Kathleen Hale - No One Else Can Have You

Prologue

The Daily Friendship

Hunting Season

Stuffed

Gut Shot

Crosshairs

Fresh Meat

Beast

Ambush

Buckshot

Single Shooter

Animals Attack

Bear Spray

Mouse Houses

Bats And Snakes

Sheltered

Look Out

Quiver

Camouflage

Blood

Scent

Banzai

Snared

Bound

Loose

Trophies

Big Game

Hunting Party

About the Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

A police officer comforts a woman on the shoulder of a rural highway. Behind them is a cornfield. The corn is shoulder high, not yet ready to be harvested. The officer has on a Green Bay Packers hat, and the woman is wearing a sweatshirt decorated in teddy bear appliqus. She is clutching a cell phone and crying hysterically. She and her husband own the cornfield. Shes just found something terrible in there.

Deep breaths, dontcha know, the officer tells her. Trees line the opposite side of the road and starlings dive-bomb in hordes from one tree to another. The branches bend under the birds collective weight and fling leaves across the road with every ricochet.

Now, Barbie Schultz, I sure know youre upset, he says. You betchahow many times do we have to deal with some hubbub in your cornfield? Its disrespectful and deplorable, these delinquents and pranksters. He raises his eyebrows. But I cant help you till I understand whats happened in specificsno maamso I need to comprehend what all youre saying. He takes a step toward her. The scattered foliage makes Velcro noises underneath his feet. So, lets try this one more time, okay?

In the middle, she says, gasping.

Well there we go, Barbie. The cop nods encouragingly. Okay then. He gestures for her to continue.

Theres a tree in the middle, she sputters. See, Frank and me set up scarecrows around it. She presses her fingers to her lips. The nails have been lacquered pink to match the teddy bears noses. But whoever did this they . . . they did something to the scarecrows, and even worse to the

Another vandalism, eh? The officer brings out a small pad of paper and a pen. The nerve of these kids.

No. Barbie shakes her head. Not this timeno, shes hanging from that big tree like a Christmas ornamentblinking!

She who? The officer clicks his pen. Talk at me.

Barbie takes a deep breath. Well shes hanging by her neck but believe you me, it was not a suicide. Her hands flutter at the field. The poor things mouth is sewn shut.

The cop looks directly at her for the first time, blinking. He starts to tell her that she called in a disturbance, not a body, but she keeps on going.

Fancy red thread all through her lips. Her eyes are wide. Straw coming out through some of the stitches. They tore apart our scarecrows and thats what they did with the filling. From the looks of her cheeks, her whole mouths been stuffed full.

The officer drops his pen.

Local Girl Found Murdered

Tragedy struck Friendship, WI, on Saturday, when the body of a local teenager was found in the cornfield off Route 51. Ruth Fried, 18, supposed missing since Friday night, was pronounced dead upon discovery. Police were unwilling to comment on the condition of the body.

Suffice it to say that a lot of the guys cried, said Sheriff Bob Staake. I told them to stop the waterworks, but with something that gruesome, its to be expected. Thats what happens when you spend most of your time cleaning up after pranksters and luring lost pets into your squad cars with ham. Small towns make you soft.

Weve prematurely harvested the corn for evidence, he added.

When notified of Staakes plans to raze the corn, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Schultz, owners of said cornfield, expressed willingness to cooperate.

The corn will be hard this year, I guess, said Frank. Overly firm, I mean. But Im sure people in this great town will be more than ready to buy it and rally for a good cause.

Sources around town confirmed this willingness to purchase the prematurely harvested corn. Profits will go to a Ruth Fried fund, the purpose of which is still being decided.

According to police, who are in contact with the victims parents, Fried was on her way to see her friend Kippy Bushman, 16. I guess Id rather not talk about it, said Bushman. Frieds boyfriend, tri-sport athlete Colt Widdacombe, could not be reached for comment.

Police are still investigating potential leads.

At first we thought it was a foreigner, maybe a terrorist, said Staake. But now were focusing on someone local. I promise right here, right now, that justice will get served.

When asked if he had any suspects, Staake answered, Sure do.

Fried was a junior at Friendship High School. This month, Fried was voted homecoming queen. She was also vice president of the school yearbook.

Oh, well miss her, said Ed Hannycack, principal of the high school. Ruth was a solid B student and a true delight. Hannycack added that all schools have been closed until safety is restored.

My name is Kippy Bushman, and I am bereaved. Right now Im bereaved on the toilet. Well, not like going to the bathroom or anything, more like using it as a chair. For some reason the motel put a television in here, so Ive got the seat down and my pajamas on with my knees pulled up toward my face. When youre sharing a motel room with your dad, the bathrooms pretty much the only place you can have privacy. And the shower is pretty much the only place you can cry, if you want to avoid getting hugged. So Ive been hanging out in here, watching a lot of Diane Sawyer, and occasionally taking off my clothes to cry my guts out.

Dom and I have been staying at the Great Moose Motel since last Saturday night. He says theres no way hes letting his Pickle run around when theres a homicidal maniac on the loose. Im getting a little claustrophobic, to tell you the truth, but I guess I can see where hes coming from, hiding us here. I mean, they found Ruth in the corn behind our house.

Every so often while Im sitting here thinking about her, my brain is bombarded by seminormal thoughts brought on by too much daytime television. Should I start taking vitamin D supplements? Do I need a paraffin-wax-treatment tub thing for my foot calluses? It doesnt seem fair, in a way, because maybe I should be sad constantly for the rest of my life if Im the one who gets to be alive. But the weirdest part is when this other feeling creeps in: a sort of vague annoyance, like Ruth has gone somewhere and not invited me.

The thing is, we were supposed to have a sleepover that night. She was on her way over and the next day they discovered her less than two hundred yards away from our back door. She almost made it. And the thing on top of that is I have a car and she doesntdidntso I could have gone and gotten her. But I didnt.

Thats the part that makes me keep climbing in the shower to cry. I should have picked her up. I should have gone and grabbed her.

Ruth Friedpronounced Freed, like free, or freerwas my best friend. Around here, its first and last name every time you run into a person, at least to their face, no matter how well you know them. And if you cant remember first and last, its maam or sir. No exceptions. Who knows who came up with our pleasantries, or how they did it, but thats the way it is in Friendship, Wisconsin.

Anyway, people were always getting Ruths name wrong, calling her Ruth Fried, like a fried egg. Do you think it would help if I put some of those pronunciation symbols next to my name in the yearbook? she asked me once. Im yearbook vice president, so I could probably totally do thatWait, sorry, does it sound like Im bragging?