5. Silas
Chapter 5
Silas
S he’s sleeping on my couch.
Looking absolutely stunning as she’s cuddled next to my niece.
I stand at the kitchen counter, staring at them in the dim light of a lantern, as the storm dies down outside. They both look so peaceful, so utterly and completely quiet, and it infuriates me. Mainly because when I came back out and realized that Bianca had fallen asleep, I felt a bit of relief seeing her sitting there, knowing she was safe.
Which is ridiculous.
She’s the last person I want getting close to Eloise.
Yet here we are. It wasn’t me who put my little girl at ease, it was Bianca Theodore. A liar. A traitor. The daughter of a monster. Taking a deep breath, I lean my head forward and run both hands through my hair.
The black walkie-talkie sits silent on the counter, and since, according to my cell phone, we’re coming up on seven thirty in the morning, I go ahead and grab it before retreating to my bedroom and turning it on.
Michael’s voice is the first one I hear.
“We’re running supplies to the church for those who had flooding, over.”
“Awesome. I’m going to take a bag over to the library and leave it there, over,” Lance replies.
I press the button. “Morning, team. Over.”
“About time, sunshine! How did you make it through? Over.”
Michael’s tone is light and contrasts heavily with the darkness within me. “El and I are okay. Bianca had a tree collapse her roof last night and she was hurt, but it’s just a surface wound. Over.”
“She’s okay? Over.” Michael again, this time his tone all business.
“She is. Asleep right now. I’m going to head over in a minute and check on the damage. Over.”
“I’ll swing by as soon as I drop off the supplies at the church,” Michael offers. “Lend a hand as I can. Over.”
“That would be great, thanks. Over.”
“I’ll do the same,” Lance says. “And we’ll let Elijah know as soon as we hear from him. Check in at the top of the hour. Over.”
“Confirmed. Over,” Michael says, and I repeat it, then slip into some shoes and a sweatshirt before heading out into the living room. Eloise and Bianca are still asleep, so I pause for a moment to study them.
As she sleeps, Bianca’s features are soft. Innocent.
She’s beautiful. There’s no question about that. Her eyes alone captivated me from the moment I first saw them. Is that why I’m so angry? Why I’m struggling so much to let the past go? Because I’d fallen in love with her so quickly that I hadn’t seen the hit coming?
Forcing my attention away, I move toward the front door and unlock it, then pull it open. The sky is still overcast, but the rain and wind have stopped. The damage though—it’s substantial. On our street, trees are down, cars pinned, houses damaged.
It could be worse, though.
Then I turn and look at Bianca’s side of the duplex. Her front door is closed but not locked, so I push it open and step inside. Her carpet squishes beneath my boots, and I wince when I get a look at the ceiling.
Insulation and chunks of wood—both framing and tree in origin—litter the floor. It’s caved in just over the couch, a large branch landing in the middle of her living room. The place is destroyed.
I head into her bedroom, knowing it’s a mistake even before I cross over the threshold. She’s everywhere in here. Her perfume lingering in the air, her blankets folded back like she’s ready to climb into her bed.
Keep it together, Williamson. She’s a viper, remember?
As soon as I’ve noted that it’s still in one piece, thankfully, as is the rest of her house, I head back into the living room.
With the amount of damage in town, it could be weeks before she can get it completely fixed, but we can get it patched. That way it’s at least livable in the meantime.
“Oh, boy.”
I glance over at the door where Mrs. McGinley stands shaking her head. Caleb is beside her, his expression somber.
“How is the library and your house?” I ask.
“Better than this place.” As our landlord, I imagine she’s stressing over how she’s going to get it fixed and when. “I’ll make some calls. Is Bianca okay? I don’t see her.”
“She’s asleep on my couch with Eloise. She hurt her leg, but otherwise is all right.”
Her eyes widen and she looks up at the ceiling, then the couch beneath it. “She was in here when it fell?”
“How badly is she hurt?” Caleb asks.
“She’s okay. It pinned her, but I got her out right after it fell. I heard her scream,” I add quickly, not wanting the old woman to read into something that’s not there. She’s known in this town as a meddling matchmaker. The last thing I need is her trying to light a match that’s been doused in gasoline.
“It’s good you heard her, then. How’s that sweet girl of yours?”
“Eloise is good.”
“Well, you bring her by the library if you need to take care of anything. I’ll make some calls and see what I can do about this. Caleb came and picked me up this morning so we could check all the properties.”
Caleb nodded. “This is the worst of them, though. You’ll want to get ahold of a contractor right away. There’s likely other damage, too, and you may have a wait.”
Perfect. “Honestly, I can handle the work.” I’m not even entirely sure why I make the offer. The last thing I want to do is work closely with Bianca. And it’s not as though I have the time. Not with everything else going on.
So what am I doing?
“You sure about that?” she asks.
I guess I am now. “It’ll save you money on the fix, and I used to work contracting with my dad when he was still around. I can do it.”
“Well, you’re hired. But you’re going to let me pay you for your time too.”
“If you could just reimburse the supplies and keep Eloise while I work on it, that would be a fair trade.”
“Consider it done.” She holds out a hand so I walk over and take it. “Let me know what you need.”
“I’ll just make a list of supplies and head over to Felix’s. I can bring you receipts.”
“Have him put them under my account,” she says. “Anything you have to go somewhere else for, I’ll reimburse you directly.”
