Trey glanced at Magnus in the passenger seat. “You good?”
Magnus’s jerky nod didn’t inspire a lot of confidence, but Trey knew he was still on the fence. Ava had discussed this little field trip during her session with Dr. Briggs yesterday, and according to Ava, Piper had agreed that it could be a step forward for her, but she warned her to take things slow. This morning, Ava woke up and informed them that today was the day.
Evidently,slowwas not in Ava’s vocabulary because here they were.
The house was as impressive as one would’ve expected it to be, considering Harrison Rivers had come from money. It wasn’t something Trey considered homey, but it was nice for those who liked cookie-cutter subdivisions with HOA restrictions that kept the lawns glowing green and the flowers blooming regardless of the season. You wouldn’t find trash cans at the curb when it wasn’t trash day, nor would you see a beat-up junker in the driveway, needing to be worked on. This was the sort of neighborhood Trey’s ex-husband had dreamed of living in. Not because it was a good place to raise kids or start a family but because it signified status and would mean he’d made it in life.
Trey preferred small-town living. He liked that Tommy Barnes, his neighbor across the street, called him over to help him get his old truck started so he could move it into the garage and begin the restorations becausethis ’65 princess ain’t gonna fix herself. And he preferred that Mrs. Sheridan, the widow who lived next door, would ask him if he would mow her lawn when he mowed his that week. Not because she was worried she’d get a notice and potentially have to pay a fine but to let him know she was visiting her daughter in Georgia because her fourth grandbaby was due any day.
Hell, he doubted the people in this neighborhood even knew their neighbors.
Trey helped Ava out of the truck, then they met Magnus at the front of it. Neither of them looked thrilled to be here, but Trey hadn’t expected this to be an outing to write home about. He wanted to get Ava through this and then back home where she belonged, and if that meant spending an hour or more—God forbid—walking down memory lane in a house that could’ve been right out ofThe Amityville Horrorfor more reasons than one, then he would do it with a smile on.
Well, maybe not with a smile, but he would do it.
But if he heard anyone whisper,Get out, he was gonna throw Ava over his shoulder and make a run for it.
Trey dug the key out of his pocket when they reached the front porch. Because he’d come over here before, he wasn’t unfamiliar with the process of getting inside, which involved unlocking the door and then decoding the alarm on the panel just to the left. He did so without getting in Ava’s way, then stepped back as she walked into the foyer. Trey noticed how she shivered, but it wasn’t because of the temperature. The house was set at seventy-four—which would’ve been ridiculous if he’d been living here—and only because they’d reduced it this morning using the app Magnus had on his phone, lowering it from the balmy eighty it remained on since the place was vacant.
“I never liked this house,” Ava mentioned as she looked up the stairs toward the second floor. “It always felt too pretentious.”
Trey could see that. The furniture and decor looked as though they’d been pasted in right from a magazine. It was as though Harrison Rivers preferred peopledidn’twant to come over and visit. In all fairness, how could he? After all, he’d been beating his wife, and anyone who would’ve been here for more than a minute would’ve seen her bruises and recognized the skeletons hanging in the bastard’s many closets.
Ava glanced down the short hallway to the left that led to the master suite. She stood there for a moment, then turned to the stairs again. She went up slowly, Trey following her when Magnus got his feet moving. They followed her across the expansive upper floor, complete with an open living area and several bedrooms. She continued to the room that was the farthest from everything else. The door was pulled closed but not latched, so she pushed it open with the tip of her finger.
Trey knew this had been Renee’s room. He’d come in here before, wanting to get anything that might’ve been important to Ava. He’d found nothing. There were no pictures or albums, no trinkets or knickknacks, only more gaudy decor and ugly furnishings. The room was about as inviting as a dentist’s chair when you were anticipating a root canal.
“She hated it here,” Ava muttered, sliding her hand across the floral-patterned bedspread. “But she hated it everywhere. The only place I ever recall her being happy was the house I grew up in, but even then, those memories are few and far between.”
Magnus stepped up behind Ava and put his hands on her shoulders. She leaned into him.
“I bought her a few things over the years, but Harrison destroyed everything personal. It was how he tried to keep her in line.”
And he had put Renee in a hospital in order to keep Ava in line, Trey knew.
“We can get rid of it all,” Ava mused, taking a deep breath.
She stepped away from Magnus and moved toward the door. They followed her back into the hall and then to one of the guest rooms. It was fully furnished just like all the other rooms, as though someone came to visit often, but he doubted the bed had ever been slept in.
Ava didn’t linger; she moved with purpose, walking through the room and into the adjoining bathroom. Trey could’ve told her he’d checked everything. The only things he’d found were toiletries and linens in any of the rooms, so he was surprised when she returned a minute later with a long, rectangular wooden box. It looked like something a chess set or backgammon game would be stored in for safekeeping.
“I never saw that,” he told her. “I’m sorry.”
“I kept it in the false bottom of the vanity,” she said as she set it on the bed and lifted the lid. “I didn’t want Harrison to find it.”
Inside were stray pictures and a few other things that looked like they might be sentimental. A tassel likely from her high school graduation, a silver locket with an ivory heart on the front, a small piano-shaped jewelry box that was only big enough to hold a ring or something equally small. When she flipped it open, he saw it was empty, but Ava seemed more intrigued by it than what would’ve been inside.
She turned to Magnus, holding it.
“This was Tabby’s,” she said, her voice trembling. “She gave it to me on my tenth birthday, right after your mom brought us pancakes. She wanted me to have it since my mom didn’t get me a gift, said it was her most prized possession because—”
“I gave it to her,” Magnus choked out.
Ava looked at him with tears in her eyes. “Yes.”
Trey felt the tightness in his chest when Magnus took the small trinket in his hand.
“She said that one day I could keep my wedding ring in it when I went to bed.” Ava released a watery chuckle. “She said it seemed only right since I was gonna marry her brother.”
