“What kind of vampire runs a goat milk dairy?” Keiran asked, a brow quirking. “These people lack imagination. Can’t they just accept I’m an introvert disinterested in the affairs of the rest of town?”
“For what it’s worth, I’ve always liked you. Hell of a tipper when I bring out deliveries, at least,” Kelly replied.
Keiran’s smile grew for a moment, but it faltered. “Speaking of, you’ll keep me informed with what happens to the feed store? I’m stocked up for the winter, but come spring, I’ll have orders I need made.”
Kelly nodded. “Yeah, I’ll let you know. I’ll bet Tim will keep it going, so you’ll be taken care of.”
He nodded. “Good enough. Your friend is coming.”
Kelly turned around to see Ryan’s car finally rolling up the driveway. “I guess it’s time to go.”
“Kel?” Keiran said.
He turned back to face the other man. “Yeah?”
“Be careful. Curse or no, when things go bad, they have a way of cascading.” Keiran flashed another smile before turning and walking back toward the house.
Kelly watched him go for a moment before turning and getting into the car with Ryan.
Ryan immediately turned the car around and headed out. “What’s the count up to these days?”
“Dude, come on. He’s honestly a really nice guy.” Kelly frowned, tugging his seat belt across his chest. “I was just telling him about the Suhrs. He knew them pretty well, after all. How bad was the inside of the barn?”
Ryan shrugged, turning back onto the road. “She knocked over a garbage can full of rakes and shovels, and left a few piles of goat Raisinettes on the floor. I swept ‘em out and got it straightened up.”
Kelly laughed. “Raisinettes? Gross.”
“Can we head for Dani’s house, or is there anywhere else you need to hit?” Ryan asked.
The pain in Kelly’s head had worsened after walking Beverly home, but he didn’t mind another detour.
“Yeah, let’s go for it,” he said.
Chapter
31
The ride was made in silence, Kelly dazed and his head aching. The hospital had discharged him with a bottle of pain killers, but he didn’t want to take any until he got settled in and had something in his stomach.
They pulled onto the street Dani lived on and parked at the curb, the young woman quickly jogging out of the house, waving her arms.
Ryan hopped out, stepping up onto the snow-covered lawn. “What’s going on?”
She shook her head and looked over at Kelly, frowning. “I told grandma you were coming here, and she went ballistic again. She said if you were near Grace in the hospital then she doesn’t want you anywhere near the house.”
Kelly slowly lofted a brow and sighed. “Fine. It’s not like I live that far away.”
Ryan crossed his arms over his chest and set his jaw, not as willing to accept Madgie’s demand. “What the hell? She knows he’s not in any shape to be alone right now! Last night she wanted him here!”
“Yeah, well, she’s—” Dani fell silent and turned around, hearing the door to the house being thrown open.
“Dani! You get your ass in this house right now!” Madgie screamed from the porch, her face red with anger. “Kelly, go home and don’t come back here!”
Kelly rolled his eyes and turned around to open the car door, but he halted when he heard Ryan’s response.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, Madgie?” Ryan shot back, his long legs carrying him closer to the porch. “He’s hurt and went through hell in the last few days! Can’t you try not being a paranoid freak once in a while?”
“Ryan!” Dani yelped, covering her mouth with her hands immediately afterward.
Kelly’s stomach knotted, but he didn’t feel like being given the runaround, and he honestly wanted answers after all that had happened. He turned and steeled himself, walking closer toward the porch in Ryan’s tracks.
“Did you and Grace go out and vandalize the equipment during the storm? Is that where she caught whatever in the hell it was that just killed her?” Kelly asked.
Madgie was still in shock from Ryan’s retort, and it took her several seconds to process Kelly’s question. She turned her head toward him, jaw slack. “Don’t come any closer!”
He stopped in the ruts where her Cadillac had been pulled out of the front yard not long before. Kelly held his arms out at his sides, his head pounding. “Madgie, something really messed up is going on. I need to know!”
