Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138169 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138169 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
“Whatever, Strawberry Shortcake. I really am glad you’re doing better, well enough to launch into speeches and all.”
With my face on fire, I clear my throat and fiddle with the wrists of my jacket. “It’s just a little stream of consciousness. I guess I just got carried away.”
“It’s fine,” he says, though that cryptic smile lingers. “It means I don’t have to catch you up on much. I expected you’d know more than I would, growing up here. I’m just a transplant. But I also have sources you don’t—and those sources know a hell of a lot more about Xavier Arrendell than any vague rumor mill.”
“Like what?” Alarm thumps through me.
“Like the fact that he may be more than a drug fiend. He’s in deeper, and I think it’s connected to the Jacobins. Linking them together with solid proof, that’s the trouble.” He shakes his head with a weary sigh. “Those hillfolk have been here for generations. They know how to hide their shit too well, how to make themselves invisible. It doesn’t help that Chief Bowden lets them off lightly. He treats it like something harmless, like it’s petty crime and a little rotgut moonshine won’t hurt anybody.”
I shrink back, staring at him.
“You think it’s more than moonshine?”
“I do,” he snarls without hesitation. “Something uglier that reaches far beyond the borders of Redhaven, or even North Carolina. I think one reason it’s so easy to slip under the radar is the power and influence the Arrendells have to make things magically disappear.”
“But… but Chief Bowden, you said? You think he’s part of it?” It almost hurts, thinking the kind old chief could join up with something bad. “He’s always been so nice.”
“Nice folks aren’t always good, Talia,” Micah replies. His strange, intense eyes lock me in place. “You truly are innocent, aren’t you?”
I don’t know how to answer that.
I don’t know if I want to answer, when I’ve never really thought of myself as innocent.
Just sheltered.
But now, I feel naïve.
I push on, trying to keep my composure.
“I guess I don’t get it. What do you want me to do with this information? How am I supposed to help you?”
“Easy. Just do your job for Xavier, and if you can, keep your eyes open.”
“For what?”
His face hardens, all cold-eyed hunger again. “Anything that might interest a man who wants to destroy everything Xavier Arrendell stands for.”
Holy crap.
It’s so quiet, yet so forceful it takes my breath away.
And why does it feel personal?
Like there’s something more driving him to go poking around.
I wonder what Rolf senses radiating from his master that I don’t know when the German Shepherd finally moves again. He thrusts his head under Micah’s trusting hand with a low, comforting whine.
Micah answers with his fingers, scratching through mottled brown and black fur.
Shivering, I wrap my coat tighter.
“Wouldn’t the other guys on the force be better for this? Why aren’t you asking them for help?”
“They’re not insiders, for one. Even in a town this small, we’re stretched thin. Plus, the Arrendells know them—and me—on sight. They keep things tighter than a drum when we show up at the big house. They’d never let their guard down or let anything incriminating slip. A pretty girl, though, one so innocent she’s disarming, and who’s already there on legitimate business… They’d never see it coming.”
Whoa.
Hearing him describe me like that makes my ears burn.
I sputter and pinch the cuffs of my sleeves.
“That’s just it!” I protest. “Innocent. As in, I have no guile, no game, and no idea how to hide anything from someone like Xavier, much less an ulterior motive. How can I get away with snooping around? He's pretty smart. He’d see right through me.”
“Would he?” His eyes narrow. Skewering. Incisive. “You were so nervous with him that it triggered a panic attack. If he’s used to you being nervous and thinks that’s just how you are, he won’t notice if you’re a little on edge.”
No.
He might actually enjoy it, judging from the way he acted when we met.
The thought makes me feel slimy. It also makes me feel like a terrible person.
Whatever else he’s up to, Xavier Arrendell is busy grieving two huge losses. I was probably misreading his behavior when people tend to get weird with grief.
When I don’t say anything, caught up in inner turmoil, Micah steps closer.
“You can always say no,” he says gently.
“Wh-what?”
“This isn’t a command or a direct order. I’m not telling you to do this because I’m a cop asking for a little help from the public. This is you and me, Talia, and it’s completely off the books.”
Oof.
That alone should make me wary. It’s like it’s not just that he doesn’t want to burden the other guys at Redhaven PD.
I think he’s actively keeping this to himself, for some weird reason.
But it’s like he has a magnetic choke hold on me with that unblinking icy stare, stealing my thoughts. Soon, I can only hear the way he speaks, hypnotic and intense.