Fort Oakley | Part One

7 | Hugs Are Free But Jacey Doesn't Get Any

Agent Vance left me staring at Kinsey's poster and I started to wonder if I could have done something last night.

I could have followed those people, tried to stop them from killing Kinsey, but who's to say they wouldn't have just taken me too?

And then twenty seven years later, Claire would find my lifeless body on a random street in town.

Knowing my thoughts were irrational, I decided to walk back to Claire's house, not wanting to go back to that tense atmosphere in the church. Ms. Saby was sure to start a tiny riot if she didn't get her answers.

I was halfway back to the house when Sheriff Lucien pulled up next to me in his police car.

The passenger window was rolled down, and our Sheriff shot me a look. "You know, the least you could do is tell Claire you're going home instead of sneaking out."

"She called you, didn't she?"

First she didn't care when Elvin left bruises on me, and now she was suddenly worried when I walked two blocks away?

She was going crazy.

Sheriff Lucien nodded. "A dead body just turned up in town, Charly. I would be worried about my kid too."

I'm not her kid, I wanted to say, but I was being mean and I knew that.

Claire had wanted me when my biological parents didn't and suffered for it because her parents hated her for adopting me.

"Are you still joining us for dinner, or are you needed at the station?"

"An FBI agent showed up and told me he'd call if he and his team needed anything and then Claire called, so I left."

"Agent Vance?" I ask as I climb into the passenger seat of his car.

"You know him?"

"He was at the crime scene this morning. Introduced himself. Told us to direct all our question to you. Lieutenant Andino told him that the FBI wasn't invited to investigate."

Sheriff Lucien sighs. "They weren't, but they're investigating a case that crosses state lines, so they have every right to be here."

The Sheriff seemed tired so I moved away from the topic, rather focusing on lighter things as he drove us to Claire's.

Once Claire gets back, I apologize for leaving her at the church and offer to make dinner by myself, leaving her and Sheriff Lucien in the living room with a bottle of wine.

It was hard to explain what was going on between them.

Sheriff Lucien had joined us for dinner multiple times a week for as long as I could remember. In many ways, he was the only father figure I had in my life and over time he became part of Claire and I's routine.

They were interested in each other and they both knew it, but for reasons unknown to me, they refused to act on their feelings.

I was silently holding out hope that someday they would because I wasn't staying in Fort Oakley after high school, but I didn't want Claire to come back to an empty house every night once I was gone.

↟↟↟

Monday morning, our teachers had to attend a workshop out of town so we got the day off, and Finley and I agreed to another movie marathon at his house once we had both completed our homework.

"Hey Fin, did you see the news about Keep It Down?" I ask as I approach his bedroom after his parents let me in. However, I come to a stop in his doorway when I spot Jacey sitting in Finley's desk chair.