Page 12 of Secrets at Dawn
“I have experience, but the old-fashioned kind.”
Griffin wanted to know what Toby meant by that, but he’d have to ask later. That was if Toby even wanted to talk to him. He seemed reluctant.
Riley cleared his throat, which meant he knew something was happening, although Griffin doubted he knew what. “Toby, would you mind helping us move something very heavy?”
“I wouldn’t mind at all.” And with that, Riley led Toby back through the front door and to Griffin’s truck.
Griffin hopped into the bed again, and the three of them took the heavy wooden butcher block countertop inside the bakery.
The whole time, Toby avoided looking at or talking to Griffin. It was as though he had the plague.
Griffin tried not to take it personally. But it felt like a rejection.
Chapter Six
Who was Mark Sibly? That was what Toby intended to find out. He sat on his couch with his computer in his lap and typed in his name.
Maybe if he could stop Head Dickwad and his wolf crony, then he might have a chance with Riley’s brother, Griffin. But he needed to do it fast because his desire for Griffin increased by the minute. He’d spent the better part of a shower thinking about his smile and his arm muscles bulging when he lifted that countertop. Also, the level of craftsmanship it took to create something so gorgeous was very impressive and really sexy. Toby imagined Griffin in his workshop or wherever he crafted the countertops, sanding and working on another similar project. Shirtless. A sheen of sweat covered his naked chest. Yeah, Toby definitely had a thing for Riley’s brother.
The shower was one of his better ones. A naked Griffin would have made it the best he’d ever had, but he had a good imagination. And he’d clearly needed the release. His tension had been off the charts ever since the attack in the park.
That had been another thing. He couldn’t bring himself to go for a run since the attack, and certainly not since Head Dickwad had his wolf shifter friend threaten Toby with exposure.
Toby couldn’t let his secret get out. If it did, he wouldn’t be safe anywhere. And all he really wanted was to feel safe somewhere.
When was the last time?
Not while he’d been in Fortune Falls. Maybe it was when he and Dad finished the cabin. He’d felt safe there, in the middle of the forest with no one around for miles. But even in the middle of nowhere, people had found him. Whenever his secret got out, someone died. His mother. His grandpa. And finally, his dad.
He typedMark Siblyinto the search bar and hit enter.
Mark Sibly was everywhere. There was a lawyer from Sibly, Allen, & Strong. And a CPA. And then a guy who was a suspect in a murder investigation.
Toby clicked on the article. It was from the Herald Cryor, which was from the Somerfelt area, where Toby and his father had lived for the better part of fifteen years. Until the men came and killed his dad.
Toby shivered and grabbed the blanket even though he wasn’t cold. He lifted his computer and laid the blanket over his legs.
The article talked about a woman who lived on the outskirts of town, much like Toby and his dad had. A hunter found the cabin and her lying dead on her kitchen floor. Someone shot her. She must not have been dead for long before being discovered. The article writer might have pulled their information from a police report because they’d worded it as a gunshot wound to her right temple. At first, the investigators thought it might have been a suicide because of where the entrance wound was and the fact that they found a gun near her right hand. But then they found out she was left-handed. The article stated that there were rumors about the woman being a witch. The article called it a hate crime.
Toby’s blanket fell onto his computer’s finger pad when he sat forward, wanting to get closer to the screen. He moved the blanket and reread the article.
So Mark Sibly had been a witch hunter, killing people whom he deemed different. According to Dickwad’s crony, Toby had a hand in his demise.
Toby scrolled down to read the rest of the article, but all it said was that the woman was a loner and outside society. Was this yet another reason those murdering bastards had terrorized her?
That poor lady didn’t deserve any of it.
Toby fished around on the internet for another article on the murder, but everything he found was just more of the same information. Instead, he typed in Mark Sibly and desert death. There was only one article of any substance.
The article covered more about how Sibly was a murder suspect and about how he somehow evaded the law by hiding in the desert in a Middle Eastern country. A group of historians and archeologists working on a site found his body. The article stated that investigators were still trying to find out how he got to the desert in the first place, but the consensus was that he’d gotten there via plane ticket under a different name. Since the authorities wanted to arrest him for capital murder, evading capture seemed plausible to them.
Toby set the computer on his coffee table and pulled the blanket up.
There had been three men who had attacked them that night. Sibly had to be the guy Toby had wished away. Toby remembered thinking about the desert and wanting the man threatening them to disappear, but he didn’t remember the other two men’s faces. He wouldn’t have recognized them if he’d passed them on the street. Everything had happened so fast and so long ago.
He remembered their guns. They’d had assault rifles, although Toby hadn’t known what they were at the time. He’d learned about them years later from a television program he’d been watching. He’d recognized the gun. But if he could go back and memorize the other two men’s faces, he would. It was clear to Toby that one of them had told Dickwad’s cronies about what had really happened to Sibly and how he got to be in that desert at an archaeological site.
His father’s murder was never solved. There were articles about it. The dickwads had done their research, which had been hard to find. And Toby had exposed himself even more by magicking away the dickwads. He’d confirmed the truth.
