Page 53 of Inside Silence

“Not sure what you think you can pin on me, missy, but I’ve been up here fishing since you kicked my ass to the curb.”

“I’m not looking to pin anything on anyone, Jeff, unlike some people I know,” I return with a taunt of my own.

“Are you accusing me of something?” he immediately fires back, already getting riled up.

Perfect. I like him hissing and snarling. His own mouth will run him into trouble.

“Not at all,” I respond calmly, which probably only pisses him off more.

“Miss High and Mighty. You think your shit don’t stink, but it didn’t take you long to hook back up with that delinquent boyfriend of yours, did it?”

My blood runs cold at his words and I have to struggle not to show any reaction, because that’s what he’s after.

He’s been watching. He has to have been or he wouldn’t know that about Nate and me.

So much for him being up at the river all this time; it would appear he’s been doing a lot more than fishing.

I force a derisive laugh. “My Lord, Jeff; you must be really hammered, you’re starting to hallucinate.”

“Like hell I am,” he snarls back. “You’re welcoming that piece of trash back with open arms and, just like that, the town is going to hell in a handbasket. I knew you weren’t fit for the job. Two murders in one week since that criminal rolled back into town, and what do you do? You throw yourself at that filthy bastard instead of locking his sorry ass up.”

I feel his spittle hit the back of my neck, but I don’t move, because every word out of his mouth is a nail in his own coffin.

“This town was locked down tight before you took over. There was no room for criminals like Gaines, and we made sure they didn’t stick around for long. Sent his ass packing too, and boy, were we glad to see the back of him.”

We?

I swallow the question hovering on my lips. I’d just be playing into his hands.

“Nathan told me how you ran him out of town,” I say instead. “Threatening to frame him for a crime you knew he had nothing to do with.” I glance in the rearview mirror and see his narrowed eyes shimmer from the shadows of the back seat. “It must’ve scared the crap out of you when you saw him back in town. Afraid he’d rat you out?”

He snorts. “I’m not scared of that piece of shit. But I bet you he realizes now he made a bad choice the day he decided to move back to Silence.”

Not quite a confession, but a clear admission he at least knows about the attack on Nate. I decide to push just a little more.

“And why is that?”

I catch him watching me in the rearview mirror and his face slowly cracks with a smile that sends a shiver down my spine.

“Because I’m not the only one upset to see Gaines back in town.”

“Oh?”

I try to stay casual as I raise an eyebrow. Sanchuk appears to be enjoying this exchange a little too much, and it makes me uneasy.

“Yeah…” he drawls. “But you’re gonna have to look a whole lot closer to home for that.”

My eyes immediately snap to my side mirror where I can see the Bronco still at the back of our little convoy.

I can just catch part of my father’s outline behind the wheel.

Swallowing hard, I force down the bile crawling up my throat.

Chapter 16

Savvy

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