“Sounds great to me. Thanks.”
“Boy, don’t thank me. Thank you. I better get back to the library, Lance is heading over with some supplies.”
“Let me know if you want an extra set of hands,” Caleb offers.
“Will do. Thanks. Are the roads drivable?”
“Barely,” she replies. “People have been out clearing the roads since the storm broke early this morning, so they’re getting there. I got word that the power should be back on in—” As soon as she says it, Bianca’s porch light comes on. Mrs. McGinley beams. “Well, would you look at that. We have power. Thank you, Jesus.” She closes her eyes, then reopens them and smiles at me. “Call if you need anything, and let me know when you’ll be bringing that sweet girl over.”
“Probably in an hour or so, if that’s okay.”
“That’s perfect. See you then.” She smiles and heads down the porch steps with Caleb at her side.
They’re just reaching the curb when Michael pulls up in front of the house on his motorcycle. He removes his helmet and places it on the tank, then comes up the steps. “This looks rough.” He whistles. “Where’s B?”
“Asleep on my couch with Eloise,” I tell him, trying to ignore the way he arches a brow. “The tree fell on her, so I brought her over there to take a look at her leg, and they fell asleep.”
“I bet they were exhausted. Lot of activity. At least the storm wasn’t as bad as they were predicting.” Michael steps into the living room. “But there were quite a few houses that took hits like this.”
“I told Mrs. McGinley I’d handle the work. I can get it patched by tonight, then do the rest of the work over the weekend.”
“You moonlighting as a handyman?” he asks.
“Something like that,” I reply. My cell rings. “Guess service is back.” I check the readout and see it’s Elijah. Pressing the phone to my ear, I answer, “Williamson.”
“You with Michael?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, saves me a call. I need you both at the lighthouse. Bring Bianca if you can. We’ve got a potential situation.”
“What is it?”
“I’d rather tell you in person. Sheriff Vick will be meeting us here, too, and he’s got some information, too.”
“Okay. Be there soon.” My stomach churns with unease. What could it be? Was there more damage? Someone missing? “They want us at the lighthouse. Seems there’s an issue.”
Michael’s expression mimics the one I know is on my face. “He didn’t say what?”
I shake my head. “Just that Sheriff Vick is involved.”
Since it’s Bianca’s right leg that got hurt, I offer to drive. Logically, I know her wound wasn’t even deep enough to need stitches, but I’m still so shaken. Her scream still echoes through my mind. And seeing her pinned beneath that branch, the storm pouring into her house…it’s still too fresh.
After dropping Eloise off with Mrs. McGinley, we pull up in front of the lighthouse. Bianca hasn’t said much this morning, and I haven’t exactly been interested in striking up a conversation.
Words don’t come easily to me, they never really have. Sierra was always the talker. She could make a friend out of anyone. But my lack of conversational abilities are even worse when I’m around Bianca. Likely because I’m constantly on guard, watching what I say.
Before I’m even out of the truck, she’s opening her door and limping up to the front door of the lighthouse. I follow, keeping my distance, but rushing around to pull the door open for her.
“Thanks,” she mutters.
Inside, Lance, Elijah, Michael, and the sheriff are waiting. “Sorry we’re late, I had to drop Eloise off.”
“No problem. How’s the leg?” Sheriff Vick asks.
“Not the worst thing I’ve dealt with,” Bianca replies as she leans back against a desk.
If only they knew how true that was.
“So what’s going on?”
Sheriff Vick reaches into a manila folder and withdraws a photograph. “Any of you recognize this man?” he asks, showing us the photograph.
I recognize him instantly.
As I know Bianca does.
“He was outside the bakery yesterday,” I tell them.
“You saw him?” the sheriff asks.
“I did too,” Bianca adds.
“Who is he?”
“We found his body this morning. We initially thought he might be a tourist who got caught up in the storm, but unless hurricanes are shooting people at point-blank range these days, he was killed before or during. We’ll know soon enough.”
“Someone killed him?” Bianca asks.
Her face is pale.
I flex my hands, wanting to reach out and offer some sort of comfort, but know that I have no business doing so.
“Yes. Normally I wouldn’t involve you guys in this, but I think I might be in over my head. I did some digging, and there was more than one red flag that went up. One in particular connects to a crime boss who’s been dead for quite a while now. It’s all in the folder,” he says.
Bianca’s entire body goes rigid, and she begins to breathe heavily.
Even though it goes against my own self-preservation, I reach out and cover her hand with mine. The action doesn’t go unnoticed by the others, but Bianca doesn’t flinch. It’s as though she can’t even feel the touch.
Sheriff Vick continues, “I’m not sure why he’s here or who killed him, but if there’s even the possibility of a crime syndicate setup up shop in Hope Springs, I want to know about it.”
“We can definitely get you some answers, Sheriff,” Elijah says as he takes the offered manila folder.
“I would appreciate it.” He sighs. “These last few years have been stressful. I think I may need to retire soon.” He smiles, then leaves the office.
As soon as the door shuts behind him, all eyes shift to Bianca.
“Is there something we need to know?” Lance asks.
Bianca doesn’t respond. She’s so pale I worry she might pass out, and her eyes are still staring straight ahead, her breathing faster than it should be.
“Bianca.” I say her name, hoping to break through.
She shifts her gaze to me, green eyes wide and terrified. “He can’t be alive, Silas. I killed him.”