Secrets of Skin and Stone

by Wendy Laine

  I set my burger down.

  He smiled at my uneasiness. Did he have to bring up spitting in food while I was eating? A boy could starve with such helpful people around, and I suspect this was him being friendly.

  “Piper‘s real observant. She notices everything and everybody. She kept track of what specials were most popular on some days and why. Piper has a system for everything.”

  He gave me this considering look as if he was dropping pearls of wisdom and making sure I was properly thankful. I was grateful for any help I could get, and he did make a mean burger.

  “Not everybody appreciates somebody with that kind of observational skills, shall we say? This thing with Jester has me wondering if they think she knows something, has seen something. Maybe Jester was a warning.” He tapped his fingers on the table. “You know, I mentioned to the sheriff about Jester, and it was the first he’d heard of it.”

  “Piper‘s mother didn’t want to give the person who’d done it a chance to gloat. I believe they put out the animal story to diffuse that.”

  He sighed. “Sometimes the women in that family—well, they’re too careful and examine things too much, if you know what I mean. Piper’s mama is my second cousin, and that whole branch of the family tree is like that. It’s part of their charm, but not everybody takes to it. And it can be aggravating in an emergency. Piper in a crisis, like a grease fire—now that’s a sight to behold. She runs in circles. I have to keep four boxes of baking soda beside the grill nowadays thanks to her. Two wasn’t enough. Three just wasn’t right.”

  I grinned. “Four seems sensible.”

  Dick gave me a flat stare. “You’ve been spending too much time with her. I darn near embroidered that on her apron, well, one of her aprons; she had four when she worked here. Always had to be as pristine white as a bridal gown. That family has recipes for getting out stains like most people ‘round here have for Mud Cake.”

  Okay, the sleepwalking wasn’t that bad. I’d take that to get the rest of the wonder that was Piper.

  Perhaps confiding in him wasn’t a great idea, but on the other hand, he might help me get to know this place, and Piper trusted him. Leaning forward, I asked, “Do you know anything about Hank’s sister?”

  “Trina? I heard you found the bodies.”

  I nodded. “Did anybody have anything against them personally?”

  He snorted. “I did. She brought her boyfriend in here right before it happened. I threw them both out. I heard he’d been selling drugs to teenagers ‘round town. I don’t serve those bastards. I’ve got a little girl. I reserve the right to kick out his kind. People are saying they were high and drove into the reservoir.”

  “People are wrong.”

  “Murdered?”

  I nodded.

  “What’s going on in this town?”

  That was what I was trying to figure out. “I think I ought to stop Piper from investigating. She might know more about this town, but it’s not safe—especially if, as you said, somebody thinks she knows too much. I think she’s out.”

  “Oh, to be a fly on the wall. You’re going to catch layers of hell for that, kid.”

  “You don’t think it’s a good idea?”

  “Son, it’s a great idea. Just don’t grow too fond of it. I am hoping you can keep the focus on you, rather than her. It seems like you can handle it.” He stood up. “If you need any help keeping my girl Piper safe, you let me know.”

  “Can I get another burger with creamy peanut butter instead?”

  He frowned. “You ain‘t gonna eat that one?”

  “No, I will.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Piper’s mama cooks a mean spread. Is she not feeding you?”

  “She is. I have a real high metabolism.”

  For a moment, I was tempted to tell him the truth: I was starving because I’d burned so much energy flying my girlfriend around, digging up a grave, and killing ghosts. It’d surprise him. I’d probably get kicked out, though, and one more burger might fill me up enough that Piper’s mother wouldn’t wonder how I was burning so much energy.

  Dick nodded. “Fine then, coming up. Creamy peanut butter.”

  Piper sat down across from me right as my empty plate was switched out with another burger.

  “Oh! Can you ask Dick to make me one of those, too?”

  “With crunchy peanut butter not creamy?” the waitress asked.

