Locke 2 (Blackwater Boys #4)

Two

Kali

Run.

Run.

Tell her to run.

Tell her to run.

Tell her to run now.

Run.

Run.

“Hide,” I whispered.

◆◆◆

R ight before I got up every morning, I thought of him in bed the second I woke up.

He was still living inside my head rent free, existing, keeping the past alive. I tried to mourn him, but the feeling of letting go never came.

How was it that I craved darkness even while I tried to live and embrace my bright new life? How was it that I could be passionate and content one second, and then at pieces the next, desiring the chaos and danger only he could give me?

I had seen a glimpse of what existed beyond the layer of normalcy everyone happily lived in. I’d gotten close to a monster who hunted and killed others blacker than him.

And he had wanted me.

He had desperately sought me out.

And, foolish me, still believed he still was.

I held on, and I didn’t know why, because he’d stopped chasing me a long time ago.

◆◆◆

I heard about it almost straight away.

It made national news. The headlines burned into my brain. Nothing could have prepared me for it. The day was like any other.

I’d woken up early in the morning to take Dahlia out. She’d been sleeping in more lately, and that wasn’t a good sign. Getting her chihuahua ass out of bed only worked when I pulled out the “pupperoni” treats, and suddenly she was springing out, the steroids working hard in her system as she raced around, white tail wagging.

“Bet you’re dangling that treat over her, huh?” Hal called out.

I grinned. “You bet.”

We rented a small cottage style home in a small town. Half the appliances were broken, and the kitchen was ancient. All things we overlooked because the rent was cheaper than most in Georgewel due to the…state of repair.

It was a pretty town with views of mountains and endless bush. There was a constant flock of tourists and working people and now, only recently, families had discovered this little gem and were flocking to it in droves. I thanked that latter fact for landing my favourite job as of yet.

I took Dahlia out to the front yard, giggling as she went straight to business. I cleaned up the mess as she raced around me, licking her lips.

Hal opened the screen door, and it almost fell off its hinges. He made a face at it, and I laughed. He looked back at me. “When did this fall apart?”

“A while,” I said.

Hal’s green eyes widened like a bug-eyed cartoon. “What the scooby doo, Kari?”

“You want to tell Harry about it?” I asked. Harry was the perfect landlord because he never gave a shit about anything. Honestly, even with the state of things, he could have rented this place out for way more, but we enjoyed our landlord’s ignorance.

“Fuck no.” He scoffed, mirroring my sentiments. He looked down at Dahlia. “She’s got a spring in her step today.”

I crouched down and offered her my hand. She shook it, and then gobbled up the stick of pupperoni. “You know what that means?”

“What?” he returned, curiously.

I grinned up at him. “It means it’s going to be a good day.”

Even though her diagnosis was relatively new, Dahlia’s days were numbered. Some days she was over excited like now, other days she was flat and tired. I hated the cancer coursing through her system, but she never let it stop her. I gave her pats and kisses, promising her a hike when I got back from work. She leapt into my arms, and I carried her into the cottage, passing Hal who towered over me.

“How long are you working today?”

“It’s going to be their first full day,” I replied, setting Dahlia into her bed.

Crossing his lean arms, Hal leaned against the wall. “Sounds like fun.”

I nodded. “I think so. It’s a great bunch of kids this year.”

He made a gross sound. “I don’t know how you do it. All that running around and screaming and just…so many kids.”

“I would rather that than be back in an office,” I muttered.

He raised a blond brow. “Are you sure? Because I could find you something to do at the news station, if you want.”

I made a gagging sound, and he chuckled. “No thanks, Hal.”

He moved off the wall. “Okay, well, I’m getting ready. Are you walking with me?”

I smiled down at Dahlia as she curled into a little ball. “Of course. Coffee run, and then I’ll drop your princess butt at the newsroom.”

He laughed loudly. “I’d be so lonely without you, Kari.”

I bit my lip, realising for the first time in a long time, that knee jerk desire to correct his use of Kari was absent. I was glad for it.

Kali was dead.

She needed to stay that way.

◆◆◆

Hal got dressed in a nice office shirt and pants. My attire was more casual: mom jeans and a cropped sweater. I’d come far in life in my attempt at being “normal.” Even my nose piercing was flipped up. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d let anyone see it.

It was about a fifteen minute walk to downtown Georgewel, and it never got old. The town was charming: the storefront aged and aesthetic. It didn’t have the feel of a microcity, not the way Blackwater did. It kept its old-style stone architecture and some preserved sites were under repair and maintenance. We had some old rich dude by the name of Arthur to thank for that who blew into town a couple years ago with a mission to “save it.” Dude had a heart so big, he even dressed like Santa and donated presents to poor kids. I was fortunate enough to be present for that last Christmas.

I wished I had a Blackwater Santa to remember who did that because, unless he wanted to hand out meth to the kiddos, good old saint nick didn’t blow through Blackwater.

We grabbed our coffee and sipped it, taking in the cool breeze, a tease of autumn on the horizon. We took our time walking to the town’s news headquarters, which was inside a preserved stone building with wide entrance windows. I always loved to stop in front of it, raking my eyes over the news they plastered on it every morning. There were newspaper stands by the entrance, and it was thriving.

