Page 22 of Destined Chaos
I didn’t want to buy groceries. I didn’t want to even be in this damn house. Maybe I should sell to Johnson just so I could move on.
“Judging by the rate of all these problems, I think if I don’t sell to Johnson, then I’m going to be here a lot longer than I intended.”
“You don’t need to sell to him just yet. You haven’t even heard my offer, and besides, you being here a little longer is the best news I’ve heard all day.”
Maybe for him, but most definitely not for me.
My smoothie was gone, and so was the granola bar, when the sheriff stepped out onto the porch where I was sitting on the swing with my foot propped up.
Hugh was at the other end of the porch on the phone. He ended the call and walked over to join us.
“What are we looking at, Clark?” Hugh asked, shoving his hands into his pockets and rocking on his feet.
“Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?”
“Hit me with the bad,” I answered.
“We’re going to be here for days to excavate the basement.”
“And the good?”
“We’ve found some headstone fragments in the back corner of the basement. So, it’s likely that your grandfather wasn’t a serial killer but that Slaughter house was built on some type of burial grounds.”
Some of those bones might have had headstones, but the ones behind the drywall were part of the new addition.
10
Hugh
I wasn’t sure if she was about to cry or have a breakdown. She’d frowned at the news, and then laughter had burst from her lips as she tossed her head back. Clark and I exchanged a worried look. Maybe everything was just now starting to get to her and she was losing it.
“Of course, it is,” Libby said, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. “Why is this happening to me?”
I took the seat next to her and rubbed Libby’s back. “What’s next?”
Clark folded his arms over his chest. “Well, if the team's initial findings are correct, that those bones are hundreds of years old and this was a burial ground, they’ll need to be moved and laid to rest someplace else.”
“Of course,” Libby said and staggered to stand. “Of course, my family built their freakin’ house on top of dead bodies. Out of all the land on this mountain, they picked this specific spot.”
“Libby,” I said, standing next to her.
She narrowed her eyes at Clark and rested her fists on her hips without responding.
“Libby.” I took her by the shoulders to break the death stare she was giving Clark. I wasn’t sure how long he’d hold back his smile.
“What?” she asked, and her shoulders deflated. “What, Hugh? Where are you finding the bright spot in this situation?”
“There’s a ton. First, those people deserve peace…and…” I held up my hand, seeing the rebuttal waiting on her lips. “…and…you don’t know whose bones those are. They could be your own relatives from eons ago. Maybe your grandfather didn’t even know there were bones in the ground. It’s possible he never came down into the basement and whoever built the place might not have told him.”
“Okay,” she said as if pulling herself together. “You’re right. I can handle this regardless if I didn’t see it coming.”
“If you had seen it coming, I’d be a bit more worried that you had a serial killer in the family,” Clark said.
I turned my gaze to his. “You’re so not helping.”
He held up his hands and stepped back. “We’re going to be here for a few days excavating the bodies, so you might want to get a room at my mom’s inn for a couple of nights.”
“Climbing the stairs is going to be an issue,” I said and nodded. “She’ll stay with me.”
