What Lies in the Darkness (Shadow Cove Book 1) (12 page)

“Weren’t you trying to talk me out of it the first time I went up there, saying it was too sketchy?”

“Yeah, but that was over an hour ago.
A lot
of time has passed since then. Enough time that I’m starting to rethink my initial hesitance.” She ravels a strand of hair around her finger, staring at the building. “You know, we could always just have Embry come over and kick the door down.”

I glance at her with my brows elevated. “You know that’d be breaking and entering, right?”

“Yeah. Good point.” She unravels her hair and plasters on a bubbly smile. “So, what’ve you been doing on your phone for the last half-hour? Is it anything I can help with?”

“I’m looking up stuff on this address.” I drag my thumb along the screen, skimming through the information I found. “It’s weird. There’s not a registered owner for this house.”

She leans over the console to get a glimpse of my screen. “Maybe the county owns it.”

“Nope. I already checked. It’s like the place doesn’t exist. It doesn’t even pull up on any maps.”

“That’s odd. Could it be because it’s old?”

“Maybe … But it’s not that old. Not any older than the other houses around here, anyway.” I thrum my fingers on top of my leg, thinking of what I could be missing.

I wish my dad were here. If he was, he’d know what to do. Hell, he might even have some info on the house.

I scroll through a few more sites, searching for something—anything—about the house. Nothing. That is, until I stumble across a few help wanted ads on the
Shadow Cove Daily News
site. The ghost house is listed on four of the ads with no phone number, just a
please stop by for further inquiries.

I think about the help wanted ads taped on the wall in the secret spot in dad’s office. Is the ghost house listed on those ads, as well? Is all of this connected somehow? Is that where my dad’s trail leads? To this house?

One more thing draws my attention. It’s an ad some parent put in the paper about their missing daughter. They list the last place she was seen, which just happens to be on this street. I don’t know if it means anything, but it’s definitely caught my attention.

“What’re you thinking, Mak?” Kennedy draws me out of daydream land. “Because you’ve got you’re thinking face on.”

“I’m thinking …” I trail off as the door to the store swings open and a girl steps out.

At least, it looks like a girl. The transparency of her skin makes me question if this girl is from the Land of Reality or Mak’s Crazyville. I blink and blink again, and suddenly, I’m no longer staring at a potential ghost, but at Liam. He no longer has a box in his hand, and anxiety is etched into his features as he hurries across the lawn.

I summon a preparing breath before reaching for the door handle. “It’s time to figure out what the hell’s going on.” Then maybe I can hurry and solve this thing, de-stress, and return to Sane Town.

Kennedy tracks my gaze as I shove open the door. Letting out a nervous squeal, she does the same, and we stride across the sidewalk to cut Liam off before he reaches his car.

“Hey, Liam, how’s it going?” I say, jumping straight into his path.

He grinds to a startled halt, nearly running me over. “Jesus, Mak. What the hell?” He shakes his head, struggling to catch his breath, and then moves to sidestep around me.

I mimic his move, blocking his way. When he blasts me with a dirty look, I bat my eyelashes innocently. Kennedy inches closer, and together, we corner him against the trunk of his car.

His mouth plummets into a confused frown. “Will you two please quit messing around and move? I need to get to my car.”

My smile enlarges as his confusion doubles. “We didn’t just come here to mess around, Liam. We need to ask you a few questions.”

His Adam’s apple bobs up and down as he gulps. “About what?”

I debate the right way to approach this: be blunt or toy around with him until he’s so worried he cracks.

What to do? What to do?

I measure Liam up as he tries to charm me over with a half-grin, something I’ve seen him do to a ton of girls.

Yeah, definitely toy with him.

“Well, for starters, what is this place?” I point at the store.

He quickly shrugs. “I have no idea.”

I cluck my tongue. “Liam, Liam, Liam, how are we going to establish any trust if you lie to me on my very first question?”

“Huh?” He scratches his head, blinking at me like a lost baby deer. “Look, I really don’t know what you want or why you think we need to establish trust, but I need to go. I’m already late for dinner.” He steps toward me, expecting me to move out of his way. When I don’t, we bump into each other and bang foreheads.

Okay, that was not my smoothest moment, but whatever.

Time to get to the point.

