Page 55 of Lovely Darkness

“He was doing weird shit,” Nate says. “Tell him, Indie.”

“It was weird,” she says. “He put me under… I don’t even know how to explain it, Nick. We lost time. Both of us. And after that, everything started to unravel.”

“So Carter was in charge and you and he did something during this session?”

Indie shrugs. “Maybe?”

“All right.” I don’t know what this is about. Indie seems genuine, but everything about Louisiana feels like a puzzle and I can only concentrate on one piece of it at a time. So I push this new information away and take the place in. Trying to find the secrets. They’re here. I can feel them.

Just as I think that, Wendy echoes my thoughts out loud. “This place is creepy.”

“Very,” Nathan agrees.

“It feels abandoned,” Wendy whispers.

“It’s not though,” Indie says. “Donovan spent a lot of time here. And look, the floors are new. And this furniture is new.”

She’s right. The hardwood floors have been redone recently. And the furniture is high-end leather. It’s got a layer of dust on it, but there is no way to hide the fact that this furniture is new and expensive.

“I found a few files over here,” Indie says. She walks over to one of the smaller offices and points to a box.

“You just left it here?” I ask. “Why didn’t you take them home?”

“Adam and McKay don’t really know about this place,” she says. “And these are Donovan’s personal things. I don’t think he’d want Adam and McKay invading his privacy.”

“Why not?” Wendy asks.

“What do you mean, why not? Because.” Indie doesn’t seem inclined to say more.

Nate fills in the gaps. “Because if they know how bad it is, Wendy, they might just decide to get rid of everyone.”

I make a face. “I don’t think so, Nate.”

“You base that on what?” Nate asks. “How well you know Adam and McKay?”

“Well, maybe he does want to kill you, Nathan”—I glare at him—“but not Indie.” I know this isn’t true based on our conversation this morning, but it’s a very bad idea to let this accusation fester in Indie’s mind. I know that much.

Still, fester it does. Because Indie says, “I’m not so sure, Nick. Adam doesn’t love me. He feels responsible for me. He’s the one who bought me. He’s the one who took me out of that cage. He’s the one who brought me here and made sure I was trained, and sent me out on jobs. As long as I’m around, it’s his fault if I mess up. So the easy way out is this—get rid of Indie. And if you get rid of Indie, you gotta get rid of Nathan too. Because he’s on my side.”

I kinda see her point. But again, I’m not going to encourage this line of thinking.

“It’s Maggie,” Nate adds. “Maggie’s the one he loves. And McKay. The rest of us?” He shrugs. “If it all goes wrong, we’re just collateral damage, Nick. That’s how it is. That’s how it’s always been.”

“And yet,” I say, “he’s put a lot of effort into saving Donovan. And that mostly contradicts your claims. He brought Merc out of retirement, for fuck’s sake. He hasn’t given up on anyone.”

“Yet,” Indie says.

I glance at Wendy to see what she thinks. But she has stepped away from us at some point during the conversation and is now staring out a window that overlooks Main Street.

I walk over to her and step into the sunshine. It feels good on my face and for a moment, all I wanna do is close my eyes and be with her. In bed. Our bed, wherever that may end up being.

But this is the whole reason I’m here.

I need secrets like this. So I’m actually really thankful that Indie and Nate are so paranoid.

“What are you thinking about, Wen?”

Her head turns just enough for her to side-eye me with a slight grin. “It’s a nice town, I think. Quiet. I like it.”