Page 40 of It's a Wonderful Knife

“I’m really sorry.” Her voice wobbled, and she clasped her hands. “I want you to understand you’re all safe, it’s just no one can leave. Most of you weren’t leaving until the end of the week anyway, but Mr. Walker, I’m afraid you won’t be able to go today as planned.”

Richard looked horrified. “No. That’s not possible. I have to get out of here. I… I have a very important… meeting.”

She gritted her teeth. “That simply won’t be possible. Not today. Maybe not even tomorrow.”

“I… I will be leaving today.” Richard’s expression was hard.

Mona winced at his harsh tone. “I understand your frustration, but I’ve never seen it this bad in all the years I’ve lived here. According to the news, four people have already died in this storm trying to cross that river.”

Ezra piped up, “Crossing that river is out of the question. It’s a death trap.”

Mona nodded. “Yes.”

“That doesn’t work for me,” Richard hissed. “You people are insane if you think I’ll stay here even one more day.”

Gianna raised her brows. “But… it’s so nice here, and they treat us like royalty. I don’t see what the big deal is about staying a little longer.”

Richard gave her a surly glance. “No,youwouldn’t.”

“Well, that’s not very nice,” Gianna mumbled.

Penelope said in her best mayor tone, “They’re only thinking of our safety, Richard. You need to listen to them.”

“You don’t understand,” Richard’s face was sallow. “I can’t just not make this meeting. Surely you have a boat or something that I could use to cross over? Your men could help me.”

Mona bugged her eyes at that suggestion. “I’m not risking the lives of my boys trying to get you across that river. You’re not listening to me—it’s impassible. You’d die trying to get across, that’s a guarantee. It’s not the river you saw on the way in. It’s ten times the size and deadly.”

“This is ridiculous. You can’t keep me here.” Richard scowled. “If I want to try and cross that river, I can do that.”

Ezra guffawed. “Then you’re a damn fool.”

“I realize you’re inconvenienced, Mr. Walker,” Mona said, giving her husband an impatient look. “But I can’t in good conscience allow you anywhere near that river. I’m sorry.”

“Inconvenienced?” Richard screeched. “That meeting is life or death for me, lady.”

I frowned because he sounded borderline hysterical. What kind of a fool would want to risk his life for a business meeting? “Come on now, I’m sure your boss will understand.”

Richard gave me an uneasy glance. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know your boss wouldn’t want you to kill yourself.”

Scowling, Richard didn’t respond.

“I’m sure other people won’t be able to get to the meeting either,” Max said. “It’s not like this weather is just isolated to the farm.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “That’s a good point. Your boss may not even be able to make the meeting.”

“He’ll make it,” muttered Richard. “And he’ll… kill me…if… if Idon’t.”

Lucas laughed wryly. “I’ve never seen anyone this upset about not having to go to work.”

Richard’s gaze was dark and worried. “None of you understand.”

He was right. None of us did understand. None of us would kill ourselves just to make a work meeting, and it was weird he would. I studied him, taking in his sweaty face and glittering eyes. The whole time he’d been at the farm, he’d worn fancy suits and silk ties. I think that had made me look past a few things. Now that I really studied him, I recognized possible signs I’d missed before. He had a few facial tics, and he buzzed with an unusual amount of tension. I’d seen that sort of restless anxiety a few times before with “tweakers.”

Is Richard Walker a meth addict?

I narrowed my eyes, watching him closely. If he was a drug addict, maybe he’d run out of drugs. Could that be why he was so panicked to get out of here? We didn’t have a huge drug problem in Rainy Dale. Naturally, there were people who used drugs, but it wasn’t an epidemic in our little town, so I didn’t deal with “tweaking” on a regular basis. With my lack of experience, it was possible I was misreading the situation. Perhaps he really,reallyjust didn’t want to displease his boss.