“I was just cutting through to get to Neil McKinnon’s place, though you might know him as Mac. That’s what everyone out here usually calls him. He runs the knife store in Rosseau. It’s been closed down now since the summer, for obvious reasons, so I haven’t been able to go talk to him there.”
“What do you want with Neil?”
“I’m guessing you know him then. I’ve got some questions I wanted to ask him,” he said. Cam had a pretty good idea what those questions would be regarding, and she didn’t think it was a very good idea for him to get those answers right about now, so she continued to draw things out as she tried to come up with a solution to her current problem.
“About what?”
“I don’t see that it’s really any of your business, but I’ll tell you anyway. You might be able to answer some of those questions, considering the fact that you’re aiming a bow and arrow at me. My son was killed last summer, and I think Mac – Neil as you call him – might know something. The police didn’t tell me much about it, and I’d like to know the truth. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
“You won’t get any answers from me, so you’ll have to talk to him yourself. What you can’t do is trespass on our property in order to do so. The world may have gone to hell, but we have a right to protect ourselves. I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if I have to. Turn around,” Cameron added. It had taken her a while, but she’d finally figured out a solution.
“You going to shoot me in the back?”
“Not if you do what you’re told. Just do it,” she snarled. When he’d finally complied, she eased off on the bow string and reached up under her jacket to pull her Glock from its holster.
“Alright. If it’ll ease your mind you can turn back around. I just didn’t want you trying anything. I need to fire a few shots in the air to bring some people here. You need to leave the property, and I have to be sure that you do. I can’t do that without help.” With that, Cam fired three shots into the air. She knew someone would come when they heard them.
“It won’t be long, so just relax for a bit,” she said, much more calm now that it seemed as though the situation was under control. Brian tried to talk to her while they were waiting, but she cut him off.
“Like I said, you’re not going to get any answers from me, so don’t bother. I didn’t grow up in the area, or go to school with your son, and we didn’t know each other.” It was nothing less than the truth. She’d never even spoken to him. The only time she’d heard his voice was when he’d called her mother a bitch on the video her mother had recorded while she’d streamed it live. Cam didn’t think hearing a single word qualified as knowing someone.
At the time her mom had been trying to avoid having to kill Gerry, despite the fact that he was bent on raping her. Streaming the video meant he wouldn’t get away with it if he did, and since he didn’t actually move on her physically, he could walk away without consequences. The only problem was, he’d refused to give up. Every additional encounter had resulted in him being on the losing end of things, until he’d shown up at Neil’s and fired his rifle at him for interfering.
Brian attempted some small talk, but Cam wasn’t taking any chances. She didn’t want him knowing anything about her, or her mother. She would leave it up to her mother and Neil to decide what he would be told, if anything. Obviously the police had notified him of his son’s death, but beyond that she didn’t know what he knew. Not much, apparently. She was going to have to talk to Gilles about it, since he’d been the cop doing the notification.
Think of the devil, and the devil appears, she thought, nearly laughing at the absurd notion, when Gilles popped silently out of the brush in her direct line of sight. Cameron was grateful when he asked her what was going on, without addressing her by name. He might have been a rural cop, but he wasn’t a bumbling fool apparently, and didn’t give the game away. Maybe there was a reason her mother had so much respect for him.
“This is Brian Newman, or so he calls himself. He was looking for Neil McKinnon to ask him some questions about his son’s death, and decided to take a shortcut through our property. I told him he would have to find another way to his friend’s place, and wanted to be sure he went that way.”
“Sure, I know Brian,” Gilles responded. “I’m the one who told him about his son, in fact.”
“You didn’t tell me much,” Brian said with a snort of derision.
“There was a reason for that, Brian. But since you seem like you need to hear more, I’ll tell you what I was trying to avoid saying the first time. Your son shot Neil, and he was killed while trying to fire another round at him. I thought I was doing you a kindness by letting you think it was an accident. You’ve had more than enough people tell you bad things about your kid, and I didn’t want to add to that when there was no need,” Gilles responded calmly. Brian abruptly sat down on the deadfall behind him, his legs apparently unable to support him.
“I see,” he said softly.
“I’m sorry, Brian. In hindsight it might have been better to be completely honest with you, but I’m still not so sure about that. Maybe you needed time to adjust first before you heard this. I don’t know. I’m not a shrink. And that was the only notification I’d ever done. I’m sorry if I made things worse for you.”
Cameron watched Brian take a few deep breaths, obviously trying to steady himself. Part of her desperately wanted to confess to him. She wanted to atone and ask for forgiveness, but she didn’t dare. Maybe under different circumstances she might have done so, but with the precarious state of the world at the moment, rocking the boat seemed like a really bad idea. He looked up at her suddenly, and she just as quickly looked away.
“Can you tell me who it was that killed him, Gilles?”
“That’s not something I’m willing to do,” Gilles responded, his tone polite but firm.
“I’m pretty sure I already know the answer anyway,” Brian said harshly. “Under the circumstances, I’m guessing the person felt they had no other choice, and I’m not going to do anything about it anyway. I just wanted to know.”