  “Yes.” Piper gave me a horrified look, a look I’d reserve for the person digging up graves in Hidden Creek.

  “I thought I’d try it this way,” I said.

  “It’s not right.”

  “I’ll take that under consideration.” I took a bite. Crap. She was right.

  Her raised eyebrows let me know she knew what I was thinking. Her smirk ensured that I wouldn’t say anything.

  “How was school?”

  Her fingers set to lining up everything on the table. “It was okay.” I picked up her hand that was smoothing down the napkin over and over, and kissed it. Her cheeks flushed, and a smile crept up to the corners of her mouth. “I’ve been thinking we need to get more aggressive about our investigation, though.”

  “I think maybe it’s time I take over.”

  She froze and pulled her hand from beneath mine.

  “Things are getting dangerous, Piper.”

  “When you say ‘take over’ does that mean that you’re in charge or that I’m out entirely?”

  She was sleepwalking at night. Her dog’s teeth had been robbed from his grave. We might’ve been shot at yesterday. I was being reasonable.

  Lowering my voice, I said, “My dad’s been looking into what they might want Watcher’s bones for—along with other things, and it’s not pleasant.”

  “I found my dog dead, Gris. Things haven’t been pleasant all week.” She enunciated each word very carefully.

  It was safer for her this way. Clearly, my plan wouldn’t meet with her approval if the obstinate look on her face was anything to go by. Her lower lip even stuck out. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to taste that freckle in the corner of her mouth to see if it was my imagination that it tasted sweeter. It had to be—it was just a freckle.

  “I’ll be in charge,” I said. If I kept her peripherally involved, I could keep an eye on her. Hopefully, she realized this was a huge concession on my part.

  “What else aren’t you telling me? I can tell something else happened between last night and today.”

  I rolled my eyes and went back to eating my burger. It’s not like anybody said I had to share every single secret with her. Besides, last night sucked, and I didn’t want to discuss it. Some things were best left buried, literally. Every time I thought of digging up that grave—my stomach twisted up. Call me a city boy or whatever, but no shower was long enough when you’d dug up a dog’s grave. No shower.

  Piper‘s gaze on me scalded like she had heat vision. Okay, maybe her staring wasn’t always a good thing. I’d been cocky to think that.

  I cleared my throat. “Found another sack in your room last night. There shouldn’t be any more. I figure we must’ve missed it before. It was under your nightstand.” There, I could tell her that. It was mostly true. I wasn’t completely lying. We might’ve missed it.

  When I glanced up, she was staring at my forehead. It was unnerving. It was like she could see inside my skull. I could imagine how this might annoy a person who wasn’t also attracted to her. Crap, my forehead was all wrinkled, and I put conscious effort into smoothing it out.

  “I talked to Coach Laramie today,” she said.

  “What did he have to say?”

  She frowned. “He said that he didn’t give Jared drugs and that if I implied that to anybody, he’d make my life hell. Then, he made good on that threat and made me sprint two miles.”

  “You accused your coach of drug-dealing?”

  My question made her jump. Fine, it had been particularly loud, but I was trying to take care of her, and she was verbally attacking
people we suspected of murder.

  “You didn’t go back into the gym, did you?” I hadn’t gone by to clean out the fiends that’d been in there yet.

  “No, but, I did ask the coach to laugh…like in an evil way, but it sounded more defeated than evil when he did it.”

  It was just as well her food was delivered because I had no response to something as strange as that. We ate in silence.

  When I was done eating, I took a deep breath. “I apologize for raising my voice.” There, that was mature of me. I didn’t mean it, but I’d said it. She was staring at my forehead again. It felt wrinkled again. Crap. Trust Piper to notice something like that. I smoothed it out—with difficulty.

  “It’s fine.” Her cool tone implied something to the effect of “piss off,” but I may’ve been paraphrasing. It was like she knew I wasn’t telling her about last night. Maybe she could read minds. “Look, it’s not like you’ve known me all that long. We just met a few days back. So, it’s not like we have to share everything.” Her fingers went back to rearranging stuff on the table. She’d folded her used napkin into a careful square and put it smackdab in the middle of her empty plate.

