Page 83 of A Curse On Black Lake
Finding a spot in front of the newspaper,I let goof Eliana’s hand and grab the handle to get out, then release it and reach for her hand again.
“What?” she asks.
“I—” I pause, thinking through my words.
“Killian, come on. It’s alright. I mean, it’s awkward, but I’m sure it's nothing you haven’t seen before. I’m already over it.”
On the inside, I’m bursting because she evidently has no idea how beautiful she is. I almost fell to my knees right then and there. But I have to focus. I clear my throat and meet her eyes. “That’s not what I’m talking about. We were already seen together at the library, and I want you to know I don’t care what people think. But they’re going to see us together again, it’s going to make them talk more. Are you okay with that?”
She shrugs. “Why wouldn’t I be? I sat on your lap in front of Wyatt.”
“Yeah, but that was different.” I tell her, and ignore the fact that I haven’t stopped thinking about the way she felt against my body. I’ve gone to sleep refusing to use my hand to ease the ache that’s grown for her. That will become significantly harder because of today.
“How was it different? I know I talk a big game, but the way people look at me has always bothered me. But I know I’m safe with you,” she says the last few words on a whisper.
“You are.”
“Then let’s get some lumber for my goats,” she says.
I grin, and she smiles back, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. What’s going on with her? Did the towel thing bother her that much? It was an accident. It’s not a big deal. But she’s wrong about one thing: I’veneverseen a woman like her.
We hop out of the truck, and Eliana waits for me on the sidewalk. An older man stares at her for a little too long, and I nearly growl at him to back off.
She keeps her eyes on me, and I keep her on the inside of the sidewalk as we go past the newspaper with its latest paper stacked in front of the large windows. A little change box sits next to the stacks for people to pay.
Then I see the headline.
I stop, and Eliana nearly runs into me, catching herself with both hands on my back. I read the headline again to make sure I’m not seeing things. Then I look around and realizeeveryone,including their dog, read the newspaper today because Maribelle and her son stopped in their tracks, picked up her kid and hurries past us keeping her eyes down, in a panicked walk.
“Kill, what’s—” I chuck my chin to the newspapers we’re standingnext to,and she reads it quickly.
Ex-Sheriff’s Detective Killian Lennox, Suspected of Serial Murder
Killian Lennox is suspected of murdering 11-12 women in cold blood according to recently acquired evidence.
I grab the paper and unfold it to see the article. Eliana steps closer to read it. They compare the women who have been dumped around Black Lake with a similar signature to the woman found on my property. And all have the same cause ofdeath — strangulation. I’m mentioned as being a suspect since another woman was found on my property. They mention the K carved into her skin, and the dyed hair.
Eliana’s eyebrows are furrowed as she reads the disturbing article. The only way they would have gotten this information was if someone at the Sheriff’s Department gave it to them. It would be hard for me to believe it was Wyatt. But maybe he wants people to think it’s me.
I puff out a breath and toss the paper back onto the others. Her hand reaches for mine, and the solidarity makes my stomach stop clenching.
“I thought this was supposed to be confidential,” she whispers.
The corner of my mouth tips up, not because anything about this situation is funny, but because she thinks that anything, even police investigations in this town, stay quiet. “Nothingstays a secret in this town.”
“True,” she mutters, looking at the newspaper again. “What new evidence? They didn’t include the Death Flower. We know more than he does, and they didn’t list anything we didn’t already know,” Eliana says under her breath.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you get the paper this morning?” she asks.
I shake my head. “I would have had to go to the mailbox, and I didn’t this morning. But I wish I did because then we would have stayed home,” I grumble.
“Let’s go,” she says, tugging me away from the newsstand.
I could try to sue them for slander, but it would be useless, and I don’t have the money for a lawyer. If they arrest me, I’ll have to put the ranch up for collateral to pay for it. My father is probably spinning in his grave. I’ve not only ruined the Lennox name, but I’mdragging the Greers into my mess too. As far as the town is concerned, if the Sentinel says I did it, then I did. It’s a trial by public opinion, and substantial evidence doesn’t matter.
I hold the door for Eliana into Livingston’s and take a deep breath before following her in.
