Page 62 of Snow Creek

Everyone is inside the house now, except for Ruth’s daughter.

“Hi,” I say.

Eve gives me a weak smile.

“Can I sit?”

She indicates the place next to her.

“I guess you heard me complaining about Sarah.”

“I didn’t take it as complaining, just disappointment.”

“Right?” she remarks. “When you’re raised like an inmate, you want a real connection with anyone outside of your home. When we were little Sarah was mine. My lifeline.”

“I’m sure she feels the same way.”

“Maybe. Maybe she does.”

“It’s a very hard day for all of you,” I tell her, patting her knee.

“Yeah. That’s the truth.”

Ruth says she’ll see me before she leaves the next day. I give Bernie a look, a glare really. The others I hug and tell them that our duty to find out who killed their mother is an extension of their love for her.

“Find her killer,” Ruth whispers, as she pulls her niece and nephew close to her. “Find Merritt.” Joshua’s eyes widen. Sarah inches slightly to the fan that had been used to pull the scent of her mother’s remains.

Just how much wintergreen can a person breathe and still survive?

Twenty-Eight

“They keep coming, Amy,” Regina says cuddling in bed with her wife.

“You keep us safe.”

“You really think so?”

“Yes, babe, I do.”

Even after the fight. The really bad one.

Even then.

Even now.

Regina looks at the ceiling and Amy’s hand rests on her shoulder.

“I never should have tried to stop you, Amy.”

“I know you did it because you love me. I forgave you long ago.”

Regina’s tears flow. She tells Amy that she hoped this day would never come. She never imagined trying to protect their own privacy; getting rid of the man’s body.

“Seen his kids up that road a few times over the years,” Regina remarks.

As Regina mixes rat poison into a bowl of water, she thinks back to the big fight and how it all started. It was the fall before the last. Back then, Amy barely spoke to Reggie. And when she did it was only one subject.

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