The Woods Kept Silent: A riveting mystery thriller with a shocking twist by Blair Weeks

Author:Blair Weeks [Weeks, Blair]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-10-10T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 41

Luke ushers me to the breakfast bar overlooking his stove, where he’s searing chicken and rice. I stumble onto a stool; my hurried entrance into his kitchen and his change of mood from yesterday all feel like a whiplash.

“I was almost going to visit you myself this morning,” he says, looking up at me from behind the stove. His expression is friendly and engaging. Whiplash, indeed.

“I brought these by in case you wanted to look at them.” I place the photos on the marble counter in front of me.

He glances at them quickly, and for a brief second, I see yesterday’s Luke. “No need. Already saw them.”

I tuck them back into my jacket. “Is everything alright, Luke? You’ve been acting kind of strange. Especially yesterday.”

He nods. “Yeah, I’m sorry. I was just . . . thinking about my dad again. And the thing he told before he died . . . about guarding the mallet. It just got me thinking about this whole thing . . . and what it could possibly mean.” He sighs. “I’m confused by it.”

I’m relieved. “I’m in the same boat,” I say with a chuckle. “I was hoping you’d know something I didn’t.”

“Nope, are you hungry?” he says quickly, pulling out another plate before I can answer.

“Does this mean that you are the complete package?” I ask jokingly.

His eyes glaze over in confusion before recognition dawns. “Well, it’s not fine dining,” he says with a shy, crooked smile. He pours rice onto my plate. “Want to look for whatever’s next in the treasure hunt tomorrow? The weather is supposed to be nice.”

A smile tugs at my lips. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind . . . Here, I brought the clue with me.”

I take out the riddle from my pocket and hand it to Luke. He looks it over as I eat, and I’m pleasantly surprised at his cooking skills.

“I know where this is,” he says.

“So do I.”

He looks at me, lines forming between his eyes. “Really? How?”

“I mean, I’ve heard about the Lake Launch thing. That’s what it’s referring to, isn’t it?”

Luke’s eyes don’t waver from my face. “Yeah, Stoney’s Cliff. But the rope was taken off decades ago. It hadn’t been used in years.”

“My grandma told me about it . . . ”

Luke nods and flicks the paper back toward me. “Of course. Yeah, I think we should just get this over with.”

“Get this over with?”

Luke looks up. “It just feels like the last clue, doesn’t it?”

“I guess it does,” I say.

We eat as we talk over other things, almost as easily as we did when we went out to eat only days before, and I nearly forget that I’m here on a mission. Once we finish, and after I help him clean up, I casually shift the conversation to the Celtic relics in his bathroom hallway.

“Where did your uncle get these?” I ask, leaning against the wall near the hallway’s opening as Luke puts up his dishes.

“He took a trip to Ireland back in the day.

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