Page 78 of Buried in the Woods Below

“So that’s what you’re thinking? That we can just keep on vacationing like nothing happened? I think I need to go, Liv.”

She clutches her necklace. “Look, I get it. But I’m pretty sure my dad isn’t going to leave, and I’m not going to leave him. We’re a package deal. And given what we’ve been through together, I would hope you wouldn’t either.”

Her words hang like a threat.

She continues. “Plus, how will it look to the cops if, right after they visit, you skip town? You might as well hang a sign around your head saying, ‘I swung the axe.’”

My mind flickers to the empty chopping block. “Liv, do you know what happened to the axe?” I ask, evaluating her expression as the words tumble from my mouth.

Her eyebrows pinch. “Axe? What axe?”

“When I arrived, an axe was wedged in the chopping block by the woodpile. Now it’s gone.”

She tugs her hair behind her ear, and her eyes shift. “No, I don’t. Why? You think it’s the axe that killed Vivek and his wife?”

“It seems a little coincidental, doesn’t it?”

Olivia nods warily. “Dad might have put it in the toolshed to keep it dry?”

I picture the toolshed tucked on the side of the house, right by where Laelynn found Heathcliff. “Yeah, that’s probably—”

She raises a finger to her mouth to shush me. We hear Eric saying goodbye to Detective Gonzalez and company.

Olivia sighs, and she flashes that mischievous smile.

“Now that our friends from the police are gone. I’m going to take a hot shower, ’cuz I’m freezing.” She gives me a long hug, squeezing the oxygen from my lungs, per usual. I inhale the tropical scent of her hair and bask in the buttery soft skin of her cheeks. “You’ll stay?”

“I’ll stay.”

“We can talk more later. But trust me, everything is going to be fine. Call your mother.”

I nod. “I will.”

She disappears, and once again, I’m left alone with my thoughts. My mind returns to my mother. To the look on her face as she lambasted Vivek and his wife. The suspicion carves a path through my mind: Could she? Is she even strong enough to butcher someone with an axe? I pull out my phone to call her.

But before I can, it rings. It’s her, as if she can read my mind.

“Hi, Mom,” I say. My voice falters.

“What hap…d?” She asks, the line cracking. She sounds less like a concerned mother and more like a businesswoman with a problem to be solved. An engine roars in the background, and wind whips through the receiver.

“Mom, I can barely hear you. How did you know something happened?”

“The police…” The call breaks. “Questions…about Vivek and Freida… ‘An incident’?”

I step outside to catch a stronger signal. “Someone murdered them last night.”

The line goes quiet. “…God.”

“Yeah, it’s awful.” A lump forms in my throat. “What did you tell the police?”

“I’ll…I’ll get there.”

“Here? You’re coming to the Parkers’?”

“Y…thirty minutes. In the meantime…don’t say…word to the police. I’ve called Tom Kim.”

“Our family attorney?” Why would she call him? She has nothing to hide. Unless… “Okay. I’ll wait for you on the patio.”