MELISSA SAT AT THE DINER and listened to Haywood spin a tale of tragedy that would have been ridiculously improbable if Lila had not told a similar tale the night before. She listened to him talk about a friend, of his dying in the woods in a mysterious way, of an old man dying an untimely death in a convenience store, of cars crashing uncontrollably. Of a sick child in the wilderness, burnt bodies at a hidden drug lab . . . the story was as inconceivable as the ramblings of an inmate at a psycho ward. When Haywood finally stopped, he looked exhausted.
“So this is why you buried him alive?” Melissa said, her voice emotionless.
Haywood looked straight at her and his eyes gave no indication of being affected by her words. “This is supposed to be a conversation,” he said, his voice steady. “Why don’t you tell me why you’re here.”
“What’s to tell? I’m here to see my brother.”
“You two must be close.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that I haven’t seen you in Coldwater since he got out of prison and moved back to your parents’ plot of dead earth.”
“You keep a pretty tight watch on the town?”
“I know everything about this town. And I will know everything about this town after you two are long gone.”
“Is that a threat?”
“It’s no threat. It’s just the simple truth,” Haywood said. “I assume you won’t have a reason to stay. Michael’s gone, he ain’t coming back.”
“You seem certain of yourself.”
“Coldwater is a good town filled with good people. It’s going to stay that way.”
“Well, if I was Michael, I don’t think I would just run and hide. No,” Melissa said, “I think I’d be coming back here as soon as I could. You know, to thank all these good people for being so nice.”
A smirk slowly spread across Haywood’s face, but his eyes stayed set deep in their sockets. “Now, is that a threat?” he asked.
“The universe bends toward justice, does it not? If that is the case,” Melissa said, “then Michael’s path should lead back here.”
“Justice? Is that what you’re getting at? Michael’s trajectory of justice should have ended with him rotting away in a cell at the state prison. But no, what does the world know about justice? It has no real concept of the idea. Where is our justice? Where is the justice for Morrison, and for these poor men who died this week?” Haywood grabbed a napkin, lifted the brim of his hat, and wiped his brow.
“He had no business coming back here,” he continued. “And if the world doesn’t have the grit to do what needs to be done, then it’s left to us to do it.”
Melissa sat and let the words pour over her. She was here for the exact same reason. Justice. But Haywood had set himself up too high to presume this was his role to take. It was hers by right.
“You’ve overstepped your bounds,” Melissa said. She was calm and firm. “You might think you’re judge and jury in this town. but you’re not. You’re just a scared little man hiding behind a bluster of words.”
“So, you’re here to help him then,” Haywood said. “He call you? Tell you to pick him up?”
Melissa didn’t respond, but Haywood could read her face.
“No? You’re here for different reasons, aren’t you? Could it be that you are here for the same reason as me? Could it be that you feel the same way I do?”
“We are nothing alike.”
“I wouldn’t bet on that.”
“I’m here because I’ve been wronged,” Melissa said. “You’re here because you’re a coward. You’re afraid. You hide behind the notion of justice, but you don’t care about it. Not really. And I bet a guy like you can’t handle being afraid. You’ve never had to deal with it. Never had to learn how to hide it away, to cope. You don’t like it. You hate the feeling. So the first chance you got, you buried it . . . but you messed up. You didn’t bury it deep enough. Now, it’s come back to bite you and it’s driving you nuts.”
Melissa got up from the table and looked down at Haywood. He was looking where she had been sitting, he didn’t move a muscle.
“My advice to you,” she said. “Quit. Quit what you’re doing. Quit chasing him. Leave him alone.”
“And what, may I ask, are you planning to do?”
“My business is my own,” Melissa said as she walked toward the door. “It’s family business.”