“You aren’t okay, are you?” Her mom started to cry.
Gemma didn’t know how to answer the question. Dan had always been the one who wasn’t okay. Was she allowed to not be okay as well? They couldn’t both be messed up, and yet somehow they always had been. Not much in their lives had been right. It was why Gemma had asked him if he wanted to leave town. Wouldn’t a clean slate, a new life, be better than what they had to live with here?
“I knew it,” Janice said. “I went to talk to him, to find out what he’d done. When I saw his face, then I knew. Dan’s mom made this squeaky noise, and I looked over at her. She knew as well, and a month later she was gone. I think you were the catalyst in her coming to Hal.” Janice sniffed and a tear rolled down her face. “I’m sorry. I was with him that night, and I should never have left you.”
“You couldn’t be with me every second, Mom.”
“But I wasn’t there when you needed me.” Janice squeezed her hand. “You’ve always been so strong. You never told anyone. I was so scared he’d done the worst thing, and I confronted him. He yelled at me until I spit it out, and then he punched and kicked me for interfering. Said you were a nosy little girl who got what she deserved.” Her mom sucked in a choppy breath. “So I talked to Hal, and we decided that we’d take care of it.”
“How?”
Gemma hadn’t asked the question, though she’d been about to. She spun around.
Mei stood in the doorway. “How did you take care of it, Janice?”
Gemma didn’t want her here. This was none of her business. And how long had she been listening, anyway?
Mei stood there until Janice spoke. “I told Hal. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I don’t regret it.”
“Did Hal poison Bill Jones?”
“He died of heart failure. Years later.”
Mei shrugged. “Plenty of things can mimic heart failure, and an autopsy was never done. You yourself had access to herbs. Plants that can be used to heal, or kill.”
Gemma stood. “Mei—”
Janice said, “He never told me if it was him or not, but I saw what it did to him knowing Bill had done something to Gemma. He waited years, but he couldn’t stomach that man anymore. Arnold Walden. Bill Jones. Whoever he was, he had killed all the fight Hal had left. He wouldn’t forgive himself. I think he wanted revenge.”
Mei nodded. “Hal killed Dan’s father. It’s what I would have done.” She glanced between them. “Some people are strong, but that strength has to be protected because it’s a precious thing and its breakable. People like me, people like Hal, we don’t need as much protecting. We’re the line of defense for people like Gemma and Dan.”
Right when Mei said her name, Gemma stood. She gritted her teeth together. “Outside. Now.”
Mei shrugged and then followed her into the hall. Gemma spun. “You had no right to butt into that conversation. It was none of your business.”
“You don’t have to be embarrassed, and you don’t have to hold onto that pain in silence.”
“I’m not in pain, okay? But that doesn’t mean I want to talk about it with you.”
Mei shrugged. “Fine. We won’t talk about Dan’s dad, and we won’t talk about Terrence.”
“I cannot believe you asked her if she poisoned Dan’s dad. My mom isn’t a murderer.” Mei was right, she didn’t want to talk about Terrence. She just wanted Mei to find him already.
“Anyone is capable of killing if the right situation presents itself.”
“I don’t believe that.” Gemma shook her head. “At least not without it destroying some part of themselves.”
Mei’s eyes flickered. “There isn’t one person in this world who doesn’t lose a bit of their soul when they kill another person. Taking a life is not free, and sometimes the price can be heavier than you want to pay.”
“Am I supposed to know what you’re talking about?” Gemma didn’t even want to process Mei’s words. She’d killed someone? That was the only way she’d know what she was talking about.
“Didn’t you want Terrence to be dead after what he did to you?”
Gemma didn’t answer.
“What if he’d done that to Shelby?”
Gemma rubbed her thumb on the inside of her left arm, where Terrence had marked her. Not in the same way Dan had done to the other arm, not the same at all. “I’d hate him if he did that to Shelby. Probably about as much as I do right now.” She watched Mei’s face as she spoke. “What did you do?”
“Terrence is alive. But you need someone to do what you’re not capable of doing. And that’s a good thing, Gemma. The world doesn’t need more people like me, it needs more people like you.”
Gemma didn’t speak for a minute, then she said, “Don’t speak to my mom again.”
“Okay.”
She thought there might have been a sad note in Mei’s eyes, but it disappeared. “She’s in a vulnerable place. I don’t want you pushing her.”
Mei said, “Where will you be?”
“I don’t know.” Why did Mei care where she was going now?
“Don’t go to Dan. I don’t think he needs to know that Hal killed his father. It probably won’t help.” Mei paused. “Besides, it isn’t more than hearsay at best. None of it can be proved.”
She didn’t want Gemma to go to Dan? “You aren’t the one who gets to decide what he knows and doesn’t know.”
“And you being forthright with him about everything but what his father did to you, isn’t helping. He has enough on his plate without you adding stuff to it.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Just that you should give him some time, Gemma.” Mei huffed. “I’m not good at this, so I don’t really know how to explain it, but you should just be careful. Maybe wait until things in town are calmer.”
