Page 171 of Sugarloaf Ridge Lies

“Care to tell me why the young woman you’re shacked up with is asking about a ghost?”

My brows pull tight as unease wriggles in my gut.What has she done?“A ghost?”

He clears his throat and steps in closer. “A certain ghost whose remains are buried on a certain property.”

Banridge.

I swallow. It’s like shards of glass are lodged in my throat. “Fuck.”

“Yeah, fuck.” He scratches at his temple. “Knew his name and everythin’.”

“This can’t be happening. How?”

“Seems Liv’s Aunt went to school with him and Skylah. Liv showed me photos from a yearbook.”

What are the fuckin chances?

I shake my head, trying to clear the dark thoughts creeping in.She knows his name. Not even I do. I never wanted to, still don’t, because that’ll make him real. It makes him someone’s son. Someone’s father.My father.

“You just be thankin’ your stars she came to me to help find them because the last thing we need is people lookin’ for that scum.”

I flinch at the word scum. He might’ve been a low life, but a small part of me twinges in protest, defensive of him. Was at least a small part of him decent? Was it a row of bad decisions that lead him down a path of no return?

Dread fills my bones.

“Does Penny know about this?” I ask.

She’ll never forgive me for spilling our secrets to Liv. Do I care though? No. Liv is my future and I’ll be damned if I risk that.

Len pushes his glasses farther up his sun-blistered nose. “Nope. I came to you first.”

Relief floods my veins as I exhale loudly.

A weary smile teases at his lips. “Penny told me a while back she shared the secret with you and Finn.” He waggles his eyebrows instead of saying it out loud.The buried body. “Lord knows that woman should’ve kept her mouth shut, but that’s none of my business.”

I rub at my forehead. However Len got dragged into our family shit, it must also be a burden on him. “So, what do I do?”

“You and your new squeeze need to have a chat. I’ll shut the search down for Nate, it’ll be easy enough to do.”

Nate.My father.

“There is one other thing. She had more information on your mother.”

“She did?”

“Yep. More than we had back in the day when Bernie had me try track her down. I did some initial checks, nothing so far. You want me to stick with it?”

It’s been such a long time, but I can’t let go.

“Yeah.”

A kernel of hope burrows into my heart at the prospect of finding her.

Could she be alive after all this time? Will I ever know the truth?

***

Sunlight burns at myeyelids.

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