I know I saw him.
The thought haunts my days. I think about it while I'm getting groceries, while I'm at work and helping Audrey with her calculus homework.
I saw the bastard. And I know he's here on the Island. That much is true.
I can't eat or sleep. All I think about is the note from Uncle Jack. The mirrors, our great grandmother and her superstitions. Where the fuck is Uncle Rob?
I feel like I won't have any peace until I find him.
Exhausted from lack of sleep, I take a week of early vacation to sort it out. I grill my mother on anything she can remember about my great grandmother Tabitha, but mom's memory is lost to time.
In desperation, I enlist Jake to take a trip with me to Rob's old house, now boarded up and abandoned at the foot of Kelly's Mountain in rural Cape Breton.
Bundled up in winter coats and rubber boots, we scout the property but find nothing in the way of clues. Dejected, I sit on a rock and look at the ocean while Jake continues his exploration.
"Uncle Jack wouldn't have mentioned all that stuff about our great grandmother if it didn't mean anything," I say to the wind. "Indeed," is all Jake says, his cheeks red raw from the cold.
"Maybe we should just head back to Grey's Harbour. There's nothing here," I say, looking around the windswept property.
"Don't give up just yet," Jake says, before he goes off exploring. I gaze out at the choppy, grey ocean thinking that if I had a place in this exact spot, I would want for nothing.
A shout from Jake shakes me out of my reverie. "Come, look at this!"
I wander over to him. He's standing in front of some kind of root cellar.
"That's not unlocked, surely," I say.
Jake throws open the doors. "After you," he says, gesturing below. "And stop calling me Shirley."
I shoot him an exasperated look at the dumb joke and descend into the cellar. Once my eyes adjust to the dark, I gasp.
Someone was living in the basement. Though the house was boarded up, the basement contains a rumpled sleeping bag, musty, rotting food and toiletries.
"Rob's been here. So much for luxe New York living," I mutter.
"So you were right about him being at the casino. But where is he now?" Jake says.
We hear the eerie sound of clapping, deliberate and slow. Uncle Rob emerges from the shadows, holding a gun. It's pointed right at us. His eyes are glowing bright blue.
"Well done, you two. You've found me. Too bad that now, you'll have to die."
YOU ARE READING
The Trust
General Fiction*COMPLETE* A trusted relative has come into money - more than he can ever spend in several lifetimes. And he wants to share it with you. You're part of a trust, due to receive a fortune - and soon. Life-changing money, the kind you only dream about...
