Blood Luster

Chapter Two

Magnolia could feel the tension in the vehicle, she wasn't sure where he was taking her yet. While riding in his truck she realized she didn't know much about him anymore. The only things she knew were things from seven years ago, besides that he still lived in Penseton and drove a nice Chevy truck. That led her to assume he had a decent job.

"What do you do for a living?" she asked.

"I bought the Peterson Farm after Jeff passed away, Randall and Sarah didn't want anything to do with it. They posted it for sale, and it seemed to be a great investment. So far so good."

"I didn't know that Jeff died," she said, looking out the window at the trees as they passed by.

"Yeah, he died from cancer. He was sick for a long time; I think they were more relieved when he passed. They both had put their lives on hold while taking care of him and seeing him like that was hard for them."

"I can imagine. They were always really close with Jeff, especially after their mom ran out on them."

"There's just some things we won't ever understand." He glanced over at her.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. She knew that he was referring to her mom and she didn't want to spoil the evening by bringing up things from the past.

"Why are you back Mags? Why now? Nobody has heard from you for seven years," he paused. "There has to be a reason that you're back now."

"I need to know what happened to my mom. It's time for me to have some answers and be able to put this town behind me finally."

That didn't take long.

"Everyone will always wonder what happened to Grace, but it's been thirteen years. They couldn't reopen the case even if they wanted to."

She sighed. "I don't want them to reopen the case, I will do the investigation myself. They all act like it's not a big deal, but it was huge for me. I lost my mom and my innocence the day she died. I don't think it's too much to ask to find out who took her life. We could all use a little justice if you ask me. Let's not forget that my mother wasn't the only person that died during that string of murders. Whoever is responsible has been running around free and clear," she said.

"Mags, I wasn't trying to be rude. I just don't want to see you hurt all over again. I don't want the same result as seven years ago. You weren't the only one who mourned her, obviously you, Violet, and Leo had it the worst, but the rest of us struggled too. Everyone remembers the horrors of that time; we remember every day. I just don't think we should go around digging up skeletons from the past. Let's also not forget the people that stayed and picked up the pieces of the fallout, it wasn't easy. Don't their feelings matter enough to not bring back old trauma?"

"Of course I care about everyone, but I'm tired of compromising my needs to satisfy others." After a moment of silence. "I'm done talking about this," she said, then crossed her arms over her chest.

They turned down a gravel road and passed a barn on the way. Seeing the barn let her know they were at the Peterson Farm. He pulled into the small driveway fork and into a parking spot in front of the house. She got out of the truck and immediately noticed changes that were made to the outside of the house.

"Did you paint it yourself?" she asked, attempting to break the awkward silence.

"No, before I decided to buy it the real estate agent suggested that Randall paint it to increase the curb appeal. I lucked into some renovations being done by the time I purchased it. It had really gone downhill in the past couple of years with Jeff sick and nobody to do repairs," he said, walking around the truck.