13 Nights of Horror: The Disappearance of Rose Hillard by Amy Cross

the world when the story spreads, will think of her like this. Carey would have to think of her dying like this, and that would just… She’s a good woman, Ben, and it’d break her. I don’t know if she could even survive the knowledge.”
    “We don’t have a choice.”
    “Maybe…” Michael paused. “The perpetrators are dead. Baggard and the Everham brothers, they’re gone, they can’t hurt anyone ever again, and nothing’s going to bring Rose back but we could still make it so that… at least people can have hope. At least Carey can live with a sliver of hope, rather than knowing what really happened. So why don’t we allow Carey, hell, allow the whole town to avoid this nightmare? We’re the only two people who ever have to know what really happened to my beautiful, precious daughter.”
    “You want to cover up her murder?” Gorman asked, shocked by the suggestion.
    “Think about it,” Michael continued. “We dump those bastards’ bodies by the side of the road and make it seem like they were robbed or something, and then we find somewhere to put Rose, somewhere respectful and pretty but somewhere she’ll never be found. And then we clean this place up, we pretend like it never happened, and we act like Rose is just missing. Not dead, not tortured, just… gone.”
    “We can’t hide the truth from the whole town.”
    “Yes, we can.” Michael looked over at Rose’s corpse, still tied to the chair. “We can make sure that not one other person ever has to see her like this, or has to even know that this is what happened to her. Imagine the inquest. Imagine all the details coming out, like…” Walking over, he looked down at her dead face. “There are burns marks on her, Ben. Cuts. Bruises. It looks like at one point she was hooked up to a battery and given electric shocks. I can’t even imagine what else those animals did to her, and I don’t even want to know, and I sure as hell don’t want it in the goddamn papers.”
    He paused for a moment, before reaching down and starting to loosen the ties.
    “That’s evidence,” Gorman pointed out, although he made no effort to stop him. “You’re not supposed to tamper with anything.”
    “She’s my daughter,” Michael said firmly, as he pulled the last of the ties away.
    Rose’s dead body began to fall forward, but he grabbed her by the shoulders and eased her into his arms before picking her up and turning to Gorman.
    “How do you want history to remember her?” he asked, with tears running down his face. “Like this? Or as someone who disappeared and maybe, just maybe, managed to find a better life?”
    Staring at the dead girl, Gorman felt his resolve starting to weaken. He’d always been willing to cut corners, to do what was right for the town rather than what was strictly required by the letter of the law, but this was taking things much further than he’d ever imagined. At the same time, he knew how the huge, slow machinery of justice worked, and he had absolutely no doubt that the next few years would be torture for the Hillard family as every possible detail emerged about Rose’s final hours. There’d be an autopsy, and photos, and fevered discussion online. He’d worked on a similar case once before, where a girl had died and the mother had ended up committing suicide due to the mounting media coverage. This time, he figured, things could be different.
    “Help me protect her memory,” Michael pleaded, with tears in his eyes. “Help me protect the town from knowing what happened to Rose.”
    Gorman took a deep breath.
    “Can you deal with Baggard and the Everhams?” Michael asked. “I… I want to look after Rose. I want to find the right place to bury her.”
    Gorman paused, and then finally he nodded his assent.
    “And we’ll never speak of this again,” Michael continued. “Once it’s over, it’s over.”
    “I’m keeping this,” Gorman replied, holding up the disc.
    “No, we have to burn it.”
    “I’m