Page 61 of A Curse On Black Lake (Black Lake Gothic Cowboys #1)

Chapter forty-six

Eliana

“I may be repeating myself, but I need to know,” Wyatt says.

I cross my arms and lift my chin, meeting his eyes.

The corner of his mouth tips up, and he tosses another peppermint into his mouth before clicking his pen. “Where were you last night?” he asks.

“With Killian.”

He writes something down in his little notebook. “And can you account for Killian’s whereabouts last night?” he asks.

I keep my face emotionless. I don’t like what he’s implying. It’s evident he wants to catch us in a lie to dig Killian a deeper grave.

“He was with me,” I state.

A vein pops in Wyatt’s neck, and it makes me take a step back. What is wrong with this man?

“Does anything else seem out of the ordinary? Is there anything you noted when you got here?”

“The girl is wearing my dress,” I tell him.

“Do you recall what store you bought it at?” he asks.

“No, you don’t understand. I made that dress. Whoever did this was in my house.”

“Have you been in the house yet?” Wyatt asks.

“No, but I would like to.”

Wyatt gestures for me to go ahead, and I silently beg Killian with a look to come with me.

He’s been staring at us the whole time with a hardened expression. He takes long strides over and steps between Wyatt and me.

We go through the back door, stepping into the kitchen, and I look around. Nothing seems out of place. It’s exactly as I left it.

“We entered the home due to the circumstances, but nothing has been touched, only photographed,” Wyatt says.

“Everything looks fine,” I mutter and step into the living room.

It’s messy, which is my usual choice of decor, but it’s normal.

Avoiding the apothecary, I go back into Gram’s room, and it’s also untouched, maybe even a little dusty.

Since she died, I only changed the sheets, and folded her robe that was laying on the floor.

After that, I closed the door and didn’t open it again until now.

I close the door and peek my head into the bathroom.

Still, nothing looks strange. It’s clean, like I left it.

Then I look in my room. There are clothes laying on the bed, and it’s haphazardly made, per my usual.

But my closet door is slightly open. It’s entirely possible I left it that way.

Grams would yell at me for leaving kitchen cabinets open all the time.

“Is anything different in here?” Wyatt asks over my shoulder.

“Maybe I don’t remember if I left the closet like that,” I tell him and anxiously reach for the door.

“Please don’t touch it,” Wyatt says quickly.

I jerk my hand away and toe the door back with my shoe. I didn’t have many clothes to begin with, but I left one dress here, and it’s gone because it’s on her.

“Can you confirm the dress you spoke of is gone?” Wyatt asks.

“Yes, it’s not here. it’s on Hazel.”

Killian leans forward, whispering in my ear, “Do you want me to check the study for you? I know it’s hard.”

I shake my head no, and his large hand clasps my shoulder. I have to do this. If he messed with my ancestors’ journals, I don’t know how I’ll respond, but it won’t be pretty.

Taking a deep breath before I open the door, Killian’s hand grabs the back of my neck again in silent encouragement, and it steadies me.

Killian follows closely behind, and I look around, but it’s all clean, exactly like we left it. I put all the journals and books back where they belonged. I knew it would have made Grams smile. Since I cleaned up after myself.

“This looks the same,” Killian says in my ear.

I spot another Death Flower sitting on Grandma Lily’s recipe journal in the corner, and my hands start shaking. Killian subtly follows my line of sight.

He was in here too.

Glancing over my shoulder, Wyatt remains in the hall, watching us carefully. I step away from Killian to the other side of the room, pretending I’m inspecting things as Killian swipes the other flower. The nausea in my stomach eases a little at how Killian simply knew what I was thinking.

“This is all normal I think. If anything was touched, it was put exactly where it was found,” I say to Wyatt.

Wyatt purses his lips and writes in his little notebook.

Killian returns to my side.

“You didn’t check the apothecary yet,” Wyatt says.

“I know,” I rasp. It’s probably because of guilt. But it has to be done.

Killian closes the door to the study and follows me to the apothecary.

Due to the state of my garden, I’m hoping and praying that it’s untouched.

Otherwise, I really will be screwed. It’s hard enough getting people to come in.

But now there’s a dead body that looks like some kind of macabre ritual sacrifice in my backyard.

People in this town will probably think I’m the one who did it, and there’s no way they’re going to come in here to buy a healing salve for a scar.

I’m finished.

Herbs fill my nose as I step into the small shop area, and I lose a long breath. Everything is in pristine condition, untouched.

“Anything?” Wyatt asks.

“No, it’s all fine,” I mutter.

Cricket’s is probably expecting their soap delivery, and I finished these last week.I reach for the bars, and Wyatt startles me.

“I’m sorry you can’t take anything with you. This is a crime scene,” Wyatt says.

“I can’t take blocks of soap? What do these have to do with a murdered woman?” I snap.

“Come on, Wyatt, you know this isn’t necessary,” Killian says.

Wyatt’s eyes narrow on Killian, and he drops his focus on mine. “Fine, you can’t take anything else,” he mutters.

I reach for one of my bags, setting the soap in it.

