Page 35

CHAPTER 35

REDLEY

One week has passed since Wolf killed the only cop willing to help me.

Six days since Wolf took my virginity beside his dead body.

Five days since I rolled him off a cliff, watched Bobby die, and willingly got in that tub with Wolf after everything he’s done.

Four days since I realized I still don’t know who killed my parents, and I was too distracted to find out.

How many more until I can face myself in the mirror?

I wish Granny was here to give me the beating I most certainly deserve. Wolf’s gentleness, his insistence, the way he made me feel. If I don’t do something soon, he’s going to win. I haven’t seen him once since the tub, but I’ve felt him watching here or there.

He’s playing with me again, knowing that after something so intimate, his absence makes me think harder than anything else. So that’s what I’ve been doing, thinking about whatever the hell is actually going on, on this mountain, and talking to my chickens about their treatment of the cop cruiser I am still living with. He took care of Bobby’s body, but not that.

Leaving me alone was a poor choice because that’s when I’m most dangerous. When Wolf is near me, I’m too stupid to think straight. I did a little research on day three. Porter didn’t get a chance to ask many questions in the course of his very short investigation, but he did ask me one that not even Bobby could answer.

“Who runs the electric lines out here?”

I’ve never made friends with Peter Jones, but I haven’t needed to owe him in years, so when I showed up at the diesel station just outside of Grimm Groves and asked him, he thought it was a strange question, but he answered.

“Walden Power, just like everyone else in a five-hundred-mile radius. How hard have you been hitting the shine, Red?”

The rumors of me being a crazy drunk are starting to wear on me, and I often wonder why not just give in to it when I’ve got gallons of moonshine and nothing worth living for anyway. But I haven’t even had a sip in weeks. I’ve survived on pure spite for this long. Why stop now?

It took a couple of hours of driving, but I finally pull the truck into a parking space outside a building. The huge industrial complex only has one sign, really, but it points the way to the administration office of Walden Power, just like everyone else .

When I open the door, a woman in her forties with curly blond hair looks up at me from her phone call and holds up a finger. I smile and then walk around the office while I wait, looking at the pamphlets for rates and coverage areas. All the towns in their part of West Virginia are written in full on the map, but there's nothing right where Grimm Groves should be.

I look over at the woman and wonder if I’m not bringing her into some kind of awful trouble like Porter, but I’m not bringing her out to the mountain like a pig to the slaughter. She probably won’t wind up dead as a result of me showing up here, but the thought crosses my mind as I see the picture on her desk with her husband and children.

“Miss, I can help you now,” she says as she places down the phone.

I pull out my own marked and weathered map as I walk up to her desk, unfolding it in front of her as evidence. “I live in a town called Grimm Groves, and I’ve been paying my electric bill to cash for a long time now. I wanted to stop doing that in case the letters get stolen. Can you verify for me that you hold my account and what the number might be?”

She blinks at me a couple of times. “What state do you live in, Honey?”

“West Virginia,” I answer.

“Wait, you’re saying there’s a town in West Virginia named Grimm Groves? I don’t think so. I’ve lived here all my life and never heard of it.”

I take a deep breath and remind myself that of all the people who might be in on whatever is going on, it’s not her.

“Is there anything you can do to help me?” I’m not above begging, and I know it. “Can you even look?”

“I don’t have to because I know all the areas we service. I’m sorry, we don’t send power out that way. I’m not sure how I can help you because you’re just not one of our customers.”

My hands shake around the map. So much has happened since I stood in front of Porter in a similar position, and I just don’t have it in me to pretend I’m strong anymore.

“I need this,” I say. “I need to know what’s happening.”

She looks confused. “If the power keeps coming, why don’t you keep paying your bill?”

“I don’t know who I’m paying.”

She shrugs, but it’s not rude, only clueless. “If you move into our service area, we’ll be happy to have you.”

Her look is so strongly pitying it’s like a smack in the face. I’ve never gotten help before, and I don’t need it now. What I need is the truth, and someone is going to give it to me.

“Can you show me your service map, the current one, not the big one on the wall?”

She’s getting frustrated with me but trying her best to be kind. She sighs as she rolls her chair back to make some space and pulls her own off the desk. Hers shows the entire state of West Virginia and a few chunks of surrounding states they cover as well—far more than what’s on the wall. She places it on the counter in front of me.

“You can look for yourself. The red spots aren’t covered by us.”

My mountain isn’t the only red cross-hatched section on the map, but I know the area well enough to know that the rest of these places aren’t habitable. As far as I know, my mountain is the only place under the red with a good number of residents, many of whom have power.

None of this makes sense.

“So who covers this mountain?” I ask, pointing at Grimm Groves. “Is it a special deal or something?”

She looks for a long minute, furrowing her eyebrows.

“No one, dear. That's a dead zone . No one lives out that way.”

“That’s Grimm Groves,” I insist. “And I have electricity in my cabin, and I pay my bill. So whose customer am I?”

Her expression shifts to one I know well. She’s shutting down, deciding not to listen to the crazy lady. I’m not going to get much more out of her now.

“Dear, I don’t know what to tell you or how to help you, but I’m a very busy woman, and I just don’t have time for this.”

My jaw clenches even though I knew this was where we were headed. “Fine, thanks anyway,” I say, turning to leave.

“You have a good day, and stay safe.” Her well-wish is another dig at my sanity, and I consider showing her my rudest finger.

“Lunch is here, Mary,” a tall brunette says as she enters the room.

“Oh great. Let’s shut her down a few minutes early.” Mary’s tone changes completely now that she’s speaking to someone she wants to. She stands, preparing to eat lunch somewhere else, and I watch in the reflection of the glass door.

I think a few very unkind thoughts before I realize what this is. The file room sits directly next to the secretary's desk. I spotted it when I first walked in, and that’s what I need, the records. Someone is serving power out to Grimm Groves.

My rage and disappointment give way to opportunity. Go to lunch, Mary. I’ll figure things out for myself, like usual.