Trillingham by Potocki Wendy

Author:Potocki, Wendy [Potocki, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pas de Chat Publications
Published: 2014-07-26T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

When Mary Bevers arrived at Newark Airport, she found she had two options—and both would get her to Hillboro. Since riding a bus and having someone’s elbow sticking into her ribs for two hours was not her idea of enjoyable, she opted to rent a car. Although it meant splurging on comfort, why not? Her savings were almost depleted anyway.

As she crossed over the city’s limits, police sirens wailed in the background, serenading her with an eerie welcome. Down to her last shot, the interviews with the nine other families strung together like laundry on the line. Bear, bear, human, bear, human, human, bear, dog, and mountain lion, but no Trillingham. It left the tenth open. That was where Estelle Bathgate’s family came in.

She’d already made a cursory call to Estelle’s parents. Since their names were listed in the news stories, it’d been easy to track them down. While she’d planned on using them to supply answers, she’d hit pay dirt when Estelle’s sister, Doris, answered. From the brief conversation, Mary got the distinct impression that Doris wanted to talk. As to the reason she felt the need to confide in a complete stranger about what happened to her sibling, it remained to be seen.

Mary asked for directions to Mountain Gate Lane at the toll booth and was provided a route almost immediately. Did all toll booth workers really know the town they collected fares for that well? The constant peppering of every conceivable question must account for their knowledge base—and for the fact they appeared so overwrought.

A red light gave her time to scrutinize the very epitome of overwrought in her rearview mirror. Where had the time gone? Her blue eyes dulled by grief, her once vibrant red hair looked like jeans washed once too often in bleach. She ran her hands through her unkempt tresses, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

The car behind her honked. It was drivers like this hot head that got on her last nerve. Patience was a virtue she admired. She’d been patient with both Patty and Aidan. While showering her daughter with that commodity didn’t seem a waste, she wondered why she’d squandered it on her husband.

Bastard.

She bit her tongue, squelching the flood of negative thoughts and emotions. She was dumping all this on him, and it wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t the one that had screwed up the legend and included that fallacy into its framework. And Aidan had tried to make it right by keeping her name out of the tale he’d related to Parrish Barber. He had tried, even when suffering from so much pain. No, he was only guilty of being a good father … and husband. And of caring too much. It had been his downfall and caused his fall from grace.

I’m sorry, Aidan. I’ll make it right.

She squeezed back tears, sniffling and inhaling deeply to reverse the flow’s direction. Wiping them with the back of her hand, she caught the drip, drip, drip of mucous trickling from her nose.

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