Killian stands behind me and cages me in from behind and drops the Death Flower in the bag with my other things.

It seems like Wyatt didn’t know it was there, and the last thing I want is to give him a reason to go through my ancestors’ journals.

It feels violating to me. Killian is one of the few people who isn’t a Greer to actually read through them.

Killian steps back and takes the bag for me.

“When can I come back?” I ask Wyatt.

“We will call you,” Wyatt grunts.

“I don’t have a cell phone,” I mutter.

He rolls his eyes. “I’ll call Killian’s house.”

I nod and start past Wyatt. He grabs my arm, and I try to wiggle out of his grip. Killian might have growled behind me, but I lift my chin, meeting Wyatt’s eyes.

“We may have more questions, so please be available when we need you.”

“And I expect everything to be exactly how you found it in my home,” I say. I incline my head once and jerk my arm from his hand.

When I get to the kitchen door, Killian isn’t behind me. He’s in Wyatt’s face, and before I have a chance to step between them, Killian hauls off and socks Wyatt in the jaw.

“Killian!” I scream.

Wyatt stumbles back into the wall, catching himself, and throws his fist at Killian.

Killian grunts, but absorbs the blow, hardly moving.

Before Killian can respond accordingly, Jasper Redding and Parker Hoyt pull them apart

Wyatt growls and swings again. “I should arrest you for that.”

Killian lunges for him, but Deputy Redding holds fast.

Wyatt rubs his jaw as if he’s trying to decide if they’re going to come to blows, and wreck my house.

Killian jerks out of Redding’s grasp and points his finger into Wyatt’s chest. “Touch her again, and you will have a reason to take me to prison. Got it?”

Wyatt nods stiffly, and Killian grabs my bag off the floor and marches me out of the house, his hand at the small of my back, gently pushing me forward.

We round the corner to the front, and I think more people from town have shown up.

They’re watching with rapt attention, like a TV show.

Killian moves his hand to my shoulder and guides me from the crowd back to the truck.

“I’m sorry, little witch, but I don’t want to see another man’s hands on you — ever. ”

Heart racing for two different reasons, I keep my mouth shut because I’m not sure how to respond to either feeling. But a tiny, maybe a little shameful part of me wants to say; I’m glad he did what he did because Killian is the only one who can touch me how he pleases.

He opens the passenger side for me and carefully hands the bag to me before he closes the door. I sink into the seat as the adrenaline washes away and the reality of what happened on my land drowns it.

We’re silent on the way back to the ranch, and the moment Killian turns onto the gravel drive I burst into tears. And I really let it out. This is not a silent cry as tears fall down my face. I wail. Holding onto the bag of soap and the Death Flower left by a killer and stalker.

Tears cloud my vision, and everything in front of me is a blur. The truck stops, and I scream into the windshield, and the Spirits wail with me, filling my ears. Arms come around me, lifting me out of the truck. I bury my nose in his neck as he carries me into the house and up the stairs.

I faintly recognize the soft bed beneath me. Killian takes the bag from my hands, and I curl into myself, crying into the comforter.

Killian grabs my ankles, takes off my boots then lays behind me, curling his large body around me.

“Let it out, darlin’ I’m right here. I’ll be here to pick you up,” he says in my ear.

I stutter for breath, trying to breath through my snotty nose, but the tears refuse to stop.

“You’re safe. I won’t let him get near you,” he whispers.

Killian keeps whispering in my ear until the sun is long down and my face feels dry and cracked from the tears, but he never lets go.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It wasn’t that stupid fight,” I mumble and take a deep breath.

“Hazel was in my store. She was with Jane.”

“I remember, but I wasn’t about to tell Wyatt. Especially because I was the one that practically kicked her out,” Killian says.

I turn around his arms so we’re nose to nose, he tucks a piece of hair behind my ear, searching my eyes.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry for all of it,” he says.

His eyes flash, and I can see the unadulterated rage behind them.

“There was no way you would’ve known it’s the same person,” I rasp.

His lip twitches. “I should’ve picked up on it,” he says. “He killed that woman and made her look like you. I failed you. I’m sorry,” he says.

“You haven’t failed me, Killian. How can we fight an enemy we can’t see?” I ask him.

“I don’t know,” he mumbles.

“Grams would be heartbroken.” I take a deep breath even though my eyes burn with more tears. I’m so tired of crying.

“I’m sure she would, but she would be proud too.”

I look away. My throat fills with shame, making it hard to swallow. He’s wrong. I’m sure she’d have disowned me by now.

“You were so brave today, Eliana. I know walking through your house like that, seeing Hazel, and your garden, tore you up inside. But you faced it.”

“Why me? Why us?” I ask him.

“It’s probably not a good thing that I think we’re going to find out.”

“I just want to hide under the covers until it all goes away,” I mumble, shoving my face further into the pillow.

“Can I come with?”

“I don’t know why you’d want to,” I say into the pillow.

He doesn’t answer right away, and I pull my face out of the bedding to face him again.

He blinks and drags his thick finger over my nose and lips, stopping at my chin. “Because I want to be wherever you are.”