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“You tell me, son. Have you been breaking into more than one house in town? I know you’re new here, but vandalism and breaking and entering don’t fly in Hart Hollow. We’re a quiet town, and I’d like to keep it that way. Now come along so I can take you to your guardian.”
I heard Diana make a noise behind me, and I turned to her. “It’s fine. I’ll talk to you later,” I said, walking to the police cruiser.
The ride into town was short and rife with tension. Behind the partition, I watched the Sheriff’s jaw twitch, and I couldn’t figure out why he would be that pissed at a teenage boy possibly breaking into a house.
As we pulled up to the stop sign, we turned right toward the café instead of turning left to take us past the school and to my trailer.
When we pulled in, the eyes of every person on the street and in the parking lot turned toward the car. I looked like a deviant, and my anger didn’t quell when the Sheriff came to my door to let me out of the vehicle.
Without a word, he escorted me to the back of the café, where Valerie was leaning against the side of the building. When I turned to my right, I saw two workers at the feed store eyeing me from the open dock doors.
“Miss Valerie, I was able to find your nephew. But, unfortunately, he was in the house of an adult woman. A woman who owns the bar here in town.”
Valerie pushed off the wall, and every tense moment we’d danced through since she decided to return to God flashed in my mind.
“Nicholas, please get in my car,” she said.
I saw her car parked a few feet away, but I didn’t move. “Can someone explain to me what’s going on here?” I asked.
The Sheriff looked at Valerie, and she nodded. “There have been anonymous tips about suspicious activity at the Archer house. Do you know it?” he asked.
I nodded. “Everyone does. They call it a haunted house at school.”
The Sheriff smiled. “I know that’s not what your peers call it. You call it a party house. It’s been a problem for years. But I’m putting my foot down on it now with everything that …” he trailed off. “Anyway, I know there is a very important formal tonight, and often, your peers like to have themselves a good ol’ time at that house after the dance. It’s close to school. No one can watch you. I get it, I was once young too. But I’ve had enough. This has been a peaceful town for many years, and it will return to that.”
Valerie stepped forward and spoke in a voice I had never heard before. “I can assure you, Sheriff Childress, Nicholas will not be going into that house again. He’s also not going to the formal tonight.”
At this, I lost my thinly veiled composure. I looked at Valerie, hard. “Tell me why I should take an order from you?” I asked.
The Sheriff shook his head. “Son, you should—”
I ignored him. “Tell me here and now why I should take an order from you?” I asked, my fists clenched.
Valerie stared at me, and her lips trembled. I remembered that moment in the trailer when it shook with my anger. I remembered her murmuring mouth when I saw her talking to herself in her car. She was losing it, losing herself to something. And I hated that I knew how that felt.
The Deacon had her on a leash and hadn’t Sorina had me on one? I hated them both in that moment.
“I’m going home now. You don’t need to drive me. Don’t worry about driving me ever again,” I said, walking away.
I heard the Sheriff call after me, then Valerie’s assurance that it was okay. He hadn’t brought me in to question me or formally arrested me, and I wasn’t scared of the Sheriff. I wasn’t scared of Valerie.
And I wasn’t scared of walking into the Archer house again.
But, someone wanted me out.
And that was the reason I would visit it again that night.
THIRTY
Iwasn’t a runner, but after I left the café parking lot, I sprinted back to our trailer.Mytrailer, I thought sullenly. Once home I changed into the black jeans and suit jacket I’d laid out that morning. I had a white button up to wear underneath that I’d found at the thrift store downtown. I didn’t have a date, but I pinned a red rose to my lapel. The same color as Sorina’s hair. I’d taken it from the bush outside her front door a few nights ago, hoping she would come out.
Once my shaggy hair was combed, I ran into Valerie’s room, opening her curtains so I could see outside incase her car approached. It didn’t take me long to find the safe in the back of her closet. A ratty old blanket she brought from the ranch covered it. I tried Valerie’s birthday for the combination first. It didn’t unlock. But when I used my birthday, the lock clicked, and I felt no triumph at my win. My birthday. My one tie to my past, fading away.
Pushing away any warm thoughts I had of my time with Valerie on the road, I grabbed a stack of bills, counting. I didn’t plan to take all the money. I didn’t even want half. Because Valerie had worked more than I did due to school. But I would take what I thought was enough to buy my freedom.
After setting the stack aside, I moved to another one, and my hands stilled. It was covered in blood. I brought it to my nose, smelling it, wondering why I was fucking smelling it.
When I closed my eyes, I saw the ranch, I heard the screams, and I saw the blood. I knew instantly where the money had come from. Blood money.
