Locke 2 (Blackwater Boys #4)

Forty-Two

Kali

J em was crunching on an ice cream drumstick when I slid into the car, slamming the door hard beside me.

“How’d it go? Should we come around and threaten her kittens?”

I didn’t respond. My mind was racing. I pulled out my phone, and with a trembling voice, I said, “Do you have a picture of the face on Lenny’s wall?”

“Why?”

“I need to see it.”

His crunches were loud as he dug into his pocket for his dumb phone. “He would have sent it to you—”

“He did, but I need to see it alongside another photo.”

“What photo?”

I impatiently yanked the phone out of his hands and went through his phone. I didn’t say anything because I was pretty sure I’d lost the plot. This was too crazy, and I was certain I was wrong, but everything in my being told me I was more right than I’d ever been about anything.

I pulled up the photo of Nick on my phone and then I raised it up to the crappy photo on Jem’s phone. I looked between the two, feeling a little lightheaded. I searched my memories, thinking of meeting Nick the first time. The shaving cut on his face. The spirited way he’d spoken about the cabin secluded on a mountainside.

“My cabin on Hollybrook is my escape.”

Maybe the real reason I’d been enamoured by the doctor was so I could remember every damn thing he’d said to me.

“Can I see?” asked Jem.

“Just give me a minute,” I snapped. “I need a minute.”

He stopped chewing and waited.

I put down the phones and dug a hand into my hair. “I’m probably wrong. Locke is probably right. Tell me he’s probably right.”

“He’s probably right,” he returned, though it sounded robotic.

I looked at him. “But what if I’m not wrong?”

Jem stared curiously at me. “Then I want in on you being right so I can take some credit for it, too.”

“I’m not giving you any credit.”

“I want half the credit.”

“That would depend on how much you want to help me out right now.”

“Help you out with what?”

I plugged in Hollybrook on the map on my phone, waiting for something to pop up. My heart was beating a million miles an hour. Within moments, a Hollybrook Rd. popped up, showing me a path leading up to the mountainside of Georgewel.

I turned the screen in his direction, showing him the route. “I need a ride.”

Jem’s face fell as he took it in. “Kali.”

“Please, Jem.”

He rubbed his jaw. “This can’t wait?”

“How long do you think Locke will be?”

“A while.”

“If I’m wrong, we can pretend we didn’t do this.”

“I’m not going to hide this from Locke—”

“So then leave him a message and tell him where we’re going. By the time he’s done beating up Santa Claus, we’ll be back.”

He dug his teeth into his bottom lip, thinking. Then he took the phone out from me and stared down at the map. “Show me the pictures.”

“First tell me you’ll take me.”

“First show me the pictures and then I’ll decide.”

Huffing, I took the phone out of his hand and brought up the pictures. I raised both phones in his direction and stared hard at his face, trying to read his expression as his eyes bounced from one photo to the next.

“Well?” I pressed.

He put the car into drive. “It’s a stretch.”

“Not possible?”

He shook his head and put us on the road. “ Anything is possible.”

◆◆◆

The drive was close to an hour. I could tell Jem was uncomfortable about this. He’d left back-to-back voice messages to Locke’s phone. He’d called him so many times, but Locke was busy. He drained the battery on his dumb phone, and currently it was charging on the aux jack in the car.

“You should really upgrade,” I said. “Smartphones are the future, Jem.”

“So, I can be tracked, listened to, and watched without my knowledge?” he bit back. “I’m not a data collection statistic.”

I let out a dry laugh. “Except I think the real reason is you’re hiding something.”

“Damn straight,” he heartily said. “And that’s my fucking right.”

“You sound like a crazy hippy.”

“My phone is superior to yours, Kali, because this fucker can survive a dip in a one-inch puddle, and it won’t cost me a fucking month’s worth of groceries to replace it.”

“Only one month’s worth of groceries?”

His mouth broke into a genuine smile, and I had to admit, Jem was pretty dazzling when he smiled. I was hard for Locke in every way, but Jem would have stolen my breath if I’d bumped into him first.

It was only as we began approaching a gas station that I noticed my phone had dropped its bars. By this point, Jem asked me to call Locke.

“Reception is spotty,” I said, staring up at the sky. “Must be the rain.”

He glanced at me like I was full of shit. “Your prissy phone lost reception? Weren’t you just gloating about how superior it was?”

“Oh, I bet your potato phone can’t make a call from up here.”

“I bet it can. Pick it up and try.”

I picked up the phone, but the battery was still very low. “It takes forever to charge, too? If I tried to make a call, it might explode in my hands.”

“That’s a stupid thing to say. Why would it explode in your hands?”

“Well, for one, it’s burning hot to the touch.” I let go of the phone and left it sitting there, plugged in at a measly eight percent. Jem eyed it as he drove, looking wounded that it had let him down.

“It must be the charger. Probably one of your new age ones.”

“My charger is different, and this is yours, Jem.”

He began to bicker, to which I sighed and pointed at the gas station. “Stop off here and buy a new cord.”

“How about you buy the cord, and I’ll fill up on gas?”

