Page 85 of Forever Dark
That annoyed her, too.
They sat with the engine off and the windows beginning to fog lightly at the edges.The fairgrounds looked remote now, like a model village set down in darkness for someone else’s inspection.
With a second pair of eyes, Selena took the opportunity to check her messages on her phone.She quickly found two emails.One from Brent.No dice on murders at churches or graveyards in the surrounding counties.The second was from Meg and affirmed that while the linguist corrected some of Selena’s translations of the Latin words at St.Bartholomew’s, the gist of the messages remained the same.
Oh and I’ve got a two-man forensics team available in three days to come down and reevaluate the Harlan County team’s work,the email said.A few more procedural points, ending withremember not to step on too many toes down there.
Selena put her phone away and sighed.
“What is it?”Connor asked.
“Nothing much,” she said.“Just there’s no sign of another murder similar to Brenda and Lauren’s.The field office expanded the search, but nothing came up.”
“You still sure there was a murder before these two?”Connor asked.
“There has to be,” she said.“I mean, what else could the Roman numerals mean?”
“By the way,” Connor added, “I spoke with Doctor Blethan.”
“Did he have any more insults to hurl my way?”Selena asked.
“You gotta give it a break, Selena.”
“Give what a break?”
“This big-shot attitude, you know we’re not all morons out here.”
“I’m from here, remember,” she said.“I don’t think that at all.”
“Well,” Connor said with a sigh.“Whatever happened between you and the doc, I smoothed it over as best I could.”
Selena said nothing about the pending forensics overview.That would ignite a third world war with the good doctor.
“What did he say?”she asked.
“He says that Lauren’s jugular wasn’t cut the whole way through.”
Selena tapped the dashboard with the side of her fist in frustration.“The bastard let her bleed out for longer than needed.”
“Seems that way,” Connor said.“I don’t know how someone could do that.”
“I do,” Selena answered.“Because he’s punishing them…”
A moment passed and Connor clearly tried to change the atmosphere in the car.“So, what’s Washington like?You have a boyfriend out there?”
“I’m not comfortable discussing my private life, Connor.”
Nothing else was said for a while.An emptiness never filled.Silence stretched.
Then Connor said, “This reminds me of the time you refused to talk to me for a week.”
Selena kept her eyes on the bus.“That was because of the argument with my dad.”
“I remember.”A short laugh escaped him, low and private.“I really was getting ready to slug him.All because he thought I was a freeloader.”
That pulled her attention away from the fairgrounds.
Through the windshield she could see the memory as clearly as if it were playing on glass.Her father on the porch, broad and hard as a gatepost, Connor younger and angrier and too proud to back down when older men told him to.She had spent a week refusing to speak to Connor after that fight, furious with both of them and too young to understand that pride had already begun sinking its claws into every part of their marriage.
