AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Only with Eamon.
Now, his silence breaks me, making me further validate my position. “I warned her,” I say. “And you’re the only one I even told I saw her. Do you even know what Jonjo would do with her before he offed her?”
“Jonathan Joseph’s decision-making skills aren’t always agreeable.” Jonjo hates his full name and Eamon uses it now, showing his own distaste for Jonjo. “We can at least agree on that.”
I choose to agree with nothing. “I kept her safe from the others. Told her exactly what she needed to do to keep herself safe. And she didn’t do it. Did she?”
Eamon keeps going. “She’s young. She’s American. You’ve seen the shows. You know how soft the ones from California are. Hell, spell Tiffanii without the extra ‘i’ on her Starbuck cup and they’ll start crying.”
“I’ve not ‘seen the shows.’ I work day and night. Remember? And she’s not soft. She’s disobedient.”
I think of her lying there in the grass, dark hair spread around her pale face like she was floating on the surface of the sea.
Her skin warm and soft against the cup of my palm.
And her eyes.
I’ve never seen eyes like hers. Beautiful. Determined. Wide-eyed innocence and such a dark, expressive brown. Like the deep chocolate wool Mum used to make wedding ring scarves out of. The fibers so delicate, the scarf could pass through a bride’s ring.
“She was warned,” I say again, wanting to talk sense into Eamon.
He’ll hear nothing of it. “Aye.” He nods at the window. “You’ve said.”
I drum my fingers on the wheel, pulling up to Bayne-Burnes house, the shared Gothic cathedral that we’re in the decade-long process of renovating. The Baynes and Burneses being the kings of the island, we call this place the Castle.
“We’re here,” I say.
“Useless statement,” he mumbles to himself. “We’re obviously here.”
Still angry. Still a kid.
I throw the truck in Park. “Get yourself inside and I’ll be back when the deed is done.”
Baby brother heaves a sigh, wanting to say more but knowing better than to argue with me any further.
He’s pure goodness, never leaving on an argument, like now when he rolls his face over his shoulder and locks his Bayne’s blue eyes with mine. “Alright then. Be safe.”
“Aye. Always.”
A prick of pride stings my chest, watching Eamon go. He’s seventeen, eighteen in a few weeks, going on twenty-five. His shoulders filled out over the winter. He’ll soon be a man, no longer the wide-eyed, towheaded kid that followed me around the island.
Once he’s inside, I set off down the road, going back the way I’ve come.
Our informant at the station’s let me know the girl’s called in. She’s expecting a copper in a police car to be waiting outside the lodge. Instead, she’s gonna find me.
I open the glovebox, taking out the single red rose I’ve procured for the occasion, and toss it on the empty passenger seat.
Everyone deserves a proper burial.
The petals of the flower make me think of her deep red lips. How they trembled as I touched her.
“Fuck.” I run a hand through my thick dark hair, leaving it as unruly as it was when I started this day.
Eamon’s right.
She’s young. She’s not from here. She doesn’t know any better.
As I drive, I tell myself these are the reasons I’m changing my mind.
