Nightfall (Devil's Night #4) - Penelope Douglas Page 0,134

for me.

It’s been over six years—almost seven—since I’ve been home, and even now, I look for Martin, afraid to run into him and afraid of everything else that fills this town.

Sooner or later, I’ll have to pay the piper. I just hope it isn’t today.

I walk to my rental car, hugging myself against the chill still in the spring air, and slide into the driver’s seat, starting the engine. My flight back to California isn’t until tomorrow, so that means I have to spend the night in Meridian City, because I’m not taking a chance of being caught in Thunder Bay any longer than necessary.

Still, though… I’ve learned how to straighten my hair, and I have my prescription sunglasses and matching, pressed clothes that fit me. No one will recognize me anymore.

I drive out of the cemetery, not looking at Edward McClanahan’s grave, but knowing exactly when I pass it as I exit the cemetery and turn up the music, “White Flag” by Bishop Briggs playing loud. I drive down the highway, tempted to look at the mansions as I pass—the Crists and the Fanes, the Torrances and the Ashbys—but I don’t, just hoping some semblance of his life is back to what it used to be, even if I already knew he has undoubtedly changed.

I just hope he’s gone. Traveling, living…loving, and being loved.

Tears spring to my eyes again, but I blink them away, nausea rolling through me. I did what I had to do, right? I might’ve even saved him from a worse fate.

But no matter how often I tell myself that, I still don’t feel it.

I need to face him and come clean. This is eating a hole through me, and if he hasn’t come for me yet, then he doesn’t know, and he should.

I can’t do this anymore.

Entering the village, I risk a drive past my old house, seeing newspapers scattered about the lawn, as well as the overgrown hedges and the garbage can laying on its side.

Does Martin still live there? There are no cars in the driveway.

After Grand-Mère passed a week ago, I emailed him and hoped for no response. He told me to the let him know what my plans were.

I didn’t.

I’ll let him know once I’m gone. Only then can he come and pay his respects. He hasn’t shown up in years to see her, thank goodness, so he isn’t crying his eyes out about her death. I know that much.

I keep driving, not knowing where I’m going, but when I see the Cove ahead, I veer into the parking lot. I heard they were getting ready to tear it down. Someone on the alumni committee sent me an invite to a Throwback Celebration a while back, but of course, I didn’t bother showing up.

Me, here, and near Devil’s Night---yeah, not happening.

I spot a couple of cars in the otherwise deserted lot and pull into a barely outlined space where the weeds push up through the concrete and the painted lines are chipped and faded.

Shutting off the car, I step out and stick the keys into the pocket of my jeans, looking around as I stroll along and find my way inside.

The sea lay beyond the Ferris wheel, and I can smell the salt in the air as I drift past the ticket booths and toward the pirate ship. The yellow and brown paint has chipped, and I can see the rusted bolts from here as it sits silent and still, an eerie death hanging over the park that chills my skin

I almost hear the carnival music from that night in my head as I walk closer and closer, seeing where he and I sat.

A fist squeezes my heart. I miss him. I didn’t realize back then how much this would hurt and how long it would stay with me.

“Well, of course, you’re not on board,” some guy gripes, “because as soon as you find out what I want, you decide you want the exact opposite.”

I jerk my head left and right, realizing I’m not alone.

“You’re such a liar,” she says. “That’s not true at all. This location makes no sense, and I’ve had the same talk with Kai.”

Kai?

Finally, I spot a trio walking by the bumper boats, and I slip behind a game booth, out of sight as I peer around it.

Michael Crist carries a rolled-up wad of papers, looking like they might be blueprints. He’s walking with two women, one with black hair and the other with brown.

I squint through