The Trouble with Evie

Chapter 1

My uncle slowed the vehicle behind the parked car, sighing heavily as he pulled the handbrake on. Ahead of us was the real estate agent, beaming a smarmy smile that held little honesty. The guy was certainly pleasant, fawning all over Brad as if he was going to snap up this amazing deal with whirlwind speed. Little did he know that my uncle had zero interest in the house so long as the structure was sound and it was cheap.

"What number are we up to now?"

"For what? Houses that we've looked at or towns that we've moved to? Both are in double digits."

Brad smiled thinly. His sympathy was lacking, as always.

"Houses that we've looked at."

"This is house number twelve."

"It's certainly more promising than the last one. Come on, let's get this over and done with."

Brad turned off the engine, and the windscreen wipers stopped halfway across the glass. We'd been in Hades for a week, and it hadn't stopped raining. Quite literally. I have not heard a single minute where there hasn't been some form of rain. From a light patter to torrential, it was endless.

"Are you sure you want to live in this town? The name is kind of creepy."

I was expecting the devil to jump out from behind a bush. So far, the only thing that's jumped out at us was a rat. It was in the loading dock at the bed and breakfast we were staying at. Brad had gone down there to collect a delivery, insisting I helped him with the boxes.

"We don't have a choice. Got to go where the boss says, and that's all there is to it."

"Well, you might want to ring your boss and tell him to send umbrellas and raincoats. Maybe a rowboat might be ideal too."

Brad chuckled as we approached the real estate agent. Like everyone else, this guy assumed that Brad was my father. I looked like Brad. There was no doubt that we were related.

We both had chocolate brown hair and deep green eyes. We were fair-skinned and tall. The only difference, aside from our genders and ages, was that Brad had developed a bit of a potbelly.

Sometimes Brad would correct a person if they assumed wrong. Sometimes he didn't bother at all. I guess he only wanted to make sure they didn't think that he was some pervert that was dating a teenager. If they thought that, then they were clearly blind. Brad and I were definitely two peas in a pod.

"Glad you made it, Brad. Did you find the place okay?"

"Yeah, easy as."

He nodded, then turned to me. The artificially whitened teeth stood out in the gleaming smile. I tried not to stare. Tom was a man that liked to keep up his image. I'd only seen him a couple of times for these viewings, but it was obvious that the man had invested a lot of money into the view. Like the fake tan and the pristine suits, the chunky gold ring on his finger, or the fancy watch on his wrist. Tom Garrow was the perfect image of a man that was good at his job and showed it in his appearance.

"What do you think, Evelyn?"

"Well, it's more promising than the last," I muttered. "At least the front door is where it's supposed to be."

The smile faded as he stared at me. He didn't know what to say or how to respond.

"She's joking." Brad interrupted, then stepped between us to cut us off.

As they walked to the footpath, Brad frowned at me. I shrugged. As if I was going to be anything less than honest. The last place did not have a front door, literally. It was sitting on the front lawn, sodden and broken. Inside was completely trashed with graffiti, someone had started a fire in the living room, and there were a lot of used needles and a homemade bong. After seeing the needles, I turned around and sat in the car.