Chapter 16 #2
"Do you think it was Mr. Gale?" Blake was straddling the bench and Jax sat down with me across his lap. "Poseidon is the only one that can control water like that."
My face must have shown my shock because Blake took my hand in his.
Morgan cursed and began pacing. "You said a voice called to you? You couldn't resist it?"
"It was painful not to tell him where the knife was." I buried my face against Jax's neck and breathed in his scent. "Are you trying to say that Mr. Gale is Poseidon?"
"No." Morgan picked up my dress and wrung it out. "What I'm trying to say is I think Mr. Gale is Poseidon's son."
Yup. Pretty sure I was dreaming.
The door to my house was cracked open as we approached the porch. I hesitated, but Jax moved me forward. It was like I was living in a horror movie and viewers were screaming at the screen for us not to go in.
Morgan moved in front of me and pushed the door open, flicking on the light. There was nothing to see downstairs besides the kitchen cabinets and drawers opened and disheveled. I had thought about hiding the knife in the utensil drawer and was glad I hadn't.
"Let us check upstairs first." Morgan and Jax left me and Blake downstairs.
Blake took my hand and brought it to his lips. "I don't think you should stay here tonight." I agreed. "You can pack a bag and stay the weekend with us until we figure this out."
"All clear!" Morgan shouted.
We went to my room, which was the only room that had anything in it, and I sucked in a breath. It was torn apart.
I hadn't had the chance to move boxes out from when I had the estate sale, and every single one of them was overturned. Papers and books covered the floor, and the mattress was pushed off the base.
I rushed to the closet and peered inside at the mess. The closet was just as trashed as the bedroom, and I went to the garment bag that was buried in a pile. I dug through the clothes and shut my eyes when I uncovered it. It was open.
It held several smooth ballroom competition dresses, which pooled a bit on the bottom. I also had gloves and a cover-up on the bottom, which was what I hid the knife under.
I stuck my hand in and felt for the knife, my fingers hitting the blade. I didn't worry about it cutting me since I had quickly discovered that the knife didn't cut me at all.
I pulled it out and cradled it to my chest, breathing a sigh of relief.
"My precious," Morgan said in a Gollum voice. Jax smacked him in the back of the head and I laughed. "She thought it was funny."
"I wanted to bring it to homecoming with me, but it wouldn't fit in my purse with its Pringle sheath." I dug around under the pile of clothes and found my bag.
"Pringle sheath?" Jax laughed as I pulled out the container for the knife and put it inside. "Wait. Do you take that to school?"
I stood and began packing a bag. "Yeah. Two people have now broken in to look for it." I shot a glare at Morgan. "It makes me feel safe."
They exchanged looks and I shoved the knife into the bag and zipped it closed. They were blocking my exit out of the walk-in closet. Their concerned gazes gave me pause.
"Maybe when we get back to our place, we should keep it in our safe." Jax took my bag and walked out of the closet. "Carrying it to school is a bad idea, especially if we suspect Mr. Gale is up to something."
"Well, he's not one of us, that's for damn sure.
Are we all really thinking he's the hidden son of Poseidon?
I think that's a bit of a stretch. Why go through such great lengths to get the knife?
" Blake always seemed to be the voice of reason amongst the three of them.
"It's risky to pull a stunt like that in a public place. Anyone could have seen it."
"What if I imagined it all?" I pushed my mattress back onto the foundation and sat down. "Maybe the stress of everything has made me lose my mind."
Jax righted a box and scooped up a pile of papers, setting them inside. He bent down and scooped up another stack, but this time he dropped the stack back on the floor and took a folder off the top.
"What the hell?" He moved over to my desk and looked through the folder.
"What is it?" I moved behind him, peering over his shoulder.
I had been through most of the files in my mom's filing cabinet. The one he was looking at was for some work that was done on the townhouse when I was younger, including a new kitchen and updated bathrooms.
"How much does it cost to redo a kitchen and two and a half baths?" Jax was scanning a bill.
Blake pulled out his phone. "In this place? Depends on what you have done. Probably less than fifty grand."
"So it wouldn't cost a quarter of a million dollars?" Jax handed the paper to Blake, who looked taken aback. "That doesn't seem right considering there are just standard bathrooms and a kitchen here."
"Let me see that." Morgan snatched the paper away and then his fist tightened on it. "Did you see the company name?" His voice was almost a whisper.
"What's wrong?" I pried the paper from his hand and stared at it. I had already seen it, but I didn't know much about construction so had brushed it off as expensive because of our townhouse's location.
"Wade Home Improvement." Morgan sat down on the bed and put his head in his hands. "That can't be a coincidence."
"Your parents didn't do home improvement or have their own company." Jax's brows furrowed and he held out his hand for the paper. "Did you see the date, Morgan?"
Morgan nodded and blinked as if he couldn't believe it. "That was a week before my parents died."
I curled up next to Jax on the couch in their house. It was late, but the last thing I wanted to do was sleep.
Things had been strained since the discovery of the file, and we decided to bring all the boxes to their house to go through them. Blake and Morgan were at the dining room table, searching for more invoices or paperwork that gave us any clue about the connection.
"How are you doing?" Jax turned on the TV and rubbed my arm. "It's okay to not be okay."
"My mom was keeping a lot of secrets." I put my hand on his thigh and then realized what I was doing. He placed his hand over mine when I went to move it. "She has all the answers, but where the hell is she?"
"My dad said he hasn't gotten a response to the video. He sent it to every email address associated with your father." He turned to the twenty-four-hour news station. "I tried to tell him to-"
Jax stopped talking and turned the television up.
"I'm reporting live from Salinity Cove Beach where authorities are telling us what is suspected to be the body of Robert Kline has washed ashore. A group of students from Salinity Cove High stumbled upon the gruesome scene just an hour ago. We'll keep you updated as the story unfolds."
My entire body went numb and my ears rang as I stared at the flashing lights and crime scene tape at the entrance to the cove.
Dead. My dad was dead.
Jax's phone rang, and he answered it almost immediately, pulling me against him. I was stiff and didn't know what I should be feeling. He was only on the phone for a minute and then pulled me into his lap.
"That was my dad." He put his forehead against mine. "His contacts in the police department told him enough to make him believe your mom killed him."
"What did they tell him?" I whispered, a shudder moving through my body.
Morgan and Blake had gone silent at the table. My heart was beating so hard I could almost hear it.
"Riley, I really don't think-"
"Tell me," I gritted out, pulling out of his arms and standing on shaking legs. "No more secrets. I'm sick of secrets."
"He was missing his eyes and his genitalia."
Bile burned my throat and my stomach turned sour.
"That's how sirens mark their kills." He stood, but before he could hug me, I ran to the bathroom.
My entire world was sinking.