Secrets of Falls City by Montana Carr

Author:Montana Carr [Montana Carr]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

The hint of weak sunlight crept through Falls City, the sun itself unable to shine brightly enough to drive away the despair. The detritus of the denizens of the night crackled underfoot as Marti walked. Condoms, needles, used inhalers, clothing, and the occasional tooth were hideous breadcrumbs she followed through back streets and alleys.

Marti’s arrival at her second-floor private office was a ritual she’d grown accustomed to, a journey through the familiar corridors of her dark world. Her name, etched onto the frosted glass door, glistened under the muted office lighting. With a deft twist of the key, she unlocked the door and stepped into the reception area, where Lori would occupy her desk come morning.

Her eyes casually swept over Lori’s workspace, taking in the familiar array of modern office equipment—computer, business phone, disks, drives—all the tools of their trade. Yet it was the framed photo resting on the corner of the desk that captured Marti’s attention. She reached for it, her fingers grazing the image of herself and Lori, captured in a candid moment of shared laughter on an outdoor bar patio. A rare glimpse of happiness.

Marti reached into her pocket and grabbed the slip drives she had taken from the pool house, and left them on Lori’s desk.

Marti couldn’t help but wonder why Lori kept this photo, a fragment of their lives outside the shadows. With a contemplative sigh, she returned the photo to its place and moved on, stepping into her own office.

The broadsheets piled up on her desk at the office screamed of scandal and whispers of corruption, their headlines announcing that Mayor Bruce Garrison was urging for the ban on the Pride rainbow flag.

“Hypocrite,” Marti muttered to herself, tossing the paper aside with a flick of her wrist. Why not attack us? It seemed to be the popular thing to do right now. Go after our community, go after our hearts. It was an old fight that never seemed to stop. “Nothing ever comes easy around here.”

She looked out the window, watching as the waterfalls tumbled down past the city, their serene beauty juxtaposed against the darkness that lurked everywhere. She scanned the horizon, seeking solace in the familiar view, but finding none. The labyrinth of secrets that Falls City hid ran deeper than she had expected, and each step she took into the investigation threatened to swallow her whole.

Marti dug her inhaler out of her pocket, tossed her coat on the chair. She sat on the edge of her tattered couch, the inhaler of Shadow resting temptingly on the coffee table before her. Her resolve wavered as she contemplated the swirling abyss that awaited within the tiny device. She knew the dangers, the abyss that had ensnared her for far too long, but the gnawing emptiness inside her, the constant pain of her injuries, it all cried out for relief.

She hesitated for a moment, her fingers trembling, but the siren call of the drug proved irresistible. With a heavy sigh, she brought the inhaler to her lips and inhaled deeply.

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