AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Despite the old siding needing a new paint job and the shutter hanging by a screw on one window, it’s the vibrant red flowers in pots that stand out. My mom always loved her flowers.
Probably more than she loved me.
The truck comes to a stop, and this time I’m prepared for Kali’s quickness. I catch her by the elbow before she can get out. “Stay in the car,” I assert with a firm voice. She parts her lips to argue, but I cut her off. “You’re safer in here with Riggs. I’ll check to see if anyone’s home.”
Securing my gun at my side, I open the door, fixing her with a stern look until she signals that she’s staying put. She holds her hands up in surrender. “Okay, fine.” It’s confirmation enough for me. She doesn’t have to be happy about it.
Dirt and rocks crunch underfoot as I walk up the gravel driveway. There isn’t a car anywhere on the property. Off in the distance, the mooing of cows carries in the wind. My knocks on the weather-beaten front door echo unanswered. Waiting a few seconds before knocking again. It’s pointless. She’s not here. I cast a brief look back at Kali, shaking my head, before turning to do a perimeter check. I glance through each window until I hit the back door. Taking a chance, I try to open it, but it’s locked.
“I have a key.”
Kali’s voice startles me from behind, jolting me into a defensive stance. My hand instinctively flies to my gun until my eyes land on her, holding up a gold key. “Didn’t we agree that you’d stay in the car?” My voice is a low rumble of frustration.
“I recall you saying you were going to check if she was here first. You checked, and she’s not. So, I thought since I have a spare key, we should use it.”
“Are you trying to get me in trouble? I don’t have a warrant.”
For a moment, she just looks at me, her expression faltering. “But you tried the door.”
“That wasn’t meant for you to see.”
“Well, I did.”
With a determined stride, she moves past me, sliding the key into the hole. I should stop her, but if my mom gave her a key, she gave her access. With a cautious glance around, I relent and follow her inside. Kali calls out her name, but we’re met with silence. I check the small two-bedroom house before returning to where Kali is in the living room.
“What do you expect to find?” I inquire, scanning a cluttered desk with bills and magazines. Using a pen from my pocket, I nudge a magazine aside, revealing Pearl’s last name. I’m happy to see it’s not still Houston, but why did she change her first name? There’s a bill with a huge past-due stamp across it. It’s for an MRI.
“I’m not sure,” Kali replies, pulling my attention away from the bill. She stands in the middle of the living room, spinning in place. “You’re the cop. What would you be looking for?”
“If I had a warrant, we’d be looking through everything. Every single square inch. But we don’t.” Riggs barks from my truck, and my spine straightens. Shit. This was a bad idea. The drawn shades obscure the view outside. Without wasting any more time, I take two swift steps toward Kali and guide her to the back door. If we can exit before someone spots us, it’ll be a lot easier to offer an excuse.
“Freeze. Hands in the air.” A burly cop, gun drawn, beats us to the back door. He fixates on my firearm holstered at my hip. I throw my hands up, and Kali does too, stepping out from the shadow cast by me. The minute he notices her, he drops his weapon. “Kali? What the hell?”
“Chip!” she replies, her chest rising and falling from fear. We both lower our hands. “Thank God it’s you. Have you seen Pearl? She left work not feeling good, and I had just seen her, and she seemed fine. I was worried something had happened.” Words tumble out of her mouth like a torrent, rapid and urgent.
He keeps his defensive stance and his hand on his holstered gun. Ignoring her question, he keeps his focus on me. Chip? What the fuck? I know this guy. But I know him as Charles. Of course, he wouldn’t remember me, but it’s the man my mom grew up with. I can’t remember the exact year he moved, but it’d have to be at least fifteen years ago, back when I was a pimple-faced, stick-thin kid. A lot has changed since then.
But why are my mom and Charles, or Chip, living in the town that took my brother?
“I’m a friend of Kali’s, and I’m also a police officer. I can show you my badge.” I wait for him to nod before pulling my wallet from my back pocket and flashing him my badge. If he doesn’t recognize me, he will now. He glances too quick at it. There’s no way he looked long enough to catch my name.
Maybe he does remember me.
“If you’re a cop, then you’re aware that you’re trespassing.”
“Trespassing?” Kali clips, holding up the key as evidence. “Chip, I have a key. I told you, I was worried about Pearl.”
“She’s the one who called it in. She thought someone was breaking into her house.”
That’s a lie.
She’s running. And this is nothing but a distraction. The idea that my mom had something to do with Kali fires up an anger that I’d long buried in her absence. I just don’t understand. What is her involvement in this? How did my mother and Chip end up here? Is he involved? Was Kali always her target? Is she so evil that she would have someone buried alive?
Who am I kidding? There is something wrong with her. She didn’t seem to mind when my stepfather threw me down into the storm shelter in the middle of the night. Always waiting on the other side, releasing me like she saved me. At first, I thought she was, but after a few times, it was obvious she was doing it on purpose. She was not the hero; she was the orchestrator.
“Well, c’mon.” Chip steps outside, holding the door open. “You guys can’t be in here. Only because it’s you, Kali, I won’t arrest you. She didn’t know you were the one at her house.”
We follow him out, and Kali locks the door behind her.
