My Darkest Rose

Chapter 22

Into the Water

After getting Jack a fresh tshirt, they got back in Mandy's car to drive to the station. She let him sit in front, despite the obvious change in circumstance.

As they drove north to the station, Mandy was quiet. Jack stared out the window, considering his options. How would Anderson, his lawyer, get him out of this one?

"I don't understand," she said.

"Understand what?"

"How was something of Eric's under the deck? I mean, you buried it? Why?"

"I didn't bury anything, Mandy. I don't know what they found, maybe it's not even his."

She shook her head. "Hernandez would not issue an arrest warrant if he wasn't certain. He won't mess up again."

"Again?"

"You know what I mean," she said. "He's insistent we do everything by the book, cross all our T's and all that. He thinks you slipped through the cracks the last time because he made mistakes."

The forest grew more dense as they got closer to Moonwood. Soon they would drive past the road to his house.

"I didn't hurt anyone," he said. "No matter what they found."

"They found something else near the house," she said, " I shouldn't be telling you this."

"What was it?"

"Some sort of claw, I guess. A mountain lion claw."

"A mountain lion claw?" He knew it wasn't that. If they found a claw, it belonged to the creature. He remembered how the night before he'd seen them, just before covering the final window and blocking it out.

Where had it gone after that? Back into the shadows? Back into the earth?

"Broken off in a tree," she said.

Jack stared out the window at the passing trees. He could just make out the lake. "You ever seen a mountain lion in Tacoma?"

"No," she said, "But other people have. We get a couple calls a year."

Possible, he thought. Possible just might be enough to convince a judge to dismiss the case against him. But if what Mandy said was true, that Hernandez was being careful, he must have something more. Something Jack didn't know about yet. Something Mandy hadn't been told.

She reached over and grabbed his hand. "You know I'm here for you, right? You know I believe you. I'm just scared, that's all. Scared for you. For Robbie..."

Her voice trailed off as she noticed something in the middle of the road. As she swerved to miss it, Jack saw what he thought was an animal crouched down, just as the car went into the ditch, and flew up into the air.

They landed hard, skidding forward before coming to an abrupt stop as the car crashed into a tree. Jack felt the seat belt tighten like a vice against his chest and then everything went white as the airbag exploded out of the console.

When he finally came to, Mandy was slumped forward, her head down. Blood dripped from the tip of her nose onto the seat. There was broken glass everywhere.

"Mandy," he said, shaking her arm. She blinked and looked around in confusion.

He looked down at his hands, which were cut all over from the glass, but otherwise he felt unhurt, except for his chest where the seat belt had bruised him.

What the hell had that been in the road? A mountain lion? Hadn't Mandy said something about a mountain lion in Moonwood? But what he'd seen was black, not brown.