Page 166 of Sugar & Shadows

I opened my mouth to object and then shut it, knowing better than to argue with her.

“Let me live in peace. It’s spring, the sap’s running, and we’ve got shit to accomplish.”

With a salute, I said, “Yes, ma’am.”

She patted my cheek. “You’re a good girl, Sabrina Monroe. Promise me you’ll make the most of the time you have.”

“I’m not sure I know how to do that.” The admission flew out of my mouth before I’d thought it through.

She looked up to the sky. “You’ll figure it out, kid. You always do.”

Strangely, while I stood on her porch with her, it all became clear. I wanted more. More time, more laughter, more adventures. More of this strange, messy life I’d somehow stumbled into.

Chapter 44

Sabrina

Coat pulled tight to keep the icy wind out, I walked back toward the library where I’d left my car. The snow was falling harder now, and I’d promised Gabe I’d meet him at his house, so I needed to get moving.

I had a lot to say to him. It was time. To be honest. With him and with myself. It was time I stopped just reacting. And I would start with Gabe. For once, I would choose instead of enduring whatever the universe threw at me.

But as I shuffled down the icy sidewalk, my brain spun through people, places, and things. Why had that M caught my eye? The scrolls, the loops, the no beginning or end; just an infinite connection.

As I was brushing the snow off the windshield, it hit me.

Closing my eyes, I recalled files. Then autopsy photos.

Will McManus had a tattoo on his back. It was that symbol. It was the only ink he had, and it was centered and large. Special. Which is why it had stood out to me.

Scrambling for my phone, I hopped into the driver’s seat and called Meg.

“McManus Ridge,” I said in way of greeting. “Run it, search it. I want to know everything.”

My mind raced as I turned the car on, letting it heat up. Then I sat back and waited for the residual snow to melt.

“I saw Will’s tattoo—that symbol—carved above the door on the McManuses’ sugar shack.”

Meg typed at a nearly impossible speed. “Big property. Chopped up and sold for parts. One segment in 2001, another in 2007. More later.”

“What about the co-op. Reserve syrup?” I asked.

“There is an address. Route 411. Registered to the Windsor County Maple Growers Association,” she said. “But it expired over a decade ago.”

Nodding, I rubbed my hands together to warm them. Old. Abandoned. A relic of time and people long gone. Barely accessible and a place no one would bother looking.

“What if that’s the spot?” I asked her. “The place Will would go when he disappeared. Frankie mentioned his dream was to buy back his family’s property.”

“Sugar Moon owns the largest portion of that land,” Meg said. “Confirmed the sales and the tax records. But it’s listed as inactive. Route 411 was downgraded by the town in 2009. It’s an unpaved logging road that receives no regular maintenance. It may not even be drivable anymore. According to satellite data, there are a few remaining structures, but they are listed as condemned on the property tax filings.”

She tapped away again, swearing here and there.

I tuned her out, considering what I’d learned. If Will had found evidence, and if he had an emotional connection to that place. Could that be it? If he’d panicked and had taken or hidden something?

“Fuck,” Meg muttered. “The property still has a registered utility meter. But it’s technically inactive.”

I held my breath. It could be nothing. Just another abandoned building filled with faded memories.

“Sabrina.” Her voice wavered. “It pulled power yesterday.”