“Did you join the group text?” Lucy dropped the remote and turned to him with a shocked expression.
“Eva told me.”
Lucy picked the remote back up. She kept scrolling. “Boring.”
“So is it? Back on?” he asked.
“Oh, it’s back on,” she said, “but it’ll be lame and I don’t want to help plan it.”
Cole leaned back. He put his feet up on the coffee table, which looked as though it had been made out of a tree trunk and had been varnished so vigorously that it reflected like a mirror. Cole imagined how pissed it would’ve made Reynold to see Cole’s feet resting on his nice furniture.
“When did you find out? About Mrs. Crate?” he asked.
Lucy rolled her eyes. She sunk deep into the couch. “My dad was pretty much dancing around the house. So, I heard him, and then I just texted some people.”
“And they think he’s responsible for her dropping out?” he asked.
Lucy scoffed. “Cole, come on. Of course he is.”
“Doesn’t that piss you off—that he cheats like that?”
Lucy turned towards Cole. “I think you’ve misunderstood me. Yes, it sucks that people hate me because they hate him. Yes, parties are lame. Yes, he can be lame, too. Whatever. But he’s a winner, Cole. I don’t really care how he wins. Not my business.”
“Are you serious? You don’t care what that means to Anna Crate? Or what having Reynold as Chief might mean to Wounded Sky?”
“Why would I? Why would you? What do they have to do to you to turn you off them, Cole? Kill you?”
“You know, I never saw it before, but I do now.” Cole stood up from the couch.
“Saw what?”
“How much like your dad you are!”
“Yeah? Maybe I’d know what parent you’re more like if they weren’t dead!” Lucy stood up, too.
Cole gasped, and he felt a tear form in his eye. He blinked it out. “I’d still have one of them if it weren’t for your dad,” he breathed out, while more tears fell.
“Sorry? What?” She took a step toward him. Too close.
“That’s why I came here tonight, to make sure I was right about your dad.”
“Right that my dad killed your parents?”
“My dad,” Cole said. Then he said the rest of it, because he found himself already in it, passed the point where he could turn back, “and your mom.”
Lucy hit him across the arm with the remote. “Don’t you talk about my mom!”
“It’s true! Your mom and my dad were having an affair. Your dad found out, and he killed them!” Cole lowered his voice to a whisper. “I know it.”
“My mom died in an accident!” Lucy threw the remote control across the room, and it smashed into the television. The screen cracked. Cole jumped from the sound. Then, she sat down on the couch, stared at the broken screen, the distorted movie icons.
“My dad did too. With your mom,” Cole sat down beside her, “but it wasn’t an accident.”
“You’re full of shit.” They were both talking quietly now, like these were secrets that had to be kept. “How could you even know any of this?”
“I’m not full of shit,” Cole said. “There were emails on Donald’s…my dad’s…laptop. He and Vikki were going to run away, and take you, too.”
“Shut the hell up. Please.”
“I read them. I can show you.”
“You could’ve…you could’ve written them. That doesn’t prove anything.”
“What if I can prove it to you?”
“How?”
“Let me look around,” Cole said. “If he didn’t do anything he has nothing to hide.”
Lucy didn’t respond. She buried her face into her hands.
“Please,” Cole said. “Is there anywhere he’d hide something? Anywhere he’d keep a secret like that?”
Lucy lifted her head. Cole saw tears down her cheeks, too. She turned towards him, mascara dripping from her eyelids. “Yeah,” she said, “yeah, okay, fine.”
Cole followed Lucy out of the living room, up the stairs with the beautiful railings, down the hallway, and into her dad’s bedroom. There was a walk-in closet and in it, a large object was pushed up against the wall and covered under a blanket. Lucy removed the blanket to reveal a chest. A big padlock kept it safely closed. She got on her knees, picked up the lock, and then let it fall back, heavy against the chest.
She looked up at him. “I’ve never been able to open it.”
