Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

Knox and Gray shuffled through the photo stacks on the coffee table, taking care with the ones still stuck together.

“I managed to get a lot of them apart, but will work on the others.” She laid the photo of the “sleeping woman”—as she’d come to call her—aside, not wanting to be reminded of Knox’s words.

Gray started laying a line of the old-fashioned square photos in a row like playing cards from a deck. “Here’s Cassandra at the event at the home for unwed mothers. I wonder if this was the opening celebration?”

“Who’s Cassandra?” Brynn asked.

“Cassandra Rosewood, she’s a high-profile woman who lived not far from the school. She was murdered about twenty years ago—a completely unsolved murder.”

“Murder and a dangerous secret society. Lovely little town this is...”

Colby smiled at her sarcasm. “It has its moments.”

The next photo had a group of middle-aged white men in it, mingling in front of a semicircle of empty chairs. “This is probably the county administrators or council at the time.”

“What’s that?”

“Childress County isn’t like all of the others in Tennessee. Three counties have what’s called consolidated governments. Because Childress is so small, they were able to create a county government that doesn’t just rule the county, but Thornbury Woods itself at once. There is no city government here.”

“I’ve never heard of that.” Brynn couldn’t imagine the power that must give this group of men.

“They run this county how they want,” Knox said. “Keep in who they want. Keep out who they want.” He touched the photo of Cassandra with a deliberate point. “Eliminate who they want.”

Brynn felt her stomach sink.

“There’s a reason why we’re bringing this up, Brynn,” Gray said, his voice softer than his friend’s. “Colby said you wanted revenge against these men. But right now, I don’t know of a safe way for you to do that...especially if one of them is already watching you.”

She thought of all her dad had lost, of the fear he’d lived through. She met his solemn gaze. “I can’t give that up. I made a promise.”

“Then help us,” Gray said. “In the end, if there’s someone to get revenge against, we can do it together.”

Could she trust them? Could she really?

Knox, she wasn’t as sure about. He seemed friendly enough, but he’d had a few moments that his expression had given her pause. Gray appeared the more compassionate of the two, and made her feel more at ease.

Colby trusted him. Maybe she should too. She gave a slow nod. “I’ll do my best.” Those women deserved it. Her father deserved it.

“I’d like to take these with us,” Knox said. “I think I know someone who can help us with them. Honestly, I’d feel better if you moved to the school. There’s more safety in numbers.”

That sounded like a good plan. But something made her hesitate. As unnerving as the basement was, she really wanted to be in this place where she’d lived with her dad, where she’d met Colby, where they’d spent Christmas together.

“I’m not sure it’s safe for you to stay here alone, once people in town start to realize who you are,” Gray said. “Or should I say, certain people in town.”

“She won’t be alone. I guarantee it.”

Colby’s words caused something inside her to go still, but she couldn’t help teasing him. “You will?” she asked, raising a brow in question.

In usual Colby fashion, he simply grinned at her but turned a more serious expression to his friends. “I think moving her from here to the school would signal to anyone watching that she did find something. That she’s running.”

Knox nodded slowly.

“With me here, it will just look like she moved in. But I’ll be here too,” Colby said.

Gray chimed in, “Maybe I can put up some security cameras? It would be helpful to know if anyone is lurking around, getting too close.”

“The woods too,” Knox said.

Gray nodded.

“Thanks, man,” Colby said, shaking hands with both of the men. “That will make me—and I’m sure Brynn—feel a lot better.”

After packing the trunk up, Colby escorted the two men to the door. Their goodbyes on the porch were brief, but Colby left the door open. Knox’s, “Be careful,” and, “Call us if anything suspicious happens,” were both nerve-racking and comforting. She had Colby as back up; Colby had his friends as back up. She was no longer fighting the demons alone.

Standing on her own two feet had been a way of life for Brynn, always, but for once it felt good to have someone by her side who was a partner, as opposed to someone she felt she had to take care of.

As Colby closed the door and returned to the warm nest of the living room, Brynn felt something inside her relax. His arrival had tripped a switch she hadn’t known she’d been holding down; with each ticking second she’d been convincing herself he wouldn’t return.

Now here he was, proving her wrong again.

Of course, she couldn’t let him just waltz in here without giving him a hard time. “Who says you get to hang around here?”

His cocky look challenged her. “Didn’t I bring the calvary?”

“Time will tell.” She was still uncertain how this would go, but she really did hope they had a way forward to solve the mystery that had haunted her since she was eight years old.

“And in the meantime?” he asked, a little uncertainty creeping into his voice too.

“Thank you for coming back,” she said, all of the true emotions she felt warming the words.

Colby closed the distance between them so he could cup her face in his cool palms. “I could never leave you all alone. Especially not knowing what all of this means.”

“Maybe with their help we can get some answers?”

His hug felt like hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day—soothing, satisfying.

“To answer my own question,” he murmured against the top of her head, “I brought you a present.”

“Christmas is over.”

“Ah, but we never had Christmas dinner.”

As if he spoke directly to her stomach, it growled. “I was looking forward to a good meal, since someone ate all of my groceries...and I’ve been living for the past two days on canned soup.”

“I bet.” He laughed. “And there’s a bonus.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes, ma’am. I believe I owe someone chocolate chip cookies?—”

“Okay, I think I’ll let you stay then.”

He smiled down at her before leaning in for a kiss. As their lips met, Brynn felt that sense of destiny once more, like she had when she’d stopped on the roadside on her drive from Oregon. Ms. Tinsel had been right. Her wish had come true.

This time, the light at the end of the road was Colby—his laughter, his light, and hopefully one day, his love.