“You’re unbelievable.” Gemma turned and started walking away.
“I told you I’m no good at this,” Mei called after her. “I don’t have many friends, Gemma. I don’t know how it works.”
Gemma glanced over her shoulder and delivered her parting blow. “We aren’t friends.”
She didn’t wait around to see what Mei’s reaction was. It wasn’t like the woman would cry.
**
“Come on.”
Dan walked faster to keep up with the two guys in ski masks. His itched, and he did not like walking around town dressed in black with his face covered, but the mayor had insisted.
Dan and the two men ran through the back streets of town keeping to the shadows. “So where are we headed?”
“The mayor said this was a test. Not supposed to tell you where we’re going, but it’s going to be good.” He grinned. “The time has come to make a big splash and let the whole town know we mean business.”
The man beside him laughed. Dan followed them to the library. Instead of skirting the building the first man stopped by the back door and pulled out a key.
“It’s a shame we weren’t allowed to smash a window. That might have been fun.”
“This operation is at the library?”
The two men ignored Dan's question and went inside. “You find the door, I'm going to look around,” the first man said to his buddy.
Dan followed them in and closed the door as quietly as he could behind him.
One of the men looked back and snickered. “No one’s going to know we're here. Everyone in town is hiding at home so they don’t get murdered like Antonia.”
Dan said, “Don’t forget Sam Tura. He was nearly killed as well.” The gym and diner owner was recovering under armed guard—two of Frannie’s old-man buddies apparently.
The second man put his arm around Dan’s shoulder and pulled him deeper inside the Library. “Don’t worry about Phil he’s a conspiracy theory nut, and he wants to sensationalize every darn thing. He has all the classified documents from the moon landing. But you don’t want to listen to his two hour speech about how it was all a hoax.”
Dan just nodded, fo
r want of something better to do.
Then he was shoved further toward the bookshelves. “You’re the lookout, farmer-Dan. We have work to do.”
Dan had been right. These two men weren’t in this because they thought it would make Sanctuary better. They were on a power trip, and it was the ride of their lives.
They thought Dan would what, read a book, while they did whatever they had planned? Yeah right. This might be small in the grand plan the mayor had going on, given they weren’t likely to test him on something big, but it was all information he could pass on to John and Mei.
Dan sat at a computer, tempted to fire it up and play a worship song from YouTube. They didn’t buy his sudden allegiance to their side, but that didn’t matter. It wasn’t a fool proof plan because Dan was a farmer and not a professional whatever-they-were. Secret agent wannabes. Those skills weren’t in his arsenal.
So Dan employed the weapons he did have and bowed his head
Snickers came from the other side of the large room, and then feet pounded downstairs. Minutes later there was a hum in the air and the computer turned off. Make that all of the computers turned off. Dan moved to the nearest light switch. Okay, that worked at least. All the power wasn’t out.
“Turn the light off!”
“What did you guys do?”
They trotted up some stairs and through a door Dan was pretty sure hadn’t been there before. Both men had grins on their faces. The first one into the room said, “Shut off the internet and the computers. It’ll look like a brown-out.”
Phil brought up the rear, still grinning. “No contact with the outside world.”
His friend slapped him on the chest with the back of his hand.
Dan said, “Did you shut off internet to everything, or just the computers in here?”
Phil’s friend frowned. “This is everything.”
“The sheriff has an iPad. And he and Mei have satellite phones that call out of town.”
Both men blinked. They hadn’t known about the iPad at least. Phil rushed to say, “I bet the mayor knows. I bet he has a plan.”
“Yeah, he has a plan.”
Dan stared at them both.
“Now for the fun part.” Phil raised his eyebrows. It was entirely disturbing.
“What?” Dan was just eager to go.
The other man strode to the bookshelves and swept the whole row onto the floor. “How about we make a pile and set fire to it?”
Phil strode to him. “Great idea.”
There was no way he was going to let them do that, but how did he derail their plan without letting them know that was exactly what he was doing? “Uh, we might not have time—”
The front door handle rattled, and they all turned to look. Gemma was here and if she looked up, she’d see them all. It was dark, maybe they’d be obscured, but she would be able to see them.
A key turned in the lock. “Hide.” But neither man moved, so Dan whispered as loud as he could, “Let’s go!”
The lights flashed on.
Their boots pounded the carpet as they beat feet to the back door. Dan pumped his arms and legs, in danger of getting left behind by these two younger men.
“Who’s there?” Gemma ran in their direction.
The two guys raced out into the night. Dan stopped to look back. He didn’t want to. Would she know it was him under the mask? He wanted to pray she didn’t recognize him, but he couldn’t bring himself to think those words. God had asked for honesty as long as Dan had known Him—that was how their relationship worked. He wasn’t about to start with deceit now.
She stopped short at the door. Her eyes widened. He saw the breath, the flash of recognition. “Dan.”
He kept his voice low. “You got here right in time. I wasn’t going to let them destroy any of the books, or your things, but they went in the basement and shut off the internet.”
“I’ll tell John.”