Cole knelt beside her. He picked up the lock with both hands. He looked at her. “Don’t get freaked out.”
“From what?”
Cole pulled at the lock as hard as he could. He let out a grunt. The chest scraped across the ground. He held it in place with his knee and kept pulling. Finally, the lock ripped away from the chest, and the latch came with it.
“Holy shit,” she said.
Cole tossed the lock onto the ground. He could feel Lucy’s eyes on him. He took a deep breath and opened the lid. There was a bundle of cash on top of jewellery and photo albums. He took all these things out and dug deeper.
He pulled out a hazmat suit.
“What’s that?” Lucy asked.
“It’s a hazmat suit,” Cole said, inspecting it. “I saw people wearing them at the facility…”
“Oh, like in that movie Outbreak, right? I’ve seen that.”
“Yeah, people wear them around diseases or whatever. Keeps them from breathing in shit, coming into contact with viruses.”
“Why would there be—”
“Because of the accident!” Cole said. “It has to have something to do with that. He was in there!”
“No,” she said.
“Still think he’s a winner?”
“He couldn’t have…” but she trailed off.
The idea seemed even more likely when he found the folder, sitting there at the bottom of the chest, full of the files Cole had found the week he’d arrived in Wounded Sky. The ones he’d been looking for. The ones Dr. Captain wanted.
“Lucy…” Cole whispered.
“Yeah?”
“Your dad—”
“Her dad’s what?” Cole dropped the folder, and both he and Lucy sprang to their feet. Reynold was standing at the closet door.
“Mr. McCabe,” Cole said.
“Dad,” Lucy said.
“To your room, Lucy.”
“What am I, seven?” she said.
“This doesn’t concern you,” Reynold said to her.
“According to Cole it does,” Lucy sounded intent on starting shit.
“Oh? Please, enlighten me, Mr. Harper.” He took a long look at the chest.
“You should know what I found,” Cole said. “It’s your chest.”
Reynold picked up the folder. “This?”
“Pam was right,” Cole said, “a guy like you could look like a monster to a kid. A boogeyman.”
“Now, Cole, I don’t know what kind of stories you’ve been reading, but I’m sure you wouldn’t judge me for finding a folder.”
“You found this? And just decided to lock it in your secret chest with your hazmat suit?”
“That old thing? Tsk-tsk-tsk. I used to work at Mihko Laboratories as a security guard. Every employee had one.”
“You worked with my dad and Vikki?” Cole asked.
“That’s what this is about?” he asked.
“He thinks you killed his dad, and Mom,” Lucy said. “You didn’t, right? Dad?”
“Of course I didn’t, Lucy.” Reynold took a step towards Cole. “Don’t try to turn my daughter against me, young man. That’s one thing I won’t abide.”
“What,” Cole didn’t back down. He took a step towards Reynold, “or you’ll kill me, too?”
“Lucy,” Reynold said coldly.
“Later, Cole.” Lucy left, and Cole listened as she walked down the hallway. A door opened, then shut.
“I’m going to prove you did it,” Cole said.
He co
uld feel Reynold’s breath against his face, hot and thick.
“You think I’m going to let you leave with this?” Reynold tapped Cole on the head with the folder. “I don’t think so.”
“I’ll find something, and you’ll be finished,” Cole said.
“You try anything,” Reynold said, “against me, against Lucy, you tell her anything about me, and you’ll be finished.”
“I’ll be finished with this,” Cole said, “I know that.”
They stood there, staring at each other. Reynold had a smirk on his face, but his eyes were red with fury. Maybe Cole’s were, too.
“Let me go,” Cole said.
Reynold tilted his head. A curious look came over him, like Cole was a puzzle he couldn’t solve. Then he stepped out of the way, and over to his chest. He dropped the folder into it, then folded and replaced the hazmat suit.
Cole moved to the door.
“Careful out there,” Reynold said. “There’s something crawling around at night.”
He slammed the chest shut. Cole heard him pick up the lock and roll it around in his hand.
