Not One of Us(49)

I stared at the old photos, willing them to help me make sense of what had gone so horribly wrong. Some clue as to what was soon to befall us. We’d been so young, so carefree. What kind of evil had been lurking in the background of our lives?

The front door banged open and shut. I started, the photos in my hand dropping onto the bed. How long had I been sitting like this, lost in old memories?

Heavy footsteps stomped across the den.

“Eat!” Zach called out by way of greeting. Same thing he always said when he walked in the door from his day program. I smiled ruefully and headed out to meet him. You could always depend on Zach to bring you back to the present with his familiar routine.

Dana waved and gave me a snappy salute as I entered the living room. “Found and delivered,” she announced. “Mission accomplished.”

“I really appreciate this. Staff didn’t give you a hard time, did they? I called and told them you were coming and had permission to pick him up.”

“Nah.” She waved off my concern. “I know Janelle, remember? She used to date my brother way back when.”

“Right. I’d forgotten about that.”

Janelle Evans, the day program director, had dated Dana’s brother in high school. They’d been a steady item for nearly four years, and we all thought they’d get married and be together forever. Instead, they’d attended different colleges and had drifted apart almost immediately.

Dana gave me a searching look. “You holding up okay?”

“Eat!” Zach insisted, impatient with my chitchat.

I held my palms up in a whatcha-gonna-do gesture and rushed to the kitchen, Dana trailing behind me. “We’ll talk in here. The Zach must be fed,” I explained. “If not, he’ll just keep yelling louder.”

“I remember. Just like the old days.”

“How was your day, Zach?”

“Mm,” he answered noncommittally.

I got out his special green bowl and filled it with mint chocolate chip ice cream. No other flavor would do. Zach settled into his chair and pointed at the fridge. Dutifully, I retrieved the caramel syrup and set it on the table. Zach squirted a large dollop into the bowl and dived into his late-afternoon snack.

“If I ate like that every day, I’d be too huge to walk through the door,” Dana said. “Mimi still asleep?”

“Yeah. I’ll wake her shortly if she doesn’t get up. Otherwise, she’ll have a restless night.”

“Y’all need anything from the store or whatever?”

I shook my head. “No, go on home.”

Dana folded her arms and leaned against the counter. “Did you find out anything else about”—she cast a quick glance at Zach and then back to me—“you know?”

“It was confirmed,” I said slowly.

One hand flew to her throat. “They found Deacon’s bones!”

I shook my head in warning, not wanting Zach to pick up on the word bones and start repeating it. I cocked my head toward the den, and we left Zach in the kitchen.

“Where? Are they sure it’s him?” Dana asked as soon as we were out of earshot.

“Black Bottom Creek. And yeah, pretty sure. His parents too. A fisherman got an unexpected surprise when he pulled up a human skull instead of a catfish.”

Visualizing that scene made bile burn at the back of my throat.

Dana covered her face with her hands. “I’d hoped it was a mistake,” she whimpered. “I wanted Deacon to still be alive. After all these years—stupid, I know.”

She was hurting too.

“I wished the same thing,” I whispered. Was it really better to know the truth? That his life had been gruesomely cut short? It might give me closure in the long term, but for now the wound was fresh and raw.

“Deacon was such a terrific guy,” I continued. “I’ve never known anyone else like him.”

Dana removed her hands from her face, and I was shocked at the wild fury and grief that savagely twisted her angular features. “There you go again,” she spat. “Romanticizing Deacon. You never really knew him. Not like I did.”

Not this again. “Maybe you should leave,” I said stiffly.

“Leave? That’s the most Jori thing ever.”

I backed away from the venom in her eyes, but she wasn’t finished.

“You always run,” she continued, the green arrows in her voice buzzing about my ears. “Always turn a blind eye to anything that doesn’t fit into the neat, perfect little world you make up in your head.”

I’d had enough. “That’s bullshit. Where the hell do you get this crap? Perfect little world?” I scoffed. “On what planet? I watched my mom suffer from brain cancer and now . . .” I swept my hand to encompass the house where I took care of Mimi and Zach. “And now this.”

“Everyone’s shocked you came back to the bayou. Your grandmother took care of your mother while you were all wrapped up playing girlfriend to your perfect boyfriend.”

That stung. “You know nothing about me. Obviously you never did. I sure as hell didn’t know the real you. Get out of our house.”

Dana acted as though I hadn’t just ordered her off my property.

“Maybe your Deacon wasn’t such a swell guy. Ever think of that, Jori? We used to meet up at least once a week to smoke pot and drink.”