Page 86 of This is Why We Lied

Dave said, “Biscuits, go fetch that nurse for me. Tell her I need some goddam pain medication. My balls are on fucking fire.”

Biscuits seemed confused. “I thought you wanted me to stay.”

“Well, now I don’t.”

Biscuits huffed out his exasperation before taking his leave.

Faith waited for the door to close. “Must be nice having the local sheriff on a leash.”

“Sure is.” Dave reached under the bed sheet. He hissed air between his teeth as he pulled out an icepack and dropped it on the bedside table. “What are you looking for, darlin?”

“You tell me.”

“I got no idea what happened last night.” He pushed up the shoulder of his gown. “You let me outta here, I can ask around. I know a lot of people. Whatever went down that’s big enough for the GBI to be interested—I figure that should be worth something.”

“What would it be worth?”

“Well, one, taking this fucking handcuff off my wrist.” He made the chain rattle against the bedrail. “And two, maybe you parting with some money. I figure a thousand to start. More if I can bring you a big arrest.”

Faith asked, “What about Mercy?”

“Shit,” he said. “Mercy doesn’t know about anything that happens outside the lodge, and she’s not going to talk to you anyway.”

Faith noted the improvement in his grammar. The stupid hillbilly was gone. “It’s hard for a woman to talk when she’s been strangled.”

“Is that what this is about?” he asked. “Is Mercy in the hospital?”

“Why would she be at the hospital?”

He sucked his teeth. “That’s why you’re here? Trashcan threw a shit fit after seeing me on the trail? Cause what happened was, I left Mercy exactly where she landed. That was around three in the afternoon. Talk to Trashcan. He can confirm it.”

“What happened after you strangled Mercy?”

“Nothing,” he said. “She was fine. Even told me to go fuck myself. That’s how she talks to me. Always trying to push my buttons. But I left her alone. I didn’t go back. So whatever happened to Mercy after that, she did it to herself.”

“What do you think happened to her?”

“Hell, I don’t know. Maybe she fell when she was walking back to the trail. She’s done that before. Tripped and fell face-down in the woods. Caught her neck on a log so hard that she bruised her esophagus. Took a few hours for it to swell up, but she ended up driving herself to the emergency room saying she couldn’t breathe. Ask the doctors. They’ll have a record.”

Faith’s only surprise was that he couldn’t come up with a better story. “When did this happen?”

“A while back. Jon was still little. It was right before I divorced her. Mercy will tell you herself she was overreacting. She could breathe fine. She just worked herself up into a panic. The doctors said she had some swelling in her throat. Like I said, she fell really hard on that log. It was an accident. Had nothing to do with me.” Dave shrugged. “If the same thing happened again, that’s on Mercy. Talk to her. I’m sure she’ll tell you the same thing.”

Faith was confused. Will had warned her not to underestimate Dave, but this was neither cunning nor clever. “Tell me where you went after you left Mercy on the trail.”

“Bitty didn’t have time to drive me back into town. I hiked down to the old campsite and got my drink on.”

Faith silently weighed her options. This was getting them nowhere. She had to change tactics. “Mercy’s dead.”

“Shit,” he laughed. “Right.”

“I’m not lying,” Faith assured him. “She’s dead.”

He held her gaze for a good long moment before looking away. Faith watched tears flood into his eyes. His hand went to his mouth.

“Dave?”

“Wh—” the word got tangled up in his throat. “When?”

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