Don't Tell a Soul

by Kirsten Miller

  I wasn’t sure peeling the skin off dead animals in the middle of the night was the kind of alibi that would convince a jury, but it made sense to me.

  “So, you and Dahlia were close?”

  “I know people find that hard to believe, but we were always fond of each other. It drove your uncle nuts, from what I hear. That’s why Dahlia and I didn’t talk much toward the end. He even accused Lark of being my spy.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, he thought Lark was spying on him. Got real touchy about it. Otherwise Dahlia never would have sent Lark to live with me.” Ruben gestured to the chaos all around him. “I love my daughter, but as you can see, I’m not much of a homemaker. After I got back from the army, I just couldn’t bring myself to keep things tidy anymore. Lark doesn’t like my bad habits any more than her mother did.”

  “How long had Lark been living with you at the time of the fire?”

  “About a month. As far as I know, that night was the first time she’d been up to the manor since she’d moved into my house.”

  “Do you know why she went there?”

  Ruben shook his head. “I suppose that’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? All I know is, she told me she was going out to visit a friend. After the fire, your uncle pointed his finger at me. He tried to convince people that I’d put Lark up to setting the fire. I found the whole thing pretty ironic.”

  “Why?”

  “ ’Cause at the time, everyone thought he was the one who’d burned the place down. Folks in town were sure it was all an insurance scam. They thought James must have murdered Dahlia for money.”

  “You don’t believe that?”

  “Not for a second. Your uncle’s a strange bird, but he loved Dahlia. I’m convinced of it. And he didn’t make a dime off Dahlia’s death. Fact is, the fire nearly ruined him. Never thought it was a good idea renovating that house in the first place. Curse or no curse, it’s got some seriously bad juju, that’s for sure.”

  “But Lark didn’t believe in the curse, did she?” I asked.

  “No. She was scared, though. Her mother was, too. Dahlia never said anything, but I could tell she didn’t like it up there.”

  “Lark told a friend she heard noises at night,” I said. “Any idea what they might have been?”

  “No, but that’s what got her interested in researching those Dead Girls. The one who died in the woods was all Lark could talk about after her fall. That’s why the hospital recommended I take her to Hastings for an evaluation.”

  “What was she saying?” I asked.

  “Not much. Just that she’d seen April Hughes. Problem was, she kept saying it over and over again. A lot of people assume that if there’s something wrong with your brain, you should be doped up or locked away. But the doctors at Hastings didn’t agree. They said Lark would recover eventually. She still has a way to go, but she’s getting there.”

  “How did you manage to keep everyone in town from finding out Lark had been released from the hospital?”

  “Sheriff Lee spoke to the people at Hastings,” Ruben said. “She asked them not to confirm or deny that Lark was a patient. She thought Lark would be safer if no one knew she was home. But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell the sheriff that Lark’s been visiting the manor. The sheriff would be angry with me if she found out Lark hasn’t been staying home and recuperating.”

  “Why do you let Lark come and go whenever she likes?”

  “My daughter says that what she’s doing is important, Miss Howland. And I’ve never known her to lie. Lark is practically a grown woman now. Why would I try to stop her?”

  Ruben’s faith in his daughter was touching. I hoped my dad would have shown the same faith in me.

  “I just have one more question,” I said, aware I was in danger of wearing out my welcome. “Do you have any idea how Lark’s getting into the manor? My uncle changed all the locks after the fire. The place is a fortress.”

  Ruben’s brow furrowed. “No idea,” he admitted. “All I can tell you is that after all her research, Lark probably knows that house better than anyone else.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Bellinger,” I said. “I’m grateful for everything you and your daughter have done for me. If you see Lark before I do, please tell her to find me as soon as possible.”

  I was right at the edge of town when the sound of crickets chirping took me by surprise. After a moment, I realized it was a ringtone. I pulled Lark’s phone out of my bag and stared at it. It was just a number on the screen with no contact name. But there was a chance it might be Lark, and I couldn’t let the opportunity slip away.

  “Hello?” I answered cautiously. My heart was beating loudly in my ear.

  “Don’t freak out, Bram. It’s Sam. I don’t have your phone number, so I thought I’d try Lark’s. Sorry if I scared you.”

  “It’s fine,” I said. I wasn’t scared. I was disappointed. “What’s up?”

  “Your uncle is on his way down to Louth. He’s coming to find you, and he’s in a nasty mood. Mom thinks it might be best for you to hide out for a while until he cools off.”

  “Is it really that bad?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” Sam confirmed. “When he’s like this, things can get ugly. Trust me, you don’t want to see his Mr. Hyde side.”

  “Okay, but where should I go?” I didn’t know Louth well enough to hide. It wasn’t even nine o’clock yet. Nothing but the café would be open at this hour, and I knew JOE would be the first place James would look. Then I saw a black Mercedes SUV approaching. “Never mind,” I told Sam. “I’ve got it under control.”

  I ended the call as the SUV slowed to a stop beside me and the window lowered. “Need a ride back to the manor?” Nolan asked.

