Drew Reeves is about Lucas’s age, right? Did they know each other?
We stop in front of my house, Farrow’s place lit up like a stadium with music pouring out of it and two women on the porch.
I open my door. “I’ll be right back.”
I want to stay and keep listening, but I’ll talk to Lucas when she’s gone.
I climb out, leaving it open for Aro as I jog up the stairs to my place.
“Thanks for the ride.” I can only just hear her, her tone kind of guarded. Does she know something about him that I don’t?
I start to unlock my door, but when I look back, she’s still at the car and Lucas is talking to her over the roof.
What is he saying that he couldn’t say in the car?
I sweep the street, the car that was following us nowhere to be seen, but I don’t relax as their lips continue to move. Why is it easier to talk to someone he barely knows? I don’t understand what he keeps trying to protect me from, but I’m now positive that it’s not from Farrow Kelly or Noah Van der Berg.
It’s nothing that has to do with me.
Lucas
“Thanks for the ride,” Aro calls out, slamming the door of Jared’s car.
Quickly, I climb out and ask, “Did he hurt you?”
She stops, and I stare across the roof of the car at her. Drew loved women, and it took a long time to catch on that he liked them young.
Aro turns, and I avoid looking up the steps at Quinn. Wouldn’t Drew just love to see me now? Losing my mind over a girl twelve years younger than me.
“He hurt others,” Aro tells me.
She struggles to meet my eyes, and I know enough about her in the few interactions we’ve had to know that she doesn’t shy away from saying what needs to be said.
But she doesn’t divulge more. She doesn’t want to dredge it up, and to be honest, I’m grateful. I’d hate hearing it.
She comes up to the car and lowers her voice as Quinn lingers up at her door, probably wondering what we’re doing.
“I know why you left,” she says. “Everyone here does, so you better tell her before someone else explains it their way.”
I lift my eyes to Quinn. She turns away and starts to unlock her door.
“And I also know you hate what Green Street has become,” Aro continues, “so don’t even think about leaving again, because you have a responsibility.”
“I know.”
Green Street has expanded into Shelburne Falls—and into the Trent and Caruthers families—which I didn’t consider when I left. I need to get rid of Hugo Navarre and Drew Reeves. When those I love are safe, I’ll tell Madoc everything.
She spins back around and heads down the street, waving at Quinn. “See you tomorrow!”
Quinn waves and dives inside to get changed for the gym.
Looking up and down Knock Hill, I see the barber shop across the street that I noticed operating yesterday when I installed the cameras at Quinn’s house. Samson Fletcher was working when I was hanging around town, one of the few businesses still operating. Weston has two restaurants, a gas station, a school, and a few other odds and ends, but it doesn’t have much else. Not even its own police.
Which is how Drew got away with so much for so long. In fact, he kept the police from coming back here, probably convincing Shelburne Falls to pick up the slack so he could consolidate his vantage point.
I need to talk to Farrow again.
But first, I need a few minutes with Quinn to myself. I gaze up at her front door, warm light glowing from the windows.
