by Tess Oliver
Chapter 22
Jem
Dane’s long legs were sticking out from under the jeep.
“Hey,” I called to him and tapped the bottom of his shoe with my toe. “I need to talk to you, bro.”
“Just a second.” His legs shifted with the movement of his upper body as he turned something underneath the jeep with a wrench. The jack stands he was using to hold the jeep up were weak with rust. “You need to get some more stands, Dane. These things don’t look all that steady anymore.”
He slid out on the creeper. “They got left out in the rain once too often. But I guess it would be a quick, painless way to go, crushed by a fucking jeep.”
“Yeah? I think you underestimate both. It wouldn’t be quick, and it definitely wouldn’t be painless.”
Dane sat up and rested his greasy forearm on the knee he propped up. “What’s up?”
I pulled over his toolbox and sat on it across from him. He scratched his neck, a neck that was red with hickies. “Shit, Dane, were you out with a fucking vampire last night?”
He laughed. “Yeah, Sage likes to use her teeth a lot, so I guess I was.” He looked toward the house. “You know, Dad looks like a fucking zombie, like he’s not going to last.”
“Yeah, I know.” It was unusual for Dane to take note of things like that, like somebody’s health worsening, which meant Dad was in a bad way. “Actually, Dane, I wanted to talk to you about some stuff that happened back when we were kids.”
He reached up to his neck. “She didn’t leave any fucking teeth marks did she? Told her not to leave teeth marks. Told her to stay clear of the ink. Didn’t want her to fuck up any tattoos.”
I sighed in frustration and took a closer look at his neck. “Don’t see teeth marks, but you’re coating your neck with grease.” I sat back. “I need you to concentrate, all right?”
He looked directly at me, which was a good start. Probably wouldn’t last long.
“Remember about sixteen years ago, you were around ten, and—” Even though I knew his attention span was limited it was a harder topic to bring up than I’d expected, mostly because it had been one of the craziest things my brother had done in a long string of rash decisions. “There was a little girl—” I took a deep breath. “You locked her in the fur trappers’ shelter. Remember? You were messing around with me right here in this yard, and you let it slip—you let it slip about the girl in the trappers’ shelter.”
He was still focused on his neck, and I was regretting bringing it up. “Dane, where’d she come from? I figured you were just messing around and decided to do something, you know, something crazy.”
His brows creased. “You’re the fucking crazy one, Jem. Don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. I never put a girl in that hole. I’m mean I’ve fucked in some really strange places—”
“No, Dane. This happened when we were kids. You must have been around ten. When Dad used to take you out to do whatever the hell he was doing.”
He rubbed his chin and left another streak of grease. He’d faded off, and I couldn’t tell if he was just focused on something else or if he was trying to remember back to when he was ten.
“You still with me, bro?” I asked.
“Oh yeah, I remember.” He kicked my foot with his. “Shit, did you think I put some little girl down there? Why the fuck would I do a creepy thing like that? No, I was in the front of Dad’s truck. We were out on Phantom Curve, and they were filling the back of Dad’s truck.”
“With what?”
He shrugged. “Don’t remember. Some stolen shit. I just remember Dad was so fucking angry. He was stomping around with that face—remember that face—the one that always warned us to stay the hell out of his way.”
I nodded. “I remember it well. Why was he so mad?”
“Don’t really know. But I’d overheard them talking about a little girl and hiding her in the old fur trappers’ shelter. But damn, Jem, I didn’t put her in there. Just how fucking nuts would that be? Don’t think it ever happened. They were just talking, is all.”
“Think you might be wrong about that, Dane.” I looked back at the house where Dad was still sleeping. Just maybe it was time to rouse him. “I’ll let you get back to the jeep. And watch yourself around those girls that bite.”
He picked up his wrench. “Now where’s the fun in that?”
