Page 72 of Trapper Road

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As I’d expected, Chief Parks makes me wait. Once I arrive I’m escorted to a small interrogation room and told he should be in momentarily, which I know is a lie. The room is similar to any other dozen interrogation rooms I’ve been in — bare walls, plain metal table, two uncomfortable chairs, camera in the corner, a door that locks from the outside.

I make myself as comfortable as possible and play a guessing game of how long I’ll be here until someone checks on me. I figured it would be an hour on the outside, and it turns out I’m wrong. It’s two and a half hours before a young officer sticks his head in and asks if I need anything.

“Yes, please, I’d like to give my statement so I can go,” I say with as pleasant a smile as possible. Which isn’t much given how late it is and how irritated I am from being stuck waiting. The officer at least has the decency to appear chagrined. “Sorry for the wait, ma’am. Chief Parks is trying to get to you as quick as possible. Can I bring you some coffee or water?”

I ask for both, and it takes more than half an hour before he brings them. The coffee is tepid and tastes like yesterday’s grounds, but it’s still coffee. That’s all I care about. Another forty-five minutes passes and I’m pulling out my phone to once again check on my kids’ locations to reassure myself all is well when it buzzes with an incoming call.

I frown at the name on the screen. It’s Mike Lustig, Sam’s FBI friend. I can’t think of a single good reason for him to be calling me, especially this late at night. My heart skips a beat as I answer. “Hey, Mike, everything okay?”

“Gwen, sorry for the late call. I tried to reach Sam, but he wasn’t picking up.”

“He’s in Stillhouse Lake. Something happened at the house, and he’s looking into it. Why do you need to reach him? What’s going on?”

He hesitates, and my alarm spikes. “Look, Mike, I know you didn’t call me this late to shoot the shit. What’s happened?”

He blows out a breath. “It’s about Connor. I promised Sam I’d keep an eye on the school shooting investigation. They’ve found something you need to know about.”

21

CONNOR

Vee and I stand on the side of the road, our rented QuickBikes lying off in the grass. She wanted to hitchhike, but I drew the line at flagging down a ride from a stranger. She complained the entire bike ride over, but I told her it was better and faster than walking. She flipped me off in response.

A pair of ruts cut off the road and toward a wall of trees stretching out before us. It looks like an old overgrown logging road that hasn’t been used for decades, but it’s clear by the way the grass is flattened that some cars have been through recently. The sun has already set, and the last of twilight still hangs in the sky but is fading fast.

“Stop overthinking things,” Vee says, digging her elbow into my side. “Come on. Let’s go while there’s still some light left.”

My stomach hurts from being tied in so many knots. “You know Mom will kill us if she finds out.”

Vee rolls her eyes. “She’s not gonna find out. Promise. You gotta trust me on this.”

The idea of trusting Vee on pretty much anything makes me laugh. The thing is, she’s incredibly loyal and faithful, until she’s not. “I’ve never snuck out before.”

“Oh really? I never would have known.” She tries to tug me forward, but I dig in my heels.

“I’m serious.” My insides are warring between my instinct that this is a terrible idea, and my anticipation over seeing Willa again.

“You know Lanny sneaks out all the time, right? It’s no big deal.”

“Except for that time she nearly witnessed a murder and was almost killed for it.” It was also one of the reasons we’d been forced out of Stillhouse Lake. Vee convinced Lanny to go to a party by the lake and then ditched her once they got there. Lanny ended up stumbling upon a girl who’d had her head bashed in with a rock and realized it was one of the Belldene boys who’d done it to her. Not that the family liked us much before that, but that certainly didn’t help.

“You worried about getting murdered tonight?” She’s teasing, but still, it’s hard to look at those woods and not think that terrible things have happened in those shadows.

“Come on,” she says, I’ve been to plenty of parties in the woods. Trust me, they’re almost all lame.”

“Then why are we going?” I ask her.

She quirks an eyebrow. “You want to see Willa again or not?”

My cheeks flush. She’s got me there, and she knows it. She starts for the trees, leaving me to follow or make my way back to the motel by myself. As much as Mom would kill me for sneaking out, she’d be even more pissed if she found out I left Vee to her own devices. “Fine,” I grumble, trailing after her.

The trees swallow what’s left of the light pretty fast, and we both pull out our burner phones and flip on the flashlights. It makes me even more aware of the darkness pressing in around us. After a few minutes we catch glimpses of our destination ahead. Light cuts through the trees, along with the twang and bass of country music.

Before long, we reach the clearing and behold the majesty of the Shadow Shack. And by majesty I mean it’s a dump. “I was expecting something more exciting,” I hiss to Vee.

She pats my shoulder. “That pretty much sums up life in a nutshell.”

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