The Dead and the Dark(26)

Logan settled into her side of the booth. She wore her discomfort plain on her face, and Ashley wasn’t sure if it was the bar or the ghosts or that she just didn’t want to be here with the girl who’d just told her that her father’s ghost had rattled off a bunch of incriminating things. She couldn’t blame Logan if it was all of the above. A Johnny Cash song blared from the jukebox across the pub. A gnat buzzed by Ashley’s ear.

She leaned forward until Logan met her eyes. “I think we should talk about—”

“Yeah, I know,” Logan snapped. “I just … can I have some time to, like, process?”

“Sure, yeah,” Ashley said. She looked at the etched tabletop and studied the woodgrain. “I’m freaked out, too. I’m the one who saw it. I guess I’m just confused. I mean, your dad isn’t dead.”

“Right.”

“So that’s two now.”

Logan arched a brow.

“Two ghost-spirit things I’ve seen of people that aren’t dead.”

“Two?”

“Tristan,” Ashley clarified. “This means he’s probably alive.”

Logan pressed her face into her palms and dragged her fingertips down her face, stretching the skin under her eyes. “It doesn’t make any sense. I am so confused.”

Ashley was confused, too. Seeing and hearing Tristan was one thing, but this was something else entirely. Tristan was only a glimpse. He was moments of familiarity, there and gone as quick as a flash of lightning. Seeing Logan’s dad was real. He’d been so lifelike it seemed impossible that Logan didn’t see him, too. Brandon Woodley had been there in the cabin, standing in front of her. She could’ve reached out and touched him if she hadn’t been so afraid.

“Your dads never said anything about the cabin before?” Ashley asked.

A shadow passed over Logan’s expression. Ashley got the sense that she’d stepped on loose terrain. She didn’t know much about Brandon Woodley or Alejo Ortiz. She didn’t know anything about who they were before they left Snakebite, or who they were now. Why they’d disappeared for so many years. She ran her thumbnail along a crack in the table, searching for the right words.

Ashley leaned in. “I just wanna understand what I saw.”

“Okay.”

“I’m not gonna tell anyone about it. If that’s what you’re worried about. It’s probably good we saw it, though. If someone else saw what we saw—”

“—what you saw,” Logan clarified.

“—they might think it looked bad.”

Logan’s eyes narrowed. “Are you blackmailing me?”

“Oh my god, no.” Ashley ran a hand through her ponytail. “I just meant, could you tell me a little more about him? Both of your dads, actually. You know more than anyone else.”

“I didn’t even know they were from here until a few months ago.” Logan rolled her eyes. “Why are you asking? So you can go snitch? I know they didn’t kill anyone.”

The door to the kitchen swung open, effectively ending the argument. Gus placed their food and drinks on the table and disappeared back into the kitchen. Ashley stared at her fries in silence. She didn’t want to be friends with Logan, but they both had a stake in this. They both needed answers. Logan tentatively took a sip of beer and her nose wrinkled up; apparently she was put off by the taste. She slid it away and folded her arms.

“I’m not gonna snitch,” Ashley said. “No one would believe me, anyway.”

“They’d believe you more than my dads.” Logan picked apart one of her wings, delicately avoiding getting sauce on her fingers. “Everyone already hates us. It wouldn’t even be that much of a stretch. They’d be happy you gave them a reason.”

Ashley frowned. It was a fair point.

“I don’t want a killer. A killer means that Tristan’s…” Ashley pointed at Logan with a fry. “We want the same thing. We just want things to go back to normal.”

“Normal,” Logan scoffed.

Ashley rolled her eyes. “I’m not blackmailing you.”

“Sure.”

“You really don’t like me, do you?”

Logan stopped dissecting her wings and looked up. “It’s not personal. I hate literally everyone in this town.”

“It feels a little personal.”

“Probably because you’re used to everyone liking you.”

Ashley huffed. “I’m not … never mind.”

Logan cleared her throat and smiled. “So, what’s next in the investigation? We know the cabin is haunted. It’s maybe connected to your boyfriend.”

Ashley frowned. “We find out more about the cabin, I guess. I can ask my mom. You ask your dads about it, too. Once we figure out what it is, we can plan next steps. We should definitely go back, though.”

The bell on the Chokecherry’s front door rang and Ashley froze. Fran and John strode in, eyes locked on Ashley’s table like they were on a mission. Ashley looked for Paul trailing behind them, but for the first time since she could remember, they were alone. Logan turned around and eyed Fran and John with casual interest.

“Ashley,” Fran said, leaning onto their table. “Where have you been? I texted you, like, a million times this morning. Are you feeling better?”