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Mettner pointed at the cowsheds. “We should split up again. I can take those.”
Josie nodded. “Good idea. We’ll work on the smaller buildings. Meet up later.”
He strode ahead of them. Lark banked right. As they walked, more buildings came into view. She pointed to the closest one. “Vance spends a lot of time inside the smaller garage. That’s where…it happened, you know?”
Josie hurried to keep up with her, Gretchen still trailing a few steps behind. “What’s that?”
Over her shoulder, Lark said, “The thing with Anya.”
THIRTEEN
Lark crossed a wide patch of grass and turned onto a muddy path marked by parallel tire marks. “My dad calls it ‘that business with Anya,’” she added.
Josie and Gretchen caught up, flanking Lark as more structures appeared. The first freestanding garage they came to was small and old. A bay door was held fast by a padlock affixed to the door handle about a foot from the ground. Lark fished around in the pockets of her jeans until she came up with a set of keys. As she bent to work the key in the lock, her flannel and the white T-shirt beneath rode up, exposing a strip of pale flesh above her waist. Near her left hip was a curved line of pink, raised flesh. It started below her waistband and disappeared beneath her shirt.
Josie used an elbow to nudge Gretchen in the ribs, but her eyes were already locked on the mark. The door groaned open. In the center of the bay was an old ratty orange couch that sagged on one side. A scuffed end table held an ashtray filled with cigarette butts. A half-filled bottle of vodka sat beside it. A small wood-burning stove took up one corner of the room. The walls were lined with shelves filled with various tools and equipment. One of the shelving units held brands. Dozens of them in all different sizes and shapes. Josie and Gretchen walked over and began searching through the shelves.
Lingering near the doorway, Lark said, “Dad took away his branding iron furnace after what happened with Anya.”
Josie looked over her shoulder long enough to see that Lark’s gaze was fixed on the wood-burning stove. Quietly, she added, “But he’s got other ways.”
Gretchen turned away from the shelves. “Sounds like you have personal knowledge.”
Lark said nothing.
“He’s hurt you,” Gretchen pressed.
Josie’s fingers paused over a brand in the shape of an H. “Lark, are you afraid of your brother?”
“Afraid of Vance?” Lark laughed. “No. I’m not afraid of him. I know exactly what he’s capable of and it doesn’t frighten me.”
Gretchen said, “That brand on your back—he gave that to you, didn’t he?”
Lark didn’t respond.
Josie asked, “That wasn’t scary?”
“Hurt isn’t scary,” Lark said. “It’s just pain. My brother is a lazy piece of shit who gets off on making people feel small and vulnerable. He’s a parasite. He can hurt me all he wants. Why would it scare me?”
“You never worry he might kill you?” Gretchen said.
“No.”
“But you think he’s capable of killing someone,” Josie said.
Lark folded her arms across her chest again. “Of course he is, but he won’t kill me. He needs me to run this farm. Dad won’t live forever and without me, he’d run this place into the ground. After our father passes, I’ll buy him out. Give him a deal he can’t resist. I’ve got money my mom’s people left us in a trust. He’d take my half in a heartbeat. Once this place is mine, I’ll make sure he never sets foot on this farm again.”
Gretchen asked, “You never thought about going to the police after he hurt you? Like Anya did?”
“So our dad can get him off just like with Anya? Bring him right back here? When you live with a tiger, you don’t antagonize it.”
Gretchen said, “If you’ve got money from your mother, why stay here? Is it enough to start over somewhere else?”
Lark’s chin jutted forward. “Why should I leave? This is my farm more than it is his—more than it is my dad’s at this point. I run this place. I love it. Why should I give it up because of them?”
“Fair point,” Gretchen said.
Moving another set of brands in the shapes of various letters aside, Josie found a box of condoms tucked at the back of the shelf. “Does your brother entertain women here?”