“Fine, let’s do this the easy way, then.” I force a dramatic sigh while rubbing the tender spot on my head. “I know you know what’s in that store because you went in there about an hour ago with a box full of what I’m guessing is most of the stolen computers at our school.”

His face drains of color as he steps away from me. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know what this place is. And I don’t know about any missing computers. Maybe you guys were seeing things or getting me confused with someone else.”

“You know, for someone with a 4.0 GPA, you come up with some dumb lies.” Kennedy hops up onto the trunk of his car and crosses her legs. “Come on, Liam; you can do better than that. Tell us you wandered into the wrong place, that you were lost. Hell, tell us you’re a doppelganger. That will probably sound more believable at this point.”

“What’s a doppelganger?” he asks, blinking. “Is that, like, a type of dog or something?”

Kennedy exchanges an
okaaaayy
look with me. “Seriously? This is the guy in line to become valedictorian of our class?”

I refrain from giggling and cross my arms, staring Liam down. “I know you took the computers. I saw video footage of you breaking into the lockers and jacking about five of them, all belonging to your friends, so stop trying to play dumb with me.” I smile as he glares at me. “Don’t worry; I’m not going to rat you out just yet. I need you to do a couple of things for me.”

His gaze skitters from me to the building to his car, like he’s going to try to bolt. He probably could, considering Kennedy and I are no match for his height and weight. But then he would be risking the chance of me outing his dirty little sticky finger habit.

“What do you want?” He reaches for the pocket of his slacks, his gaze gliding across my worn sneakers, faded jeans, and plaid shirt that’s missing a bottom button. “I’m guessing money.”

“Of course you’d guess that, wouldn’t you?” I bite back my irritation. “Put your wallet away. You’re not getting off that easily.”

He shoves his wallet back into his pocket, grinding his teeth, on the verge of throwing a tantrum. “Then what the hell do you want from me?”

“Well, for starters, I want to know why you’ve been stealing your friends’ computers.” A cocky smirk rises on my lips as he blinks in shock. “Then, as an added bonus, you can give me Dixon’s computer. Then you can tell me what this place is and who owns it.”

He studies me suspiciously. “What’s it matter to you?”

“Nope.” I lift a finger to his lips, shushing him, and Kennedy chokes on a laugh. “I’m the one asking the questions. All you need to do is answer.”

The muscle in his jaw ticks. “Fine. But will you please lower your hand? Your fingers smell like cheese.”

I remove my hand from his lips and sniff my fingers. Yep. Very cheesy. “Oh, yeah. That’s probably from the Doritos I ate in the car while we were staking you out for the last two hours.” When he gulps, I dazzle him with a grin. “Yeah, you should be nervous. We’ve got a lot of dirt on Shadow Cove’s golden boy.”

He audibly gulps again, wiping his palms along the sides of his legs. “Okay, I’ll answer your questions.” He throws a hasty glance over his shoulder, and panic floods his eyes as someone draws back the curtain and peers out the window. The lights aren’t on inside, so I can’t make out a face. However, the person appears tall and has narrow shoulders. “But not here,” Liam sputters. Then he leans in and drops his voice to a hushed whisper. “If they know I’m telling you about them, they’ll ruin my life.”

I want to drill him with questions right now, force him to tell me, but with how jittery he looks, I decide not to for his safety. And honestly, for Kennedy’s and mine. While I don’t completely understand what’s going on, I do know that whoever is in that house has athletic, rich, charming, and seemingly perfect Liam shaking like a cornered cat.

“All right, meet us tonight at the park,” I say. “Around eight. And don’t be late.”

He promptly shakes his head. “I can’t tonight. It’s family dinner night, and my dad’s been seriously monitoring my study hours. I have to put in at least six tonight before I go to bed. And he watches me like a hawk.”

“Fine. Then how about tomorrow before school?” God, I’m turning into a softy. My dad would make him divulge the truth before he let him leave “Meet me at my car at exactly eight.” I back away from him, and Kennedy follows. “And don’t be late, or else the Rewards Board might declare some very dirty secrets of yours.”

“Nice touch,” Kennedy whispers, gently bumping her shoulder into mine.

“I thought so,” I whisper back, restraining a grin.