  “I need a ride to anywhere but the manor,” I told him. “I snuck out of the house this morning, and now my uncle’s on the warpath. Any chance you can help me kill an hour or two?”

  “It would be my pleasure,” Nolan said. “Hop inside.”

  I walked around the vehicle and climbed in.

  “If you’re a fugitive on the run, you should probably stay low,” Nolan said like a character in an action film. “This whole town is filled with spies.”

  “Whatever you say, Mr. Bond.” I slid down in my seat until the top of my head couldn’t be seen through the window. Nolan hit the gas.

  “Since we have the time, want to see something special?” he asked.

  “Sure.” All I really wanted to do was escape.

  We drove in silence for a few minutes, but as Nolan negotiated the car around a hairpin turn, I started to get nervous. I hadn’t been on any winding roads in Louth. I had no idea where we were going, and I hadn’t expected to leave town.

  “All right,” Nolan said, “you can sit up. We’re all alone now.”

  I sat up in my seat and saw we were on a dirt road headed uphill. The snow piled on the shoulder was black with kicked-up gravel, but otherwise everything was white. There was nothing around to indicate where we were. The tree limbs knitted together above us, dimming the sun and hiding the sky. We were very alone.

  “Where are we going?” I asked nervously.

  He flashed me a smile. “My favorite place,” he said. “It’s where I go when I need to get away. You’re going to love it.”

  I silently cursed myself. I’d made a mistake getting into the car. All I had to defend myself was the box cutter I’d shoved into my coat pocket that morning. After Sam had called to warn me about James, I’d been so relieved to see Nolan that I’d forgotten I still had one giant, lingering question where he was concerned.

  “Hey, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” I said, hoping I sounded casual and calm. “The sheriff told me Lark went to your house the night of the fire.”

  “Yep,” he replied, and I relaxed a little. He
hadn’t lied.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about her visit?”

  Nolan shrugged. “I guess because there wasn’t anything to tell. Lark and I talked for a little while. Then she left. She seemed totally normal, like she always did.”

  “Nothing about her visit seemed weird to you?” I pressed. “The sheriff told me the fire started a couple of hours after she left your house, so it must have been pretty late when she showed up to see you.”

  “It was probably about ten-thirty or so, but it was summertime,” Nolan said. “There was no reason to go to bed early.”

  “But why did she want to see you at ten-thirty at night?”

  “She told me she wanted to get out of the house because her dad was working on something smelly. He’s a taxidermist, you know.”

  “You’re saying she just came to hang out?” I paused when Nolan glanced over at me. “Sorry—I know I’m asking a lot of questions.”

  “No problem.” He didn’t seem annoyed at all. “Yeah, we hung out and talked for an hour or so.”

  “What did you talk about?”

  “She told me about the noises she’d heard in the house, and we talked a little about Grace Louth, but other than that, it wasn’t very interesting.”

  “Nothing strange happened?” I couldn’t wrap my head around it. How could Lark go to his house, have an ordinary conversation, and then wind up trapped in a fire two hours later?

  “Well, there was one little thing. She asked if she could take a picture of me before she left.”

  “That’s it?” I wasn’t sure that qualified as weird. “Why did she want a picture?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine. At the time, I figured she just thought I was cute,” he joked.

  “Did she tell you she was planning to go up to the manor later that night?”

  “No,” he replied. “In fact, I distinctly recall that when she left, she said she was going to bed.” He looked over at me again. “See what I mean? Nothing to tell.”

  What had happened to Lark after that? The answer to everything seemed to lie in the two-hour space between her leaving Nolan’s house and her leaping from the second floor of the manor.

  Before I could ask any more questions, the car started to slow and Nolan pulled to the side of the road and turned off the engine. I couldn’t see anything worth stopping for—the world around us was a white blur.

  “Come on.” He winked at me and opened his door. “This is going to be a treat.”

  I sat for a second after his door slammed, watching Nolan trudge toward the forest. At the tree line he stopped and gestured for me to follow him. I wasn’t thrilled by the idea.

  I opened my door a crack and felt the icy air slip inside. Nolan had already disappeared into the trees. The world was frozen and still. I had two choices, I realized—neither of them good. I could follow Nolan into the woods, or I could stay in the car, all alone in the middle of nowhere. I looked down the desolate mountain road and imagined a truck pulling up next to Nolan’s car. Mike and Brian might be inside. Or the three men who’d scared me on my first day in Louth. Nolan had taken the car keys. Without them, I was a sitting duck. The box cutter in my pocket might help me escape from one man, but I knew I’d never stand a chance against two or more. I would have been a fool to trust Nolan completely, but there were men in Louth who scared me much more. The odds of locals showing up might have been low, but they weren’t zero. I figured I would be safer with the devil I knew, so I slid out of the car and hurried to catch up with Nolan.

  I was far enough into the woods to have lost sight of the car when I finally spotted him. He was standing motionlessly with his back to me. Just beyond where he stood, the woods appeared to end. His black-clad figure was framed by the slate-gray winter sky.

