Page 24 of We Already Dug the Grave

The other cop rolled her dark eyes. “Here we go again. He didn’t know what he was doing, or he wouldn’t have dumped her so out in the open…”

The two continued to bicker as I walked away, while those words—always mean something—stuck in my mind. It reminded me of one of the rules of Sight. Everything means something… Not everything means something to me…

The Sight had gone quiet on my future when I left Puddle Creek. No matter how often I poured and steeped and drank, it only showed me Frances. But looking into Frances’s leaves, it hinted at something coming. That my sister needed me.

And now all of this felt like fate demanding my attention. Pointing me toward the past I’d run so hard from.

But why?

And why now? The phone calls, the body, my sister: It was a web, connected—it must be connected!—and if I wasn’t careful I’d get tangled up. Hell. I already was.

As I walked back from printing out the cops’ check, I realized…the college students…the boyfriend. I knew who he looked like. It was a stretch but not impossible. The photos blasted across social media and in the newspaper, the missing persons posters everywhere… those eyes that had always stood out. The damn phone call saying I knew who it was. Saying the name of the one person it could never be.

Oh, fuck.

Chapter 8

Then

The surprise would be ruined if Frances didn’t get the hell out here soon. It had been over forty minutes since the last bell rang and a good fifteen, at least, since the last student straggled out.

What was taking her so long? Arms aching, I shifted my weight to my other foot. It was fine. It would be worth it, in the end.

After last night, I’d decided enough was enough. It was up to me to fix things between us. She didn’t inherit Ruth’s sharp tongue, but Frances was as stubborn as our aunt. There was no reasoning with her when she was angry.

I figured a few days would cool things off, she’d come to her senses, then off to her fancy school she’d go, with me following after graduation. We’d settle into our shiny new roles in our shiny new lives, destined to become the shiny new women I knew we were meant to be.

But last night had been a wake-up call, a slap in the face. The faint snores drifting up from her bed after I’d climbed into my bunk had initially put me at ease. We couldn’t be that out of whack if she was so unbothered.

I’d let myself believe this was no different from any other dumb fight. Like when I’d forgotten to pick her up from the library, and she’d been stranded once it closed. She’d froze me out for a week after, but now we laughed about it.

That’s where I’d thought we were now, in the freeze before the thaw. I’d lain in bed, imagining the heart-to-heart we’d finally have the next morning.

Until I jolted awake hours later—wake up she’s gone she’s gone—aware that something was off. I whispered, “Sister?” She didn’t answer.

I’d slid from my bunk to check first her bed. Empty. Then I tiptoed through our silent house. She was nowhere to be found. Not in the bathroom. Nor the kitchen. Not outside on the porch. My rule-loving sister had snuck out, and even now I had no idea where she’d gone. Only those words Frances had yelled at me over the dinner table had kept me from waking up Ruth.

You should work harder on your own life and quit trying to control mine.

It was idiotic that Frances was even considering not going to the Tennessee Math & Science School, but I should have approached the situation differently. Kinder. With patience. I was her big sister, after all. Her protector. Truth was, over the past year, I could feel her pulling away from me, but the thought of losing her now, when we were so close to the life we’d always dreamed of? That couldn’t happen. I couldn’t let it.

I’d crawled back into bed and stared at the dark ceiling until she’d returned, hours later. The words had been right there on the tip of my tongue, ready to confront her, but I swallowed them.

Frances thought I was overbearing. Lashing out would only push her further away. She’d wanted space and had probably snuck out to the greenhouse or to the creek. Hadn’t I often done the same thing?

I understood the need to escape, it was just…the thought of her needing to escape me? Well, that broke something inside.

But I would fix us. No matter what.

Now, I stood in the bed of the Rust Bucket holding a new lavender bedspread over my head like some idiot in an old rom-com, gripping an ancient boombox, all so it would be the first thing Frances saw when she pushed through the school doors.

The idea of the perfect peace offering had come to me in first period, so I’d snuck away at lunch and bought it. It cost most of my homecoming dress money, but if it brought my sister back to me and helped me convince her that nothing was as important as our future together, it would be completely worth it.

If only she wasn’t over forty minutes late.

Ow! A cramp bit down between my shoulder blades. Enough was enough. I balled up the comforter and shoved it through the back window of my truck, careful not to get it dirty, before hopping down from the Rust Bucket. Sometimes Frances lost track of time chatting with teachers, and this wouldn’t be the first time I’d hunted her down so we could leave.

Though, she’d never kept me waiting this long before.