“You didn’t ask me about last night,” Everly said in a teasing tone.
I looked over at her. “Did Finn kiss you?”
She smiled.
“Oh my gosh. Details.”
Her thin shoulders lifted. “It wasn’t quite as good as I’d expected, but I think he was nervous. But it was a real kiss.”
“I’m so happy for you, Ever. And he’s such a nice guy. He’s almost good enough to deserve you.”
We reached the store. Landon Gregor always looked a little surprised to see me.
“Tashlyn is going to help me in the storeroom.”
He hesitated, and I wondered if there was some insurance rule that wouldn’t allow it.
“That’s fine,” he said haltingly. “I’ll be back there in a minute to show you what needs to be done.”
Everly and I headed to the backroom. “Don’t worry, I’ll do the stuff that requires you to kneel on the cement floor.”
“Good idea. I’m pretty sure if I kneel, the scrapes will start bleeding again, and I’m already down one pair of jeans.”
Everly took a box cutter from the toolbox. “Did you tell your aunt about your little accident?”
“No, everything worries her.”
Landon came into the backroom. He was wringing his hands together, and they looked extra shaky. He smiled weakly at both of us. “There’s a lot to do, so I guess it’s a good thing you have a helper. After a long morning stacking beans and noodles, Tashyln is going to want to head back to her hometown, what’s it called? The Grog. Funny name.”
“I don’t mind a little hard work,” I said.
“Jeez, Uncle, you are psychic,” Everly said with a shake of her head. “I never told you about the place Tashlyn lived. How the heck did you know about The Grog?”
He stuck his shaky hands in his apron pockets. “Of course you told me, Everly. You just talk so darn much, you don’t remember all the topics.”
I looked over at Everly and expected her to be laughing about his comment, but she looked utterly mystified as if she was certain she’d never mentioned it.
“Ever, I know I told you to just come in for a few hours to stock shelves,” Landon continued, “but I’m not feeling well today. If you could cover the afternoon that would be great.”
“Fine, but you need to get a new doctor, Uncle. You need to find out what’s wrong with you.”
“Don’t know if that’s possible.” He walked out of the storeroom.
Chapter 30
Tashlyn
Everly was uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the morning. The whole incident with her uncle knowing about The Grog seemed to be biting at her heels. It seemed perfectly plausible to me that she’d mentioned it in passing to him, but Everly seemed confident it had never come up.
Something wasn’t right. I was feeling uneasy about everything, and on top of it, my plans to stay close to Everly had been messed up. I had no choice but to walk home alone. Jem would be back soon, and I took comfort in knowing I would only be alone for an hour or two.
I grabbed a bottle of water for the walk home. “I’ll see you later, Everly. I’ll do some cleaning.”
She looked decidedly upset that she was stuck having to watch the store on her afternoon off. It wasn’t like Everly to be in a bad mood, but she’d been off all morning. I dismissed it as the disappointment of having her day off taken away.
I headed out. Thank goodness for daylight. I passed Alice’s bookshop but resisted the urge to stop in. I needed to go straight home and get inside. Jem had made some calls the night before to track down Draven but with no luck. He seemed to have vanished after chasing me down the street.
My sore knees felt every step as I practically race-walked down the sidewalk. It reminded me of when I was little and I was hurrying down the hallway to crawl into bed with my dad after a bad dream. Invisible monsters chasing you down a dark hall are nothing compared to the real thing.
Even though I felt confident strolling through town in broad daylight with cars rolling up and down the street, I breathed a sigh of relief when I reached the front door. I unlocked it and went inside, making sure to turn the deadbolt. There were dishes in the sink, and I headed there first.
Time would pass quickly. I was anxious to see Jem. He wouldn’t give me details, but there was someone he’d needed to visit today, someone who he thought might know some of the town’s secrets.
I turned the water on in the sink and heard a floorboard creak behind me. For a fleeting second, my mind reasoned it was Everly. Then I remembered she wasn’t home. I turned off the water, and the floor creaked once more. It was happening all over again. My heart raced with terror. This time I had no place to flee. I grabbed the handle of a butter knife. Before I could spin around with my pathetic weapon, he spoke.
“This time I’ve got you, pussycat.”
They were the last words I heard.
Chapter 31
Jem
An older man with leathery skin and a gritty, hoarse voice opened the door. I wasn’t completely sure I’d be allowed in, but he led me down the hallway of the house to a door. He knocked and spoke through it. “Rebecca, you have a visitor.”
The door opened. Rebecca Gregor looked thinner and grayer than I remembered. Not that I ever saw her much or talked to her. Just like her daughter, Everly, she avoided my family. She looked up at me with green eyes that were sunken into a small face. She didn’t look the least bit surprised to see me.
“I was wondering when you’d come see me.” She turned around and headed into the room. I followed. The room consisted of one twin bed, two chairs and a dresser. She sat on the edge of the bed, and I pulled a chair up across from her.
She looked me up and down. “You remind me a lot of your father. You’re even more handsome, but Alcott Wolfe was a head turner.” We’d spoken maybe four times in my whole life, but she talked to me now as if we’d been longtime friends. “How is your dad?”
I shook my head. Rebecca, like my dad, had nursed her sorrows with alcohol.
“Wasted life, that one,” she said, as if she was sitting in a fine office or home.
“Why were you expecting me?” I asked.
She picked up the edge of her blanket and pulled it around her shoulders, even though the room was stuffy as hell. “Well, you’ve always been the smarter, more decent member of the Wolfe family, and I figured, one day you’d want to know just what the hell was going on in our lovely little town.” She reached under her pillow and pulled out a silver flask. She opened it and sipped some before offering it to me. “And Everly has told me a few things about her new roommate that made me think your visit would be soon.”
I took the flask and gulped down the burning liquid. I handed it back to her. “Thought you were in here to get off the stuff?”
She put the cap on and returned the flask to its hiding spot. “I am. But I found that this place is more tolerable with a little nip, now and then. I guess if you’re here, then you’ve already figured out who was really controlling all the horror up there on the mountain.”
“I have an idea, yeah. But still trying to understand it all.”
“Well, it started with Elizabeth’s death.” She stopped and shook her head. “No, that’s not true. It started with my mom giving birth to a monster, a monster, who in their eyes could do no wrong.” She shook her head. “They had such plans for Landon. That’s why my dad, who was mayor at the time, managed to keep Landon’s name out of the paper. They didn’t want him associated with Elizabeth’s death.”
I sat forward. “Landon was there the day she died?”
She nodded and pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “We’d all gone out for the day. My brother would follow your dad around like a groupie at a rock concert. He was friends with Alcott Wolfe, and that made him a big man on campus. Alcott just tolerated having him around. Back then, before everything spiraled out of control, your dad was all right. He was still considered a bit of a troublemaker, but he was admired too. Elizabeth adored him, and he loved her. They’d been messing around, playing tag on the rocks when she slipped and hit her head. She was out cold. My brother told Alcott to run. He told him that we’d take care of Elizabeth and that he’d be blamed if he stuck around. Your dad was upset, not thinking straight. So he listened to Landon and ran. That’s how diabolical my brother is. In that short span of time, he came up with a plan, a plan that would help him feed his sick cravings and keep Alcott at his feet for the rest of his life. At the time, I had no idea what Landon was up to. He told me he’d stay with Elizabeth, while I ran to get help. By the time I returned, Elizabeth was gone, her body drowned in the river. My brother was nowhere to be seen. I knew then, what I’d figured all along—my brother, Landon, was sick.”