  When I reached his side, I saw that he’d come to a stop at the edge of an enormous lake, its windswept surface covered in ice. There were no houses here. No sign of mankind at all. Trees crowded the banks, trying to hide the water from view—as though only the gods were allowed to see it. Nolan was right. It was absolutely magical.

  “Listen,” Nolan said. He seemed to find the silence glorious.

  “How did you find this place?” I asked. It seemed like the sort of spot only locals would know about.

  “A friend of mine brought me here once, and I keep coming back.” He held out a hand. “Let me show you.”

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “Out there.” Nolan pointed straight ahead toward the trees on the other side of the frozen expanse.

  My heart picked up. “Across the ice? Is it dangerous?”

  “It’s the middle of February. The ice here is probably ten feet thick.”

  “You’re sure?”

  He walked out onto the ice and hopped up and down to show me how solid it was. “Trust me, Bram,” Nolan said. “It isn’t the first time I’ve done this. You’re okay with me.”

  The ice took me back to the winter my father died. To looking out at the Hudson River as I rode down the highway on the west side of Manhattan. I wanted so badly to see the river freeze over. If it did, I could make a run for the opposite shore. Any map would have told me that the magical land on the other side was only New Jersey. But I was convinced that I’d be free. My ghosts wouldn’t follow me there.

  Standing at the edge of the frozen lake, it almost felt like that wish had been granted. Nolan held out a hand, and I took it, stepping onto the lake. I listened for the sound of cracks forming beneath me. All I could hear was the whistling of wind. Away from the shore, with no trees to shelter us, a strong gust sent me skidding across the slick surface. I was terrified—and exhilarated.

  Nolan walked farther out across the lake, my hand still tucked in his. The shore was barely visible when we came across a circular hole cut into the ice. The black water inside looked like a portal to another world.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  Nolan kept walking, pulling me along. “It’s an ice-fishing hole. The locals cut them into the ice and put tents up over them. Then they sit for hours, drinking beer and pulling fish out of the water.”

  “That’s what people do for fun here in Louth?”

  “Don’t knock it.” Nolan continued across the lake. “It’s the only thing about them I understand.”

  When we finally came to a stop, it felt as if we were miles from land. The trees waved from the distant shoreline, and snow devils swirled around us.

  “Look at this!” Nolan gazed up at the heavens. “Isn’t this wonderful? You’ll never see anything like this in Manhattan.”

  He was right about that. At that moment, it was hard to believe New York City existed. I felt free.

  “The girl who brought me here told me it was the one place in Louth where she ever found peace. I know what she meant. In town I feel like I’m under a magnifying glass. Here, no one’s watching. I don’t have to be anyone but myself.” He faced me. “I hope you feel like you can be yourself, too.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading.

  “You want to tell me why you were at the hospital yesterday—and why your uncle has you under house arrest?”

  Had he brought me out to the lake to question me?

  “I got lost in the woods and nearly froze to death,” I answered honestly.

  “Why were you in the woods?” Nolan asked.

  “Just seeing what was there.” Technically it was true.

  “You’ve got to be careful. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but a girl died out there a while back.”

  “April Hughes,” I said. “Did Lark tell you about her?”

  “No,” Nolan said. “I heard the story ages ago. I don’t even remember who told me. April Hughes is pretty famous around here.”

  An idea was slowl
y taking form in my head. “When Lark came to see you the night of the fire, did you guys talk about April?”

  “Nope,” Nolan said. “I don’t remember ever discussing April with Lark, actually.”

  If Nolan was to be believed, Lark hadn’t mentioned April Hughes when she’d visited his house—and yet a few hours later, when the fire department had discovered Lark wandering the grounds of the manor, April Hughes had been the only thing she’d wanted to talk about. Whatever had driven Lark to the manor that night had something to do with April. I was sure of it.

  “So,” Nolan said. “Ready to continue our adventure?”

  I studied his face and wished I could read his mind. There was no way to know if Nolan had told me the truth about Lark or anything else. Maybe he was a womanizer, as Maisie had warned me. And there was always a chance that he’d convinced Ella Bristol to run away from home. But I’d seen no proof to support either claim, while I knew for a fact that the person standing in front of me had done one good thing.

  “In a second.” There was something I needed to get off my chest first. “Thank you for sticking up for me yesterday. No one’s ever done that before.”

  “You’re welcome,” Nolan said. “Your uncle had no right to say those things about you—especially not to someone like me. My dad says he has a terrible temper, but that was the first time I’d seen it.”

  “You should know—most of what James said was true,” I admitted. “I’m not ashamed of it, and I’m done running away from the past. I started using drugs a couple of years after my father died. I’ve been clean for a year.”

  “That’s impressive,” Nolan said, and it looked like he meant it, though I hadn’t been fishing for compliments.

  “You told James that you didn’t believe that I’d stolen anything. You said that if you were my uncle, you’d take a closer look at my accuser. Why?”

  He shrugged. “I just have a hunch you got blamed for something you didn’t do.”

  My face flushed, and the frigid air could do nothing to cool it. “How do you know?”