Sloe (Rewind or Die Book 35) by Marc Ruvolo

Author:Marc Ruvolo [Ruvolo, Marc]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unnerving
Published: 2023-08-02T16:00:00+00:00

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Halfway home, the panic set in.

The more Veronica thought about her mother, vulnerable and alone, the faster she drove. The things Lilac said had shaken her. A fire in the sitting room? When? Was she lying? And if she was telling the truth, what other messed up things had Myles and Medina not thought important enough to mention?

It was still morning when she tore into the gravel driveway, scattering crows from the rain-filled potholes. The house was dark, but the barn door stood wide open, a few of the escaped chickens pecking in the mud.

Mama jumped as Veronica burst through the door into the kitchen. “Lord, Ronnie, you nearly scared the life out of me. Where have you been so early?”

At first she felt relieved, then foolish. Lilac’s stories had made her overreact. “Um, seeing if I could get any more information on Medina,” she lied. “You know from the coroner’s office.”

Mama opened the refrigerator and placed a covered plate inside, a noticeable hitch in her step.

“Why are you limping?”

“It’s nothing. I slipped off the step ladder. You know how clumsy I can be.”

“You gotta be more careful, Mama. You’re sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. It’s just a sprain. I took some Tylenol. Are you hungry?”

“No, I ate already. But I could use a cup of coffee.”

“All I have is the instant.” Mama opened the cabinet. “Is that okay?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Veronica sat at the table, trying to think of a diplomatic way to ask her mother if she had accidentally set fire to the sitting room. She watched her hobble to the pantry, the bandage from when she’d cut herself still visible on her forearm. And for the first time she felt fear, real fear that she could lose her mother, too…

Find my daughter. Six. One. Eight.

“When I woke up this morning I saw that boy again from my bedroom window. He was standing by the barn,” Mama said from the stove. “I was going to scold him, but by the time I got the window up he was gone.”

“By the barn? The doors were open when I drove in. Have you been out there?”

“No. The doors were closed when I last looked. It’s that boy, Ronnie, messing around. Go see. Lock it back up.”

Veronica threw her coat on and went into the yard, ready to do some strong scolding of her own. Things seemed like they were going from bad to worse. How could she go back home if Mama was being terrorized by the local kids?

Shooing a chicken back into the barn, she stopped at the open doors. “Hey! If you’re still in there, come out. You’re trespassing. Scaring my Mama. I can have the sheriff out here before you know it, and we’ll call your parents, too.”

Hearing only the wind, she continued on into the gloomy barn.

Inside, nothing seemed amiss until she reached the chicken coop. An animal had torn a hole in the wire, and a bloodied, half-eaten rooster lay in the straw. Feathers were everywhere.

“Oh, damn it.”

She was certain the barn doors had been locked this morning.

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