Death Under the Bridge by Cate Martin

Author:Cate Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781951439347
Publisher: Ratatoskr Press

Chapter 14

I walked with Loke and Thorbjorn back to Villmark, then continued on alone back to Runde. My head was in a whirl, but it was a whirl of dead ends.

I believed Ralf and Keith Sorensen when they said they only planned to torch the bridge and hadn't even stayed awake long enough to get that done.

I believed Solvi that he had only wanted to share his art with the world, even if it was a world that he himself would never walk in. What a strange and lonely feeling that must be.

My fondest wish for years was to see my art in a book in a bookstore, to see people take it down and page through it and show the illustrations to each other. I couldn't imagine never knowing if what I did ever brought anyone any joy. But Solvi, spending his days apart from even his quiet community, clearly felt differently.

A lot of people seemed to know who Garrett Nelsen was, and yet no one seemed to have known him well. I knew the police would be interviewing his family, and if they uncovered any close friends, they would be interviewing them as well. Perhaps this really was just a Runde matter. Worse, perhaps it had just been a random thing, and there would be no solving it.

I didn't like that thought at all.

It was nearly one in the afternoon when I came up the front steps and opened the door into my grandmother's cabin. I was half expecting her to still be sleeping, but she was up, sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee in front of her. She was dressed, but when she looked up, I suspected I had just startled her out of another doze.

"Ingrid," she said. "What do you have there?"

"Something that Solvi carved," I said, setting the troll down on the table in front of her. "I bought it in Grand Marais."

"Grand Marais," my grandmother said as she examined the piece. "You've just come from Villmark. Does the council know?"

"You can tell I was just in Villmark?" I asked.

"The magic between the worlds leaves a trace on people who cross over," she told me. "You'll be able to see it yourself soon enough. The council?"

"From what I gather, they didn't know before, but Thorbjorn is probably telling them now," I said. "It doesn't really matter, since nothing else will be leaving the village now. Solvi was bringing it out of Villmark to one of the Nelsen barns in Runde, and Garrett Nelsen was selling it as his own art. But now that Garrett is dead, that trade route died with him."

"This mark is Solvi's mark?" my grandmother asked, frowning at the spiral on the bottom of the troll's boot.

"He says no, but I don't think I believe him. Why? Does it mean anything?" I asked.

"No, it's just clearly not a Villmark thing," she said. "Solvi, if he signed his pieces, would likely use a rune sigil. This is very swirly."

"There was one in the store on a plaque that looked like it was actually moving.

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