“Please don’t come any closer!” the old woman begged, her anger giving way to something else. “You touched Grace! Don’t bring it into this house!”
Kelly looked over at Ryan, the other man offering a small shrug.
Madgie shook her head and knotted her hands before her chest. “Dani, get in this house. Both of you go away! If you’re still fine in a week, Ryan, you can come back.”
Ryan snapped his head toward Madgie again. “The hell? Now I’m banished, too?”
“You were in that hospital, too!” she replied, the red flush on her cheeks darkening.
“So was I!” Dani finally said, trudging through the snow and going to stand at Ryan’s side. “What’s your problem, Grandma?”
“Dani...” Madgie let her beefy arms fall back to her sides, and her shoulders rounded. “Just get inside. We’ll discuss it later. You boys go away!”
“Like hell,” Dani replied, reaching out and taking Ryan’s hand. “Kelly needs our help right now. I’ll stay with them, wherever they’re going.”
Madgie’s eyes narrowed, and she leaned forward on the porch railing. “I said get in this house!”
“I’m twenty-three, Grandma! I’ll go where in the hell I want!” Dani shot back.
Ryan was speechless. He’d never seen his girlfriend stand up to the old woman before. He switched his gaze between the others present, the cold air and frustration in him making tension arise in his chest.
Kelly huffed and looked at his two friends. “Guys, I don’t want the rest of you getting in trouble because of me. I can just go home, it’s no big deal.”
“She’s being ridiculous,” Dani said. “You shouldn’t be left alone right now.”
“Yeah, screw this,” Ryan replied, digging in his pocket for his inhaler. “We can go to my house. Mom and Dad already said you were more than welcome to stay with us until you’re feeling better. It’ll let Mom relive her glory days as a nurse fretting over you.”
Kelly gave a small nod, flashing one last look at Madgie. “Yeah, okay. At least your family knows how to be friendly.”
As the three of them turned back toward Ryan’s car, Madgie went into a screaming tirade on the porch. Kelly looked back at her one last time before getting into Ryan’s car.
Ryan took a hit from his inhaler as he started the engine, slumping back against the seat as the heater kicked on.
Dani leaned forward between the gaps in the front seats, setting her hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “You’ve been having a lot more problems with your asthma this week. Do you need to go to the doctor?”
He shook his head and reached out to slip the car into drive. “Just the cold and the stress. He’d only tell me to avoid both, and they’re both kinda out of my control right now.”
She didn’t like it, and she turned her eyes toward Kelly. The glint of the silver staples along the part in his hair caught her eye. “Does it hurt a lot?”
Kelly looked over his shoulder at her and forced up a smile. “Honestly? Yeah. Sorry I sent Madgie into a rage.”
Her lips tensed down together and she sighed. “Everything has been screwed up this week. She’ll get over it. I hope. She’s just being a dick.”
“I still wish we knew if Madgie and the other old women had gone out to the job site,” Ryan said, feeling the tightness in his chest slowly abate.
“If we found out they did, would it honestly make any of us feel better about what has happened?” Kelly asked, turning to look out the windo
w.
Chapter
32
Robert Pennick sat on the couch, staring at the grainy picture on his old television. The show on wasn’t holding his interest, his mind already stewing in the four beers he’d downed. Thanks to the blizzard, he’d worked hard over the previous two days, cutting up assorted trees and large branches that had been knocked down around town.
Business was good, but it was also exhausting.
He picked up his cell phone and glanced at the screen, seeing yet another missed call from his friend Brian. Not in the mood for conversation, he set the phone down and tipped his head back against the couch.
There was a knock at his door, and he growled before getting up to answer.
Brian was on the other side, agitated. “Hey, I’ve been trying to call.”
“I noticed,” he replied, frowning and stepping aside to let Brian in. “Thanks for not showing up to work today. Real bitch doing those trees alone. What’s the issue?”
“I’m sorry, I just didn’t feel good today. My back, man, it’s killing me,” Brian replied, his eyes teary and his clenched hands shaking before his stomach.
