A little girl and her mother exited the hardware store, one of the child’s eyes covered with a patch, the other turned in slightly.
“I understand you’ll be using the property for an event business?” the sheriff asked, pulling her attention from the girl who smiled at Scarlett and began skipping as they passed by.
“Yes, that’s right. Weddings mostly, or at least that’s the plan right now.”
He paused a beat, his smile growing. She swore she saw his wheels turning, but with what, she didn’t know. “Weddings. Farrow will look real forward to entertaining new visitors to our town. Isn’t that right, Camden?”
Camden remained silent though she thought she saw a miniscule tic in his jaw.
The sheriff rubbed at his chin. “Hmm,” he hummed. “Of course, you’ll have to file for a business license through the Farrow courthouse. They can be sticklers for any type of innovation within the community, especially that which brings lots of traffic, so you might want to get that filed ASAP.”
“Oh, well, I don’t think traffic will be an issue. People tend to stagger arrival times for weekend events, and travel in groups. The parties might even bring a little extra tourism to Farrow? And of course, that’s only if I’m moderately successful.” She gave the sheriff a small, uncomfortable laugh. “But, um, I’ll get that filed as quickly as I can.”
“If you need me to put a good word in for you, just let me know,” he said, winking jovially.
“Thank you, sir. That’s very nice of you.”
The sheriff glanced at Camden. “Deputy West here tells me there were some critters in your wall the other day?”
Critters. Was that what he’d said to the sheriff when he’d told her he’d suspected kids messing around? And if he hadn’t really believed someone was using the crawl spaces in the walls to scare her, why had he boarded them up? Critters couldn’t climb ladders, and critters couldn’t open doors. She looked at Camden but he was no longer staring at her, instead his head turned and his gaze focused somewhere across the street. Something felt off here. “Right,” she murmured. “Yes. It was so silly of me to bother Deputy West. It won’t happen again.”
“Nonsense now,” the sheriff said. “We’re available anytime, even if you don’t think it’s something serious. Better to be safe than sorry, right? Especially with you two females out there all alone.”
He smiled, and though in her peripheral vision, Scarlett saw Camden turn his head toward the sheriff, she kept her gaze focused on the older man. “I appreciate it.”
He nodded. “Like I said, if I can be of any help with the council, just holler. And that goes for you and your little girl getting settled in as well.”
“That’s very kind. Thank you again, sir.”
The sheriff gave her another wide smile, tipping his chin and then putting the hat he’d been holding in his hand back on his head. “You have a nice day now,” he said, walking past her.
“You too.”
“Scarlett,” Camden murmured, leaning in as she walked past as though he wanted her to stop so he could tell her something. Whatever it was, she had no desire to listen.
Scarlett raised her chin higher and didn’t stop, pushing the door open and calling behind her, “Goodbye, Deputy.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Haddie hadn’t left Lilith House in a week. Her mommy was worried about her, she knew that, and she didn’t want her mommy to worry, so she’d stayed locked in the house, playing on her iPad or doing crafts that Amelia brought for them to work on together.
She liked spending time with Millie. She felt sort of like her mommy. Millie was light like a bubble. Haddie thought not only light like a bubble, but she was shiny like one too. Millie sparkled. Millie was light and fun. Her mommy sometimes forgot to have fun. Haddie thought that probably had to do with her, and that made Haddie sad.
Sometimes she and Millie played hide and seek at Lilith House, running through the long hallways, and pressing into the dark corners, Haddie covering her mouth so Millie wouldn’t hear her giggle, and then Millie tickling her ribs and saying, “Gotcha!” when she found her so that they both fell to the ground laughing so hard they had to hold their stomachs.
Lilith House was almost fully awake now, and it liked the sounds of their laughter. Haddie could tell because the bad and the sad felt . . . less, and the light felt more. It was