I walked into Dad’s house. It smelled of stale beer and weed and dirty dishes. Dad hadn’t made it to the bedroom. He was sleeping on the couch, holding the remote as if it was the last thing keeping him alive. Which it just might have been. He hadn’t gone out on a job in days. He looked even thinner and more sallow than the last time I saw him. He would be gone soon. He’d finally succeeded in that suicide attempt he’d tried long ago. Only this time, he’d taken the long, tedious path to death through alcohol. And this time, his kid wouldn’t be able to hold him up until help came. This time there was nothing anyone could do to save him.
I sat on the coffee table and waited a long, tense moment to see if his chest moved. He took a long, wavering breath and released a deep snore.
“Dad.” I gave him a little shake.
The yellow glaze in his sunken eyes and hollow cheeks did make him look the way Dane had described, like a zombie. It took him a second to recognize me.
“Jem, what are you doing here so late?”
“It’s ten in the morning.”
He lifted his head and squinted toward the window. His head dropped against the couch pillow as if it had been filled with sand. “Shit, didn’t know it was morning. Where’s Dane?”
“He’s out working on the jeep.”
He turned his face and looked up at me. “You need to look after him when I’m gone, Jem.”
“You mean like I’ve been doing my whole fucking life?”
He smiled weakly. His gums were pale and bleeding. “You have. Not sure what I’d have done without you around.”
It was rare for Dad to say anything parent-like or human-like for that matter. “Well, for starters, you’d be dead. Remember?”
He reached up and fingered the scar on his neck. “Guess so. I know I was asking a lot of you when I told you to take the fall for Dane in that robbery.” He looked at me with cloudy eyes. “He wouldn’t have made it in jail, but it wasn’t right to ask you to give up three years of your life.”
I shrugged. “I wasn’t just thinking about Dane. I had a selfish motive for going along with it. Thought it would be better than living here.” It was my turn to finger my scar. “Sure as shit was wrong about that. Dad, I need to know what the hell has been going on in this town all these years. The accidents on Phantom Curve, the missing girls.” My last words made his jaw tighten. “What part were you playing?”
The tiny muscle twitched in the side of his face.
“What the hell does it matter now? You’ve got one foot in the grave, old man.” My stomach clenched tightly, and it was a question I dreaded almost as much as the answer. “Dad, did you have something to do with the missing girls?”
He looked at me and was far more alert than he’d been five seconds earlier. “Hell no, Jem. Why the fuck would you ask that? This crappy end, I deserve it one hundred percent, but I had nothing to do with the missing girls.”
“Because a lot of dirty shit happens here, and it always seems to be linked to Alcott Wolfe.”
He covered his eyes with his forearm. “Too fucking bright in here. Get out, Jem. My head’s killing me.”
I stayed. “The accidents on Phantom Curve—are you the phantom, Dad? Did you cause those trucks to veer off the road?”
He didn’t lift his arm from his face, but I could see his throat move as he swallowed. I wondered if he was swallowing back all the ugly, bitterness of what he’d done.
It seemed
he wasn’t going to talk. “So, you’re going to take everything to the grave, and people in this town will be justified for labeling you as a fucking monster. Guess that answers my question.” I got up.
“Had nothing to do with the missing girls. Don’t you go thinking that, Jem. Don’t even get a grain of that in your mind. Your opinion of me is already low enough. I don’t need you thinking I was some kind of freak. I did shit to keep you boys fed and clothed. But I wasn’t in charge of anything. I’ve been a fucking pawn in all this.”
“Then who’s the king?”
He laughed weakly. “I’m already dead so it doesn’t matter. If I tell you, he’ll kill you. Just leave it alone, Jem.”
“Can’t do that, Dad. There’s someone else in danger now, and I’m not going to let anything happen to her.”
With a grunt of pain he turned on his side and away from me. “Get out and let me wait for the Grim Reaper in peace.” He was done talking, and I was on my own to find out who’d had my dad by the balls all these years.