Robert tensed his jaw and shook his head. He knew the symptoms of oxycodone withdrawal well enough. “You said you were off the damn oxy, Brian.”
The smaller man shifted his weight back and forth, his cheeks going red. “It’s my back, Rob! You know how fucked up it is since I took that fall last year! C’mon, I know you still have some left.”
“Get the hell out,” Robert replied, lifting his right arm to point back at his door. “I’m not dealing in that shit anymore.”
“But you do have some left?” Brian asked, taking a step closer.
“It wouldn’t matter if I did. Get out.” He pointed toward the door again, taking a small sidestep, his balance compromised.
Brian’s eyes narrowed, and he reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a knife and flicking it open. “Rob, I need some right the hell now.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Robert snorted, the alcohol in his blood dulling his fear. “Put that away and go home.”
“Just four and I’ll go,” Brian shot back, holding the knife out before him. “You know with the storm I couldn’t get to the doctor in Grainfield.”
“Doctor my ass,” Robert said, seeing the waver in the blade as Brian’s shaking worsened. He swept out with his right hand, trying to get a hold of Brian’s wrist to disarm him, but his drunkenness slowed his reaction time.
Brian was able to evade Robert’s attempt to grab him, and he charged forward against Robert, slashing out.
There was a sudden pain across Robert’s abdomen, but he managed to shove Brian away from him, sending the smaller man reeling backward. Brian crashed into the large picture window beside the door, busting through it. The low wall below it hit him in the back of the knees, and he tumbled through the busted glass and out onto the walkway.
Robert looked down to see the front of his shirt hanging open. He reached down to touch the curtain of red flannel. It was warm and wet. The texture was off and he grew dizzy, realizing he wasn’t touching his shirt but his intestines.
Chapter
33
Henry and Clara McKessel proved to be far more welcoming than Madgie had been. From the moment Kelly walked in the door, Ryan’s mom began to fret over him. She inspected his injury and looked him over before ushering him to Henry’s recliner and getting him settled in. She offered Kelly a plate of pasta and ordered him to eat all of it before he took one of the pain killers the hospital had sent him with.
Henry wasn’t thrilled about losing his favorite spot to the younger man, but he grudgingly accepted it. He landed on the couch not far away. “M’sorry about Grace and William.”
Kelly looked over at him, feeling better with his stomach full and the pain reliever starting to kick in. “Thanks. I honestly can’t believe this is happening, yet.”
“You poor bastard.” Henry leaned back and picked up the remote control, mindlessly starting to flip through the channels. “You know you’re more than welcome to stay here as long as you want. Clara’s got the guest room made up for you. Guess we’ll have Dani here, too. Old Madgie really went bug-nuts over all this, didn’t she?”
Kelly looked back toward the kitchen before remembering that Ryan and Dani had taken off to go to the store. He settled back and stared blankly toward the television. “She was apoplectic. Screaming at us from the porch when we showed up. Didn’t want me anywhere near her. Did Ryan tell you she wrecked her Caddy last night on top of it all?”
Henry gave a slow nod, lifting a beer bottle to his lips before replying. “Yeah. That old cow has no business driving anymore, anyway. You’ve seen her out on the streets before. She’s a menace.”
Kelly didn’t disagree, and it got a snort of laughter out of him. “Hopefully, the insurance scraps it. If she does get a new car, maybe it will be about fifteen feet shorter.”
“She barrels that boat around town like a Kenworth, but I’m not sure her fat ass could fit into anything smaller,” Henry replied, grinning. “That reminds me, we’ll have a parts order ready to pick up in Hays day after tomorrow. I know it’s a long drive, but if you’re feeling up to it, I’d like to send you kids over to pick it up. Get you guys a break from being here. Make a day of it, you know?”
Kelly raised his brows and gave a shallow nod. Hays was around a two-hour drive, but getting away, even for a day, certainly held some appeal. “Yeah, I’d be cool with that.”