“What if you don’t like my cord choices? I think you’re sending me to get it because if it fails, you can just blame me for it not working.”

He pulled up in front of a pump. “You got cash?”

“You are seriously making me pay for your cord?”

He smirked. “I’m paying for gas, and it ain’t cheap driving this far up here. Remember who is doing who a favour.”

I rolled my eyes, but secretly I was smiling. Jem was sort of fun, and he was being nice to me. I was pretty sure I was winning him over. He hadn’t been mean to me in like twenty hours.

I climbed out of the car, pretending to be dramatic, and then I marched up to the gas station. There were only a couple other cars around. One was at another pump. A nice red pick-up truck. Another was parked in the parking lot, but it looked like it hadn’t moved in months.

I swung the door of the gas station open and stepped in. Hillbilly vibes immediately hit me when I saw the racks of gun keychains, cigarette lighters with stickers of alcohol bottles and words like “backwater life dudes.” The cashier turned to look at me, and he almost appeared surprised at my presence, like he hadn’t seen a customer in a while.

“Hey,” I smiled brightly. “Know where the phone chargers are?”

He checked me out, perusing me even though I was wearing my gigantic black jacket, and my hair hadn’t been combed today. When was the last time I wore make-up? When was the last time I even looked in a mirror?

“In the back,” he answered gruffly. I felt his eyes on me as I walked down the aisle before he turned his attention back to his yellowed book titled “One Man’s Wilderness.” There was a picture of an old dude on the front and his first name was Dick.

I went far into the aisle, searching for the chargers. When I found them, I spent too much time trying to choose. Why were they so expensive? His phone sucked. What did it matter—

The door of the gas station opened. I waited for Jem’s voice to tell me to hurry along. Instead, someone else spoke. A familiar deep voice that made me motionless.

“Pump two,” he spoke. “Have you stocked up on snare wire?”

I poked my head up, catching a large body standing before the counter. His hood was up, and raindrops were running off the sleeves of his green trench coat. A green trench coat that I recognized from those photos in the doctor’s office.

Oh, no.

The cashier looked up from his riveting book. “Oh, hey, Nick. Yeah, man, aisle four.”

Shit. What aisle was I? I didn’t have time to check as he spun around in my direction. I dropped down to a crouch and shakily grabbed at a bunch of chargers as footsteps pounded my way. I stared intently at one charger that promised fast charge. Even as I was crouched there, terrified, I thought of Jem’s snarky jibe when he saw it.

The steps stopped behind me. A shadow fell over me. I went totally still, holding my breath to make no sound, wondering if he took notice of me. But why would he? My hood was up, and my jacket made me look like I was an elephant.

It’s fine, I told myself. Even if he noticed me, who cares? He was probably innocent, and I was all wrong about him, but knowing what I knew already, I felt cold.

He didn’t rummage for long. Within a minute, he was back at the counter.

“Glad to see you back so soon,” chirped the cashier. “Getting the most out of hunting season? How’d you slip past Jeannette?”

“She’s not into hunting.”

“Haven’t even met her yet.”

“She’s not fond of cabin life.”

My legs burned from my crouching position.

“Guessing from the size of these snares you’re not hunting big this time,” the cashier mused. How well did they know each other? Dude sounded like he was family. And Nick was such a liar because he said he hadn’t even gone up to the cabin in a while.

“I’m hunting for all game,” Nick returned, casually.

“Sick,” the cashier replied. “Anything else you need?”

“Just the gas and the snares, buddy.”

He didn’t sound evil. Nick actually seemed super happy. His tone was friendly. I sort of felt guilty for presuming he had a child locked up somewhere in his cabin.

“That’s stupid,” Aurora whispered. She was crouched beside me also, wearing a giant white coat over her blue dress. “Locke said anyone could be hiding their true selves.”

I just glared at her. She knew I couldn’t respond. She cheekily sipped her empty teacup and added, “Could you wear something blue for our party? I want us to match.”

Ignoring her, I continued to listen. They said their goodbyes, and the door of the gas station opened. Nick was gone and yet I still didn’t move, too anxious he might still be around. I didn’t want to risk him seeing me.

“Excuse me, miss, do you need assistance?”

I jolted at the sound of the cashier’s voice nearby. I hadn’t heard him come up behind me. I looked up at him. He stood at the end of the aisle, looking at me oddly.

“I found one,” I whispered, and then I cringed because I whispered and why was I whispering?

“You’re scared,” Aurora said as she stood back up to look down at me. “You don’t want Doctor Weirdo to even risk hearing you.”

I stood up, waving my fast charge charger in front of him with a smile. “All done.”

I paid in cash, and then I lurked around the door, glancing out to see if Nick was there, but the red truck was gone. I raced out to Jem’s car and slipped inside.

“He was here,” I whispered to him, panicking. “Jem, Nick was here—”

“Why are you whispering?” he cut in, and without waiting for an answer, he said, “And I know. I saw the doctor in his creepy looking trench coat.”

My heart went still. “Did he see you?”

Jem shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

“Is this a bad idea?” I asked, chewing my lip in worry. “Should we just turn back?”

