Spark in the Dark

Chapter 167

"Holy shit, did you cut your hair or did someone cut it for you?" Shawn asked Tara when she got back to the cell and saw most of Tara's long hair was gone.

"I did it."

"I was only kidding about your hair giving us problems. You didn't have to chop it off."

Tara didn't answer. She mostly ignored Shawn for the rest of the day, choosing to write on the pad of paper she had returned from her meeting with Lowen with.

"What are you writing, anyways?" Shawn asked as another attempt to make conversation with her.

"Just writing down some thoughts," Tara said without looking up.

Shawn rolled her eyes and finally gave up. She sat back down on her own bunk and looked around. Looking around, she noticed one of the girls she had seen yesterday checking them out was watching them. More specifically, watching Tara. She started walking over to their bunk. As she passed, Shawn could only see her from her waist down, but she clearly paused at the end of the bed for a moment to do something. Shawn leaned to look over as she walked away, again. She sighed when she saw she was carrying Tara's blanket.

"I told you to keep an eye on your shit," Shawn said, but Tara didn't respond.

They were escorted with all the other women to the dining area for dinner later that day. Shawn sat across the table with Tara, who stared intently at her tray of food. Shawn tried talking, but Tara only offered up one word answers or didn't say anything at all. Finally, Shawn had it.

"You know, you have a lot of damn nerve acting like your pissed at me right now," Shawn told her.

Tara sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. We should be sticking together. We-"

"Stop saying 'we', okay? There is no we. There is you and there is me and the last time I checked you got me into this mess."

"Alright. I get it. You're pissed."

"I passed pissed a long time ago," Shawn told her. "You know what? Forget it. You had the right idea. Let's just not talk anymore."

Shawn picked up her fork and began playing with the food on her tray. She could feel Tara looking at her.

"Did you know Clay hired the cartel to kill me? That's why my hand was smashed."

Shawn looked up at her wide eyed. "Why would he do that?"

"Because I found some letters J.T. had written. He thought Clay and Gemma were planning to kill him."

"J.T. was run over by a semi," Shawn reminded her.

"Clay had Lowell Sr. tamper with his bike. Then he killed him so there wouldn't be any lose ends. Lowell Jr. found out right after Abel was born and that's why he left. He couldn't work for the man who murdered his father anymore."

"Did you know Tig killed Donna?" Shawn asked after a moment.

"No. Did Juice tell you that?"

Shawn shook her head. "Tig did. Yesterday, actually. I was worried about something happening to me like Donna and he confessed. I think it was supposed to make me feel better."

"Clay told Tig to do it, didn't he?"

"It was supposed to be Opie. They thought he turned rat."

"Clay is also the one who killed Piney. He found out about the letters and tried to blackmail Clay."

"Jesus Christ."

"This place is poison, Shawn," Tara told her.

Shawn studied her for a moment. "You're going to rat, aren't you?"