Page 99 of Secrets That Bind Us
Bile rushes out of my mouth like a frothy substance, adrenaline high.
Down goes the bat.
CRACK!
“Verity!”
Someone cries out but I'm gone, blinded in my fury.
Thud, thud, thud.
Daddy tumbles down the stairs. His belt tinkling along until he lands at the base but I follow in pursuit.
CRACK!
Blood leaves Daddy, pooling at my feet from his crushed face. His gurgles stop. One dark eye staring back at me.
I drop the bat. And vomit once more by his body.
“Come…” The Darkness whispers. “Look what you’ve done.”
Dazed and exhausted, I come to in the dimly lit basement of my mother’s house. All of the tarps are gone, and it’s taken shape– taken mold to the dreams I have for the children to be able to play down here.
Sweat is dripping from every pore in my body; my bangs are slick and matted to my forehead. There’s a sledgehammer in my hands from Will’s crew and a hole in the wall where a skeleton in a faded, dusty flannel and jeans lies, arms crossed over its chest. It has no teeth, and half of its face is missing.
I blink, then squint at the remains of Richard Huntington, chest heaving when more light pours in from behind me. I stiffen– the muscles in my arms, back, and shoulders aching.
“Some of my best work, if I’m honest.” Dean’s voice comes from the base of the stairs as he prowls forward, so fucking nonchalant– barefoot, plaid pajamas.
I let the hammer slip from my grasp and fall to my knees, then to my butt. “I killed him.” I whisper into the almost-finished room.
Dean sits beside me, crossing his feet and then hugs his knees to his chest.
Mama’s last words in her letter to me ring loudly in my head– “Anything else you find, you blame it on me, sweet girl…”
I blink at Richard’s corpse, then back at Dean. “What happened?”
He takes a minute to answer me, and his face is grim but thoughtful. “You saved yourself, Verity. You saved your mama– and me, too.” He rubs a thumb over his bottom lip, then shakes his head, as though he’s still looking for the right words to say. “Richard found me in the loft of the barn, waiting for you. He tried to beat me– did beat me, actually– but I did what my daddy taught me and played dead. I laid around once he went back down the ladder, and when I knew he wasn’t coming back for me just yet, I went down. But then I heard Marie’s screams. Then yours. I tried to run as fast as I could, but my sides were hurting from where he’d kicked me. When I walked in the front door, you already had a bat in your hands, and you were swinging like a madwoman. You didn’t stop. You didn’t stop even after he was dead. But once you did, you went up the stairs and took a shower.”
He says it all so softly, like he’s afraid he’ll spook me. “I went up after you and helped you change into clean clothes. Sat you on your bed, kissed you. Once I made sure you were alright, I went back down and helped Marie drag him down to the basement. She didn’t have to ask me. We just went to work. Once he was down there, we used hydrogen peroxide and cleaned every drop of blood we could find. When the sun came up, Marie sent me to the next town over, and I purchased bricks, cement, plaster, paint, bleach, lye. Everything you could think of to cover the smell once we had him in that position and ready to brick him up. Everything my father always told me when he helped work cases in different counties. Last thing I did was drive his truck into the pond.”
“Dean…”
“You slept for three days straight, Verity. When you woke up, it was like nothing had happened. Like you didn’t remember anything.” he sighs. “And your mama and I were happy that you didn’t. It was like this great nightmare was over. Your mama knew we were leaving. She was ecstatic for you, Verity. And no, she didn't want you to come back. I’m sorry if the way she said it made you feel as though she never wanted to see you again. I’m so sorry she had to break your heart. She just wanted you far away– and with good reason, baby. You were gone when cops came sniffing around.”
“And you were in the hospital.”
Dean nods. “And I was in the hospital.”
“Did your dad know?”
“I think Dad had his suspicions. Not about me– about your mama. But my dad hated Richard. Never understood why farmers from other towns kept bailing him out of jail, or why the judge kept letting him go with slaps on the wrist. I think that’s why he was quick to file it as a Missing Person’s reportand let the case go cold. Richard met his fate, Verity– And one he rightly deserved. He was going to kill us all that night, I’m sure of it.”
“I don’t feel bad. Is that bad?”
Dean chuckles. “No. Because I was ready to do the same. Richard was after you that night, Ver. Your mama confronted him. And when she told me he tried to… I was glad he was dead.”
“I keep having these dreams. In one of them… in one of them, Micah said he told Richard about the loft.”