Jem’s truck roared to life. “We got this far, didn’t we?”

Unease coiled inside me. “I know, but…”

“We’ll do this the right way. Locke knows we’re here. We left him a thousand messages, and we’ll scope the doctor’s place out without appearing obvious. Just relax, alright?”

I nodded, telling myself it was going to be fine. “Okay.”

Then we were back on the road.

◆◆◆

It took another thirty minutes and then we were on Hollybrook road. There were log homes, but they were far apart, and on a lot of land. They also appeared empty. I thought they must be holiday homes for people when they needed to unplug.

Speaking of unplugging, there was no reception. Never a good sign. I felt like this was the start of my horror story. I always joked I would make the perfect victim because I always made the stupidest decisions based on the fact the killer always intrigued me, and if he said, “Come down here” I’d have hopped to him with a smile on my face. Take Locke for example. He could have killed me the second he found me in that bathroom stall. Instead, he decided to kidnap me, and then he let me loose so he could hunt me down and keep me forever.

I was done running. I nodded to myself this as we scanned every estate we happened upon. I was going to surrender fully to that dark suited man who stirred me back to life and looked at me like I was his entire world.

And I was.

I felt it.

But I never told him I felt the same yearning he did. That was going to change. I was going to change. I decided right there and then that I was going to love Max Locke with every part of me. All the broken and sad pieces, all the empty spaces that could never be filled.

I wasn’t whole, but neither was he, but together we could be.

“Hey Kali?” Jem’s voice cut through the air, shaking me out of my thoughts.

“What?”

The car slowed down but didn’t stop. “There are fresh tracks here from the rainfall. Check this place coming up as I drive past it.”

I looked out my window as the truck passed the next home.

Against the backdrop of lush greenery and towering trees, the cabin stood, its red roof vibrant in the rain. Surrounding the cabin was a well-kept plot of land, dotted with wildflowers and patches of grass. A narrow, winding path led to the front door that was also the same shade of red as the roof. Against the autumn colours, the cabin was beautifully familiar. I thought of the photos in the doctor’s office, of all the memories the doctor had made here with his father.

I swallowed, noticing the red truck parked in the driveway. “This is it.”

Jem drove a little faster. “Perfect.”

After a few minutes, he got us off Hollybrook Road and onto another road. Then he parked the car in front of another cabin that looked run down and abandoned.

“What’s the plan?” I asked, even though he’d already told me a dozen times.

“I’m going to check out the place, and you’re going to stay here.”

I couldn’t hide my anxiety. “That’s risky.”

“It ain’t,” he argued. “I’m really good in the woods. If the doc has a hole, I’ll find it. I know what to look for.”

“Why can’t I come?”

“Because you’ll be loud and clumsy.” Jem didn’t say that rudely. This time all his humour was gone. He stared at me, unwavering. “We’ll sit here for a while longer. About an hour. Then I’ll go. It’ll be darker by then, and you’ll be here, far enough away should things go wrong.” He passed me the car keys. “If anything happens, you get out of here. You know where to go, don’t you?”

I nodded.

“I need you in the driver’s seat. Because if something does happen, it’ll happen fast.”

He got out of the car and made me change seats. I had to wipe my sweaty hands against my jacket, feeling overheated with panic as he moved about with complete ease.

He removed a knife sheathed to his belt and settled it into my hand. “For protection.”

“I expected a gun.” My joke was poorly delivered.

“I only keep guns in my bar,” he replied, smiling. “A nice shotgun, if you’re curious.”

“You should have brought it with us.”

“I didn’t know when I woke up this morning that I might be killing someone.” His joke was delivered nicely, but I didn’t find it funny.

He dropped his voice, sounding soothing when he said, “Kali, if there’s a boy here, I want to find him.” His eyes burned with emotion. “I want to do something right this time.”

I grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Jem, that wasn’t your fault…”

“Except it was,” he returned, his voice edged with tension. “Locke is the way he is because of me. Because of what I did to him. I’m tired of being the plague in people’s lives. I’ve caused too much misery, Kali. And the fucked-up part is that I can’t wait to pay for my sins.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’m hoping I go in the worst way possible because that’s what I deserve, but fuck, I won’t go without finishing out at least one good fucking deed.”

He didn’t need soft words, or a tender touch. He didn’t want me to tell him he was wrong, even though he was. Jem just wanted me to listen, and I did. I looked him dead in the eye and listened to him tell me what a disease he was, and it gutted me. I shook my head, but I let him talk, and when he finished, I lunged at him and hugged him. I hugged him tightly, and he didn’t hug me back, not for many seconds, but that didn’t make me stop hugging him.

His arms came around me, and he held me to him, muttering softly, “You’re good for him, Kali. You truly are.”

A tear escaped my eye as he pulled back to look at me. He brushed away my tears and smiled. “I’ll be right back.”

He pulled away, but I gripped his arm tightly, making him look back at me. “Take the phone.”

“It’s dead because it’s a potato phone,” he replied, amused.

“Then take mine.”

I gave him my phone, and he stared down at the pink, sparkly case and chuckled. “Alright,” he agreed. “I’ll be back.”