Page 73 of Worse Than Wicked
My heart flips, and I resist the urge to reach for Seeley, who’s twining between my feet. “You found her?”
“No, over on Mill Street,” he says. “Where she lived before I picked her up.”
“She’s from Faulkner?”
“Yeah,” he says, not looking up. “Her mom still lives there, though she doesn’t seem to do much except run up credit card debt shopping online and apply for government aid. I can’t find any evidence that they’ve been in contact at all.”
I can’t breathe. I grab one of the glasses of iced tea and carry it to Duke, who’s lying in the hammock nearby, swaying gently in the hot summer breeze.
I’m grateful to have an excuse to walk away for a minute, glad that Baron has such singular focus when he’s working that he misses everything else around him unless it’s spoken aloud. While I’m occupied, I examine the new information, turning it over in my mind, studying it like a crime scene fiber under a microscope. He took Jane from here. Maybe he even had her when they still lived here. I shouldn’t be upset. I know they werewith lots of women while I was away. But something about it bothers me.
I get the feeling I’m missing a piece of evidence that’s right in front of me. That must be the missing friend of Harper’s, the one Duke said was dead. The one he agreed to find, in exchange for being allowed to return to Faulkner. Like he was doing her a favor, one he had no connection to.
I shiver and hand Duke the sweating glass.
“Thanks, Duchess,” he says, smiling up at me. “Can I get a kiss too?”
I lean down and plant a chaste kiss on his lips. “Any time, Duke.”
He hasn’t gotten dressed, and he’s in athletic shorts and nothing else. With theDOLLscar on his chest and his glasses on his nose, he looks so much like Baron it’s disconcerting. Only the sleepy smile and the warmth in his dark eyes gives away his identity.
That, and the fact that Seeley is rubbing against Baron’s legs under the picnic table.
I return to them and slide in on the opposite bench. “If you think about it, you never really fulfilled your end of the bargain.”
“Not this again,” Baron says, sounding annoyed. “I got rid of Jane, like you asked.”
“How do I really know that?” I ask. “You could have taken her into the woods and let her go for all I know.”
“This isn’t one of your childhood fairytales.” He sighs and closes his laptop, and for the first time, I notice how tired he looks. He and Duke both have trouble sleeping, though I think it’s for very different reasons. Behind his glasses, his eyes have dark circles, and I wonder if he’s been up more nights than I know. I sleep pretty well, aside from the nightmares that wake me screaming in the dark, clutching for a way out.
“How did you prove what you’d do for me if she’s still alive?” I ask. “I’ve been at your mercy for a year, and I got nothing out of it.”
Baron glances around, but there’s a reason I chose this location for the conversation, a reason I waited until his laptop was closed.
“I just got rid of your grandpa for you,” he points out.
“I know,” I say. “That was really special. But it wasn’t a sacrifice for you. You already hated him. You would have done that for yourself. I only got you access to him.”
“What do you want me to do?” he asks, narrowing his eyes at me.
“What are you willing to do?” I counter.
He watches me a second, his dark eyes inscrutable. “To make you happy?” he asks. “Almost anything, little monster.”
“If someone hurt me,” I say, watching Seeley pounce on something in the grass. “Would you avenge me?”
“I think I’ve proven to you what I’d do already.”
“Who hurt you?” Duke asks, sitting up in the hammock to look at us.
“Mr. Harris.”
“The science teacher?”
“Yes.”
When Baron doesn’t say anything, I peek up at him.
