Page 29 of Sour Layer

Chapter 16

“You saved his life. I owe you,” Clara said, an hour later when she guided me to Walker’s SUV and opened the back door for me to climb inside.

The people at the house had started to thin out after the girls were gone. Clark was still out hunting with Brandon, and Walker offered me a ride since he had to take Clara, too. Dexter had left her stranded.

I left word with the forensic team to tell Clark that I’d be at the inn when he got done, not wanting him to worry about me.

“I didn’t save his life if he’s not going to leave,” I said as I climbed into the backseat and buckled up.

“He’d do anything for my sister-in-law and niece,” Walker said as he climbed in behind the wheel. “You can count on that.”

The inn was quiet when they had dropped me off. Although the door was unlocked, Dorothy was nowhere to be found. I was thankful for the short reprieve.

Everyone wanted me to provide answers that I didn’t have. I undressed and got into the shower, standing beneath the hot pounding stream to thaw the ice in my veins. Finding the girls had eased some of my stress. Finding they’d been shut in the tiny space with their dead mother hurt my heart on so many levels. How could I have been so wrong thinking Lynnfield was dead?

Seeing Clark’s death tied to his sister’s and Dexter Bennett’s had shocked me after not getting the information from Clark’s touch.

I dried my hair and dressed in the warmest clothes I’d brought, the chill that had seeped into my soul earlier lingering like a storm cloud.

I wasn’t like my sisters. They always knew what to do and how to handle the information they got from their gifts. How was I supposed to stop this?

Clark showed up in time for dinner. When he’d arrived at the inn, he was covered in dirt and mud. The ground not as frozen as I’d thought.

He’d changed and come down for dinner. Dorothy had put a pot of chili out for us and disappeared into her room.

“You didn’t find him?” I asked, knowing the answer.

“Lost his tracks at the river. If the cold doesn’t kill him, then hypothermia will.”

Determination filled his eyes, even though he remained quiet.

“Listen, about earlier…”

“I don’t want to know how I’m going to die,” he said with a little more force than I’d expected.

This wasn’t a conversation I could let go. Not when it affected the people he loved. “You need to hear me out. I won’t give you specifics, but it’s important.”

Clark lowered his spoon with a clatter and pushed away his empty bowl. He sipped his beer. “What’s so important that you need to tell me after touching my hand?”

My cheeks heated. “I didn’t get the information when I touched your hand. You were a blank slate to me.”

His brows dipped, and he rested his elbows on the table and tilted his head. “If you couldn’t read me, then how do you know I’m going to die?”

“Because I touched one of the people who dies with you.”

Clark’s eye twitched, and his eyes narrowed. “And who was that?”

“Dexter. I saw you fatally wounded and your sister, and Dexter dead in some kitchen while Lynnfield kidnaps your niece.”

Clarks shot out of his chair to stand, sending the chair careening into the wall behind him. “What kitchen?” Clark asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen it before.”

“Did you warn Dexter?”

“Of course, I did,” I answered, standing up, grabbing both of our bowls, and taking them into the kitchen to wash. He followed behind me with his beer in hand. “The minute I told Dexter he left to go to them. Walker assured me that Dexter won’t let anything happen to either Milly or Charlotte.”

“When and where does this take place?”

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