28
TARGET PRACTICE
THE NEXT DAY, COLE WENT TO THE FIELD by Ashley’s trailer, his backpack over his shoulder and Mark’s gun shoved into the back of his jeans. He made his way through the tall grass, like he was wading through wet cement. Two large stones stood exactly where Cole remembered them. He sat on one, put his feet up on the other, and fished into his backpack. He took out five empty tin cans then slid off the rock and lined them up biggest to smallest, across both rocks.
It was the exact setup he’d used with Eva and Brady when they were children. They spent a lot of time lining up the cans, nervous to shoot the gun they’d taken from Wayne—stalling, but excited. They did it as a team, like always. Cole placed them on the rocks, one after the other. Brady stood back a foot or two, to make sure they were exactly the same distance apart. Eva kept a lookout for her dad.
Cole left his backpack on the ground by the two stones, and walked away from the rocks like he was in an Old West gun duel. At ten paces out, he turned to face the rocks and drew the gun from his pants. He released the safety, cocked the hammer, and took aim at can number one.
Pop.
Clean miss. He cocked the hammer and aimed again.
Pop.
He felt like it was a closer shot, but there wasn’t a way to tell.
He still missed.
“Give me a break,” he said to himself as he raised the gun again. He breathed in, breathed out. Slowly.
“You’re never going to hit the can like that!” Eva was trudging across the field, through the long grass, towards him.
“Got my texts?” he asked.
“I did,” she said.
Cole waited until she stood next to him. “Eva, I’m sorry for acting like that, and for pushing you away.”
She hugged him, and while he was in her arms she said, “I’m sorry about your dad. If that were me…”
“You’ve always been there for me, even when you were hundreds of mile away. I want you to know that.”
She let go. “Me too, okay? Always.”
“We’re good?”
She took the gun from Cole and moved him to the side with an “excuse me, please” and a soft hip check. She raised the gun, cocked the hammer, aimed, and fired.
Pop.
The first can launched into the air, and then disappeared behind the rock. She handed the gun back to Cole. “See what I did?”
“Yeah,” Cole said, “actually no. Were you picturing my face or something?”
“Shut up. We’re good.” Eva laughed. “It’s your stance and how you’re holding it.” She walked behind him, put her hand on his right arm and raised it. “Here.” She stepped to Cole’s side. His right arm was extended. “Now give me your other hand. You watch waaay too many movies.” Cole gave Eva his left arm, and she placed his left hand over his right. “There. Now…”
She kicked his left foot forward slightly, then crouched down and chopped lightly at his knees. “Bend them a bit.” After this was done, she stood back, looked him over, and then clapped her hands once. “Alright, good to go.”
“I was kind of standing like this,” he said defensively.
“You weren’t standing like this,” she said. “This is the Fighting Stance. Dad taught it to me. Now, aim and shoot. Let’s go.”
Cole aimed down the barrel at can number two. He breathed out, and fired.
Pop.
The second can didn’t move.
“Shit.” Cole shook his head.
“Try again,” Eva said.
Pop.
This time, the can shifted to the side, and then crept off the rock.
“Got it!” she said.
“Hardly,” he said.
“Oh Cole, just keep practising,” Eva said like she’d heard that tone of voice from Cole too many times. “My dad isn’t going to come racing across the field to give us crap. You have time.”
“True.”
Can number three.
Pop.
The can somersaulted through the air, then landed on the ground. “See?”
Cole lowered the gun, and placed it onto the ground. “Thanks.”
“So what’s the occasion?”
“Oh,” he said, “I’m not sure you really want to know.”
She crossed her arms and tilted her head. “Do I get a choice to know? None of that, ‘I can’t tell you,’ bullshit?”
“I’m too tired for all that.” He looked around and let out a stuttered breath. “Yeah, if you want to know, I’ll tell you.”
“Anything?” she asked.
“As much as I can,” he said.
“You know that I want to know everything. You know me.”
“I know.”
