Total pages in book: 180
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 176012 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 880(@200wpm)___ 704(@250wpm)___ 587(@300wpm)
Slowly sinking one hand and knee after another into the black mulch, I hear Winslet, as if those memories in the diary are mine.
*dark
*water in the air
*scent of earth
*keys like claws
I curl my fingers into the dirt, lifting my eyes to find glimpses of him and Farrow through the thistles.
Farrow turns to him, standing close as if he has something private to say, but his body language is cautious. Not confident.
Since when do he and Lucas have shared secrets?
Farrow pants to Lucas, out of breath as the silence stretches.
Then I hear him say, “He knows where the body is.”
Lucas
There’s only one way the location of that body is known to anyone but Reeves and me. Reeves told Hugo Navarre.
And he must’ve told him recently, too, because Hugo didn’t seem to know the other day outside of Fallon’s shop.
Drew is in the area. I knew it from my second day back in Shelburne Falls, and I will never deny my gut again. I knew it.
Maybe Hugo’s bluffing. To get me to leave. To make a mistake. But it’s best to assume he’s not.
“He’ll leave you alone if you give him the building,” Farrow tells me. “He wants to meet.”
Raking my hand through my hair, I shake my head. So blackmail, it is, then. I’m almost impressed. He could just kill me.
Maybe I should be warier of Farrow. He could do it easily right now.
But then, who knows what happens to the building if I die? They want the deed.
“Where?” I ask.
“He’s on Rivertown’s roof.” He looks away and back again, shifting uncomfortably.
Fucking great. Right here near all the people I care about, shielded by the chaos of the BBQ Crawl.
I walk for my car, Farrow matching my stride. I’m happy that Quinn is safe back there with her family, at least.
“Is there someone buried in River Hill Tunnel?” Farrow asks.
One of the hedges next to us rustles, and I glance down, seeing a bird pop out.
Is there someone buried? Does Farrow even care?
I have no illusions that he saw some shit long before I came along.
“No,” I state quickly, surprising myself. I stop next to the Mustang and dig out my keys. “There’s someone buried outside of it.”
I don’t look at him, and I don’t know why I told him. Do I trust him? Kind of. But for no good reason, that’s for sure. He wants Green Street. That’s what he told me the night I found out he bought my house.
He won’t want to clean up Weston any more than Hugo, and he could see me as just as much of a threat as his boss.
I’m just worn out on lying. And something tells me he cares about the same people I do.
He studies me. “Why don’t you just give him Green Street?”
“Should I?” I ask.
Is that what he wants?
He falls silent and then twists his lips in disgust. “No. Quinn doesn’t deserve a coward.”
“And why would ridding myself of Green Street make me a coward?”
“Because you’d simply be shifting responsibility from yourself to Madoc Caruthers,” he points out. “Hugo will become his problem then.”
Exactly. I’m glad he agrees. I can get Green Street off my back in a second, but what then? I’m not leaving the people I care about to face the mess I made.
The hair on the back of my neck rises, feeling like we’re being watched. But when I look behind me, there’s no one.
Fucking Drew is around somewhere. I know it.
“So…” I face him again, swallowing. “I shut it down then,” I announce. “Or sell it.”
Farrow looks away. “You do what you want.”
I almost fucking smile. I can see right through him.
He wants the building. That was Hugo he was speaking to that night at the gym while Noah and Quinn were jogging. He wants Hugo’s position.
Yeah, I trust him. But only a little.
“Do you have to pay?” I clench my teeth. “Or do you get it for free from the girls you turn out?”
He smiles through his sneer. “We supply men too. We’ve expanded since your day.”
I yank open the car door and climb in, and he leans down, peering through the open window.
Staring ahead at Madoc’s house, I smell the grill firing up and hear the music.
“I just couldn’t…accept what it became,” I tell him. “What Drew Reeves turned it into. It was a social club, you know? We found this cheap property, and there were no cops around. I thought we were going to bring in other guys who liked to snowboard in the winter and be lake bums in the summer. We’d drink and have block parties.” I meet his eyes. “Maybe network when we all settled into careers. Start businesses in the area and get the town running again. Maybe host a wet T-shirt contest to raise money for the kids or something.”