,” Krystal ordered and I looked at her.

“Why would you say that?” I asked.

“People talk, don’t listen,” she replied.

“That’s history,” Bubba said, “way back, not worth thinkin’ about.”

“It wasn’t history two weeks ago when I was swimming in Ned and Betty’s pool and I watched Tate carry her into a room,” I returned.

I watched as Bubba closed his eyes and he did this slow. Then I felt a lump form to block my throat.

“Lauren,” Krystal said and her voice was full on soft now so I looked at her.

She looked sad and hard as nails Krystal looking at me like that said it all.

“Right,” I whispered around the lump, my word sounded strangled and I walked away.

* * * * *

It was closing that same night and Jim-Billy and I were getting ready to walk to the hotel when I went to get my purse.

I pulled it out of the filing cabinet, turned to the office door and saw Krystal there.

I walked toward her saying, “Good night,” but I had to stop because, when I arrived at the door, she didn’t move out of my way.

I looked into her eyes.

Then she shocked me by lifting a hand and brushing the hair off one of my shoulders.

“Told you not to get an eye for Tate,” she whispered.

“He got an eye for me,” I whispered back.

“Same thing, honey.”

I looked away and bit my lip.

“There’s nothin’ special in this world, we girls know that.” She was still whispering and I looked back at her. “You were right, Laurie, hold tight to that peace you found. Don’t look for somethin’ special. It ain’t out there. We know that. Just hold tight to that peace. Yeah?”

“Yeah,” I said softly.

“’Night, darlin’,” she replied and stepped aside.

I walked out the door.

* * * * *

It was tough, three waitresses working a biker bar that was in a town in Colorado that was shaking off a spring that, I was told, could last deep into summer. But the days were longer, almost always bright and consistently warm, then hot so the bikes were out and the bar was buzzing, especially on the weekends.