Page 38 of Grave Stone

“What in the actual fuck is going on?” I repeated. “Someone sent a letter asking them to forgive me? And they sent it with body parts? The body parts of the men who tried to kill me? Seriously. What is happening right now?”

“Okay, let’s take a step back and look at this. What we know versus what we think. Fuck. I need a notebook.”

“I’ve got one,” Hadley said and retrieved a notebook and pen from the bedroom.

“Okay, let’s start with the facts. The Grave Prowlers received a letter, a patch of skin with a hairy mole, and an earlobe with an earring earlier today. Do either of y’all remember what it said?”

“Something about accepting the things and forgiving any grievances the club had with me.”

“Did it specifically say you? Like your name?”

“It referred to her as the girl in the casket,” Hadley clarified.

“That’s right,” Stevie said. “The girl in the casket. Okay, could they be talking about another girl in a casket?”

“How many could there be?” I nearly yelled.

“Thousands. It’s a fucking crematory. They’re all in caskets when they arrive.”

“Nate and Tate are the catalyst,” Hadley said. “How many girls have they sent there?”

“I don’t think I want to know the answer to that,” I admitted. I knew I was lucky to be alive, and I was doing a superb job of ignoring the seriousness of the situation. It was the only reason I was continuing to function. I learned to ignore my own feelings and put them last when I was a child. But knowing that other women went through something similar and didn’t come out on the other side wasn’t something I could handle. Not then. Because it would mean that the men protecting us were also part of their disappearances. And I wasn’t okay with that. If I hadn’t woken up, Stone would have killed me, and no one would have ever known what happened to me.

“Actually, can we do this later?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Stevie said and closed the notebook. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. I guess I hadn’t thought about this happening to someone else until now. I don’t know how I feel about staying with people who are complicit in things like this.”

“Hang on,” Stevie said. “Don’t make assumptions. They haven’t been complicit with you, have they?”

“No, but it’s not because of what happened to me; it’s because the Wood brothers tried to get a body disposed of for free.”

“So, you’re not okay with them getting rid of you, but you’re okay with them disposing of Glenn?” Hadley asked. “I’m not being judgmental. I just want to make sure I understand.”

“Glenn was a shithead.”

“There it is,” Stevie said. “You’re okay with it as long as the person deserved it.”

“Isn’t everyone okay with that?”

“No!” Stevie and Hadley answered in unison.

“I mean, if it’s like self-defense or something.”

“That’s not murder,” Stevie said.

“We’ve gotten way off track,” Hadley said. “We were trying to narrow down who sent the letter by making a list of the facts.”

“Let’s talk about it before bed,” I suggested. “I want to change clothes and freshen up before we have to go out there and meet everyone.”

“Me, too,” Stevie said excitedly. “I’ve got a biker husband to shop for.”

“Please don’t.”

“I’ll window-shop. They won’t even know I’m doing it.”

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