“Yes, but I never would have figured you to be a fan of his.”
“Love him.” She smiled over at me and then proceeded to flawlessly recite the first two verses.
“Bravo!” I said, applauding. “I’m impressed. I can’t make it past the ‘weak and weary’ part.”
She laughed. “My favorite is ‘The Telltale Heart.’”
I winced.
“Oh, sorry, forgot about your porch. Where were we? Oh yeah, Raney and Devon. You ask me, those two are definitely twisted. Something not right in those two boys.”
“What about KS and MB?”
“Katy Stewart and Mary Brennan. They don’t live here anymore. They took off not too long after Devon and Raney showed up. I think they’re still in town somewhere, though. Someone told me Katy is turning tricks, but they say that about every girl who leaves.”
“Sammy too?”
“Even old skinny bones herself.” She paused and took a long drag, and I could see her debating whether or not to tell me something. “I don’t believe people who say Sammy’s turning tricks. I don’t think she likes guys, except maybe Jacob. She told me her old man used to have sex with her — can you believe it? She hated it. That’s really sick if you ask me. And then he acts like some holy roller or something. Shit, I’d rather live with my dad. All he ever did was hit me.”
“I misjudged her. The more I’ve thought about what she went through — I don’t know if I would have been as brave about it as she was.”
Sarah shrugged. “You do what you have to do to survive.”
We sat there quietly for a while.
“Paul kicked Devon and Raney out yesterday,” she said.
“What?”
“They were assholes. They were really mean to everybody. Beyond mean.”
“Is that why Paul kicked them out?”
“Yeah, he said he was tired of them hassling everybody. They didn’t seem heartbroken about it or anything. Hey — why should you care? You seem kind of down about it.”
“Oh — no, I’m glad he kicked them out. It’s just that now I don’t have much to go on; four of the names in the journal were connected with the coven, and all four people are gone from the shelter.”
“Oh, yeah. I guess it’s five if you count the Goat.”
“Do you think the Goat is somehow connected to the shelter?”
She was thinking about this when a male voice made us jump out of our skins.
“What are you doing out here?”
It was Jack Fremont.
20
“YOU TWO ARE GOING to catch cold — it’s starting to rain again. Come on back inside.” We followed him in, but not before exchanging a look that said we would try to talk again later. Once inside, Sarah took off for the dessert table, leaving me with Jack in the kitchen.
“I’m surprised Frank doesn’t keep a tighter rein on you, Irene,” he said with a grin.
“I’m not exactly broken to the bit.”
He laughed. “I’ll just bet you aren’t. Well, nothing wrong with that. Not at all. I like a woman with spirit.”
Great, I thought. But the man intrigued me. I never would have imagined Mrs. Fremont’s son to look anything like Jack. It wasn’t that he didn’t resemble her — he looked quite a bit like her. But she just didn’t seem the sort to raise a scar-faced, biker son.
He appraised me as well, and made no attempt to hide the fact. Feeling a little nervous, I started cleaning off dishes that had piled up in the kitchen. Without a word, he took off his leather jacket and started filling the sink with hot soapy water.
“I’ll wash, if you’ll dry,” he said.
“It’s a deal.”
He immersed his arms to his elbows and scoured away. As he handed me the first dish, I noticed a colorful tattoo on the inside of his left arm. It was of a horned goat’s head, with the inscription “Satan Rides Again.”
He saw me staring at it and laughed. “Merely a token of my misspent youth, Miss Kelly. And nothing to worry over now.”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stare.”
He washed a few more dishes, then turned to me and said, “I scare you, don’t I?”
“I just don’t know much about you. For example, how do you know my name?”
“Oh, I asked Paul all about you the first time I laid eyes on you. He seems to think Frank Harriman has a corner on the market.”
I didn’t reply.
“Oooh — that serious, huh?”
“At least that serious.”
