“Stay the fuck away from me,” she cried back.
“There’s nowhere to go,” he said, like the serpent he was. “The road’s blocked. Where are you going to go—the sheriff’s?” The last was spoken in an entirely different tone, like he’d just realized where she was headed. “Youreallydon’t want to do that.”
“Screw you.”
He grabbed her wrist and yanked, pulling her to him. “Nadine,” he growled. “I mean it. You do not want to go into that building. Whatever you think you know, you don’t. Come back to the house with me, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”
She stared at him, chest heaving.
“Think of your sister,” he said lowly. “Remember.”
It was like he’d struck her. With a burst of strength she didn’t realize she still had, she shoved at him with both hands, knocking him off balance. As he stumbled, she broke from him, turning and running for the sheriff’s old office, ignoring Cal’s shouted call for her to stop.
Shuddering, she flung herself into Gideon’s office, just barely skidding to a stop when Rael stood up from where he had been sitting. Gideon, working at his desk, barely spared her a glance.
Nadine tried to catch her breath, too winded to speak, suddenly wondering if maybe she had made a mistake. She looked wildly at the buck’s severed mounted head, the frames on Gideon’s desk. As it had before, the one of Cal and Rael gave her pause.
Maybe she should have tried somewhere else in town. Helena Peters from the general store might have been a better choice.
It’s too late now.
“Miss Harnois,” Gideon said, turning away from his computer. “What can I do you for?”
“I want . . . to report . . . a murder,” she gasped.
“A murder.” Gideon’s tone was hard to read.
Cal slammed the door open behind her, his bare chest rising and falling. Both his skin and hair gleamed with diamonds of sweat and the look on his face was purely animal. She looked at him with horror, stepping instinctively to Rael, who seemed to be exchanging a glance with Cal right over her head.
“Whose murder?” If Gideon was fazed by the sight of Cal barging into his office half-dressed, his weathered face didn’t show it. He remained seated in his chair, legs crossed, as he began toying with the handle of one of the drawers in his desk. Pulling it in and out, in and out.
Nadine shook her head. “I—I don’t know. Several.”
“Goddamn it, Nadine.” Cal stepped forward until Gideon held up a hand. “Don’t.”
“It was his family.” Nadine pointed. “His whole fucking family. They’re all crazy and I have proof.”
“She says she has proof, Caledon.”
Cal ran a hand through his hair, as his shoulders tensed. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
“Yes, Ido.” Before Cal could stop her—he looked ready to leap at her, she thought, he was so angry—she launched into a rapid explanation of everything she found, although something held her back from handing over the evidence just yet. Clinging to her purse, she started with Noelle’s mysterious postcard and ended with what she had read in the journal, about Jesamyn and the stag.
When she finally finished talking, she was out of breath and crying. She glanced at Cal, who was looking at her with a harsh, unsmiling expression.
“I see,” Gideon said. “Well now. That’s a lot to take in.”
“I need to get out of here,” Nadine said. “I c-can’t go back to them.”
“You won’t.” Gideon had stopped toying with his drawer some minutes ago and was now weighing a black box in his hands. “Don’t worry. You won’t be going anywhere.”
“W-wait, what?” Nadine backed from him. “What does that mean?”
Before she could run, Rael grabbed her arms, jerking them up behind her back. “You should have listened to Cal,” he whispered. “He was trying to protect you.”
“What?”
There was a silvery flash in her periphery, followed by pain. Nadine screamed, high and sharp, before Rael clapped one of his hands over her mouth. She pushed from him, forgetting he still had a grip on one of her arms. Gideon backed from her, already replacing the needle in its box.
