Page 112 of All You Want
“She’s beautiful like you,” Mooma says. “Cara, my dear, come in and meet your sister, Tami.”
A young girl crosses the threshold. She’s wearing a lacey dress that has a full skirt. White ribbons are woven in her pale-blond hair, and her eyes are as blue as a crystal ocean. She’s holding a bouquet of white roses.
“Welcome home, sister,” she says, curtseying. “I’m Cara King. I’m glad you’re here because now you can play with me, and we can be together forever.”
The bottom drops from my stomach, and I swallow to keep the bile from rising in my dry throat. She can’t be real, this apparition.
And then, she touches me. Her hand is clammy and cold, and I half jump out of my skin.
“Does my father know about her?” I glance at Mooma who nods.
“Your mother doesn’t know,” Mooma says. “As long as your father keeps paying, she won’t ever know.”
“Justin, did you know?” I put a hand out to block his video recording. “You let me think all these years that Mooma was dead.”
“She was dead to me,” Justin says. “She left me in town so everyone would believe she was dead.”
“That’s not fair to you. Not at all.” I touch his arm, and he’s shaking. “Why would she do such a cruel thing to you?”
“She had to protect Cara,” he says. “She didn’t want anyone to know about this place and how your father was paying Mooma’s old friend, Bill.”
“You mean Sheriff Bill Weaver?” The light bulb flashes in my head. “Didn’t he recently pass away?”
“He did,” Justin explains. “And your dad decided to stop paying because we can’t find the evidence Bill hid.”
“Was Viola digging for that evidence?” My heart is thudding like a rattling skeleton knocking in a grave. “Is that why you killed her?”
“I already told you I didn’t kill her.” Justin grabs my hand too hard. “It’s time to marry me. Since your dad won’t pay for my sister Cara, he’ll pay for my darling wife, you.”
“Not until you drink this cup of tea,” Mooma says, handing me a steamy cup of dark murky liquid.
Thirty-Seven
~ Todd ~
Diana and I get into my truck. I start it and say, “Where to?”
“Let’s drive around some,” she says, shrugging as if she’s on a lazy Sunday afternoon date.
“Which direction? Or I’m putting you back in jail.”
She sighs and shakes her head. “It’s just a hunch, but we should go toward Rainman’s Falls.”
“Why?” I nevertheless turn the truck that direction. It isn’t too far from Miss Laverne’s place, and she did report a mysterious visitor.
“I don’t know for sure, but the boys talk about a haunted house in the hills. You’ll think it’s crazy, but Justin says he’s part of a wolfpack. I know it’s pretend, but they have some seriously cool costumes. I bought the mask and furs you saw me wearing from them.”
“Did they say where this house is located?”
“I only heard about it recently,” she replies. “Apparently, Justin isn’t the orphan kid we thought. He found some uncles who’ve been taking him out hunting.”
“Did Dillon and Al go along with them?”
“They might have,” Diana says. “But the weird part of the story is that Justin told his buddies he was joining a cult of werewolves. I thought it was just drunk talking, but when I showed up at Tami’s grand opening wearing the wolf costume, Viola almost fainted. She turned tail and ran from me like she was scared to death of me.”
“She would be if you killed her.”
“No, I caught up with her and assured her I wasn’t with the weird wolf gang. She thought they were lurking around, so she went to her car and grabbed a baseball bat.”