Henry stopped channel surfing, landing on a home improvement show. “You’ll technically be on the clock for it, so I’ll give you boys some pocket money. Stay out overnight there if you want. While I’m eager to get this shit fixed and move on, the funeral director is going to be busy for a week and won’t be able to hang out at the job site. Repairs themselves won’t really take that long. Famous last words, of course.”
Kelly quickly turned his sights forward, knowing that Steven was going to be working to get Grace and William’s bodies prepared and their arrangements settled. “I’m sure we can keep ourselves busy there for a day. Been a while since we’ve been outside of town, anyway.”
There was a knock at the door. Henry grunted before getting up to answer. Kelly slouched down into his chair and closed his eyes, trying to hear who it was over the television.
He heard footsteps nearing and opened his eyes again, seeing Henry leading Deputy Bryant into the living room.
“How’re you holding up?” Dennis asked, clutching his hat in his hands.
Kelly gave a small shrug. “About as well as I could hope.”
The deputy sat on the couch, Henry disappearing into the kitchen.
“Damn, Kelly, I can’t tell you how sorry I am for this. And poor Tim, he was a wreck,” Dennis said, shaking his head. “I saw Ryan with his mom and girlfriend at the store. He said you were over here. Thought I’d come check on you.”
“I appreciate it,” Kelly replied, letting his gaze drift to the floor. “Don’t know if I’ll get that report you wanted dropped off in time.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied. “Tim and you are in the clear. There was more wrong with Mrs. Suhr than we knew at the time. When I arrived and saw what had happened...damn, I never saw anything quite like it.”
Kelly quirked a brow. “I’m not sure how much of what I remember before passing out was even real.”
“You were dead to the world,” Dennis said, reaching up and tapping the side of his own head. “Bleeding like crazy, still holding onto Mrs. Suhr, but she was already gone.”
He gave a small nod. “What happened to the poor nurse and the guy Grace clothes-lined?”
“Nurse was pretty shaken up. She says Mrs. Suhr threw her against the wall when they tried to get her onto the MRI table. I wouldn’t have believed it, but with how the MRI tech was lain out, too... Fractured larynx. He’ll make it, but he’s gonna have a rough time talking for a while.” The deputy drew in a long br
eath. “Old people can really surprise you with their strength sometimes. There was something seriously mentally wrong with Mrs. Suhr for her to have done all that.”
“What about what she pulled out of her side?” Kelly asked, narrowing his eyes and looking at Dennis.
The deputy met his gaze, brow furrowing. “I didn’t see anything but a bloody streak on the floor where the nurse said it...”
“It moved?” Kelly asked.
He gave a weak nod. “There’s no way, though. That streak must have been from the scuffle. Mrs. Suhr’s hand was covered in blood. Might have just been a splash that you guys saw hit the floor. The streak itself petered out just beyond the door.”
The younger man gnawed at the inside of his cheek, not satisfied with that answer.
Dennis dropped his gaze to the floor. “Emotions were pretty high in that MRI trailer. Both you and the nurse took pretty serious blows. I wish I had better answers.”
“Hell, I don’t know what sort of answers would honestly help, you know?” Kelly replied.
The deputy opened his mouth to reply, but his radio cracked to life.
Kelly couldn’t make out the dispatcher’s rapid-fire words, but he picked up the names Robert Pennick and Brian Allister easily enough.
“On my way,” Dennis replied, quickly getting up and putting his hat back on. “Sorry to run, but it looks like Robert and his buddy got into it.”
“No problem. This is more action than you’re used to having,” Kelly replied, managing up a smile.
“Yeah, so much for easy-small-town police work,” Dennis replied as he headed for the door.
Kelly heard the siren come on as the deputy pulled away from the house. Though he didn’t know what Robert and Brian had done, it must have been serious.
Chapter
34
“Robert, we need you to calm down.”
He watched as the florescent lights flew by overhead, his gurney traveling down the hall of the hospital toward the operating room. He struggled to sit up again, his torso and arms strapped down and holding him in place. The pain in his abdomen was unlike anything he’d ever felt. An odd tension pulled down under his diaphragm, making each of his breaths insufficient.
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