Page 29 of A Curse On Black Lake
“I’d like to say I don’t, but…” she trails off and shakes her head. “Back to the question, why was the Sheriff here, and why did you mention a warrant?”
“You really don’t know, do you?” I ask.
“I’d rather hear it from you,” she says.
Ahh, so she heard most of the conversation.
“I uh…” I pause, not sure if I should tell her any of this. The investigator in me says I can’t, rather,shouldn’ttrust her. But that’s my brain talking. My gut tells me she can be trusted witheverything.
Another gust of wind cools the sweat on my forehead, and I get a whiff of flowers from her. It’s light, like she had her hands in them and they caressed their fragrant petals on her skin. Puffing out my cheeks, I look out across the hills of my land, and Moonbeam, Lucky, and Tex are running around in the grass.
“I found — well actually, Tiny, found a woman on my property, and it’s the same, well no Ithinkit’s the same perp that’s killed before.”
“Bodies always show up in this town, and no one has ever seen any of them before,” Eliana says.
“I thought you said you don’t listen to what the town says,” I say.
She sighs and reaches for Tiny, who’s resting against her leg. He never does that. In fact, he doesn’t really like to be cuddled at all. Her thin fingers rub his ears, and he looks at her. “I don’t. My Grams told me that.”
I glance at her ,and she’s staring at me, waiting for me to continue.
“This time … I probably shouldn’t be telling you this,” I mutter.
“Why?” she asks.
I stare at her white hair, and my brain does this funny thing when instinct kicks in, only I don’t know what it’s telling me.
She blinks a few times and looks away, muttering something under her breath.
“What?” I ask her.
“Nothing. What shouldn’t you be telling me?” Eliana asks.
She blinks and pets Tiny more as if he’s calming to her. The dog hasn’t moved an inch, sensing she needs him.
I glare at him, and he looks up at her like she holds the moon.
Eliana whispers something again.
Weird.“Are you talking to yourself?”
“Sure, let’s call it that,” she says, and takes a breath. “Give it to me straight.”
My breath hitches and my pulse jumps. It feels like there’s something much larger going on here, and I’ve strangely earned the right to be privy to it.
“Please say it,” she whispers. Her fingers clutch Tiny’s fur now, attempting to conceal her fear.
“The woman I found … her hair was dyed blonde. And on her back was the letter K, carved into her skin. Wyatt, the Sheriff, thinks the K is for me, even though it could be for anything. The person who killed her obviously has a plan. He’s escalating. The other women we found have never been mutilated like this before. Nor has their hair ever been dyed. It’s always been their natural color.”
Eliana blinks at me rapidly, still clutching Tiny, and looks away. This time I keep my eyes on her and watch her lips move as she whispers something again. It’s so quiet I can’t hear her.
“That’s disturbing, but I think I’m supposed to help you with … that,” she says, her voice not nearly as confident as it was when she got here.
What I revealed scared her, and at face value I understand why. But there is more, and she’s not telling me, or I haven’t found it yet.
Pulling the two baggies out of my back pocket, I hold the one with the lavender in it up to her.
“Do you recognize this?” I ask her.
