The Killing Kind by M. William Phelps Page B

did what she needed to do in order to fund her habits, same as a lot of girls in Heather’s position. But quite contrary to what the media and others would later say, Heather had never been arrested or charged with solicitation or prostitution.
    It was a sad story, and yet one that played out across America in towns where the economy had ravaged families, education budgets were slashed, and help for the poor and starving was just not there anymore. In many cases, kids only do what they are taught by those in charge of rearing them. Often drugs become a way to deal with the pain of growing up in a home where love is not enough to overpower the pull of addiction and abuse.
    At the Catterton house, Danny, George, and Sommer got out of the vehicle and walked in. Danny went about his business of hanging out with Nicole, while Sommer’s boyfriend sat in the living room. Sommer found Heather in the washroom, taking a warm bath. As Sommer later put it, she was “getting ready for the night.”
    This was the first time Sommer had seen Heather since Heather had been released from jail. Heather had done a stint of several months after being convicted in February (2009) of possession of drug paraphernalia and felony possession of a controlled substance. She’d put on some prison weight, but she was still strikingly attractive, and yet as much a child at seventeen as any kid her age.
    Heather and Sommer hung out in the washroom and talked while Heather finished bathing. Sommer had been clean for a time and had not used drugs. She was drinking that day, however, and they talked about what they were going to do to celebrate Heather’s homecoming. As they conversed, Danny and Nicole walked in on the conversation.
    Nicole asked, “What are you guys up to tonight? You have plans?”
    Heather and Sommer didn’t seem too interested in hanging out with Nicole and her weird boyfriend. Neither of them could reconcile why Nicole, so young herself and attractive, was dating the guy, anyway. He was twice her age. There was no doubt Danny had some sort of sexually transmitted disease—his skin was as yellow as a summer squash at times. Perhaps the jaundice was connected to hepatitis. He had no job, and got up in the morning with a beer in one hand and went to bed with a crack pipe in the other. What in the hell did he have to offer anyone?
    Nicole picked up on the cold shoulder and walked away.
    Danny waited until Nicole was out of earshot before he spoke. “Y’all want to come off and get high? Come on. I’ll buy some dope.” He paused a moment. Let it sit. Then, when Heather didn’t respond: “I promise a good time if you come.” He had that devilish, cocky look about him. This was Danny’s pickup line: “I’ll buy the dope if you come and party with me.” He knew and understood the girls’ weaknesses and exploited each one of them any chance he got. Crack was Danny Hembree’s carrot; he knew the girls in town who could not resist.
    Sommer believed Danny was making the offer to Heather. He knew Sommer was with George. So his plan was to party with Heather, who thought Nicole was also included. But according to everyone in that circle, Nicole did not smoke crack.
    Danny liked what he saw in Heather. She had just gotten out of jail. Heather didn’t have a lot of street miles on her. She had been sober for months. In his way of speaking, she was “clean.” He wanted her.
    “I ain’t going anywhere without Sommer,” Heather said. “Get your ass outta here.”
    Danny took a look at Sommer, eyeing her. “I don’t mind her going.”
    “I don’t know you,” Sommer piped in. “I’d never go with you, without my boyfriend.”
    “Get outta here,” Heather told Danny again. She was in the tub. No free shows for her sister’s boyfriend.
    “Oh, well,” he said, shrugging, walking away.
    Heather got herself out of the tub and went into her bedroom.
    Sommer followed.
    Looking through her drawers, Heather pulled out a Hollister