Page 79 of The Souls of Lost Lake
“It appears there’s more to you than meets the eye. Or else you have involved yourself with someone who finds bruising a woman not to be off-limits. You’re blessed that whoever did this to you missed your eye. Regardless, since I’ve now played your nursemaid, you may call me Sarah.” When Ava didn’t respond, Sarah continued, “I suppose that makes me more relatable, yes? Being on a first-name basis?”
Ava didn’t think it meant a hill of beans difference really. Relating to Sarah Sanderson would never be on her list of things to do, and if Sarah believed that somehow they shared a hobby of killin’ people, well, she wouldn’t find a kindred spirit in this room.
“You were always quite mouthy, Ava. Why stay silent now?Especiallynow? Silence will do nothing to plead your case.” Sarah’s lips pursed for a moment, rosy and full. She raised a thin eyebrow. “And you are well aware of my opinion regarding you.”
Ava adjusted the ice, pressing her lips together. Best to keep her mouth shut than say something Sarah could turn against her.
“Tea perhaps? Might that loosen your tongue?” Sarah eased herself out of her chair with the grace of a princess. She filled a kettle with water at the sink and then set it with a clatter on the stovetop. “I believe I should call the police.”
“No!” Ava yelped.
Sarah’s eyes narrowed in a smirk of satisfaction. “Well, that got you to talk. But truly, we need to report this attack. In no way should any heinous man be attacking women in the daytime. Not at nighttime, either, but the daylight speaks to his audacity. Tell me who did this to you, and I’ll be sure he receives his due punishment.”
“No police.” Ava shook her head. She wanted to go into the station on her own terms, if she was going to go at all. Having the cops called on her would set her off on a worse foot than she was already standing on. Quite at Mrs. Sanderson’s—no,Sarah’s—mercy. It was an awful place to be in. How was she supposed to get any truth out of the woman now?
“Hmm...” Sarah crossed her arms over her chest in thought and tapped her fingers on her elbow. “You won’t reveal the man who attacked you? Or is it a ruse to divert our attention to your absence after poor Jipsy’s death? Paint yourself as a victim as well?”
“No.” Ava lowered her hand that held the ice pack.
“Really?” Sarah nodded. “What a pity if poor Ava Coons herself was injured by a vagrant roaming Tempter’s Creek with an affinity for violence.”
“I’m not doing no such thing.” Ava bit her tongue. Her resistance wasn’t helping.
Sarah sniffed. “You murdered Matthew Hubbard in cold blood.”
Ava narrowed her eyes.
“Then Jipsy.”
Ava tilted her chin up. She wouldn’t answer.
“And your poor, poor family...”
Sarah Sanderson prodded Ava’s weakness.
Ava bristled, stiffening in her chair. “Go get me one of your man’s axes. I’ll show ya I can hardly hoist it over my head now, let alone as a thirteen-year-old girl!” Ava protested, bringing her hand down on the table with a slap. “Chuck Weber an’ people like you got folks around here to forget to put their thinkin’ caps on!”
Sarah clicked her tongue. “My, my.”
“Perhapsyoukilled Jipsy.” It wasn’t the smartest way of going about it. Ava knew that the moment she whipped the question out.
“Me?” The surprise in Sarah’s posture seemed genuine enough. “Whyever—where onearthwould you come up with that addlebrained idea?”
“Doesn’t matter where,” Ava argued. Her lip was beginning to throb, almost worse than her cheek. “Everyone knows you and Hubbard had a little thing going on the side.” Might as well bait the highfalutin prissy and see if she got mad enough to blurt out something true.
“The gall!” Sarah stiffened as her kettle whistled. She jerked it off the burner with a hot pad. “Howdareyou imply I am anything but faithful to my husband!”
“Jipsy knew, didn’t she? She was goin’ to out you, so you had to shut her up.” Ava was all but copying Ned word for word. It was self-preservation if nothing else.
Sarah paced the kitchen, looked out the back window, then spun to face Ava. Her eyes were shooting darts of anger. “Gossip such as that can ruin a woman. Where did you hear of it?”
Ava tilted her chin up. “Gossip such as someone killin’ her family can ruin a woman too. Where did you come up with that?”
“Everyone knows it,” Sarah spat.
“Then everyone knows you were sneakin’ off with Matthew.”
“Matthew, is it?” Sarah’s eyes narrowed.
