Into Darkness

Chapter 16

Wednesday evening—Ravina Springs

“I’m going to repeat that, because I couldn’t’ve heard you right,” Win said. Brennan had dragged him into the pantry for privacy and a quick update, and it wasn’t going well. His back was up against the shelves, and up in a metaphorical sense too. “Merritt’s been pretending to be me online, you knew about it, and that’s how I ended up tied to this dead DeLucca woman?” He paused. “Tell me I heard you wrong.”

Brennan shook her head. “She knows she was wrong, Win. But she didn’t see the harm until the police showed up on Saturday. Then she heard about Chelsea.”

“No harm? No harm. Just me embroiled in a murder investigation, that’s all,” Win spat, his voice rising with each sentence. “Besides being a complete break professional trust. I’ve relied on her discretion as my assistant and now she’s ruined it.” He reached for a crooked can on the shelf and turned it until the label faced forward, eyes on his hands instead of her. “And you. How could you not tell me?”

Brennan winced and glanced at the closed door behind them. She could hear the rest of the dinner party moving around in the dining room only a dozen feet away.

“Please keep your voice down. Billy’s out there, and he doesn’t know about Mer. I’d like to keep it that way for now.”

Win looked at her then, his eyes cold. “Maybe you should have thought of that before inviting your old beau to my house.”

Brennan shifted her weight back on her heels and looked at the floor, shaking her head. “I can’t have that argument again, not right now.” She lifted her eyes to meet his. “Merritt was so upset when she realized what it all meant, Win. For herself, but mostly what it meant for you…what she’d done to you. You know how important you are to her. Can you really tell me you’re going to focus on a non-issue like Billy and me dating a million years ago instead of figuring out how we keep Merritt safe?”

Win opened his mouth to answer, but a quick knock sounded on the pantry door. Another followed a half-second later.

Brennan opened it. Fletcher stood with one hand on the frame, his eyes going past her to Win. “Sorry. I think we need you out here.” He glanced back at her, as though deciding how much to say and to whom. “Lucy’s back. The girl’s not out there, but her car’s still in the drive. Lucy’s not taking that well.”

Win straightened away from the shelves at once. “Merritt walked off?”

“Looks that way.”

Brennan slipped past Fletcher into the kitchen, the two men following close behind. In the dining room, Lucy stood near the sideboard with her purse over her arm. Kate stood beside her. Billy was halfway into his jacket on the other side of the long dining table.

“She’s gone,” Lucy said, twisting her fingers into her purse strap. “It’s not like Merritt to leave her car and walk off into the dark.”

“Maybe she took a walk to cool off,” Brennan said, though she heard how thin it sounded.

Lucy shook her head, small and definite. “She wouldn’t do that.” She looked at Billy and then Win. She kept her thoughts her herself, but both men felt the weight of her disapproval. “She was really upset.”

Win’s gaze moved from Lucy to the dark windows and back again, his jaw set. “All right,” he said. “Standing here won’t help. Where would she go?”

“The garden, maybe.” Lucy said immediately. “But I checked and didn’t see her. She doesn’t have a key to the shop. She wouldn’t want to talk to anyone in that state.”

Billy tugged his sleeve straight and reached for his keys from the table. “I can make a loop through town. Check Main, the park, the side streets. If she’s walking, she can’t be far.”

Fletcher, still near the doorway, said, “Might make more sense to split up. Cover the obvious places first.”

Kate glanced down at her shoes, then back up with a faint, apologetic smile. “These slingbacks were chosen for dinner, y’all, not a search party. If anyone expects me to run through Ravina Springs in heels, prepare to be disappointed.”

Lucy patted her shoulder. “You stay with me, honey. We’ll check around the front of the shop and the garden, then keep near here. If she comes back, somebody ought to be around.”

Kate slipped her arm through Lucy’s without protest, the two of them already moving toward the hall.

Billy looked toward Brennan. “Bren, you come with me. We can scout both sides of the streets better that way.”

Win’s head came up before Brennan could answer.

“No,” he said, the word flat enough to stop the room for a second. He held Billy’s gaze a moment, then added, a shade more evenly, “I’ll go with you. You know the town. I know Merritt.”

Billy glanced at Brennan, then gave a short nod Win’s way. “Whatever.”

Fletcher looked at her, the corner of his mouth lifting just a little. “I suppose that leaves us.”

Win had begun for the front door, but something in Fletcher’s voice made him slow. He looked from Fletcher to Brennan, then turned away.

“We’ll check any place downtown that’s still open,” Brennan said, looking Win’s way. He kept going, not looking back this time.

“All right,” Win said, reaching for his coat. “Check the places she’d go. If anybody finds her, call.”

At the door he stopped, then looked back at Bren anyway. “Stay with Fletcher,” he said. “And keep an eye out for DeLucca’s truck.”

Chapter 17—coming Wednesday, March 31st

Even a small tip helps and only takes a few seconds.

Ch 16 Mood Music

Garden of Little Peace is the copyright of M D Kenney

Story Navigator

Prologue: One for the road · Chapter 1: The kept knife · Chapter 2: The weight of silence · Chapter 3: What remains · Chapter 4: Where none can follow · Chapter 5: The only question · Chapter 6: Twice gone · Chapter 7: Worlds collide · Chapter 8: No more waiting · Chapter 9: After after · Chapter 10: The dangerous ones · Chapter 11: The witching hour · Chapter 12: Bright as a pin · Chapter 13: Wet clay · Chapter 14: The wrong answer · Chapter 15 pt 1: On solid ground ·Chapter 15 pt 2: On solid ground · · · · ·