Page 194 of A Curse On Black Lake
“Your honor, I know he’s guilty! He threatened me and Hazel Usher when we were at the witch’s house!”
Everyone’s heads spin around to find Jane Reed standing in the aisle, in a skirt suit, with her hair styled like Marilyn Monroe.
I growl, fisting my hands because I’d love to grab her precious hair and drag her out of here.
“Ms. Reed—”
“Mrs. Reed,” she says quickly.
Judge Constantine sighs. “Ms. Reed, please file a statement with the Sheriff and the state, and I will not allow any more outbursts in my court. Do you understand?” he asks her.
She nods once.
The judge stares at Killian for a second and flips through papers on his desk. “As I was saying, have you been made aware of the gravity of what you are accused of?”
“In so many words,” Killian says.
The Judge narrows his eyes. “Well, bail is set at five hundred thousand dollars. And your hearing is set for next week. Due to the nature of these crimes, the people of Black Lake have no interest in dragging this out.”
Killian doesn’t answer but keeps his chin up.
The gavel swings. “This court is adjourned.”
Vomit crawls up my throat. A half-million dollars. Where am I going to get that? I have maybe five grand in my safe at home.
Could I leverage my property? I don’t know how much it’s worth.
Killian turns around, and I leap to my feet, reaching for him, but one of the deputies starts to pull him away.
Killian yanks back and leans into my ear. “Go to my safe. I don’t know how much is in there. The code is 21065,” he says quickly.
“I’ll get you out. I promise,” I tell him.
He smiles sadly at me as Deputy Martinez uses a little more force. “I love you, darlin’,” he says.
Instead of lifting me up, something about the way he says it makes my heart drop. He doesn’t see a way out of this, and we have no solid proof Wyatt is responsible.
“Don’t you dare give up, Killian Lennox!” I yell.
“I love you!” he yells, right as the door off to the side closes.
As I leave the courtroom, I shoot daggers out of my eyes at Jane.
Maybe Killian won’t be the one put away for murder because it’ll be me.
Rushing to his truck, I head for my house to get the cash I have, and hopefully Killian has more stashed away than he thinks. Or maybe I can get a loan? I don’t know, but I’ll figure it out. He can’t stay there.
Fishing my keys out of my pocket, I head for my front door trying to ignore the ache that’s made its home in my chest. Everything feels like it’s falling apart. I’m trying to hold on as tight as I can, but it’s falling through my fingers like sand.
I drop my keys and grumble, picking them back up. When’s the last time I ate? I don’t even remember.
“Eliana?”
I nearly jump out of my skin and spin around, taking a step back. A man stares back at me, smiling widely. His baseball hat sits over his short brown hair, and he’s wearing a black t-shirt and clean jeans with black cowboy boots on his feet.
“I know it’s been a while, but do you remember me?” he asks.
I blink a few times. I’m exhausted, so it takes my mind a minute to catch up.