As we approached, I grabbed a newspaper off the stand and folded it, setting it under my armpit. Then we stopped at the window, next to the entrance doors and chatted. Hal was a talker. Born and raised in Georgewel, he was a sweet small town man, around my age. Journalism ran in his family. It was in his blood, he liked to say. I liked to keep him talking because it usually meant by the time it got around for me to talk, we had someplace to be.

“You’d think the mill wasn’t dying the way people flock to this town,” he grumbled suddenly, eyeing one of the stories on the window. I glanced at it; it was about the influx of residents coming to Georgewel. The most in over a decade.

“Are you worried about it?” I wondered.

He shook his head. “Not really. There’ll be more businesses, but…I don’t want to have chain stores springing up, you know what I mean?”

I nodded, vehemently adding, “Yeah, or like a rich, suited man to come swooping in to buy it all out.”

He made a thoughtful sound, glancing at me. I ignored his look, realising I’d let too much emotion in that line slip. I kept my eyes directed on the news, hoping he’d move on.

Then I caught it.

A headline that made me take a step closer, intrigued and…something else tugged at me, prompting me to look further into it.

Man Wrongly Convicted Of Murder Freed From Prison After 18 Years…

I squinted my eyes at the small print, and my insides cooled as I caught the first line.

Dominic Callaway is a former prisoner recently exonerated for the brutal slaying of Blackwater resident Jimmy Kites, a murder that police state is one of the worst the town has ever seen. Callaway’s case was reopened after Defense Attorney Max Locke presented new DNA evidence to the case that led to Callaway’s freedom.

Dots clouded my vision. My body wavered. I was aware Hal was speaking to me, but I couldn’t make out his words.

Somehow, I’d forgotten he was real.

He couldn’t be real.

And yet there he was.

Max Locke.

In a news clipping on the window of a downtown Georgewel business.

And he’d gotten him out.

Dominic.

One of the notorious Blackwater Boys.

“Kari?” Hal’s hand gripped my arm, and he gently shook me back to earth. “Are you alright?”

My lips felt numb as I muttered, “Feel a bit faint, actually.”

He turned his head, catching the story I was still staring lifelessly at. “Is this story triggering for you? Should I tell Curtis to take it down? I’ve yet to read it myself.”

I shook my head, forcing my gaze away from the window. I plastered a smile but it felt all wrong. “Not at all. It’s not everyday you get a story of a man that gets let out after a wrong murder conviction.”

He furrowed his brows. “Really? Because I sort of see it happen all the time these days. It’s getting harder to get away with murder. All that surveillance and DNA testing.”

My smile wavered. “I guess I don’t pay too much attention.”

“It’s fresh news. You can get the full scoop in the newspaper you got there.”

I nodded, my arm tightening around the newspaper. I still couldn’t speak. I was wobbly. The desire to look back at that paper on the window was hard to ignore.

His face flashed before my eyes, but as usual, it was covered in darkness. Like a shadow had muted his features. All I saw in my memories was a giant, broad shouldered man in a black suit.

I let out a shaky breath, not for the first time disappointed that my mind was blocking his face out. If I was the type of woman that cared for her mental health, I’d have seen a therapist about it, and maybe that person would be able to rid the trauma that man had inflicted on me.

But without all this trauma, I’d be carrying less weight in my chest, and without that weight, who was I?

Instead of vanquishing their demons, was it possible someone could find themselves entwined with them instead?

“You know what I like about you?” Hal said next, smirking at me. I didn’t have a chance to ask what when he said, “You could be looking up the news, but you depend on the paper every day. It’s people like you keeping this baby alive.” He jutted his finger at the building, looking warmly at me.

I smiled back, but I barely absorbed his compliment. “Thanks, Hal. It’s all about living in the now, right?” My chuckle that followed sounded hollow. I stayed offline because I was paranoid I’d spend my whole time looking up he who shall not be named . Mostly, I was terrified I’d be caught doing it. Like somehow he would figure it out and find me.

Please find me.

I squashed that thought the second it sprouted.

I checked the time and pretended I needed to get to the school soon. That there was a meeting for us teacher aides. We said our goodbyes, though I felt Hal’s curious eyes on me as I strode away, slightly shaking.

It was fine, I told myself as I approached the little school. If Locke was making waves in his career and letting out his dangerous buds, it meant he was involved in his own life, in his own fucked up affairs. Dude had probably trunk-kidnapped more seedy perverts, and I was just a distant memory. Well, good for him and hooray for me, right? My chest deflated a little at that, which was totally stupid, but still. Here I was, forced to live another life quite literally, and it was probably unnecessary.

The more time that had passed, the more I had convinced myself that he wasn’t as desperate for me as I led myself to believe. That when he said he’d chase me to the ends of the earth and find me, he hadn’t truly meant it. After all, it’d been eighteen months and I hadn’t once felt his creeping presence in my life, and that was fine, it was good, it was as it should be. I wasn’t worth the chase, either.

Who in their right (or even psychotic) mind would want me, after all?

The answer came in the form of a little girl’s voice.

“A man in black,” Aurora answered.