The Columbus Messenger archive of the story, two websites that had just scraped the content, and… a Reddit thread. That would be it. Jonah clicked into it and scrolled down through comments that were a mix of theories, conspiracies, and painfully earnest memorials.
MoodRingUnicorn would miss Daniel in Music next year.
FeckOffFatherTed thought that the police had killed him and covered it up.
That was helpful, but Danielwhat?
The screen loaded the next page, and there it was. Daniel Mulligan, twenty years old. He’d killed himself.
A tragic loss.
The old knot caught in Jonah’s throat. A hairball of unsaid words and anger and secrets. Every feeling a Carrow ever had involved secrets.
He tapped StellaG2018’s username and pulled up her profile. After a second to compose, he tapped out the DM on the tiny keyboard.
Hey, it’s Emily! WTF, I just heard about Daniel! What happened?
Emily was a common name. And, much like the salt, lying wasn’t a skill restricted to the cunning folk, even if they needed to be good at it. Seventy-five percent of a good hex was first impressions. If someone already believed you were magic, then it made everything easier.
The best way to impress was to arrive armed with details that whoever wanted your help didn’t think you could know.
He hovered his thumb over the Send button as he gave the message a quick reread. The back of his neck itched with an uneasy feeling. Or maybe it was better to call it an easy feeling. He hadn’t fallen off the wagon, but he was nearly 75 percent of the way to the edge. At that point, it was less of a fall and more of a hop.
Jonah hesitated for a moment and then shook the hesitation off like a dog in the rain.
It was a few lies and one question. That was all. Jonah would worry about his “sobriety” when he woke up with wax on his boots and whiskey on his breath.
Jonah shoved the phone into the back pocket of his jeans and left the paper safely in its circle of salt as he went to get some leftover Chinese takeout from the fridge. The styrofoam container felt heavier now the food in it was cold.
He pulled out a beer too. AA might be helpful, but his problem wasn’t liquor, and he needed a few vices.
