Page 55 of Crawl
“Does Winstone have an heir?” she asks.
I shrug. I honestly don’t know. The idea that Cash is just covering for his father fills my mind, and part of me is relieved. If it’s not the real Mr. Winstone, then my feelings don’t matter. I can set my vengeance on his father.
But Cash never talks about his family. And when he does, I get the feeling that he doesn’t get along with them. He never even celebrated his birthday. How can he cover for a father he hates?
“Who is that?” she whispers. But I don’t know. He’s always been Cash to me. And if he’s not Winstone, then I’m not sure who he is either. “Why are his eyes like that?” she adds.
I shake myself out of the trance. “Like what?”
“Like his pupils are broken.”
At the right angle, his eye freckles look like his pupils are leaking into the whites of his eyes from ocular trauma, but I know his face so well that it doesn’t faze me anymore.
They aren’t the kind of eyes you can forget. And the fact that Jenna doesn’t recognize his eyes, confuses me.
Who am I working for?
“They’re so sunken in. Like his eyes will be completely black soon. He looks—” she pauses, glancing around, then settles her eyes on the open office door again. “He looks evil.”
My heart rattles in my chest, thinking of his words:Someone like that deserves to die.
At the time, I tried to tell myself that those words were full of justice. All he wants is to make things right for people like me. And yet, now, I’m not sure if it’s that. There’s something else behind his words, something I can’t explain.
But if he’s not Winstone, then I’m not sure I care about his evil actions. If he hasn’t done anything to Jenna, then I can shift my blame onto someone else.
But I have to make sure.
“You don’t think it’s the same person?” I ask her.
“If it’s not him, then who is that?” she asks, pointing toward the door. “And why is he here?”
The two of us stare at the open doorway. Relief rushes through me, heating my cheeks. Cash isn’t the same man who hurt my best friend. I don’t have to try and kill him anymore.
But who is he?
***
After that, Cash leaves for a business trip. At first, it seems strange, as if Jenna’s visit spooked him so much that he forced himself to go on his first business trip in years, but that would mean that heisconnected to Jenna, and I don’t think that’s possible anymore.
Still, our interactions over the phone are short. He gives me directions: a few meetings with people on job sites, emails to send in his name, how to take care of Bones. But for those few days, it’s only Bones and me in the estate. I can probably close and lock the windows if I want, but I don’t feel the need to. I consider staying overnight in the estate, but I don’t. I want to wait for him instead.
Then, out of nowhere, I find Cash sitting in the downstairs office with a smile so wide his jaw strains and it scares me. He’s cast in shadows. The windows are actually closed and the curtains are drawn. It’s dark. Like he’s back to his old self. The one who may have known Jenna. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up. He seems oddly entertained, right then, like he knows something that I don’t, and it unnerves me.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“You wanted a birthday celebration?” he asks. “I got you a present.”
I tilt my head, then a bang startles me. The closet door rattles, like a large animal is fumbling around inside.
“What the hell is that?” I whisper.
Cash’s shirt is unbuttoned at the top, revealing his chest hair, and though his sleeves are rolled to the elbow, they’re more scrunched than usual. His hair is matted with styling wax, but it’s flat, like he hasn’t had the chance to wash it. I sniff hard; his sweat lingers in the air, infused with a coppery aroma, like blood.
“Do you trust me?” he asks.
My stomach tightens. Something big is about to happen, and I have no idea what to expect.
Even though I’m not sure who he is, I do trust him.
