My Darkest Rose

Chapter 27

Robbie Bernadi

Jack started a pot of coffee, picked up his pack of cigarettes from the counter and joined Mandy on the deck.

He felt lighter. Clear-headed. For the first time since he'd arrived in Moonwood he noticed the true transformation of the land around him.

After seven years without human interference, the forest had gone feral. Broken limbs littered the ground where once he and Fauna had chased each other as children. Entire trees had fallen, and not just the one that crushed the back railing of the deck, but dozens.

The house itself looked like a decaying tooth. To think he could work on it himself and make any sort of meaningful fixes with rakes and garden gloves was ridiculous. Aside from tearing away vines, the work needed was far beyond his capabilities.

"Did you ever wonder why I didn't suspect you? After we found Eric?" she asked.

Jack took a cigarette from the pack. He had been grateful she believed him, but never questioned why. "Not really."

He lit a cigarette, inhaled, thought about how different this all might have been if she hadn't been here to help, to speak up for him, especially to Detective Hernandez.

"After Rose disappeared, Robbie had it really bad," she said. "You know his parents were barely around, but after Rose, they divorced. His dad was never home and left Robbie in that big house in the middle of town. People would drive by and shout things at him, that his sister was dead, that she was at the bottom of the lake."

"Honestly, I never really thought about him," Jack admitted. "It was easier not to."

He too had been alone at Robbie's age. His mother had died, Fauna was at college, and though the town had not yet turned against him, there was the creature and the lake, ever-present.

"I knew he wasn't well, when he saw that painting of Rose, he went...I don't know. Crazy. He was so mad it scared me," she said. "He took off for a couple days, I thought to clear his head, but instead he went to Chicago to confront you."

"When he got back, things only got worse." She turned around and gripped the railing. "He found out some local teenagers were out here making videos, you know, after Rose disappeared from the painting, looking for her ghost. I thought he was going to kill them."

She looked at him over her shoulder. "He found Eric. Went to his house. Eric swore they never actually saw her, that they had just come out here on a dare."

Her voice trailed off as she stared off into the distance toward the lake.

"When Robbie admitted that he planted Eric's clothes here, Hernandez started asking questions around town. Wanted to know Robbie's whereabouts the night Eric was killed, the night you got in town."

"He was with you," Robbie said.

"Not all night," she said. "I dropped him off at home after I saw you and went into work. I worked until the next morning when I came out here to see you and got the call about a body."

"What's Robbie say?"

She looked down at the ground. "That's just it. He refuses to see me. Hernandez said he would call me as soon as he knew anything, but I couldn't just sit around and wait. When I realized you were gone, I got scared. I hate being alone, with all that's going on." She rubbed her arms like she was cold.

"Coffee ought to be ready, you want some?"

"Sure."

He went inside and found two dirty coffee mugs in the sink that must have been left by Fauna. He couldn't bring himself to wash away the last remnants of her, so instead put them away in the cabinet and used styrofoam, and poured them each a cup. He carried it to her outside.

"Listen, Mandy," he said. "Robbie didn't kill Eric, if that's what you're thinking. Nobody knows better than me how a town can turn against you when you're falsely accused. I'd like to call my lawyer and see if he can represent Robbie."

He was surprised to realize that he was no longer angry with Robbie. Despite everything, he felt only...well, nothing, he guessed. Maybe that's why he'd forgotten to add him to the painting?

Which was odd in itself. Why didn't he feel more for Robbie? Why had he not thought of him all these years, and why now, when he was to blame for Jack's arrest, did he still feel no emotions, good or bad, toward him?

He didn't have time to linger on the thought when she said, "No, Jack, he couldn't afford that."

"I know," Jack said. "But I can." It was the least he could do for her. "We're going to have to get the old phone line hooked back up. If I'm going to stay here, I'll need to be able to call people. Check in."

"You don't have to stay here, Jack. You should stay with me. Besides, I hate an empty house."

"No," he said. "I can't. I can't explain why, but I need to be here. And you need to be home, where you're safe." He still didn't know when or if the creature would reappear and he wouldn't risk anyone else getting hurt.

She didn't ask him what he meant. Maybe she understood more than she let on, more than she was willing to say out loud.

"OK. But let me get the phone thing done. I'll flash my badge, tell them it's an emergency."

He smiled and draped an arm over her shoulder. "It's going to be OK."

She leaned her head against him. "I hope so. But you should have seen his face, Jack, when he heard about Fauna. He looked scared. Scared to death."

Jack scanned the surrounding forest, his eyes lingering over shadows, looking for white eyes watching from dark places. He understood why Robbie was afraid- because at last he knew that if Jack wasn't the killer, someone else was. And the unknown was most frightening of all.

She turned her face into his chest. "I'm so sorry about Fauna." He held her while she cried and he watched the forest. "There's something evil here, isn't there?"

The feeling of being watched, a sense of wrongness in the forest, began to return. She clung to his shoulders, her tears wetting the front of his shirt, oblivious to the coiling reaction inside him. He tried to push it away as he had before, but the more they stood there, the more it grew.

"You better go," he said.

She took a deep shuddering breath and turned away from him to wipe her face. "Yeah," she said, "I need to get over to the station."

"I mean it about Anderson. I'll call him."

"Thanks, Jack. I love you."

"I love you too."

He walked her through the house and watched her get in her car and drive away. He locked the doors and double-checked the forest. If the creature was watching, it was staying well-hidden, for now.