Page 59 of Deny Thy Name


Font Size:  

“Wow,” she said as she moved over to the cross. “This looks just like your-”

“It’s what I based it off,” I told her quickly. The door opened to the basement and I pulled Jolie behind the cross. We crouched down so the base could protect us.

“I’m telling you, sheriff, no one has been down here for years.”

I could see Amir heading down the stairs, followed closely by Enzo. He was looking everywhere.

“We all know the Caldwell’s had a tunnel that led here,” Amir told Enzo. How the hell did everyone but me know that?

“Yes, it was one Frederick Caldwell had constructed when the city was being developed to sneak his lovers out of the house before his wife discovered them.”

“It was also used to save a young Beth from the clutches of Edward before she married Marshall.”

I felt my stomach drop. What the actual fuck? Jolie put her hand on mine to make sure I stayed hidden and didn’t announce where we were.

“Not many know that story, Amir,” Enzo said. He caught sight of us behind the cross and tried to keep Amir’s attention on him. “I wonder how you came to be aware of it.”

“There’s a report by Beth’s family of her kidnapping.”

Enzo sighed. “Edward and Marshall had always been competitors. In school, they wanted the same woman. She chose Marshall and Edward didn’t approve of that.”

“You certainly seem to know a lot about it,” Amir rounded on him.

“Through confession, of course.”

Amir didn’t look pleased but it looked like he was going to leave it. His torch shone over on the door I had kicked open.

Shit.

“Looks like someone used this recently.”

“Nonsense. That’s been that way for years. I didn't have the funds to repair it.”

There was a tense moment of Amir being silent, as was Enzo. He knew that if Amir were to find us, we’d be killed instantly.

The fear was evident in his features but you had to know him to see it.

“If I find out you housed two fugitives convicted of killing multiple people, I will see this church burned to the ground.”

“This church is a safe haven, sheriff, and what you have threatened is blasphemy. I’ll pray for your soul.”

“Pray for your life, Father,” Amir said through grit teeth. I’d never seen Amir anything but fair. This was not the sheriff. This was a grieving father who was sick of the corruption in this city.

Just as Gunnar had been sick to his teeth of corruption. His plan was looking better every minute.

Verona wasn’t salvageable.

Amir left the basement in a huff. It took a few minutes for Enzo to turn around.

“You can come out now.”

I pulled Jolie up first and followed her out from behind the cross.

“Did you do what you had to?” he asked me. I could see the disappointment on his face. I knew he had wanted us to leave, to flee the city, but there was something holding us back.

We both knew it.

I nodded. “We did.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like