Chapter 23
Tashlyn
The incident in the bathroom had left me shaken. I realized that I’d been trying hard to ignore the giant, dangerous pink elephant in town. Someone wanted me gone, whether alive and walking out on my own two feet or the alternative. My presence was a threat to someone. I just had no idea who.
Everly had suggested that since there was no food in the house, we should go to the diner for breakfast. I didn’t have a big appetite, but I didn’t want to say no. She seemed disappointed about how her evening had gone with Finn. I hadn’t asked details and decided to wait for her to tell me. I’d also decided I needed to fill Everly in on what had been happening. I was living in her house, and she might just be in danger too. I wouldn’t blame her at all if she asked me to move out once I confessed everything.
We drove past Jem’s house, but his bike was gone. He was out and about already. Everly turned into the diner parking lot. “Oh good, most of the Sunday breakfast crowd has already come and gone. Be prepared, they usually run out of bacon by ten.”
“I’ll prepare myself for disappointment then. I thought you said this was a truck stop too. I don’t see any trucks.”
“They don’t generally come this way unless there’s a lot of traffic on the main freeway. Plus it’s Sunday.” Milly’s Diner had the usual nostalgic look, only it seemed the decor truly was vintage, as if it had remained the same since the fifties. There were even two coin operated carousel horse rides out front. One man was waiting while his little girl rocked back and forth on a blue horse.
I stopped and watched her. The hair on my neck stood up and an unexplained shiver went through me.
Everly noticed my reaction. “Tash, you all right?”
I shook myself out of it. “Yeah, I just had a major case of déjà vu. Like I’d been here before, riding that horse, just like that little girl.”
She took my hand. “Oh boy, you are hungry. What you need is some pancakes.”
I looked back once more at the little girl as Everly dragged me inside the diner. A woman with silvery hair and a warm pink complexion was filling salt shakers. “Hey, Ever, grab a table anywhere. And we’re out of bacon.”
Everly shot me a ‘told you so’ look. We sat in a booth near the back of the restaurant. I sat facing the front, and immediately, the green, round clock hanging over the door caught my eye. Its hands were covered in rhinestones and the words Milly’s Diner were painted across the face. I’d seen it before. It was possible I’d been in another Milly’s Diner at some point in my early life. It definitely wasn’t the kind of place Aunt Carly would have taken me, but I’d done some long trucking trips with my dad. I stared at the clock for a second.
“Hey, Earth to Tash, what do you think about me ordering French toast and you get the strawberry pancakes and we’ll share?”
“Yep, that sounds great.” The server filled our coffee cups and took our order.
Everly leaned back against the blue vinyl seat and looked at me. “Your lips aren’t as swollen today.”
I took a sip of coffee. “Man, that tastes good.”
“Yeah, yeah, now details.”
“No, you first.”
She sighed dejectedly. “Not much to tell. We sat and talked and laughed. I cooked him some scrambled eggs, which he devoured as if he hadn’t eaten in days. Then he gave me a peck on the cheek and left.” She tossed two packets of sugar into her coffee. “A peck on the cheek, can you imagine? Shit.” Her disappointment was palpable. There was a little heartbreak mixed in too. “What about you? You went straight to bed after Jem dropped you off.”
“I’d had a few sips of some highly potent whiskey. It had been a crazy night, and I wasn’t myself. Jem suggested it would relax me.” I thought about our few hours together naked in his bed, and my usual warm cheeks followed. “It definitely worked.”
She stared expectantly at me over the rim of her cup. “And are you going to tell me what’s going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“The incident in the bathroom. You came out of there looking as if you’d seen that face in the mirror, what’s the name of that lady everyone tries to conjure up at sleepovers?”
“Bloody Mary?”
“Yep. That’s how you looked. What happened?”
I glanced around at the counter and the stools. I’d been here before. It was no longer just an inkling or déjà vu. I’d sat in this diner before. I looked at Everly. “Some stuff has happened, Ever. Stuff I didn’t want to bother you with.”
