“You’re in deep thought.” Travis says to me.
“Look after Ma while I’m gone.”
“Of course.” He nods.
“When you get back, we’ll pop in for a visit with Marlana and her precious mother.” Em tells me with that devilish smirk. I know this confrontation has been years in the making. “Then we have a lengthy conversation with Shay.”
“What if all this never ends?” Adri whines. “Always someone to investigate or spy on or kill.”
“Hopefully, that won’t be the case soon. I plan on ridding this fucking town of every last cockroach.” Em growls. “Stop whining anyways, I haven’t asked you to kill one person.” The smirk lining her mouth gives away her teasing.
“What?” Adri sits up in Emmett’s lap as his chest shakes with suppressed laughter. “Will you have me kill someone?”
“Fuck no!” Em laughs. “Can you fucking see it?” She looks at all of us and we all begin to laugh, even Adri.
“We could ask her to cook someone something… anything, some of her concoctions could seriously kill.” Emmett deadpans.
Adri slaps his chest and Em falls back on the sofa laughing. “Remember Vin’s party when we made those Ex-Lax brownies?” Em asks her. “And I explained to people they tasted weird because you baked them.”
“Best thing ever was watching Marlana and Danny almost shit themselves.” They both snort and fall into fits of laughter.
“I remember that.” Travis chuckles. “Hey, what’s going on with Danny?” He asks me.
“Last I heard, his father shipped him off to a relative in Louisiana.” I shrug.
“We should’ve looked him up while we were there.” Em looks at me.
“Nah, we only went to New Orleans for a week. It was an overdue family vacation. I wanted it to be about the five of us and not involve Danny and whatever drama he could find.”
“I wonder if Kailey ever figured out her problem.” Adri murmurs as she snuggles up into Emmett’s chest.
“She has my card if she needs help.” Em says. “If she needs it, I’ll help her. It’s the least I can do after what she did for us.”
“Yeah, she was a gem.” Emmett nods.
“A troubled one.” Travis adds on.
He can see another’s pain clearly as if he feels it. It’s been like that since the day he was on death’s doorstep. Like he was given the sight to see another’s inner turmoil.
“How do you propose to approach Adri’s parents?” Travis asks Em. “They are snobby as all hell.”
“They are.” Adri nods.
“Tell them you’re the granddaughter of Jack Craven.” I say.
“They liked him?” Em asks, her nose crinkled in disgust.
“I don’t know if anyone actually liked him. But they feared him. He was powerful and fucking mean.” I grin and cover my mouth with my hand. “People still talk about him and the shit he did.”
“What did he do?” Emmett leans forward.
“I remember my father once told a story at a town hall meeting. Our family was donating to the hospital and building a wing.” Travis waves it off and continues, “during his speech he spoke about the importance of good health care and the quick admittance from the ER. He said, ‘because some of us here remember being on the wrong end of Jack’s rifle or between the jaws of his dogs.’ People laughed but a lot of the men around my father’s age nodded.”
“He was an avid hunter,” I tell them. “My mother told me he had animal heads all over his house. He had dogs trained for tracking and hunting, sometimes he unleashed them onto whoever decided to stupidly enter his land without permission.”
“He sounded psychotic.” Emmett grumbles.
“Or someone with something to hide.” Em says, deep in thought.
“He was also a drunk, I heard.” Adri adds on. “Everyone who grew up in Whitsborough knew of Jack Craven. They had that huge property just on the edge of town and I remember my parents saying he was a regular at a few bars in town.”
“What about my grandmother?” Em asks.
“Not much about her.” Travis shrugs. “She was quiet and I would assume with a husband like Jack, she just stayed out of the way.”
“Ma said she was really sweet to them. Always baking and bringing them snacks.” I tell her.
“I went by that house they lived in. The family that lives there now knew my grandparents and apparently didn’t want to rent. According to them, Aunt Debby dropped the price because no one else showed interest. They are living there practically for free and told me they would move if I raise the price.” Em tells us.
“We need to dig deeper into Jack Craven.” Emmett mutters.
“And our grandmother who sounded like she may have been complicit in what he was doing to at least one of her daughters.” Em growls.
I also need to dig deeper into my mother and Nana too. What brought them to this town and why did they stay? It couldn’t have been easy being women of colour in a town of racist white men. It never bothered me before, but the more I find out about the seedy underbelly of Whitsborough, the more I’m confused about how they came to be a part of this place.
Em leans on the Mercedes with her arms crossed. “Make sure you call as soon as you get there.”
I cage her in against the car and lean my torso on hers. “Sure.” I lean down into her face to lick her bottom lip and suck it into my mouth. I feel her soften and she wraps her arms around my waist.
“I hate you going there with Talia on
