Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
I was the one that took a quick look in the cellar where we’d left Phoenix, but his body lay undisturbed, and there was no one else in the frigid box.
“Nothing,” I said, for what felt like the hundredth time.
Grace and Aaron, who’d been searching the rooms just down the hallway, emerged, shook their heads. And we kept on going. When we came to the locked study I’d found during my solo wanderings, Darcie shook her head. “Blake Shepherd’s study. My dad had a key to it, but we never found it after he died. Ash wasn’t interested in my ancestor’s demented papers”—her voice trembled—“and I’d already satisfied my curiosity as a kid. Just didn’t seem worth the bother of organizing a locksmith to come all the way out here.”
By the time we’d combed through what felt like every inch of the house, Darcie was all but catatonic, hugging herself and rocking back and forth while she mumbled things under her breath. I caught scattered whispers, heard, “my fault, this is all my fault,” before she rambled off on another tangent.
Taking her shoulders, I squeezed. “This is not your fault.” I made my voice firm, channeling my old maths teacher from high school. “Is there any other place that Ash would’ve gone?”
She stared blankly at me.
“Darcie.” I shook her. “Is there any reason for him to have gone into the ruined wing?”
Darcie’s breath jerked as she shook her head. “He doesn’t like that area. Says it’s a hazard and we should get it pulled down. But it would cost so much and I didn’t want to waste the money. Oh God.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “What if—”
That was when Aaron said, “What about the vehicle?”
Letting go of Darcie, I swiveled to stare at him. “What vehicle?”
“That’s right.” He ran his hand over his hair. “You were taking photos in the house when Ash mentioned it. Jim has a heavy-duty farm vehicle parked in the large outdoor barn—same place we got the firewood from. Ash was thinking it might still have snow tires on it, since Jim switched to using his personal four-wheel drive soon as the winter snows melted away.”
My heart thudded hard enough to drown out my own voice as I said, “Was Ash dressed for the snow? Would he have gone outside to the barn on his own?”
41
Hands on his hips, Aaron looked at the ground a moment before shaking his head. “No. He was wearing his coat, but nothing else. Beanie, gloves, outdoor boots, they’re still in the kitchen by the woodstove. That’s where we left them after the firewood run.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, pinched the bridge of his nose. “Going out as he was dressed? No.”
Opening his eyes, he shook his head again. “Ash is too smart to be impulsive that way. If he’d wanted to check it out now instead of waiting till tomorrow and hopefully a break in the weather, he would’ve grabbed me and we would’ve done it right, like we did with the firewood.”
I agreed with him—with a coda: Ash had been impulsive once. But only with Bea. She’d made him open his world, consider taking risks. He was the opposite with Darcie. More set in his ways, less apt to go off the beaten path.
I’d picked up the change even in our sporadic interactions on the group chat.
Darcie’s Ash was part of an established firm of engineers, ate a diet recommended by Darcie, and went on vacation to polished destinations twice a year. No trace left of the muddy boy who’d carried an equally muddy Bea across a creek while they both laughed so hard he’d almost fallen flat on his face.
No, the Ash of today wouldn’t have gone out into the storm on his own.
But where else could he be? We’d searched literally every nook and cranny of this house.
Once again, I thought of the ruined wing—but didn’t say anything aloud this time. Instead, I nudged Darcie back into the living area, settled her in the sofa, and left Grace and Vansi to minister to her with hot cups of tea that she ignored.
Angling my head at Aaron as the two women rubbed her hands and back, I met him in a far corner, away from the baleful gaze of all those dead animals above the fireplace. “We have to check out the ruined section,” I whispered. “Remember that staircase Darcie told us led to that section?” She’d only checked that the door at the top was locked, and left it at that—because the only key was in her pocket.
“I was thinking the same.” A quick flick of his gaze toward Darcie before he lowered his head to mine again. “He has to be there. No place else left.”
“Darcie’s too fragile. We have to slip away, check it out on our own.” I hissed out a breath. “But first we have to figure out a way to get the key from her.”