Page 30 of The Devil You Know
“This place ranked the best for lunch plus local atmosphere,” Jesse told Seth as they stopped in front of a tall, old brick building that had been repurposed from some kind of warehouse. “It’s supposed to be a pretty great place for cocktails and trivia nights too.”
The sign readTredegar’s. Seth felt another stab of déjà vu. “Treddy’s,” he murmured, knowing that the place was important, but not why.
Jesse looked at him sideways. “Yeah, that’s what the locals call it. How did you know?”
Seth shook his head. “I just did. Let’s go in.”
The interior was a mix of wrought iron railings, brass fixtures, white twinkle lights, and exposed brick with wooden ceiling beams, a trendy but welcoming environment that didn’t take itself too seriously. Seth scanned the customers, on edge as if he expected trouble. Then he searched the faces of the servers at the bar, with a desperate longing that choked him with sadness.
“Seth?” Jesse put a hand on his shoulder. “We can go somewhere else if you’d like.”
Seth shook his head. “No. I’m fine. It’s a pretty place.”
The food was as good as promised, and both of them made short work of barbecue sandwiches, sweet potato fries, fried pickles, and a side of Brunswick stew, washed down with locally-brewed beer. The silences had become as relaxed as the conversation between them, and Seth took comfort in being able to pretend for a few minutes that he had never left.
Seth picked up the tab this time, and Jesse promised to spring for ice cream. Full and relaxed, they waited for their bill.
He spotted a familiar figure near the bar. “I’ll be back,” Seth told Jesse, moving so quickly that he nearly knocked over a server. He kept the dark-haired man in view as he wove through the crowd and found him playing with his phone next to the bar.
Before Seth had a chance to figure out what to say, the man glanced up, giving Seth a good look at his face. Seth felt a shock of recognition, followed by a wave of bewilderment. The features were intimately familiar, but Seth had no idea who he was.
“You don’t belong here; you need to run,” the stranger said.
Someone in the crowd jostled Seth hard enough that he stumbled. When he looked up, the stranger was gone.
“Are you okay?” Jesse asked, coming up behind him.
“Yeah.” Seth stared at the empty spot at the bar where the stranger had been just seconds ago. “I’m fine.”I’m losing my marbles.
Jesse clapped him on the shoulder as they stepped back onto the sidewalk. “Come on—I’ve got something pretty interesting to show you.” They walked for a while and turned onto Church Street. To Seth’s surprise, Jesse led him through another restaurant and out back to their patio.
“You’re hungry again?” Seth asked, unsure what they were doing there.
“Hungry for a scare, maybe.” Jesse pointed to a huge wooden door that blocked off what looked to be an old passageway. “I told you I wanted to look up some spooky spots. That’s one end of the Church Street Tunnel, built for a railroad a hundred years ago. There was a collapse, and a train never made it out. It’s still buried in there—along with its crew. Locals say it’s haunted.”
“Doesn’t seem to hurt the restaurant’s business,” Seth said, trying to hide how uncomfortable the tunnel made him.
“Maybe this isn’t the haunted end. The other side isn’t blocked off until a couple hundred feet into the tunnel. There’s a rickety fence, but you can see inside quite a way. From the pictures I found, it looks like it’s down a hill in a wooded area, but if you want to explore, we can come back with better shoes.”
“No!” Seth spoke sharply enough that Jesse’s eyebrows rose in surprise. He shook his head. “We shouldn’t. It’s dangerous.” He could barely put the urgency he felt into words, the utter certainty that they should stay the hell away.
“Okay. We don’t have to. We’d probably get all muddy anyhow,” Jesse said in a tone like he was talking to a spooked horse. “Mom would kill us if we got the RV dirty.”
“I’m sorry,” Seth said, feeling his face color with embarrassment. “I must be cracking up.”
Jesse bumped his shoulder. “It’s okay. There’s lots of other stuff to do. And we don’t have that long before dinner. Tomorrow, we could drive down to Virginia Beach. It’s not far, and I’ve always wanted to see the ocean.”
Seth appreciated the peace offering, and he nodded enthusiastically. “I think that sounds fantastic. Come on—let’s walk some more before we head back.”
To Seth’s relief, Jesse kept the conversation light. He knew they would have to talk more about his nightmares and his growing obsession with the stranger—Evan—he seemed to see everywhere.
Seth just hoped that by the time they had that conversation, he had a clue about what the fuck was going on.
6
EVAN
“Parker?”Evan’s emotions whipsawed with just one word. Love, anger, grief, disappointment, and hope all washed over him like a tide that might pull him under.
