“You smell like a corpse.” He rolled down all the windows.
“Youlooklike a corpse,” she fired back.
Fin pressed his fattened lips together and threw the car in gear.
Hailey crossed her arms over her belly and stared out the window. She didn’t need Fin or his stupid, fast car. She’d walk to the funeral home. She squeezed her teeth together with angry resolve.
“Don’t even think about it!” Fin warned.
“What?”
“No funeral home is open this late. And you’re exhausted.” He fanned the air with his hand. “And you need a shower.”
Hailey couldn’t imagine confronting another night without proving Holly was still out there. Her stomach rolling, she slouched in her seat.
Fin patted her leg. “I’ll take you first thing in the morning, okay?”
“What if she’s still out there?” Her eyes flooded over.
Fin jerked the wheel and skidded to a stop. He threw his door open, slid across the hood, and appeared at Hailey’s side.
She was sniffling into her hands when he pulled her out of the car and hugged her tight. For several minutes he held her against him, rocking her gently, while she shook and sobbed with her hands over her face, and he never said a word.
Uncle Pix still wasn’t home when Fin walked Hailey to the door. The windows on the house were dark, and Hailey hesitated before she put the key in the lock. There was a heaviness in the air.
“What’s wrong?” Fin asked her.
“I don’t…” Hailey felt a dozen daddy-long-legs crawling up her back. “I think there’s someone inside,” she whispered, backing away.
Fin checked the door then stepped back to survey the windows, his eyes studying one then another until something at one of the windows held his attention, and he squinted in the darkness. “Come on,” he said, lazily pulling her to the door. “I think it’s safe.”
“How do you know?”
“No sign of forced entry.” He yawned, pointing to the door and around to all of the windows. “I’ll check the house before I leave.”
“You’re leaving?” Hailey didn’t want to be alone in a big, dark house. Fin stood, looking sleepy, his eyes glazed over.
“Fin!”
“Hm?” He blinked a couple times then furrowed his brow. “You want me to stay here again?”
“Yes!” She looked him up and down.How could he even think of abandoning her?
He put his hands on her shoulders. “Alright, I’ll stay until your uncles get back, but…”
“But what?”
“You really need a shower.” He wrinkled his nose.
Fin led the way inside, turning on every light, clearing each room with her as they went, looking under the beds, in the closets, behind the curtains and doors and in the shadows. She even made him open the kitchen cupboards before she felt safe enough to leave his side.
“Happy now?”
Hailey shook her head, but, noticing something odd, she looked at him more closely. The wounds on his face were…gone.
“Your face is…is… It’s all better…” she marveled, leaning close to study him. There wasn’t even a scab.
Fin seemed to enjoy her new proximity and let her examine him for several seconds before he leaned even closer.
