The Scene of the Crime

They were in the woods, standing on a narrow and lonely mountain road. It was dusk, and the forest was slipping into darkness.

On the side of the road, about six feet from the pavement, was a makeshift shrine. Votive candles were arranged around three wooden crosses. Some of the candles were still burning, suggesting that someone had been there recently to tend to them.

Tacked to the crosses and arranged all around them were notes, photographs, stuffed animals, figurines, mementos -- all the outpourings of grief for the three young people who died."

Theo turned to her father, steel in her eyes.

"Did you do this?" she said.

"Sort of," he said, without missing a beat. "I rearranged the game."

"What do you mean, 'rearranged the game'?"

"I saw that it would happen, three people killed further up the road, so I opted for a different outcome."

"Are you saying Derek would have died anyway

"No, he probably would have lived. His back would be broken, though, so he would have been crippled for life. That was not a desirable outcome."

"So you killed him."

"Not exactly. I opted for another roll of the dice. I didn't know exactly what would happen, but I calculated there were better odds of a desirable outcome."

"How is Derek living not a desirable outcome?"

"If he were crippled, you would have felt a huge obligation. There would have been no clean withdrawal. If he was either killed or survived intact, things would have been easier for you."

"Easier for me," said Theo, betraying no emotion.

"You said yourself that you probably would have broken up anyway, and I wanted to remove any complications."

"Remove complications," she echoed.

Theo looked around her. Even in the gathering darkness, she was familiar with the scene. That skid mark on the pavement, now nearly invisible in the fading light, was where Jerry first swerved, and that embankment over there was where the car flipped over.

"Show me what you did," Theo ordered.

Dad walked to the middle of the road and stood in the same place he had been that night.

"I stood here," he said, "and I waited."

"Stood and waited," she said.

"I'm sorry about this," he said. "I really am."

"Uh-huh."

Theo turned away from her father and walked over to the shrine. She knelt down beside it. She picked up one of the candles that was still lit and starting using it to re-light the candles that had gone out.

As she was working with the candles, she spoke again to her father, without looking at him and without obvious emotion. "If you knew that Derek was in peril, that means you were monitoring him. You were stalking him."

"Not stalking," he said. "Just interested. Anyone who is important to you is interesting to me. You see, you're a very valuable asset."

"Valuable asset," she said.

"You can do things no one else can. I didn't want you to get unnecessarily encumbered."

"Encumbered," she said flatly, not looking at him.

She had re-lit most of the candles, but then something strange started happening. Her hand holding the candle started shaking, like it had a mind of its own. She looked down at it with curiosity, as though it had suddenly become someone else's hand. The flame of the candle grazed her finger, and the hand reacted automatically. It dropped the candle, and the flame went out when it hit the ground. Then she stared at the hand that had just been singed.

"No," she said softly.

"What?" said her dad.

She said it again a little louder: "No."

Then she said: "No, no, no, no, NO, NO, NO!"

With the last "NO!" she was practically screaming!

She spun around at her father, fury in her face. She was so angry she could hardly speak.

"I am not... anyone's... asset!"

Then she said it again: "I AM NOT... ANYONE'S... ASSET!"

She said: "You had no right to interfere here! This was not your affair! This was my life, not yours! If I choose to break up with Derek, that's my business, not yours! You are not God. You have no right to say what happens. Why couldn't you have just left things alone?"

Her father began to look distressed, a break in the calm facade. "I guess I should have," he said. "I was trying to look out for your best interests."

"No," she said, subduing her anger. "You're trying to manipulate me. You're trying to control my life, but I don't want any of it. I don't want to kill. I don't want to be any part of death. I don't care to save the world. I just want to live a normal life."

"You can try," said Dad, "but I don't think you can do it."

"Oh, yeah?" she said. "Just watch me. Better yet, don't watch me. I've had enough. This vacation is over. Maybe this whole relationship is over. You go on with your own life, and I'll go on with mine."

"I understand," he said.

"I don't think you do, but it doesn't matter. I'm through with this game. You'll have to play it without me."

"I see," he said. "Shall I come by next year?"

"No," she said firmly. "I'm an adult now. If I want you, I will find you."

"Okay," he said. "I guess it's time for me to go."

"Go," she said.

Then he walked away into the darkness.

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