Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77857 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Damn.
This can’t be good news.
“What is it?” Donny asks.
“He was able to do some analysis on the bones. We were right. They’re old. Really old.”
“Okay,” I say. An odd wave of relief settles over me. If they’re old, they can’t belong to anyone we know.
“His analysis shows that the bones are around sixty years old. And they belonged to a female.”
“How can he tell it was a female?” From Donny.
“From extracting the DNA from the bones. It’s a female. And there’s no way to tell exactly how old the female was when she died, but he’s estimating around twenty years old.”
I gulp. “A twenty-year-old female? Sixty years ago? With her bones on our property?”
As disgusted as I am, another wave of relief consumes me. At least it wasn’t a child, though a twenty-year-old woman is still a child in some ways. But at least she got to grow up.
God. Has it truly come to this? Where something that isn’t as horrific as it could be is good news? I need to get a grip.
“That’s right,” Dale replies.
“That’s horrible,” Donny says, “but why was it so necessary to call this early?”
“Because…” Dale pauses slightly. “The guy did some other research. And what he found is truly frightening.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
RORY
It’s a damned good thing I’m an actress. I should get an Oscar for what I’m about to do.
I’m driving Cage’s van, the one he uses for the band. Jordan convinced him to let us borrow it. I’m not sure what excuse she gave him, but it sure wasn’t the truth.
I drive by the school, where I know Pat Lamone and his buddies are hanging out. I roll down the window on the driver’s side. “Hey, guys.”
“Hey, hot stuff,” Pat says.
Hot stuff. I totally want to hurl.
“Get in,” I force myself to say.
“You talking to me?”
“Yeah, I’m talking to you. Get in.”
He raises his eyebrows at his friends. “Now that’s an invitation I’m not going to turn down.”
He walks around to the other side of the van, opens the door, and takes his position in the passenger seat. “What’s going on with you tonight?”
Do it, Rory. Just do it. Say it. “I’m feeling kind of horny. How about you?”
“I’m always horny around you. Have you changed your mind about us?”
Hell, no. “I’m not really in the mood to talk,” I say.
“Damn…” He smiles a lazy smile. I see it out of the corner of my eye while I keep my gaze glued to the windshield.
You can do this, Rory. You have to do this.
The condom Callie and I stole from our brother’s dresser drawer sits in the ashtray. I grab it and toss it to Pat. It lands in his lap.
“Just in case you’re not prepared.”
He drops his jaw.
Then I grab a bottle of Coke from the cooler between the two seats. A very special bottle of Coke. I unscrew the cap and hand it to him. “Drink up. I don’t want you getting dehydrated.” I shove the van into gear and start to drive away.
“Where are we headed?”
“I don’t know. Feel like a drive?”
“Not really. You want to know what I feel like?”
“Oh, we’ll get there. I thought we’d drive for a while. Work up…you know.”
“Nice,” he says.
“Could you hand me a Coke?” I ask, gesturing to the cooler.
He nods and takes a big sip of the bottle I gave him.
Good boy.
Then he reaches between the seats, grabs another, opens it for me, and hands it to me.
“Thanks.” Dazzling smile time. I take a sip.
He takes another sip of his.
Good. He needs to finish his Coke before we park.
“I’m so thirsty.” I take a few more sips.
He follows suit.
Yup. I knew I could get him to drink the Coke if I drink one with him.
Pat Lamone is such a lemming.
Earlier, Callie and I ground several Benadryl tablets into powder and mixed them in the Coke that I gave Pat. It should be enough to put him to sleep, but I need to drive around awhile, make sure he finishes the entire bottle.
I can do it.
We thought it all through.
I’m going to call Callie and Jordan, and they’ll know exactly what’s going on once we get to the parking lot.
I make small talk with Pat, which turns out to be pretty easy because Callie, Jordan, and I came up with a bunch of topics that we knew he would talk about—baseball, his friends, and the big one—himself.
We drive along the outskirts of town, getting nearer to my family’s property.
“You’re heading onto the Steel property,” Pat says.
“Am I? Just driving, you know.”
“Damn Steels.”
I hide my surprise at his comment. “You’ve got something against the Steels?”
“They own this goddamned town. They think they’re all that, you know?”
I’ve heard the rumors, but the Steels have always been nice to my family. We own property adjacent to theirs.
“They’ve got money for sure,” I say.