Page 44 of The Woman in the Hollow
Once was one thing.
But twice, when I was pretty sure he was covering up a murder, was just crazy.
That was it.
I had to figure this out once and for all.
I needed to search the woods.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dante
“Knock knock.”
“Pretty sure you’re supposed to say that before you’re fully in the house,” I said, moving out of the kitchen to find my mother in the center hall, arms loaded down with several plastic containers full of food.
“Your doorbell isn’t working.”
“Great,” I said with a sigh, reaching out to take some of the containers from her arms.
“One thing always leads to another with home renovation,” she said. “Remember when I just wanted to put in a new range hood and suddenly I had to have the foundation reinforced? Someone probably just crossed some wires somewhere.”
“Yeah. I’ll call the electrician back in. So what’s all this for?”
“Well, I figured you still don’t have a working kitchen to cook in. And I don’t want you ordering in all the time. So, I made you things you can just heat up in the microwave or toaster oven.”
“And by that,” I said, leading her into said kitchen, “you mean you wanted to drop in and pester me about Hazel.”
She didn’t even try to deny it. When I turned back from putting the food in the fridge, she was shooting me a smirk.
“You know me too well. So how is it going?”
“Let’s talk about something else. How are things with Dr. Sheldon?”
“Let’s talk about something else,” she said, brushing some dust off the counter. “This looks almost done,” she added, turning around.
“Yeah. Just the backsplash now. And a good cleaning. That’s what I was about to do.”
“You?”
“Yeah. Why not me?”
“Because you have a cleaning lady. It seems like you’re trying to distract yourself.”
“From what?”
“Your feelings for a certain pretty newcomer to town.”
It was pointless to deny it.
“It’s complicated.”
“Why is it complicated?”
“I can’t talk about that.”
“I’m assuming it’s the same reason I noticed someone following me whenever I leave the house.”
