who my mother thought I was responsible for killing. “Mercy, who are you talking about?”
“Go…go find her. She wants to say hello to you. Wants to say so many many many things.”
“She who?”
“You’ll seeee.” She grabbed my wrist suddenly, and this time her skin was bone dry and ice cold. I shrieked in surprise and tried to pull free, but she was strong and she held tight. “Your father will be so proud of you. You’ll be his favorite now.”
She drew me in close, and for a second I saw her face.
Her eyes and cheeks were sunken, her skin waxy and white with black veins charting their way down her temples to her chin. Her lips looked thin, and when she smiled, her gums had vanished, leaving her teeth and skull exposed. She was a skeleton with skin. A shell.
It wasn’t until she was already gone I realized her head had been in her lap the entire time.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“I figured you for more of a morning person. Or are you secretly the kind of girl who’s like oh my God, don’t even talk to me until I’ve had my venti-caramel-Frappucino-bullshit thing?”
I stopped staring out the window of the small diner next to our favorite drive thru. We were sitting in a booth waiting for breakfast because the burger place wasn’t open yet, and I needed coffee.
I lowered my sunglasses so I could meet his eyes directly. “Caramel-Frappucino-bullshit thing? You can’t call it that if you use the word Frappucino. You also lose points for knowing what venti means. Act as cool as you want, Wilder Shaw, but you just outed yourself as a Starbucks drinker.”
“Busted.” We paused as the waitress delivered our coffee. He gave me one of those grins I was coming to know as his signature panty-melter. For a guy who grew up in rural Louisiana, his teeth were way too white. “But you are awfully quiet today.”
“How do you know that’s not normal for me?” I asked once the waitress was gone.
He snorted. “Because in the entire time I’ve known you, you’ve managed to shut up for a grand total of ten minutes. Yet suddenly you’re Little Miss Contemplative.”
“My life on the inside changed me. Hardened criminals like to play it cool.” I wasn’t in much of a mood to discuss what had happened to me the previous night. My whole encounter with Mercy had felt completely real, and yet I’d woken up this morning with Cash next to me in bed, no sign of blood on the sheets and every indication I’d dreamt the whole thing.
In spite of every logical fiber of my being telling me it was a nightmare, I couldn’t stop thinking it must be real. Someway, some how, my mother had come to me last night.
But without having a really good way to explain the situation to another person, I was keeping it to myself. Unfortunately that meant I had been acting weird all morning, and people were starting to notice. Cash thought I was mad at him and left early with his lawyer buddy, Matt, to talk to Hank at the police station.
I waited for the breakfast sandwich I’d ordered, and my stomach rumbled. The chime on the door sounded, and I glanced up to see who had entered, wary of new arrivals.
Josie Dwyer, the deputy I’d met during my brief jail stay, came in. She was wearing her beige Louisiana-standard uniform and had pushed a pair of aviators up on her head when she came in.
The waitress poured her a to-go coffee and said, “On the house, Deputy.”
I expected her to leave, but instead she walked up to Wilder and me, and took a seat next to Wilder without waiting for an invitation.
“Miss McQueen. Mr. Shaw.” She nodded to us both in turn. “I assume y’all are on your way out of town?”
Wilder and I exchanged uneasy glances. “Not quite,” he replied.
“Charges have been dropped. Settlements made.” She gave us both a funny look. “I can’t image a good reason to stick around unless you’re planning to start more trouble.” It was like the sheriff had given her a script. The words sounded forced and stilted, as if she was having trouble saying them.
“We’re waiting to find out if the lawyers can do anything for Hank,” I offered finally. “I promise we’re staying out of trouble. One stay in lockup was more than enough for us.” I gave her a forced laugh, and she smiled weakly in return, sipping her coffee.
The