  I waited for her to finish. She didn’t. Was there a right answer here? There was. I knew there was. Her face fell when I didn’t supply it. Maybe any response would be good enough to wipe that sad look off her face. What had she been saying? Oh, we hadn’t known each other long.

  “Right, we’ve only known each other a few days,” I agreed.

  Well, that was not the right answer. She swallowed and started chewing on her lower lip. How was I supposed to know I wasn’t meant to agree with her? Why did she make a statement I wasn’t supposed to agree with?

  “Not to mention you won’t be staying long,” she said.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Oh, trust me, I’m very aware of what you’re not saying.”

  “Piper.”

  She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, murmuring, “At least I won’t have to find a ride home this time.”

  Fine, I could fix this. I just needed to change the subject. I was intelligent and mature, so I said the first thing that came to mind, “You really do sleepwalk. It’s creepy as hell.”

  Her face went ashen. Crap.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Piper

  Well, I didn’t need his flat, unwrinkled forehead as a sign he’d said something that was absolutely the truth as he saw it. It was all in the way he said it. He meant it. What kind of a person said that to somebody? I was tempted to snap at him, “Well you turn into something with wings and claws! Plus, creamy peanut butter? Are you kidding me? It’s not even the right texture!”

  He thought I was creepy?

  I ought to be impressed this was the first thing about me he found creepy. I wasn’t. I couldn’t control my life when I was asleep. Letting somebody be around me when I wasn’t in control—was a huge deal. He knew I talked in my sleep—and now this.

  And I was creepy?

  Creepy?

  We were never kissing again and that wall between us was building right away. He could leave right now for all I cared.

  Not to mention, it was obvious he was keeping things from me. It was written all over his face—or, at least, his forehead. I’d trusted him, and he was hiding something. Probably a lot of somethings. Why was I telling everything to somebody I’d only known a few days? Somebody just passing through?

  “Your eyes are wide open when you do it.” Gris gestured at his face. “I figured you were awake at first, and I kept calling your name. You weren’t ever awake. You just stare and stare and—”

  “And stare. I get it.” Hopefully he got the subtext there. Oh, and screw you.

  I thought we had something, but, no, I guess not. I’d come running here after finding the sticky note on his front door telling me he was here. I’d been dying to tell him about my talk with the coach. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him. I was so obvious. I’d been like a girl with my first crush, which made sense, ‘cause it was true. He was my first everything, but I must not mean a whole heck of a lot to him if he could say stuff like that.

  I pulled a twenty out of my pocket.

  There was probably a girl like me in every town he stopped in. I was another dumb hick who fell for it all. Him and his stupid charm—which probably worked on everybody—even me apparently.

  Maybe it all was an act. Maybe the other girls knew his secret, too, and he took them flying. It was an original pick-up—I had to give him points for that.

  “I got this,” Gris said, waving his hand at the twenty I had in my fist.

  “Fine.” I didn’t want him to pay for my stupid food, but I didn’t care to be around him for a moment longer. “I have someplace to be.”

  “Where?”

  I gestured vaguely over my shoulder. Anywhere but here.

  He threw money on the table and stood with a sigh. “I’m a jerk, Piper.”

  No disagreement there. A jerk who apparently found me creepy. I crossed my arms and left the diner. If he followed me, fine. If not, fine. He’d better follow me, though. When I stopped at my car, I could see his reflection in the window behind me.

  “So, I’ll see you around then,” I said. Play it cool, Piper. Don’t act like he hurt you.

  His hands slid onto my shoulders, and it felt nice, too nice to pull away right this second. They slipped down my arms before going around my waist as he hugged me from behind.

  “Don‘t, Piper. I’m sorry. I’ve been stupid and said everything wrong.”