“So, start at the first question: what’s the shooting all about?” she asked.
Careful, boy. Choch’s voice had never been louder in Cole’s mind.
“I’m going back to the research facility tonight. Last time, I didn’t get inside because I was chased by that creature. This time, I want to be ready.”
Eva stood in silence. She stared at Cole, her mouth slightly open. She uncrossed her arms.
“Yeah,” he said, responding to her shock.
“What?” She shook her head like she had water in her ears.
“You wanted to know,” Cole said through a breath.
“So what’re you going to do? Shoot the thing?”
“If I can hit it.”
“Why would you even go back there, if this thing is actually there? Why take that risk?”
“Because I need to prove that Reynold killed my dad, and Lucy’s mom.”
“Reynold what? Cole! You only said you’d found out your dad was cheating on your mom.”
“Too much to text.”
“Okay, so…” Eva collected herself, “…tell me.”
“I think Reynold found out about my dad and Vikki, and—”
“Killed them?”
“I need to find something, some kind of evidence, to prove it,” he said, “and I just know it’s in the facility.”
“And you think that thing is…” Eva struggled to find the right words. “…you saw it? You actually saw it?”
“I saw it,” Cole said. “I’ve seen lots of things. I know it’s real.”
“You’ve seen lots of things, like what?”
“You don’t have to believe me, Eva. It’s fine.”
“I want to believe you,” Eva said. “It’s just, show me something, like in my face. I’m an evidence kind of girl. I get it from my dad.”
“I see Jayne.”
“Jayne? Jayney? Cole, come on. Don’t screw around with me. Jayne Flett? Lauren’s little sister? Jayne who died in—”
“The fire,” he said, sombre. “That Jayne.”
Eva turned around, like she was going to walk away, through the field, into the woods. “This is…” she turned bac
k to Cole, standing a foot away from him. “This is crazy.”
“I would’ve thought so, too. I would’ve thought so a few weeks ago, but I’ve seen it. All of it. I’ve seen Jayne, I’ve seen that creature…”
“This is…Cole…I don’t believe any of this…I’ve never believed any of this…”
“She started the fire in the garbage can, not Mark’s cigarette butt. She just touched it, and…look,” Cole made his fingers twinkle, representing fire, “she is half on fire, all the time. So, she can touch things and make them hot, make them burn…”
“She’s half burning, and she can start fires,” Eva recited.
“Yes,” Cole cupped his hands around his mouth. “Jayney! Jayney, come here!”
“Oh my God, Cole. What are you going to get her to do? Tell me something about me that nobody else could know? Lift a penny?”
“It’s daytime so she’ll come,” Cole said to a very concerned looking Eva. “She’s afraid of that thing, too, but she says it only comes out at night.” He cupped his hands around his mouth again. “Jayney!”
“Cole stop it,” Eva said.
But Jayne appeared beside Cole. She was smiling, almost jumping up and down, happy that Eva was there, too. Cole crouched down beside her.
One snap of my fingers, CB, and Eva and Brady are dead. That’s part of the deal. They’ll be dead just as they should’ve been without my help. You cannot—
“She’s here,” Cole said to Eva. “Hey, Jayney, can you do me a favour?”
“Why aren’tcha pretending about me?” she asked.
“I don’t have to right now,” he said.
“Cole, you’re the worst actor,” Eva said.
“Just wait,” he said.
“What do ya want me to do, Coley?” Jayne asked.
He leaned forward and whispered into her ear so quiet that Eva couldn’t hear. Then, he extended his arm between Eva and Jayne.
“I don’t wanna hurt you, Coley,” Jayne said.
“It’s okay,” he said.
Jayne moved around in front of Cole’s arm. She placed her burning index finger against his skin. A welt started to form. Eva gasped. Jayne moved her index finger clumsily across his forearm. She took her finger away, and revealed a word spelled into Cole’s skin: Jayney.
“Oh…my…” Eva started.
“She’s here,” Cole said.
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