Page 96 of Reading Between the Lines
From within the barn, a dog yipped. A moment later, Echo raced outside and aimed directly for Diem, tail wagging in a frenzy.
The suggestion of a smile crossed Diem’s face as he crouched to be at her level, giving her a generous petting and cooing to her in a voice I didn’t think was possible from my surly boyfriend.
“Yer back,” Nicholas commented, hands perched on his hips as he watched his dog maul Diem. “To what do I owe this… pleasure?”
“We were hoping you would have time to chat,” I said when Diem didn’t register the question.
Nicholas whistled through his teeth. “Enough, Echo. Leave the man alone.”
She didn’t listen and continued to bounce around Diem, sniffing and licking his face. At one point, she stilled and focused on his shoulder. She yipped once and whined.
Diem rose to his feet with a look of pain and rested one hand on the canine’s head. “I’m all right, girl. Just a little bump.”
Bump my ass. Echo knew it too. She leaned her head against Diem’s leg and peered up at him like he was the only person in the universe.
“Christ,” Nicholas said with a laugh. “I’m gonna pack her stuff, and you can take her home. Never seen her like this before.”
I smothered a smile when Diem scowled at the suggestion. “I don’t like dogs.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
“Is your old man around this morning?” Diem asked instead.
Nicholas’s humor faded. “No. He buggered off around eight. Took Chett to school since he was running behind. Haven’t seen him since. Why?”
Diem straightened, aiming to look intimidating, but when he moved to cross his arms over his chest, he winced, choosing to keep them at his sides instead. “Last time we were here,” he said through gritted teeth, “you sounded upset to learn your brother might have been hanging out in the woods. You warned him to stay out of them. Why is that?”
Nicholas seemed confused and shuffled his feet, glancing between us. “I told you. Teenagers tend to find trouble in those woods.”
“Find trouble how? You mean find themselves pushed over embankments into the river and drown?”
Nicholas worked his jaw but didn’t answer.
“What if I told you your brother has been spending a lot of time at a cabin at the back of Londyn and Loyal Brydges’ property? What if I told you he was involved in a secret club whose goals are to perfect murders to make them look like accidents? And what if I told you someone in that club wrote a story eerily similar to what happened to Weston before the kid ended up in the river?”
I couldn’t read what lived behind Nicholas’s eyes. He guarded whatever it was with tight control, but his fingers flexed andclenched more than once, and his jaw ticked under the strain of gnashed teeth.
“When did your brother form a friendship with Loyal Brydges?” I asked after too much time had passed without him speaking. “They don’t seem the type to be friends.”
Heaving a sigh, Nicholas glanced at the yard, then up the driveway toward the road. “This past summer. The library hired them both to tutor a few elementary school kids in town. Since Covid shut down the world a few years back, a slew of local children haven’t been able to catch up academically.”
Nicholas tore his tuque off and scratched his messy mop of brown hair before replacing it. “Loyal’s a pompous little shit, in my opinion. Never liked him. But he’s smart and popular. I told Chett to be careful, but my brother’s always been a bit of a book nerd in school. Other than Weston, he didn’t have many friends. So when Loyal started asking him to hang out, well…”
Nicholas shrugged as though it was self-explanatory before continuing. “I told him he was being used. I warned him to stay away. Not to trust Loyal.” He glanced in the direction of the woods and river in the distance. “I suspected he was up to no good. Lots of secrets lately. Taking off at all hours. His grades have been slipping, and he’s vague about where he’s going when he leaves the house. I’m not exactly his parent, so tying him down isn’t easy. If the school calls, they never want to deal with me. They’d rather talk to an irresponsible drunk.”
“Does your father share your concerns for your brother?” I asked.
Nicholas huffed and whistled for Echo again, slapping his thigh, but the dog was determined to stay by Diem’s side, especially since my boyfriend wouldn’t stop petting her.
“Not much pings on Dad’s radar anymore. I mentioned my concerns about Chett once, but to be honest, Dad’s not an easy man to talk to. I told you he’s been lost in the bottle since hewas fired from his job five years ago. Now he skulks around town, trying to stir shit up with rumors and finger-pointing at neighbors. Don’t know how many times the cops have dragged him home to sober up. He’s lost the respect of everyone. As for Chett and me? We’re the unfortunate offspring of the town drunk. I don’t need their pity.”
“What did your dad do for work?” Diem asked.
“Why? Does it matter?”
“Answer the question.”
Nicholas didn’t quite roll his eyes, but the expression conveyed the same irritation. “He was a commissioning editor at Publishaven in Toronto. Used to commute back and forth to the city until Covid hit. When the world shut down, he was forced to work remotely, but he didn’t do well with that. I don’t know the details, but things got rough between him and his boss. Mom would shout at him constantly. I was finishing high school remotely at the time, so I had my own things to worry about.
