“And you can’t just set up a mine in town,” Elias said, turning toward River.
“Oh, right,” River said. “It’d have to be zoned for mining or whatever, right?”
“Exactly,” Elias said.
“So that’s where the Mayor comes in,” River said.
I nodded. “The Mayor and Jed would be able to grease the wheels,” I said.
“So if your mother was in on it, why would Jed kill her?” River asked.
“She laid it right out in the journal,” I said. “She was greedy. She didn’t just want to sell the land. She thought she should get a kickback from Jed and the Mayor. So she threatened the Mayor. He thought he could reason with her, but she said she was going to blow everything wide open - the affair, the fact that Jed and the Mayor were dirty, the mining company scamming the town residents out of a fair price on the land, the whole thing.”
“We’re assuming Jed killed her, though,” River said. “We don’t know that.”
“You’re right,” I said. “The journal only implies it. It doesn’t outright say. It just talks about the fact that Jed went to see her and threatened her.”
“Jed or his father,” Tempest said. “It was one of them.”
“So the question is,” River said. “What we do with what we know?”
“That’s definitely the question,” Elias said. “And I don’t know the answer.”
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
TEMPEST
“Are you okay?” Silas was silent the whole drive home, only speaking once we were back at his apartment.
“It’s been a long day,” I said. I was feeling pensive, mentally fatigued from all of the stuff that had happened over the course of the day. Holing up here with Silas, playing house and pretending like the real world didn’t exist was one thing; having the real world intrude and beat reality over both of ours heads was another thing entirely.
“Elias had no call to be talking like that,” Silas said.
“Actually, he’s right,” I said. “He hates me and with good reason.” I crossed my arms, leaned against the kitchen counter.
“He hates you for what you did to me,” Silas said. “It was a long time ago and he has no reason to be a dick about it now.” He stood in front of me, ran his finger down my arm, but I didn’t move.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “What the hell are we doing here, Silas?”
Silas exhaled heavily. “Tempest,” he said. “Don’t let whatever my brother said fuck things up now. The past is past.”
Except when it’s not.
“The past is never really past, Silas,” I said. I’d been staying here, playing pretend house with Silas, but I was just deluding myself into thinking there was a possibility I might leave things behind.
“I never stopped loving you, Tempest,” Silas said. He put his finger under my chin, tilted my head up to his and kissed me on the lips.
“You hated me, back then,” I protested.
“But I didn’t stop loving you,” he said. “And I know you feel the same way about me.”
Silas’ cell phone buzzed loudly in his pocket and he groaned. “Perfect fucking timing,” he said. “Ignore that.”
“You should take it,” I said. “It’s probably Elias.”
“No,” he insisted. “Ignore it.”
It buzzed twice more and Silas cursed under his breath. “Fine,” he said. “But you and I aren’t finished with this damn conversation.”
I sank back against the counter, hearing bits and pieces of the conversation as he walked into the living room. Something about a fight. Silas sounded agitated, but when he returned, he smiled.
“I want you to stay,” he said. “Here, in West Bend.”
“You take a phone call and you suddenly want me to stay?” I said, shaking my head. “What the hell were you talking about, a fight?”
“There’s a fight in Vegas my friend Trigg called me about,” he said. “With a good-sized purse.”
“I thought you weren’t supposed to be fighting,” I said. “Doctor’s orders.”
Silas shrugged. “You saw me fucking fight in Vegas,” he said, crossing the room and sliding his hands to my waist. “I wasn’t supposed to fight then, either. But I did and it was fine.”
I put my palms on his chest and pushed him away. “Why the hell would you do something like that, Silas?”
“Simmer down,” he said. “Why are you getting all pissy about it? It’s a fight. It’s ten grand. I can get a better place, and you can stay with me. In someplace...not like this hovel. Besides, you can come watch me. You’ll be my good luck charm.”
Fear clutched at my chest at the thought of Silas fighting again. “What the hell are you thinking? You’re the one who told me the doctor told you not to fight again. You had a head injury. You take another hit to the head and you could die.”
Silas stepped back from me, clenched his fists. “Doctors say shit like that,” he said. “It’s what they do. Cover their asses in case of lawsuits.”