Hidden Rooms by Kate Michaelson

Author:Kate Michaelson [Michaelson, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: CamCat Publishing

CHAPTER 16

SEPTEMBER 27, 2022

Audra picked me up at eight the next morning in her ancient Jeep Cherokee that had been limping along on its last legs for years. I could hear the sputtering engine from inside the house. I stepped out to see it idling at the curb in a haze of blue exhaust, drawing worried glances from a group of ladies walking two fluffy white dogs.

I rolled my shoulders as I locked the front door, trying to ease the tension that kept creeping in. The wind from the previous day had died down, and it was a bright, still morning. Dew sparkled on the grass, wetting my shoes, and a squirrel scolded me from the oak tree along the curb. When I opened the passenger door, I was surprised to see Franky in the back seat, stuffing animal crackers into his mouth in wet fistfuls.

“You’re bringing Franky?”

“The sitter is sick. What? He won’t know what’s going on. Besides, Liam will have to behave himself with Franky watching.”

I buckled my seat belt, letting the contradictory logic of these two statements slide.

Audra pulled away from the curb into the sparse traffic of downtown Wicksburg, leaving a toxic haze of exhaust in our wake. I looked out the window at the well-tended Victorian houses flying by at the edge of town.

The space between houses grew the farther we went. Well-tended yards gave way to farm fields edged with bright woods as we neared North Haven. Queen Anne’s lace and foxtails lined the roadside ditch. In the distance, between gaps in the woods, the river sparkled. On days like this, I understood why Ethan never wanted to leave the area. The image of him confined to a jail cell crashed down on me. Before Audra picked me up, I’d called the jail to see if I could talk with Ethan, but the officer I spoke to confirmed what Audra had told me: that inmates could only make outgoing calls. Aside from the morning of his arrest, he hadn’t called. I turned the ringer on my phone up to full volume, just in case he tried again.

As we passed the road that led to Doug’s house, I thought about his visit the previous evening.

“You’ll never guess who came to see me last night,” I told Audra.

She glanced at me sharply. “Osborne?”

“No, not Osborne. Doug. Supposedly, he was in the neighborhood and wanted to see how I was doing.” I recounted our conversation, including the sensation I’d had that he was digging for information.

“Well, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was poking around to see who knows what. That’s what we’re about to do,” Audra pointed out. “I’m glad to hear he’s not buying that Ethan has something to do with this. Maybe we should tell him about the storage bin, or at least try to find out what he knows. He’s got connections to people who do business in the area and might know more than we would about the money flowing around North Haven.

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