“So you popped him one?” Molly asks.
“Or two.”
Molly giggles, and Kyra grins at me. “It’s about time someone did,” Abby mumbles, lying down on one of the benches.
She’s the only one who sleeps. Between the bright lights and constant chill, I know I won’t be able to and have no desire to try. Kyra gets released a few hours later. Molly and I spend the night catching up, talking and laughing together. I’m doing my best not to think about the clusterfuck I’m in because there’s nothing I can do about it right now.
My lawyer is true to his word, and I’m released early in the morning, just a few minutes after Molly, whose grandmother bailed her out. My phone is full of texts and missed calls. News has probably spread around town by now. I open the one from Diana first, and she lets me know that she’ll meet me with my keys anytime. I send her a reply, and she assures me she’s on her way to Lucky’s.
When I step out the door, Molly waves to me from the passenger seat of a Buick that Jesus might’ve owned. “Silver!”
Molly’s grandmother, Celia, comes into the diner a couple of times a month for lunch and a box of crullers. She grins at me when I bend down to look in the passenger window. “Ms. Celia. How are you?”
“Above the ground. Can I give you a ride home?”
“Thank you, but my truck’s at the diner. I can walk.” It’s only a few blocks away. The wind picks up, raising goosebumps on my skin.
“Get your ass in here, young lady. I’ll drop you off at your truck.” She won’t get any more resistance from me. I’m tired, cold, and in desperate need of a shower and some food.
She glances at me in the rearview mirror before pulling away from the curb. “I heard about what happened. I’m sorry.”
I’m not sure if she means my house burning down or the diner being smashed, but it doesn’t matter. “Thank you.”
Molly dozes off with her head against the window almost immediately and doesn’t wake when Celia turns into the diner’s lot. It breaks my heart to look at the place covered in boards with the parking lot empty and aclosed until further noticesign on the door. Diana pulls in right behind us.
“There’s the manager with my keys,” I announce, getting out of the car. “Thanks for the ride.”
Celia rolls her window down and stops me before I can walk away. “Do you know where I live? Last house on Wildwood?”
“Sure, I know where that is.”
She glances over at her sleeping granddaughter, then back at me. “Come and see me. I can help you get the Matheson’s off your back.” I’m too tired to hide the doubt in my expression, and she nods her head repeatedly. “I mean it. I know you have a million things to do right now. And I’ll be out of town with my son for the next week but stop by next Thursday afternoon. I can help.”
At this point, I’d agree to help from a priest, witch, or a summoned demon if it would straighten out the disaster my life has become. I can’t imagine how she thinks she can help, but why not?
“Okay, I’ll be there. Thanks again.”
After getting my keys from Diana, I let myself in the diner and have a quick look around. They continued the cleanup after I was arrested, and there isn’t much left to be done until we get the windows in and the equipment repaired. I make a quick call to Camille, letting her know no one needs to come in until further notice, that the place will be locked up. I take a minute to look through my texts and missed calls. It’s mostly people that I barely know or rarely talk to, wanting the whole story and gossip.
Calli hasn’t called but I’m not surprised. She and Arlow were supposed to be in St. Louis yesterday, taking his family to the zoo. She’ll be ringing my phone off the hook later, once the news reaches her, I’m sure. There’s one text from Lee that came last night.
Lee
Lock up tonight. I won’t be home.
Yeah, well, that makes two of us. I sigh, getting into my truck. It’s just past nine when I make it to Lee’s and he hasn’t returned yet. I shower, eat some leftovers, and feed the animals. As soon as I crawl into bed for a nap, I hear Lee’s keys in the door and his boots thudding on the kitchen floor.
The sound of his voice as he speaks to someone on the phone is strangely comforting to hear, and sleep steals me away.
CHAPTER 11
LEE
The smellof sausage frying hits me when I get home and Silver looks up at me from the stove. Her lips tilt up. “You have bird shit on your jacket.”
“I’m aware. A bird got into cabin one. Had to fix the chimney cap.” I shrug out of the jacket and carry it back to the washing machine.
“Did you catch it?” she asks.
