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“And why would I need to do that? I’m not a damn child, Stu.” He’s still searching the busy street, clearly looking for someone. “Who you looking for?” I now ask, calling him out and looking around as he is.
“Uh, err…I thought I saw someone I know, that’s all.”
“Yeah, I imagine that happens a lot round here,” I joke, but from the look on Stu’s face, I can see it passed right over him. “Right, I’ll see you later,” I tell him and move past, continuing down the street. I look behind me after a few steps and see Stu crossing the street and disappearing down an alley beside the theater
I almost keep walking, but something makes me cross over and follow after him. By the time I reach the alley, there’s no sign of Stu, so I quickly jog down the alley littered with trash and a definite aroma of rotting flesh. Reaching the end, I peek round, looking for Stu and see him turn down a small street that leads to the lake. I race after him and using the trees surrounding the lake as cover, I watch him greet a man. I can’t get a clear look at his face from here, but I can see he’s tall and well dressed in a dark suit. I move closer attempting to get a better look, but the trees are doing a great job of not only hiding me but him too. What the trees can’t do is hide their conversation.
“You told me she wouldn’t be a problem. What the hell is she doing back here?” he demands, keeping his voice low but it doesn’t disguise his anxiety.
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know she was coming back,” Stu admits, looking around and rubbing the back of his neck.
“If she starts shouting her mouth off again, she’ll fucking ruin everything.”
“She won’t. I’ll make sure of it.”
“You fucking better. Did he…” the rest of his words are cut off by a dog barking, then as the dog moves away all I hear is Stu telling the man that he’ll message later with the details.
Damn it! They each head off in opposite directions, Stu towards home and the other guy…shit! He’s coming right this way. I quickly move around the tree just as he comes into view. Thankfully the tree is large enough to hide me. I risk a look to try and catch a glimpse of his face, but he turns away as a couple laughing catches his attention. A moment later, the man is joined by a second guy, this one much larger and I see the outline of a piece beneath his jacket. Bodyguard maybe? It seems like he came out of the trees behind me, and I hope like hell he didn’t see me. That would be bad, very fucking bad.
If he’s a bodyguard then chances are he saw me. It also means that whoever this person is they’re important. Silverbell is a beautiful and wealthy little town, a great place to hide out, so it’s not unusual to have the odd celebrity or high profiler.
I wait ten minutes before stepping out onto the path and hurry home. Those ten minutes and the ten more it takes for me to get home, allow me plenty of time to think about what I heard. It’s obvious they were talking about me and means that I need to speak to Drake quickly.
At the house I don’t see any sign of Stu, and I’m partly grateful because I might not be able to keep from hitting him again, and I don’t have time to be locked up. Yet I have a feeling that’s exactly what Deputy Peters would like to do. Stu, the son of a bitch, is clearly involved in whatever shit my dad got mixed up with. I need to be smart. I was young and rash last time. I was also afraid for my mom’s life and my own. This time I’m not afraid the same way. They can’t bully and threaten me into silence, no matter how much they try. I’m still a little worried they’ll go after Mom, but they’d be stupid to given the evidence I already have about how they operate. I mean, it’s not enough to shut them down completely, not yet anyway, but it would be enough to have people, important people, asking questions. I still need an answer to the biggest question of all, and that’s who the hell runs Titan Industries?
I always planned to come back here and finish what I started six years ago just not quite yet. I have Owen and his wayward dick and fists to thank for me being here earlier than I planned. I could have disappeared instead of coming back home, but something pulled the reluctant part of me back here to face everything that being here would throw at me. That includes Asher.
The man has been under my skin slowly scratching away at my resolve since I was maybe fourteen. But he completely took residence beneath every inch of me when he kissed me on the bridge that day. Everything that came after was hard, and he fractured small pieces of my heart every time he refused to accept that he felt the same about me.
I plug my phone in the charger beside my bed, then pull out my laptop and start it up. While I’m waiting, I pop downstairs to grab a drink and something to eat as my stomach growls at me.
My cell lights up just as I come back into the room, and I see a couple of missed calls from Drake, my PI, and a text message from an unknown number. Doesn’t take much to realize who that will be from.
Not feeling in the mood for another threat, I hit dial on Drake’s number. It rings off, so I send him a text telling him to call me asap. As I’m putting my phone down, it pings in my hand.
DH: Can’t talk now. I’ll see you soon enough.
No, no, no, he can’t come here. Jesus, this is becoming like an episode ofEx on the Beach. Drake becoming my PI wasn’t exactly done the traditional way because that would be no fun and far too easy. No, instead, I met him in a bar one night and ended up in his bed. The next day I’d set up a meet with a local PI and low and behold who should turn up? Drake.
After discussing business, we kind of ended up back in his bed, but when he had to leave a couple of weeks later to look into a few leads that’s when I met Owen. We never discussed it again and it’s not an issue but having these three men all in the same small town has disaster written all over it.
I quickly send Drake a voice memo telling him not to come here, but I’ve no doubt it will fall on deaf ears. If there’s one thing I know about Drake it’s that he does what he wants. It’s why he’s single. If he was a woman, he’d be considered high maintenance, as a guy he’s just a stubborn asshole.
Next, I send a message to Everly asking if she can give me a lift to work later. She’s not happy that I’m going, but when I tell her I’ll just call a cab, she changes her mind. She sounds kind of sad on the phone, and I wonder if it’s anything to do with Darryl, her douche of a boyfriend. I’ll be sure to ask her later as it will be good to keep her attention off me. I’m reluctant to pull her in any more than I already have, so decide to keep what I heard earlier to myself for now. Plus, I’ve learned my lesson about opening my mouth without evidence, and as my mom is dating Stu, I don’t want to hurt her if I don’t need to.
I get ready for work, making sure to take some painkillers for my ribs, which although bruised aren’t broken, and the small headache I still have. My leg is also sporting several bruises that will no doubt go every color of the rainbow over the next couple of days.
I’m just putting my shoes on to go and wait for Everly, who should be here any minute, when the doorbell chimes. I open the door to find a slender, dark-haired woman around the same age as me.
“Miss Kennedy Scott?” she asks.
“Yeah,” I reply, just as Everly pulls up.
“Hi. I’m sorry to just turn up unannounced but my grandfather, Walter Edwards, would like to meet with you.”
I frown, my mind working to place the name. “Oh,” I exclaim when I finally figure it out. “I don’t understand, why would Doc Edwards want to see me?”
Walter Edwards has lived here in Silverbell all his life and was the medical examiner when my dad and Nolan died.
