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)
I ran to hide. To pretend that Shelburne Falls and Weston didn’t exist.
The shovel hits something hard, the tip grating over a rigid stone. But I know it’s not a stone. Nausea roils through me, the feel of the raw, porous material vibrating up the handle and into my hand.
I tighten my jaw and close my eyes. Oh, Jesus.
I grip the shovel, the days and the years and the snow storms that raged here flashing through my mind as he faded away under the ground.
Biting the inside of my mouth, I tip the shovel back, peeling up the soil and unearthing his bones.
I know I should leave it for the police, but if Hugo gets to David Miller, his body could disappear forever. Or just indefinitely until Drew decides the best time—maybe two years, or ten years, from now—to use it against Madoc and me.
I may go to prison, and I’m fine with that now because I can’t live with it anymore. As long as I take Drew Reeves with me and get him away from everyone I love, like I should’ve done in the first place.
The moist soil turns up easily, and so gently, I rake my gloved hand through the earth. Closing my fingers around piece after piece, I place each one in an open canvas bag, the tears streamlining down my face of their own accord. Fragments of clothes dangle, and my gut shakes with the need to throw up. I breathe deep, squeezing my eyes shut when I feel the skull.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur again as I set it in the bag. I’m sorry you ended like this. I’m sorry I challenged Drew. I’m sorry I didn’t anticipate him. I’m sorry I helped hide you here.
And I’m sorry I was quiet for too long.
Farrow arrives back at the train tunnel in no time, and I wrap the bones in the bag, letting him put it into the bed of his truck as I take another small envelope from him.
“Are you sure he didn’t have family?”
Farrow takes the shovel from me. “Yeah, I double-checked. And the girlfriend left town years ago with her husband.”
“Tell them to prepare the grave and headstone.” I start to walk away. “Don’t bury him yet, though.”
The police will want to see the remains.
Digging out my keys, I walk to the car and open the door. I stop and face Farrow once more.
“I know you want Green Street,” I explain, “but I can’t give it to you.”
I just need to clear the air on that.
He just slams the tailgate shut, shrugging. “Then don’t. I’ll take it.”
God, I hope I never have kids. Or sons, at least. He’s so fucking annoying.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, not expecting an answer. “You don’t need it.”
He has a loving, successful family with connections. If he chooses to make himself known to them. I know now how valuable that is and how stupid it is to risk it. People who don’t actually have options would envy him.
I start to climb into the car when I hear his voice behind me.
“My mom was a fling of Ciaran’s twenty years ago,” he calls out. “She was afraid he would take me away—or both of us, if he knew about me—and she didn’t know how to be someone she wasn’t.”
I look back at him.
“She didn’t want to be rich or live anywhere else,” he goes on. “She didn’t want me seduced by his money and private schools, so she kept me to herself.” He pauses. “I went looking for a family too. Same as you.”
So we both lost our fathers, in a way. I did the same thing he’s doing. I had it all, but I felt pulled to something I didn’t need. For him, he got something he never wants to lose.
“Green Street is still what you tried to make it,” he points out. “Even just a little.”
He found a family there.
He has people he cares about there, or maybe the whole town, but I’m almost grateful to hear it wasn’t all a waste. That there is some good there.
We leave the shallow grave open, exposed, for the police when the time comes. Heading back into town in our own cars, I continue to Quinn’s shop, watching Farrow fly by, continuing to Weston.
With my eyes peeled, I scan for Hugo. For Reeves. My blood cooks, making the hair on my arms rise. If Hugo is true to his word, he’s coming tonight.
Parking on the curb, I see her inside, through the window in the door to the kitchen.
Hugo doesn’t have the bones now, but that won’t stop him from dealing with me. I’ll need time to draw Drew out. Until that happens, Quinn stays with me when it’s dark.
She moves around her tables, heading toward the kitchen, and I follow, into the alleyway.