I waggle my fingers at a trembling Liam before sauntering toward my car.

The second we’re back on the road, driving in the direction of the school parking lot where Kennedy’s car is parked, I let out a deafening breath.

“He’s scared of something,” I declare, turning on the headlights.

“Yeah, of you.” Kennedy checks her messages on her phone. “I honestly didn’t think you had it in you, Mak. I mean, you’re not shy or anything, but you’re not the kind of girl to boss a guy around and shush him by putting your finger to his lips.”

“I was just playing the part. If you want to get to the truth, you have to be pushy, bossy, and persistent.” I glance in my rearview mirror, making sure no one is following us. I might be overreacting, but the way someone kept glancing out the window and how Liam looked like he was about to piss his pants has me on edge. “But Liam wasn’t just afraid of me … He was afraid of whoever was in that house.”

“Who
was
in that house?” Kennedy asks, tossing her phone into her purse.

“I don’t know. I’m really interested in how the hell they know who I am, though.”

“Yeah, me, too. Maybe it’s someone from our school.”

“Maybe.” I’m not so sure, though. Something about that voice … I’ve heard it before. And not at school.

I replay the voice over and over again as I continue to drive. The raspy tone … like someone who smokes way too many packs … And I think there was a tiny bit of a lisp in there …

Suddenly, it clicks. Lispy Larry. I gave him that nickname when I helped my dad get a story on him. The topic of his article was supposed to be on the increasing drug use in Shadow Cove. My dad had a hunch that Larry, the mayor’s son, was in charge of a drug trafficking circle going on. Before my dad made it too far into his research, though, his boss shut the story down. He said it was due to not having enough proof, but my dad overheard the mayor threatening his boss, telling him, if he ran the story, he’d shut the newspaper down permanently.

I never found out if Larry was the head of the drug trafficking or just a little worker bee for someone higher up. But what I’m really interested in finding out is why he’s holed up in some ghost house that’s connected to a bunch of help wanted ads where a bunch of stolen computers are being stashed. And what does he have on Liam Stallings that made him look like he was about to shit his pants?

LOCATION: MAK’S HOUSE

TIME: 8:47 PM

DATE: MONDAY, MARCH 22
^ND

The second I get home, I sneak into my dad’s office while my mom is getting ready for work and check the addresses listed on the help wanted ads.

“Holy mother of jackpots,” I whisper as I assess the ad clippings.

Yep, sure enough, the ghost house is listed on all of them. What that means, though, I don’t have a damn clue other than my dad’s trail on Sawyer’s death led him to that house for some reason.

Think, Mak, think. Put the pieces together. What do the ads, the computers, and Lispy Larry all have in common other than the ghost house?

I don’t know that much about Lispy Larry other than what my dad mentioned while we were staking him out. That doesn’t mean I can’t scrounge through some of his old files and find out more. Plus, a little Internet search can always go a long way.

***

Here’s all the info I can dig up on Lispy Larry.

Age: Twenty-one.

Current Job: Unemployed.

Times in Rehab: Five.

Times Arrested: Zero.

Times He Broke The Law: Eleven.

His criminal activities include theft, fraud, and drug charges. There might be more due to a hunch my dad had that the mayor was buying off the police to keep his son’s problems hush-hush.

Most of my information is outdated since I collected it from the info my dad gathered when he was doing the story on Lispy Larry, so I’m not sure what those numbers are now. Then again, I think that might be irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that good old Lispy Larry is not only a troublemaker, but his dad works extremely hard to keep his mistakes out of the public eye. Perhaps that’s why the ghost house isn’t registered to anyone. Maybe Lispy Larry owns the deed, but with the illegal activity going on, the mayor has erased any record that the house belongs to his son.

I thrum my fingers against the cracked kitchen table, staring at the small stack of papers in front of me—the research I found on Lispy Larry. “So, maybe he’s stealing computers and reselling them. It would fit his pattern. But how does Liam play a part in all of this? The two of them aren’t friends unless they have a secret friendship affair going on. But if they are friends, then Liam wouldn’t be scared out of his damn mind. And why the hell is Lispy Larry placing a shit-ton of help wanted ads in the paper? I doubt he has that many jobs that he needs done … unless they’re really not help wanted ads—”