Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Shay
Bernice’s cabin had started to feel like a second home in a weird, unsettling, maybe-I’m-emotionally-unstable kind of way.
Pearl and I sat cross-legged on the floor again, surrounded by more boxes than I could count. Receipts, photos, newspaper clippings, half-finished to-do lists from fifteen years ago, and things that made absolutely zero sense, like a receipt for one peanut butter cup and a pair of shoelaces.
Pearl had tried explaining it earlier. “Bernice saved everything because she thought everything mattered.”
Honestly… it fit.
Anchor was sitting against the far wall, with his arms folded, and his eyes drifting between us and the door like he expected danger to burst in at any second. His presence didn’t feel ominous, more like a guard dog who was very aware his entire pack was in danger.
I tried to focus on the papers in front of me. Tried to pretend every muscle in my body wasn’t buzzing with leftover warmth from last night with Prime. Tried not to think about the way he held me this morning before heading out on patrol.
But every few minutes, my mind drifted right back to him.
To easy. To quiet. To safe.
I was halfway through flattening out an old photograph when Anchor’s phone rang. He didn’t even look at the screen, just answered and lifted it to his ear.
“Yeah.”
His entire posture changed in a heartbeat. He straightened and everything about him tightened.
That wasn’t good.
Pearl froze mid-page turn.
I stopped breathing.
Anchor pushed off the floor in one swift motion and stalked toward the front deck.
He didn’t bother closing the door behind him.
That’s how I knew it was bad.
“Another one?” he said, voice sharp and disbelieving.
My breath punched out of me.
Another body. Someone else was dead.
Pearl’s eyes met mine, wide, terrified, and resigned. This had become normal. Too normal.
We sat there silently, listening even though we knew we shouldn’t.
“We need info. Anything that ties this body to the others. Call Doc. And don’t move the skeleton until he gets there.”
He went quiet, listening.
“Keep me updated.” He hung up.
My heart hammered in my ears.
Whatever Prime had found, it wasn’t good.
Anchor let out a long, low curse, the kind that said he’d just been hit with something he hadn’t expected. Then his boots thudded against the wooden deck as he paced.
He didn’t come back inside immediately. He stood there for another few seconds with his fingers raking through his hair and his shoulders tight and stiff.
Finally, he stepped inside.
His face told me everything I needed to know.
Pearl stood the second he walked in. “Another one?”
Anchor pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “No.”
I blinked.
What?
Pearl frowned. “But… you asked who found it.”
“Yeah,” Anchor muttered.
“So what did they find if it wasn’t a dead body?” she asked.
Anchor looked between the two of us, like he hated every second of this conversation. “Fuck,” he groaned. “I wish you two didn’t have to be a part of this.”
Pearl stepped toward him, and her fingertips brushed his arm. “What is going on, Anchor? What did they find?”
He exhaled hard through his nose and stared at the floor. “A skeleton.”
The word landed like a punch to the chest.
Pearl gasped. I felt my skin crawl.
“A skeleton?” I repeated, my voice small.
“Yeah,” Anchor said. “Prime says it’s pretty damn old.”
I wrinkled my nose, and my thoughts spun. “Why… a skeleton? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Fuck if we know,” Anchor said. “Doc is headed out there to try to figure out how old it is.”
Pearl glanced down at the piles of papers between us. “Maybe it has nothing to do with this? The stuff happening now. Maybe it’s not even a real skeleton. Like… maybe some teenagers thought a prank would be funny.” Her voice trembled at the end.
As much as she tried to be optimistic, her eyes betrayed her. She didn’t believe it any more than I did.
“Or an animal dug it up,” I added, trying not to sound like I was clinging to false hope.
Anchor shook his head. “We’ll know when Doc looks at it. But Piney swept that area last night. He swears it wasn’t there.”
Pearl sucked in a breath. “So someone—”
“Placed it,” Anchor finished.
The cabin went silent.
The kind of silence where you could hear your own heartbeat, and every creak the cabin made suddenly felt suspicious.
My mind raced.
Who dug up a skeleton just to move it? Why bring it here? Why now? What did it mean?
“I hope one of you is right,” Anchor muttered and rubbed the back of his neck. “Really do. We’ll find out once Doc takes a look at it.”
He sank down onto the couch like the weight of all of it had finally hit him. Pearl sank down beside him and leaned her head on his shoulder.
I dropped onto the floor again and stared at the papers in front of me, but the words didn’t make sense anymore.
All I could think was someone was trying to send us a message, and I had the sickening feeling this was just the beginning.