“Like what? I mean aside from the obvious that you’re dating the town bad boy.”
I took another sip of coffee. It helped clear the slight hangover I was feeling from the whiskey. “I was working late at the mill last week, and I thought I heard a dog in the carriage shed where they make the first cuts. I walked inside to look for the dog, and someone knocked me out. I was lying about losing the sweatshirt. The person ripped the sleeve and tied me to the cradle arm.”
Everly’s face smoothed to white marble as she listened.
“I was just inches from being killed by the saw when Jem saved me.”
“Holy shit, Tash.”
“That’s not all. That letter my aunt sent me had been opened. Her letter had been shredded. There was a note inside telling me to leave town or die.”
She blinked at me as if she was struggling to absorb what I was telling her. “Tashlyn, I don’t even know what to say.”
“Last night, I was in the bar bathroom. Someone was smoking in the stall. Then a man’s voice, the same voice I’d heard in the mill, called me pussycat, just like he had before he knocked me out and tied me to the saw.”
“Jeez, Tash, why hadn’t you told me all this before?”
“I didn’t want to worry you.” I reached across and took hold of her hand. “I totally understand if you want me to move out. I’ll pack today. The last thing I want to do is cause you trouble.”
“No, you can’t. It’s not safe.”
“There’s more.”
Her shoulders collapsed as if she couldn’t bear to hear more.
“I was in the truck with my dad when he died. I don’t know how I survived or what happened after the accident, but I was in the truck when he went off the road.” I stopped for a second trying to decide if I should tell her the rest.
She looked at me expectantly, her face smooth with concern.
I swallowed. “I think Alcott Wolfe knows what happened, but Jem can’t get information out of his dad.”
She sat back. We fell silent as the server set down our plates. Everly stared down at her French toast. “Suddenly, I’m not all that hungry.” She looked up at me. “Tash, please don’t be mad when I say this. All right?”
I had no idea where this was going, but I
was waiting for her to tell me to get back on the bus and go back to The Grog.
“I need to find out what happened,” I blurted before she could tell me to leave.
“I don’t blame you, but it’s not worth your life.” She looked out the window toward Jem’s house, then turned back to me. It was obvious the words she had for me were hard for her to say. “Don’t you think it’s a coincidence that Jem was at the mill ready to save you? And then at the bar? We hadn’t seen him all evening and then all of a sudden he’s there in the hallway?”
I blinked back tears as I leaned back away from the food that was now making me nauseous. “That’s just you jumping to conclusions because of your lifelong mistrust of him.” I spoke confidently, but in truth, her suggestions were poking at my heart. “He saved me both times.”
“Maybe this has all been just to scare you. Maybe they don’t really want you dead.”
“Who’s they?” I asked sharply. “My god, this town is just bursting with evil people, isn’t it?” I grabbed a napkin to wipe away my tears.
“No, I’m sorry, Tash. I didn’t mean to upset you. But you said yourself you think Alcott had something to do with your dad’s accident. Just maybe Jem’s trying to protect him.”
“No, you’re wrong. You have to be wrong, Ever.”
We both sat there staring at our plates, watching the steam slowly dissipate as the butter melted into the food. Everly didn’t have to ask. She waved the server over. “Can we get these plates to go?”
We placed our untouched food into containers and walked outside. The thunderstorm had left behind air that was so clear it almost hurt to take a deep breath. We walked silently to the car. Everly stopped to put the key in the car door. Her eyes rounded as she looked past me.
“Hey, Woodstock.”
The knot in my stomach tightened more as if someone was wringing out my insides. I turned around. Jem was walking toward me with that pale brown gaze that reached right into my chest. Everly’s words were playing through my head, picking at my brain. I’d thrown my trust and my affection, heck even my love to this man without thought. He’d swept me right off my feet, and I’d let him. Even with Everly’s persistent warnings. But he’d saved Finn and he’d saved me. I was nearly shaking with confusion by the time he reached me.