Cam had a very hard time breathing. This was bad. She should never have come out here with her bow. Brian suspected she was the one who had killed his son, even if no one was confirming his theory. She needed to talk to her mom about this. Of course, her mother wasn’t going to be too happy with her when she found out about her traipsing off by herself to check out a potential trespasser, and without telling anyone where she was going.
Yeah, she was in serious shit. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t a kid anymore. She had just acted like one, or at least partially, and she was going to hear about it. Thankfully her mother was going to be a lot more concerned about their safety. Cam had learned her lesson about going off half-cocked, at least, even if nothing too bad had come of it for the moment. She had no idea how things would pan out later on. This whole thing could turn out to be a huge mistake on her part. One she wouldn’t be making again.
“Go back and tell Chuck to bring the truck to the end of the road here,” Gilles was saying to her. Cam nodded, relieved that Brian wasn’t going to be trusted to just leave the property. They would take him home and make sure of it. He would have to walk back again if he chose to do anything, which would give them some time to figure out what to do.
As Cameron walked away, she was also grateful that she wasn’t going to have to continue to sit there with Brian. She could no longer look him in the eye, and felt like shit for having killed his son. She couldn’t even say she was sorry, without admitting her guilt.
When she finally broke into the clearing, Cam was extremely irritated to find Billy standing there, waiting to see what was going on. For the moment, however, she ignored him. She had more important things to worry about. Since Chuck was standing there with him, she didn’t have to go looking, and was able to give him Gilles’ message right away. Chuck didn’t say anything. He just turned and headed for the main house to grab the keys.
“I’m fine, Billy. It’s being handled,” she said, resenting the fact that she felt like she had to answer to him. For the sake of peace and harmony, in the house that she and her mother shared with him and his dad, she had to be nice, but that sort of obligation always made her cranky. He’d obviously been paying attention while she explained things to Chuck, however, because he couldn’t seem to resist talking about it, even though her tone should have been enough to warn him to leave it alone.
“Do you think he knows it was you? Is he going to be a problem for us, do you think?”
“He gave every indication that he assumed it was me, yes, but as for whether or not he’s going to be a problem, how the fuck should I know? He said he wasn’t planning to do anything about it, but he could easily be lying. Or he could change his mind later. Neither of us confirmed his suspicions, but the fact that neither of us tried to lie and say he was wrong means he’s going to assume he’s right. That whole ‘silence is taken as assent’ kind of deal, or whatever the hell the saying is.”
“Okay, so maybe we should assume he’s going to come after you then,” Billy continued worriedly.
“I’m already assuming that, Billy. I’m not stupid,” she snapped, but when he gave her a look that made it clear her actions would indicate otherwise, she rolled her eyes.
“Okay, fine. I was stupid to go out there on my own, and I’m sure my mother isn’t going to be happy about it. I won’t be doing it again, but I really don’t feel like talking about this right now,” she said, her tone daring him to keep it up.
“Just try and remember next time that we’re all at risk when you do stuff like that. And we care what happens to you, too.” So saying, Billy turned and walked away.
“Aargh!” Her snarl was for her own benefit, as she stormed back to the house. Cam was already pissed at herself. Not just for making a mistake, but for taking things out on Billy. He really hadn’t done anything wrong. Except maybe the comment about caring what happened to her. She did not need to hear that kind of shit from him. His hero-worship after she’d killed Gerry and kept his dad from getting killed was bad enough. That was just embarrassing. Him crushing on her was pissing her off.
She didn’t share Billy’s interest in any way. If she had she’d have made the usual goo-goo eyes at him that people did when they were flirting. She’d be trying to spend time with him, instead of trying to avoid him. To be fair, he wasn’t overbearing about it, and he was perfectly willing to be friendly toward her even if Cameron wasn’t attracted to him. He didn’t even try to pull that stupid ‘friend zone’ bullshit with her, where a woman’s only worth was in whether or not she was willing to sleep with a guy.
Then again, Billy was having to fend off Katherine and her overt attempts to catch his eye. In his case, however, the girl was far too young. Five years’ difference when the girl was fourteen was way too much. She was still a kid, even if she didn’t think so herself. Never mind the fact that Chuck would probably string him up by his testicles for going near her.
If Cam had felt any chemistry toward Billy, at all, she might have gone for it. Even before the world had gone to shit, her sex life had been sporadic at best, and now it was completely non-existent. She didn’t think there was much hope of that improving, but if Gerry’s dad was still alive, maybe other people were, too.
Cam certainly didn’t want to sleep with Billy just to get laid. He wanted more than that, and she’d only end up hurting him. She wasn’t the kind of person who could easily live with herself after using someone for sex. A trait she’d obviously inherited from her mother. She had no hang-ups about the act itself, but one-night stands weren’t something either of the Thane women went after. There had to be more to it than that.