  I closed my eyes so I didn’t see his face over my shoulder. I didn’t want to study his face to see if it was the truth. It was tiring to always be on my guard. I needed somebody to tell secrets to. Still, he’d said I was creepy.

  “Last night was an awfully long night, and I haven’t recovered,” he said.

  He needed somebody to tell secrets to, but maybe he didn’t know that. Maybe it was as hard for him to give up secrets as it was for me.

  “You said I was creepy,” I whispered. I felt a tear slip out of my eye, but I squeezed them tight so no more would escape.

  He turned me in his arms. “No. I said sleepwalking is. You’re not creepy at all, Piper.”

  That didn’t sound different enough, not when the word creepy was stuck in there.

  “It’s different as night and day,” he said as if he was reading my thoughts. His thumb brushed my cheek, wiping the tear that had escaped.

  “No, it’s not. If I told you something that you do is creepy, you’d be fine with it? What if I told you your flying is creepy? Or your claws? How would you like that, Gris?”

  He froze. Exactly.

  “You had your eyes open when you were sleepwalking,” he said.

  They flew open now. I shoved my hand into my pocket, yanking out my keys. That was his response? Seriously? The wall was going up. I was not going to be a casualty to this careless, stupid boy. Spinning away from him, I grabbed my door handle and pulled. My door didn’t open. I yanked harder before glancing up. Gris was holding it closed.

  “Wait, Piper. Look, I’m sorry—again.”

  “Is everything all right?” Dick walked out from behind the diner where he’d been taking a break.

  “He’s a jerk.” I gestured at Gris, stomping a few feet away. His body was all warm and distracting.

  “I am,” Gris said. “I had a long night, and I’ve said criminally stupid things.”

  “No!” I growled. “You’re not allowed to be nice. I need to hate you for a little longer.”

  Dick smiled, looking between us. I couldn’t tell who he was siding with. “Do you want me to punch him, Piper?”

  Did I? It was hard to say.

  “It’d make me feel better,” Gris said.

  All the steam rushed out of me. “See, that’s not any good then.”

  Dick laughed. “That’s what I like about you, Piper—you’re honest. I gotta go work on tonight’s special, but I’m su
re he’ll let you run him over if that’ll help.”

  The bell on the front door jangled as he went back in. It made me shudder. His previous bell was less…sharp. This one jangled on account of the bell being too small. It wasn’t annoying me ‘cause I was annoyed with Gris. It had bugged me ever since Dick’d switched it. I didn’t like things changing, especially not noisy things.

  “I’m worried about you, Piper. I don’t want you involved because I don’t know how to keep you safe. It’s getting bigger—escalating.”

  “What do you mean?” There were things he wasn’t telling me. I knew it.

  He sighed. “There are more fiends. They’re getting stronger. And whoever is pulling the strings most definitely knows what they’re doing. They might know more about being a Watcher than I do. You don’t gather the things they’ve gathered without a purpose. Without knowing what that purpose is, I don’t want you getting caught up in the crossfire.” His black hair curled at the tips and looked messy today. He ran a hand through it, messing it up even worse. “You’re special, Piper, and I don’t want anything happening to you, either from man or monster.”

  “I was involved before you even got here.” I glared and pointed an angry finger at him. “And you need me.” I could help him. If he’d let me.

  He took a few shuffling steps forward. “Mm hm.” There was that slow, sweet drawl. Oh crap. He was being charming. I thought I’d grown immune to that. Maybe he’d been plying me with kisses instead of charm. “I sure do. Finally, something we agree on.”

  I folded my arms tighter and frowned deeper. “Not like that. And I can keep myself safe.”

  “With your pepper spray?”

  “It does work you know. Unlike your charm, which isn’t gonna work on me.”

  “‘Course not,” he said, stepping closer. “I won’t even bother trying it, then.”

  He’d better not—sure seemed like he might, though.

  I dropped my gaze to the ground so he wasn’t distracting me. I needed to think.