Damian snorted laughter and Steve looked down so I wouldn’t see him grin. After the chortle of laughter filled the car, everyone yelled out their orders.
“Just hold on a second,” he said as he rolled up to the drive through kiosk.
“Welcome to Wendy’s, what can I get you today?” the chipper voice asked.
Steve accurately recounted my order, which impressed the hell out of me, and he continued ticking off what everyone had called out down to the last frosty. It was an impressive list for seven people, but no one had near the volume of food I ordered.
“I got this,” Damian said, reaching for his wallet, but his expression fell when his hand came up empty. “Fuck,” he muttered and Steve glanced back at him. “My wallet was in the jeans I had on earlier,” he said. “Which are on the floor in the bathroom upstairs.”
“That means they’re going to assume you had something to do with the disappearance of my family,” Steve mumbled, pulling his wallet out and peeling off enough cash to cover the bill at the window.
We didn’t linger. The minute the food was in the car and accounted for, Steve pulled out of the parking lot, heading down one of the main thoroughfares right through the middle of a college campus. He pushed the redial button on his phone as soon as he was sure no one was following us.
“Steve?”
“You went to the house, didn’t you?” he asked, his voice filled with instant irritation.
“It’s my job. There’s blood everywhere, what the hell happened?” Sarah snapped back.
“We are all okay.”
“You said that earlier. But after seeing this, clearly, someone isn’t.”
“Something. Not someone.”
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?”
“Let it go. This is one of those situations where you don’t want to know. Just like you don’t want to know what the hell happened at the hospital in Torrington. It’s way too out there for you to come to terms with.”
Silence cascaded on the line.
“More fucked up than your guardian angel?”
“Far more,” he said, his voice softening. “It’s even more fucked up than what happened at Black Cove.”
Jennifer shivered at the mention of Black Cove, encircling herself with her arms as if that could ward off whatever chill accosted her. I traded a glance with Damian and focused on my food, carefully unwrapping the first burger.
“Fine. Can I at least tell Ron that you’re okay?”
“Go ahead,” Steve answered. “And let him know that video didn’t carry the full story. The man in the video was there, but he isn’t responsible for those deaths. It’s a set up. And I know who is responsible.”
“Fine, I’ll tell him,” Sarah said and the line went dead.
I tore into my second burger and glanced at Damian. I had a few questions, but my mind focused back on the food and I devoured it with zest, like this was my last meal.
Silence blanketed the car and I looked up at Damian. His lips pressed together in derision and his gaze jumped between the food in my hands and my face and then he shook his head, taking a spoonful of my chocolate frosty that he held for me.
I glanced in the back and all three of them were staring at me in the same manner as Damian.
“I’m hungry,” I said around a mouthful of French fries.
That seemed to break their morbid curiosity and they all looked down at their own food. I glanced back at Damian. “What?”
“Wild dogs,” he whispered and grinned, shaking his head like I was a hopeless case. He handed me my frosty and broke into his meal.
I finished mine before he had the chance to drink half his soda.
We pulled off the main road onto an overgrown dirt path between drifts of snow. I hadn’t noticed the shift in the scenery from the snow dusted seacoast to the mountains of New Hampshire until now.
“Where are you taking us?” I asked and covered a burp. The triplets seemed to be falling into the same food coma I was entering and I yawned.
“Paradise Cove,” Steve said just as the woods opened to a clearing with a charming oversized cottage like the ones you’d see the rich and famous slumming in.
The moonlight reflected on the snow and Steve slowed as the garage opened and he pulled inside, throwing the car into park and cutting the engine. He waited until the door closed behind us before he reached up and scratched a line through the symbol, rendering it useless. Steve stepped out of the car and opened the door for me.
“You’ve got just enough time to hit the bathroom and then we have to move,” he said, unlocking the house and waving me inside. The crew unloaded but no one else came inside with Steve and me.
I did my business and stepped back into the dark room.
“You and Damian will need these,” Steve said, handing me a down coat and once I pulled it on, he handed me the one for Damian and I stepped back into the garage.