Page 24 of Blood Bearon
Khove slowly came to stand next to her, facing the building as well. “You aren’t from Plymouth Falls, you said.”
“Right.” Where was he going with this?
“How long ago did you move here?”
“Close to two years,” she admitted after a moment.
Khove didn’t react. “How are you liking it so far?”
“It’s nice,” she admitted, fighting the instinctual urge to look up at him while they talked. She kept facing forward, justifying it by telling herself she didn’t want to strain her neck, always craning it back to look eye to eye with the titan.
“Nice?”
Was he trying to distract her by having a normal conversation? It certainly seemed that way, but it was a distinctly tactful approach that seemed out of place with Khove’s normal actions. Still, who was she to ignore a gift horse when it was shoved in her face?
“Yes. The land prices here are far more reasonable. I can actually afford a house for less than I was paying for my tiny apartment back in the city. It’s nice to have more than two rooms.”
Khove chuckled. “I can believe that. Well, Detective, would you like to investigate?” He waved a hand at the wreckage in front of them while they talked.
“Yes. Let’s.”
They walked forward, Khove plucking the yellow police tape and lifting it so she only had to dip her head to get under. Then he followed, staying at her side as she surveyed the scene, trying to figure out what she was looking for, what sort of clue might have been left.
“Why Plymouth Falls, of all places?” Khove asked suddenly.
Rachel was crouching down, pushing aside charred wood and other debris with one gloved hand. “What?”
“When you left the city. Why did you decide to come here, of all places?”
She contemplated both his question and the debris. At least she could answer him. The blackened remnants of the building weren’t answering any of her own questions.
“Slower pace,” she said cautiously. “Less…stuff, happens here.” Then she snorted. “Or it did, until last night. Still, this is bad, but it’s notbad stuff. You know?”
“Bad stuff?” he echoed.
He didn’t know.
“Yeah. Bad stuff. Corruption. Death. Rape. Those sorts of things. I needed a fresh start. Got it?” She stood up abruptly and walked into the building. The last things she wanted to talk about with Khove were her reasons for leaving the city. She didn’t even want to think about them, and the more he probed with his questions, the more memories returned to her.
“Got it,” Khove said, following her slowly.
She wanted to snap, to lose her temper at the way he so easily dropped the subject, but she couldn’t. Whatever Khove may be, however blind to certain social cues, she never got a feeling of negativity from him. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
Khove made her feel strangely at ease. Even the night before, his presence, not his words, was what had somehow convinced her to believe that he wasn’t behind the bulldozer embedded in the side of the building.
Despite the oddly peaceful and almost pleasant sensation of having him around, Rachel still wasn’t willing to share something so personal. She had defenses, and while he may have casually waltzed through the first layer, she wasn’t about to surrender.
“Just look around, will you?” she asked, pushing deeper into the building. “See if you can find anything related to Korred. That would be helpful right now.”
Unlike digging into my past, which has no bearing on anything.
A creak was the only warning she had.
Rachel looked up as a burnt timber gave way and the roof came crashing down toward her. Screaming as instant death plummeted in her direction, she threw up an arm to shield her face and cursed her own stupidity all at once.
There was a tremendous crash, something hit her like a linebacker and she was flung to the side while being pelted with debris. Rachel hit the floor hard enough to hurt, but somehow she survived. Coughing and hacking on the dust tossed into the air, she blinked her eyes, trying to clear them so she could see what had happened. The roof of the building should have killed her; it was filled with heavy timber, metal and more.
Looking around, she saw what had saved her.
