I didn’t even bother doubling back to the back door. Flora wouldn’t dream of leaving it unlocked. That left the fig tree. I crept to the front yard and stared up at Ava’s window. It was dark. I hadn’t seen her from the front hall when I’d come in. Other than Flora and Elise, the downstairs had been empty. Which meant that Ava was probably sound asleep by now.
The fig tree, sprawling and springy, was not tall enough to reach Ava’s front window. It was, however, tall enough to reach the roofline of the garage, and that was just below her south-facing window. And even though the limbs swayed with my weight, the fig tree was easy climbing. I made it to the roof and hoisted myself up as quietly as I could.
At her window ledge, I leaned in and gave the glass three short taps. And then I waited through silence. Tapping harder, I wrapped three more times. Finally, Ava’s bedside lamp lit, and soon her sleepy face appeared.
Frowning at me, my sister unlocked and raised the sash. “Cole, what are you doing out here? If Dad finds out—”
“Move out of the way,” I whispered before stepping through her window and arching my back to pull the rest of my body inside. As soon as I stood, Ava gasped.
“What happened to your lip?”
I debated lying. Ava could not give up the hope that one day our father would change. I had long ago abandoned those kinds of fantasies, but I couldn’t exactly blame her. Out of the three of us, me, her, and Mom, Ava was spared the worst of my father’s tempers.
Because Mom and I made sure of it.
And the last month had given her reason to hope. With the Cormiers living on our property, my father had been on his best behavior. I also wondered if the incident with my mother and the stairs hadn’t scared him a little. I knew it would never scare him straight, but the police had asked an awful a lot of questions that night.
And maybe it had scared him in other ways. I had seen Mom, broken and gasping at the bottom of the stairs. I’d also seen my father’s face. He’d gone completely white. Bone white. As if he couldn’t believe what he’d done. Mom had been going into shock by the time the ambulance arrived, and I didn’t’ think anyone else noticed it, but I thinkhewasn’t too far behind her, shaking the way he had. I’d also noticed that when one of the paramedics offered him a blanket while they stabilized my mother, he’d accepted.
But the back of his hand across my mouth tonight had proved his ability to get over it.
I sighed and answered Ava’s question. “What do you think happened to it?”
Her face fell. “No…” she moaned.
I gritted my teeth because anything I could say would only upset her. Her gaze left my face, and I knew she was seeing her hopes turn to ash again. Then her eyes snapped back to mine.
“Did he throw you out?” she asked, new terror claiming her face.
“No,” I said quickly, not wanting her imagination to make anything worse for her. Life for my sister was bad enough already. “I was with Elise. She was helping me, and Flora locked the doors.”
Ava fast blinked. “Elise? Cormier?”
I frowned and gestured around us. “Do you know any other Elise around here?”
Ava closed her eyes as her brows climbed. “No.” She shook her head. “But she’s just a little kid.”
My mouth hitched to the side. “She’s just a year younger than you.”
Ava frowned, her confusion making her stammer. “B-b-but how could she help? What does she know?”
I pinned her with a hard look. “She knows how to get bloodstains out of a dress shirt.”
Surprise lifted her brows again. Her eyes traveled to the wet spot on my shirt before meeting mine again. We stared at each other for a moment, and I watched her eyes fill.
“Is she gonna to t-tell anyone?” Ava asked, her voice breaking.
My shoulders fell. I wondered if Ava was more afraid of people knowing the truth about us than she was of living the truth about us.
Hell, maybe I was too.
“No, she’s not going to tell anyone.”
A fat tear spilled down her cheek. She pulled in a breath through her nose. “How d-do you know?”
I shrugged. “She said she wouldn’t, and she never said anything about Halloween.”
Ava shuddered, and she turned away from me. “I told you I never wanted to talk about that,” she hissed.
