Riley follows. She walks, doesn’t run. She needs to think. The humming in her ears builds to a roar. She weighs up all the options quickly. Can she get to Oliver? Maybe she can take supplies, and Oliver, and be gone by the time … Then she remembers that Oliver is helping Dawn repair the hinges on the doors to Home Barn today. She curses inwardly.
Maybe this is nothing, she thinks. Cal’s upset. There’s no reason to connect his brother’s death to Riley. How can there be? She breathes, bright, drawing all the sun she can into her head.
‘He was four miles down the magnolia trail,’ Cal says. He stands upright as a spear at the front of the barn. Riley slips in at the back. She can see Oliver is seated on a stool right at the front, looking up at Cal. Oliver worships Cal a little.
There’s a tremble in Cal’s frame which makes Riley’s heart sore.Noon shakes too, her whole hand in her mouth. Riley knows that this can’t be true, but that’s what it looks like. Her white fist is shoved hard in, almost down her throat.
‘He was by the tree like a ship,’ Cal says. ‘He was off the trail, down the hill in the deep brush. Or what used to be him. Animals had been but his jacket and boots still held some bones. His skull was there. I thought maybe snakebite, or he ate the wrong kind of mushroom. But there was all this stuff thrown around.’ Cal swallows; she can hear the dry click of his throat. ‘A cooking pot, clothes. Not his stuff. Someone else had been there. There were two holes …’ He covers his mouth. ‘Bullet holes in his skull.’
He takes a deep breath and reaches into his pocket. ‘Then I found this at the edge of the clearing.’ He opens his hand.
So that’s where the other one got to, thinks Riley, blank. The stupid Nana dog looks up from the worn-out grubby cotton.
‘It’s my Nana sock!’ Oliver is so happy. ‘Can I have it, Cal?’
‘In a minute,’ Noon says. She says gently to Cal, ‘Let me deal with this.’
Noon helps Oliver up. He stands, looking at her with trust.
‘We’re so happy that you and Riley came to live with us,’ Noon says.
Oliver nods. ‘Me too.’
‘We’re a family now. And that means we tell each other the truth. You want to stay here with us, don’t you?’
‘Yes,’ says Oliver. His eyes are wide.
Noon kneels and puts a hand on his shoulder. ‘Oliver, how did your leg really get hurt?’
‘Riley shot me,’ he whispers.
Noon says gently, ‘How did that happen?’
‘She was shooting at the demon,’ Oliver says. ‘She shot him in the eyes.’
Riley stares hard at Oliver. Heat and cold race up and down her frame. A roaring builds in her ears.
Oliver turns and looks straight at Riley. ‘She says it was a demon,’ Oliver says, high and thin. ‘But it was a boy. I saw. He had a hand like that.’ Oliver points.
‘Like this?’ Cal raises his maimed hand, shaking.
Oliver nods. ‘Riley said not to tell. She said to lie. But I didn’t want to.’
‘Did you come here to kill us all,’ Noon asks, ‘like you killed Danny?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Oliver says, worry creasing his brow.
‘No,’ Riley says. ‘It was an accident. He attacked us—’
‘He would have never,’ Cal’s voice shakes. ‘Ever.’
‘Oliver?’ Noon bends and strokes his cheek gently. ‘Did the boy attack you and Riley?’
Oliver turns his eyes up to Noon’s. ‘No,’ he whispers. ‘Sometimes Riley lies.’
Someone seizes Riley from behind, a hand closes about her neck. She’s pressed against black wool. Everett’s breath is hard on her cheek. She sees the gleam of metal. The machete kisses her throat. All Riley can think is that she has been waiting for this all her life, to be murdered. It runs in the family after all.
Noon whispers, ‘You killed Danny and then you came here. We welcomed you. You slept here and ate our food and made yourself one of us.’ Noon stops. ‘What is that you’re holding?’ she says gently. Riley realises that she’s clutching the locket at her throat. The old silver gently grazes the edge of Everett’s machete.
