“I can’t say I blame him,” said Cal. “Sometimes I don’t want to be here, either.”
You just have answers for everything, don’t you?thought Nadine.Everything except for what I want, which is to know where the fuck my sister is.
She could feel her control beginning to fracture, and the only thing more awful than the bright, sharp mess of feelings inside of her was the knowledge that she could not indulge in them, because there would be nobody around to pick her back up again when she shattered.
Nadine knotted her hands in the hem of her blouse. “When were you going to tell me?”
The three of them paused as one, and it was like watching a gate snap shut.
Ravensgate, she thought.
Because they were against her, the three of them. Whatever was going on, they didn’t trust her with it. Maybe they had their reasons. Maybe they were embarrassed. Maybe the suspicions of the townspeople really did cut that deep, and they were trying to keep things quiet.
Maybe Ben’s coldness was a front for despair and Cal and Odessa were used to playing the sardonic maudlins. Maybe all of this was just another sad little tragedy for their rich person lives.
But Noelle washerdamn sister.
She pulled away from Cal, wobbling with the movement, and felt the floor judder beneath her feet as she took in the half of the room that had previously been at her back.
Animal heads hung from the walls, with their bodies preserved in cases, with even more preserved on mounts and under clear glass domes. Next to a framed display of butterflies, all with small pins driven into their thoraxes, was a rack of old rifles framed by two more family portraits, one of whom bore a strong resemblance to both the statue in the square and the man standing beside her.
“Our great-grandfather,” Cal said unnecessarily, as she looked at those familiar, carmine-dappled hazel eyes. It truly was uncanny, she thought, how much they looked alike.Except he has no laugh lines, she thought.And there’s something cruel about his mouth.“He liked to hunt.”
“No kidding.” Nadine clutched at her throbbing head. “Who’s that?”
She nodded at the second portrait, which showed a pale woman with coiffed blonde hair. She had beautiful dark eyes and a full, unsmiling mouth. If Noelle had been anemic and far less pretty, they could have been cousins, or even sisters.
“That was his second wife. Evangeline.”
It was Ben who spoke; he was watching her closely.
“What happened to the first one?”
“She died.”
“H-how?”
“From asking too many questions,” Cal said, in a low, sinister voice.
Nadine made a noise and skirted past him, which made Odessa cluck in amusement. “She’s getting away, Baby Cal. Don’t be a bungler.”
Cal swung around the sofa with surprising agility. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“We hunt not, we, with horse nor hound,” Ben intoned, watching with avid interest as he scratched his ruined palms. “But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground.”
“That isn’t funny, Ben.”
“I’m leaving now,” said Nadine, suddenly worried that maybe they wouldn’tlether go. “I’m going home, do you hear me?”
“Where’s home?” Cal feinted, clearly enjoying himself. “Let me drive you.”
“No.” Her voice came out too sharply. “I’ll be fine by myself. It’s a short walk.”
“Ooh, a short walk,” said Odessa. “I bet that means she’s staying with Jessica Mayhew. I saw her lurking around the general store earlier, buying up pamphlets andmaps.”
Cal shot her a look of pure triumph. “Is that where you’re staying, Nadine?”
Her shoulders slumped. Fuck small towns. “Yes,” she sighed, defeated.
