Red Hood (Book One)

Chapter Fifteen

As soon as I entered the store, I heard generic jazz music playing in the background. Axel and Maula greeted me with hugs. Axel's hug lingered for a little too long. Then, he let go of me. Thank God.

"Hey, girl. It's nice to see you," Maula said, smiling.

  I smiled back."So, this is the store. It looks nice."

"We have more to show you. Come on."

I followed them down a hallway right next to the register. We ended up walking into a room full of framed photos on the wall. There was also an axe in the corner of the room. It would've impressed me if I didn't know about their façade.

 Tom scratched the back of his neck and moved out of my way. I went out to the hallway, dialing my mama's number. He walked past me in the same direction that Axel did. I hoped they had a shower over there.

 I waited a few minutes for an answer. Instead of that, I got the robotic answering machine. So, I called a second time. That photo from the 'Hall of Rescues' crossed my mind. I went back in there. 

 The photo had a plaque under it. I noticed the date was 'June, 1989'. After another glance at the plaque under the axe, the date of the photo had something in common. They were a month apart. Maybe it was a coincidence. Right at that moment, I finally got an answer. 

 "Hey, mama." 

 "Hey, Candy. How's your first week in Alabama?" She answered.

 "It's fine. Are you okay?" 

 "I'm alright. My therapist just left." 

 "You started therapy?" 

 "Yeah. We talked about my fear of wolves and the incident of '89." 

 The longer I stared at that photo, the more uncomfortable my mama looked. Especially since Tom was standing next to her, with a bloody axe in his hand. Hell, that made me feel uncomfortable. His chaotic smile and wide eyes didn't help.

 He had the same facial expression in the other photos. I didn't think what Axel said earlier was even true. The smiles on those girls' faces looked forced. A door slammed out of nowhere. I turned my attention to the door. It was still open and no one was here. 

 "Do you remember seeing a man with a man with an axe that day?" I asked, pacing back and forth. 

 My mama let out a sigh. "Yeah. He scared me almost as much as the wolf did." 

 "Did he ask you to take a photo with him?" 

 "Yeah. I had to put on a fake smile because he rescued me from the wolf. Why are you asking me this?" 

 "I found the photo and got curious." 

 A knock on the door made me stop pacing. Axel stood in front of me, holding a brown cup of coffee. The call dropped. I furrowed my brow. That was strange. 

 Axel dramatically sniffed the air and sniffed the air. I walked past him out to the hallway, where I almost bumped into Maula. She hid a yellow manila envelope behind her back when she saw me. Why was she hiding it? 

 I knew this was nosey, but that made me want to see it more. So, I moved past her and looked at the envelope. For a second, I saw the address. Maula turned around before I could let it soak into my memory. Damn.