My whole stomach was in knots.
“Anything I need to know before we do this?” Elliot asked me, the lights from the dashboard reflecting eerily on the planes of his face.
“I dunno,” I replied. “I mean. The Community controls everything that happens on their land.”
“Everything? Including criminal investigations?” He sounded surprised.
I suppose I should have realized how strange that was—especially since I was in crime scene investigation. “I don’t think the Sheriff’s office really wants to deal with the Community, if they can help it. But for a murder, yeah. It’ll be Augusta County.”
“Swoope don’t have their own police?”
“It’s too small,” I replied.
“And the Sheriff’s Office is where?”
“Staunton.” I shifted, wincing.
“Do you?—”
“No. Just keep going.” I wanted to just get the rest of the drive over with. I wanted this whole thing over with. I wanted to try to either drink or drug myself into unconsciousness, somehow, so that I could sleep without dreaming.
It had been years since I’d had dreams about my childhood, but I was afraid—no, not afraid,terrified—that they were going to come roaring back now that I was barely a half-hour’s drive from the source of my nightmares. It probably wasn’t just me, either.
The details of Noah’s nightmares might have been different, but we’d both had them. I wondered if he still did.
I was sure he’d be having them now, if he’d managed to sleep more than I had over the last two days, which I kind of doubted.
I wanted desperately to talk to him. To make sure he was okay—or as okay as he could be, given the circumstances, anyway.
But there were thirty-eight hours left before the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office had to either charge him or release him—and unless they found another, more viable suspect or came up with evidence implicating Noah, I’d have to wait until then.
I couldn’t imagine they’d find something that pointed to Noah. Noah wasn’t a killer—certainly not a cold-blooded one, not that I could imagine him losing his temper and killing someone, either. Even our parents.
2
Elliot Crane
I have found some place called Cranberry’s that has fancy coffee.
What would you like?
Also breakfast.
Seth Crane
Doesnt matter
You need to eat.
Fine
Get me whatever
Elliot had goneout to find breakfast that wasn’t the weird not-food that was free hotel breakfast because he said he didn’t trust eggs that had the consistency of a plasma. I wasn’t hungry, but I knew he was probably right that I should eatsomething—I hadn’t eaten much the day before, and I wasn’t likely to start feeling like eating any time soon, so I really needed to just force myself.
I dragged myself into the bathroom and was just drying off from my shower when I heard Elliot returning.
“You okay? Ish?” he asked me, leaning in the tiny hotel bathroom doorway.