She hung her bow on its rack, and stripped off the glove. Her jacket and the arm protector came off next. She would have removed the jacket to practice her archery, hence the need for the arm protector, but there hadn’t been a chance to get in any practice. Cam let out another sigh of frustration. At least the numbness wasn’t seeping back as quickly as she’d feared. The anger that had propelled her out the door was mostly gone, replaced by simple irritation.
Since the purpose of her treks around the property were to check for trespassers the sensors might miss, the day hadn’t exactly been wasted. The odds were against there being someone else stepping onto their land in the same day. Being in the middle of nowhere had its advantages, after all. She decided against going back out for her planned perimeter walk.
The cold sweat from the earlier adrenaline spike was making her shiver, and she felt kind of gross, so Cam decided another shower was in order. Then she could go over and see Kirk and Leigh, and tell them about the events of the afternoon. She could use the radio, but she was in the mood to hang out and maybe play some video games for the first time in ages.
Her mother would want to talk to her when she got back, but that probably wouldn’t be for hours yet, and she was in no mood to wait around. Even the thought of doing so had her feeling resentful. No, that conversation would have to wait.
Cam showered and changed, then headed out through the greenhouse area at the back of the house once again. She wanted to avoid running into anyone who might want to talk to her about what had happened. A few minutes later she was stomping across the bridge they had built just before winter, which allowed them to cross directly back and forth between the two properties, without using the roads. It was wide and strong enough to support driving a truck over, in case they needed to move large items in addition to people.
Even now, during a time that should have been the coldest part of winter, there was very little snow, and the ice on the river was merely a thin crust. Cam thought of the stories her mother used to tell her about the neck-deep snow she’d played in as a child. Cameron had never experienced snow that deep. She’d grown up in the city, in an area that was below most of the Canadian border. They’d had high heat and humidity every summer, and very little winter to speak of. It wasn’t unusual to have no snow for Christmas, and things had only grown warmer as she’d gotten older.
Now, even further north, at most Cameron had seen about six inches of snow. And it hadn’t lasted very long either. A few days earlier she’d heard her mother say something about the winter wheat coming up soon. They’d planted it in the fall after their vegetables had finished for the season, so they would have something to use for flour by spring. Once they harvested that, they would be putting in vegetable gardens again, and growing more fodder for the animals.
Cam kicked at a two-inch crusty blob of snow that marred the otherwise bare path leading away from the bridge. The only reason it hadn’t melted was because of the shelter of the evergreens above her head. Things stayed pretty dark and cold under the gigantic pines. The sudden shade had her shivering a bit, so she picked up the pace. Another ten minutes would see her at the cabin, and she was really looking forward to relaxing with her friends. She had almost lost them seven months earlier. The experience had reminded her to value them, and she hadn’t been spending enough time with them.
Kirk and Leigh had nearly been trapped in the city when the grid began to collapse. They were living in Oakville at the time. Unbeknownst to her and her mother, their car was in the garage when Cam messaged them to get up to the farm, waiting to have its timing chain replaced. When Cam told her mother that they wouldn’t be able to make it, her mother suggested they rent a car instead. She would have paid for the rental, even, but that hadn’t been necessary. It turned out their car was a lease anyway, so they just left it there for the leasing company to reclaim.
Just as she reached the porch steps, Cam got a nasty surprise. Apparently Billy had headed directly here after he’d spoken to her. She could hear him talking to Kirk on the other side of the house where they’d set up a target to practice their archery. Kirk and Leigh had taken lessons with her and her mother, and they had their own equipment. It sounded like Billy was learn
ing to use it. Well, that was just great. Here she’d been hoping to get away from everyone, and now she was going to have to put up with Billy instead of being able to chill.
Maybe her day could have gone a whole lot worse, considering the whole thing with Gerry’s father, but at the moment it felt like a disaster. She already felt bitchy and miserable, looking for a way to decompress, and Billy’s presence meant she was going to have to clamp a lid back down on her emotions. Granted, it was really the first time since August that she’d even had normal emotions, so she should probably be grateful. A few weeks earlier she’d been completely numb, but her mother’s big revelation had jarred something loose inside her.
Cam took a deep breath. She needed to think before she came face to face with Billy. And she needed to calm her temper. She could really use a punching bag right about now, and as much as she might wish Billy could stand in lieu of one, it wasn’t something she could do. So she let her mind wander, and thought about whether or not she could make one of her own. She started to think about its construction, and having to use dirt rather than sand. Their shopping spree at the sewing shop before all the stores had closed meant they had whatever materials she might need, but she wasn’t sure if the thread they had was strong enough. She was in the middle of wondering if she could use paracord instead, when Billy walked around the corner, startling her from her thoughts.
“Hey Cam!”
“Jesus Billy. You scared the crap out of me!”
“I didn’t mean to. You must have been in the middle of some pretty deep thoughts if you didn’t see me coming,” he said with a tentative smile.
“Nothing important, or philosophically deep. Just pondering how I might be able to make a punching bag,” she responded.
“Uh, okay.” His tone was leery, as if it had occurred to him that she might have considered him for the role, which made Cam chuckle.
Tipping Point (Book 2): Ground Zero Page 3