Page 73 of Blackwood

The hurt that flashed across his face echoed in my heart, stabbing into the soft tissue and starting a slow bleed. But how could I trust him? The simple answer was that I couldn’t. I should have listened to my mother. Until I found the graves and dug down deep enough to hit the truth, I couldn’t trust anyone.

Not even the man sitting in front of me with love in his eyes.

“You all right?” Rory walked down the hall with me.

I glanced back to the room where I knew Garrett was holed up. The sheriff had tried to escort him off the property twice since he’d visited me. Each time was met with broken furniture and more curses than I’d ever heard in my life. He stayed in his room, and I slept uneasily the past two nights.

“I’m fine. Just hungry.” I gave Rory a wan smile.

He returned it five times brighter and put his hand at the small of my back. “Breakfast is already cooking.”

The smell of bacon and butter wafted on the air, and my stomach growled. My appetite had returned once Dr. Lewis stopped the IV. Once the pain from my injuries had receded to a dull ache, I spent my time hunkered down in my room, trying to form a game plan.

Rory and I turned the corner and passed the large glass windows giving a view of the Lodge’s gym and sauna area. A few older men walked on state-of-the-art treadmills and stopped their conversation to give us small waves.

“Mayor.” Rory kicked his chin up.

I stared harder and recognized him. Mayor Freeman walked at a steady pace, his beady eyes focused on me. He’d come to visit me once, assuring me that the school was aware of my condition and that the sheriff’s department was personally overseeing the exhumation of my father’s bones. We continued down the wide hall lined with rustic décor and modern amenities.

Rory pushed the door leading to the large dining room. Antlers and game heads covered the walls and clear windows looked out onto the barren woods. A light dusting of snow had fallen overnight, giving the ground a pathetic smattering of white. The darkness shone through, the rotted leaves and decay overpowering the perfect flakes.

I let Rory lead me to a table next to the windows, and we sat. Pam, the cook and waitress, didn’t need our orders. We’d had the same thing for the past few days.

“Are you sure you want to leave today?” Rory flipped over our coffee cups and poured from the carafe that had already been set out.

“Yes.”

“What are you going to do?”

I took my coffee and sipped it, the bitter sting reminding me I was still alive. “Finish my survey.”Find the graves on Blackwood property.

“I’ll go with you.” He leaned back as Pam put a plate of sausage, eggs, and pancakes down in front of him.

“No thanks.” I slid my napkin into my lap as Pam served me.

“Elise, you can’t go out there alone. Not again.”

I wouldn’t. I intended to go back to campus and get a handful of undergraduates, lots of university attention, and a solid grid-by-grid inspection of Blackwood. The mass grave wouldn’t stay hidden with that sort of inspection. Once I found it, I’d figure out what the hell had gone on—what had gonewrong—at Blackwood. And I’d know for certain if Garrett was responsible for the deaths.

“You still in there?” Rory’s voice snapped me back to the dining room.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m not going alone. I want to get some backup from school. Bring some undergrads to speed up the process.”

He met my eyes. “Good. I’ll be there whenever you want to go. The sheriff won’t give me any shit about spending time with you. Protection is part of the job.”

“What about the mayor?”

“He won’t say anything.” He shrugged and speared a piece of sausage. “Sheriff Crow is the boss of me.”

“You weren’t able to find out anything else about Danny?” I tasted my grits, but gave up on them when I realized nothing could compare to the ones Ty whipped up at the diner.

“No. That’s a kicker.” He shook his head, his short sandy hair barely moving. “I can’t even trace him back to a house, under a bridge, anywhere. I don’t know where he was living. That sort of ruins the whole search for clues. I think he was just crazy, you know?”

I chewed through my disagreement and remained silent.

“Just like, found your dad out there, killed him. Found you out there, tried to kill you. Crimes of opportunity. He got lucky. You got unlucky.”

“Sure.” I bit into my bacon and tried to gauge whether Rory was truly clueless. My bullshit meter didn’t blink, but I’d been wrong before. The thought of Garrett, of the things I’d done with him, burned through me until I couldn’t eat another bite.

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