The drive home had been long and quiet. Rose was either exhausted, or feigning fatigue in order not to talk to him.
And that was okay. He didn’t mind. She’d given him snippets of things to think over the night before, and he’d spent more time thinking about his own past than he’d have liked, staring at the slivers of light creeping through the cheap motel curtains that didn’t quite close. They reminded him of the slats in the pantry door at home; he’d hidden inside it, trying to avoid his mother’s wrath.
When they finally pulled into the driveway, he sighed in relief. Now that they were here, he could set his own demons aside and focus on someone else’s, which was so much easier. Even if it meant birds behaving strangely and trying to draw secrets from an old woman.
‘We’re home, Rose,’ he said. They went over the rise and then he saw Cade’s car and his shoulders sank. ‘Looks like Cade’s back.’ He tried to keep the disappointment from his voice.
It wasn’t that he wanted Jena for himself, more that he disliked Cade. He was in the way, and he was an asshole to boot, and it bugged him that Jena couldn’t see that for herself. Or that in those brief moments when she seemed to know it, she somehow pushed that knowing down, covered it with bows and glitter to pretty it up and make it more appealing to herself.
Somewhere inside, she had to know. Surely.
Rose let out a little groan as he pulled to a stop beside Cade’s car, and Will didn’t know whether it was because she hurt or because of Cade. Maybe both.
‘Just wait, I’ll come around and help you,’ he said, unclicking his seat belt and leaving the keys in the car.
‘I’m not that much of an invalid,’ she spat out, turning rheumy eyes on him as she undid her belt. But she stayed in her seat and waited all the same.
He pulled open the door and ducked his head inside so that he could help her shift in her seat, then moved back, drawing her to her feet. She grimaced but didn’t say anything, didn’t make a sound, just gripped his arm tightly as he helped her walk up the steps and inside.
They paused at her door and she held the walking frame, shaking his hands off her. ‘I can do this on my own. Get the bags in, will you?’ She patted him on the cheek and then turned away. Will watched as she shuffled over to the bed, knowing he should really be helping her. A fall right now would do a lot of damage, and he couldn’t afford to have more accidents like that on his record.
Once she’d made it there and sat down on the edge he finally left, turning away before she caught him watching. He headed back to the car and grabbed their overnight bags, and the keys from the ignition, not bothering to lock it up.
Cade’s car might be here, but it didn’t seem like he or Jena were.
Will was both relieved and disappointed. No, disappointment wasn’t quite the right word. He wanted to give her an update as soon as he could so she wouldn’t go to Rose, and if she wasn’t here – if Cade was here too – then it made that all so much harder.
He stashed Rose’s bag just inside her door, then looked up at her.
‘I’m fine, Will. Go do … something. Anything so that you’re not standing there jittering in my doorway.’
‘I’m not jittery,’ he said, though he noticed that wasn’t right. He was jiggling his leg up and down, tapping the toes of his shoe on the floor without even realising it. ‘I just need to burn off some energy after being in the car for so long. Might go for a walk. Call me if you need me, I’ll take the monitor.’
He spun from the door and headed upstairs, pushing the door open without a thought.
Back when he’d first arrived – once he’d realised this was Joel’s room – it had felt really odd. It wasn’t the first time he’d slept in a dead person’s room, but it was the first time he’d been able to see the place they died, horrifically, right out the window. There was something a little weird about that. Unnerving. He hadn’t really been able to settle in as a result, make the place his own. Instead he’d kept his things mostly in the suitcase, only hanging a couple of items in the wardrobe and leaving a few books on the bedside table for when he was having trouble sleeping at night.
Will tossed the bag on the ground beside the bed, kicked his shoes off and lay down. His hands went behind his head, sliding together under the pillow, unconsciously reaching for the small metal key he’d hidden there.
Only it wasn’t there.
He turned the pillow so that the opening was down, shook it, but nothing dropped out, then he shoved a hand inside, feeling around, trying to find anything that wasn’t fabric.
‘Shit,’ he said, tossing the pillow aside. He was on his hands and knees now, peering into the gap between the wall and the bed, then he stood up, pulled the whole thing out, pushed the bedside table away and got down on the ground, scouring every inch. Once, twice, three times.
Nothing.
‘Fuck!’
He dragged a hand through his hair, fingers pressing deep against the spots that seemed to flare with pain. The key was gone, and keys didn’t go walking on their own. Jena must have found it, must have come snooping through his room because she didn’t trust him, and now that she had the key ….
He shot to his feet, not even bothering to put his shoes on before he dashed down the stairs and out the door, the gravel of the driveway digging through his socks and into his feet. But he didn’t stop, he couldn’t. He had to know if she’d found the laptop.
He slammed open the door of the barn and ran across the floor, taking the steps two at a time until he reached the mezzanine.
And then he stopped.
The drawer was open.
Even from here he could see that the laptop was gone. And then something else caught his eye and he could see that the filing cabinet drawer was slightly ajar too.
All the energy drained from Will and he sank to the floor.
He was fucked, totally fucked.
Unless he could find his stuff. Get it back before she got home.
Will stood up, though his legs wobbled as he descended the steps. He gripped the railing for strength, his mind ticking things over as he went. He could do this; he could find the laptop and the files and whatever else she’d taken. He could get this all under control.
Rose didn’t have to know. She never had to know, and if he could come up with some story when Jena started flinging wild accusations at him over dinner ….
He pushed open the barn door, raising an arm to block out the sudden bright light. The sun seemed to have burned away the late afternoon clouds and the mountain stood before him, a cloak of snow around his shoulders. He was magnificent. And Will couldn’t help but feel like, somehow, Taranaki was scowling at him.
He turned away, taking a breath and steeling himself for the next part of his mission, when Jena and Cade walked around the corner of the barn, arm in arm. He couldn’t help but jump.
‘You seem a bit flustered there, Will,’ Jena said. Her eyes narrowed on him, but the corner of her lips pulled up in a smirk. ‘Looking for something?’
She knows. She knows she knows she knows.
‘Ah. No. Just ….’ He shook his head, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. ‘Hey, Cade, nice to see you back.’ He just about choked on the words, but he needed to change the topic. Onto something safe. Safer.
‘Well, you know, couldn’t abandon my girl.’ Cade wrapped an arm around Jena and pulled her closer, pressing a kiss against her hair. But he kept his eyes on Will the whole time. Like he was staking a claim. Declaring ownership.
It made Will shudder.
‘I better get back inside, check on Rose,’ he said, then he turned towards the house and picked his way across the gravel, noticing the impact of the stones more sharply this time.
Noticing how it felt like Cade’s eyes, at least, were digging a hole in his back.