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I raised my eyebrows. “I think everyone is just shaken up over what happened. It’s probably an isolated event, but it’s a normal knee-jerk reaction to something terrible.” She nodded as I grabbed the truck keys from the hook. “Everything will be all right, Mom.” I said the words like I meant them—even if I wasn’t so sure.
She gave me a soft and short hug. “Love you, Beth.”
“Love you, Mom.” I took off down the steps, heading toward the old blue truck parked out by Blaze’s. He was nowhere in sight, thankfully, which meant I could leave without him asking any questions. I unlocked the driver’s side door and slid in, starting the engine.
The truck was louder than most, and I had always been able to recognize the distinct sound when my dad would come into town to pick Sam and I up from school. I backed out and headed down the gravel driveway, trying to keep my breaths even. Heavy silence filled the cab as I took a right instead of left, heading down the road that led to Hollow Creek Bridge.
I just wanted to see if I could find that phone myself.
Chapter 22
The bridge stoodout from the wooded road, just as it always had. Radiused steel loomed multiple feet into the sky, while weathered wood made for the flooring. The place was eerily familiar, yet different, though it was hard to put my finger on why. I put the truck in park just before the bridge and killed the engine. The sun was nearly gone beneath the horizon, and as much as I didn’t want to admit it, fear thumped in my chest as I slung the door open.
Could Garrett really have done this? And why would he have given me the gun?
The question bounced around in my head as if it was a red flag that I should take heed of as a warning—but I ignored it, shutting the door softly. Heart still racing, I made it to the edge of the bridge, where the gravel transitioned to wood, and took a deep breath before taking a step onto it. My boots made a hollow thud as I walked along, before peering over the edge.
I don’t know why I thought I needed to do that—there was nothing there to see. Nothing was left, not even the crime scene tape that had been shown on the news. My stomach lurched as Ithought of Sarah all those feet down, discarded like she was trash. Tears threatened to well up in my eyes and I pushed them away. The site was less than a mile from where Garrett had wrecked his truck that night with Sam and I as passengers...
It's just a coincidence.
Honestly, I knew that it really was. A car accident wouldn’t have any relation to a murder, not this many years apart. I mean, yeah, I had been at Sarah’s graduation party that night—and had chosen to leave early. I felt out of place there after my best friend, Lauren, had left.
Lauren.
That was someone I hadn’t talked to since that night. Last I had heard, she was out in California, pursuing some crazy dream of being an actress. I nearly laughed to myself, thinking of how dreamy the notion seemed. Back when I was younger—before the crash—I wouldn’t have thought it to be unreasonable. Everyone in the town was dying to get out and make a name for themselves, chasing desires and futuristic goals. But that’s the thing about small towns, a person grows up with the small-minded notion that somehow, they’ll stand out in the sea of people.
But it’s not easy, and the sea is much bigger than anyone can wrap their mind around.
I took a deep breath, having no freaking clue where thephoneGarrett had seen would be. Part of me was tempted to call him, but I wasn’t ready to give him the notion I believed him at all. Plus,ifI found the phone, what would that mean forme?I had just handed over a wiped gun, the same caliber as the one that killed Sarah.
For the next fifteen minutes, I walked the ditches on either side of the road, searching for any signs of a cell phone. Had Inot been so triggered, I would’ve heard him out.I should’veheard him out. After all, I was more than comfortable with people who floated in the gray area of society. I had helped plenty of them lessen their sentences, ironic, given everything that happened to Garrett.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, startling me sideways, and I dug it out of my jeans, staring at the screen and then glancing around. I bit down on the inside of my cheek,almostnot answering.
“Hello?” I answered, my voice echoing in the holler.
“I was planning on just leaving a voicemail,” Garrett muttered, his voice groggy on the other end of the line. “Didn’t think you’d actually answer after today.”
“Yeah, well, I’m full of surprises.” I glanced around, once again scanning the bar ditches on either side of the creek.
Garrett was quiet for a second. “I’m sorry about today—at the funeral. I should’ve stayed home, and not to sound overdramatic by any means, but we can end this back and forth between us. It’d be best for you, that’s for sure.”
“Why?”
“I know you turned the gun in,” Garrett said, his voice quiet. “And I don’t blame you for doing that. There’s going to be a lot of eyes on me until it’s proven otherwise. That gun was registered to my dad. They’re already sending it for testing…”
I closed my eyes, stopping on the edge of bridge, facing the direction of the dead end. “I… I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize. You were doing the right thing, I guess. It’ll be fine.”
“No,” I stopped him, opening my eyes again. “Blaze knew I had the gun. I don’t know how, but he knew.”
“I don’t know.”
I squinted into the setting sun, and suddenly, at the fence line, I caught sight of it. “I found it,” I muttered under my breath, keeping my eyes focused on the glimmer, and trudging through thorny bushes to reach it. The briars tore at my jeans, but I ignored them as I reached the phone.
No freaking way.