Hopefully those two guys had run off and weren’t listening to what Dan and Gemma were saying. Otherwise they’d probably tell the mayor, and Dan would end up at the lake with a bullet in his head. John would never forgive himself.
Gemma frowned. “Why are you here? Why break into my library?”
“To shut off the internet, apparently.” Didn’t he just say that? “I think it’s another piece of this puzzle, like everything.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
He didn’t want to talk about the last conversation they’d had here. He wasn’t ready to think about leaving Sanctuary. Not when so much was happening. “I’m not talking about us. I’m not even sure there is an ‘us.’” It was a low blow, but if they were watching, then Dan had to make sure they saw what he needed them to see.
She stepped closer, but Dan shook his head. “I’m going to figure out this ‘mayor’ thing for John.”
“Why you?”
“I live in this town, just like everyone else. I want to help, so I figured out a way to do that.”
Gemma’s gaze hardened. “Then why isn’t everyone else helping? Why is it you that has to do it?” Her eyes were wet. Dan could hardly look at them, or he’d want to hug her. She said, “Did Mei tell you to do this?”
“Don’t worry about Mei.” She flinched, but he continued, “You need to let me do this, Gemma. I already found out they’re making a move soon.”
“A move to what?”
“I don’t know. Yet. But I’m going to find out.” Dan needed her to understand. “I think it has to do with cutting off the town from the outside world, and I think they started with this.”
“Disconnecting the internet?” When he nodded, she said, “That would be a good first move if they want everyone in town under their thumb.”
“If that’s the plan, it’s a good one. A coup.”
“But the mayor is quitting. Who will be in charge?”
Dan said, “That’s a really good question I’m going to find out the answer to.”
Gemma blew out a breath. “So what now?”
Someone shuffled behind the trees. They were probably watching, still testing him. Trying to find out if he was trustworthy. “I have to go. And I have to make it look good.”
He closed in then, and backed her against the wall with one hand just below her throat. “Act like you’re scared.”
Gemma lifted her chin. “I could never be scared of you.”
“Then act like I’m a bad guy.”
“I don’t think that would ever be convincing.”
“Thanks for your faith in me.” He pushed off her, turned and started walking away and called out, “Then quit stalking me, woman. It’s getting old.”
“Dan!” She called his name like she was distraught. Like he’d just told her he was leaving to be with another woman.
He strode to the trees. Before he reached it, a voice said, “She recognized you?”
“Yeah.” He raised his own so they could hear. “Thinks she can claim me. Like I’d be seen with her.”
Chapter 22
Gemma pulled her fist back, twisted her hips, and slammed her knuckles into the heavy bag. She pounded it again and again until her shirt clung to her back with sweat. If Dan wanted to put his life in danger for this stupid town who was she to stop him? Sure, he was probably going to pray through the whole thing and wind up fine, while Antonia had gotten killed for her trouble, but he would still be in danger every second.
Mentally she knew one person was not more valuable to God than another person. Intellectually, she got the point. And it wasn’t like God had favored Dan’s life all that much. It would never have gone the way it had with his father if God did that kind of thing. Dan told her about his “blessings,” but it wasn’t like God had saved either of them from his father.
Gemma stepped back and did her roundhouse kick over and over for thirty seconds. Then the other leg.
This was probably all because she’d pushed him. She did want to leave Sanctuary, and Gemma wasn’t going to deny it. She was an ar
tist. She wanted to travel, to find a place in the world that was hers and not just the home that had been given to her. Plenty of people left the town they’d grown up in to search for their own path. Why should she be denied that opportunity?
Dan wasn’t punishing her, but he was trying to save a town Gemma was beginning to care less and less about. She had found some good things here, but most of those involved Dan so it was logical to ask him to come with her. If he wanted to get married that meant they needed to share each other’s dreams. Why not travel together? Except that it would exclude them from being able to come back to Sanctuary.
Why did the government have to put them in this position in the first place? She’d have left years ago had the previous sheriff, Chandler, not denied her the chance. Now she was way too wrapped up in Dan to contemplate going anywhere that he wasn’t there. Or to go on any journey when he wasn’t with her.
Just the thought of leaving this place made her feel free, where Sanctuary had genuinely become her prison. Dan’s father might have been the only convict in this town, but they were all inmates. Denied the ability to go where they wanted, to do what they wanted. Conditions. Rules. She was just completely stuck here, and she wanted nothing more than—for once in her life—to know she was free. To feel it the way she’d never been able to feel it before.
She might just have to take up skydiving while she was on the journey.
Gemma alternated sides until her left leg dropped, and she couldn’t do any more.
“I’m tired just watching you.”
She spun to find John in the middle of the gym. “Now you know how we all feel when you guys do those ridiculous strength competitions at the park, and try to one-up each other.”
John grinned for a second, but then his “sheriff” face came back. “You know this is a crime scene.”
“My house was a crime scene. The library is a crime scene. The lake. Is there anywhere I can go in this town and be by myself that isn’t a crime scene?”
Sanctuary Forever WITSEC Town Series Book 5 Page 24