Skye nodded, not opening her eyes.
“I’m happy to go for walks with you if you want.” Livy was making an effort to sound upbeat. “I mean, it’s usually dark by the time I get back from work, but hey, we own flashlights, right?”
Skye finally opened her eyes, and focused on Livy’s blue and white running shoes. “Right.”
“Come on in. It’s getting cold. Let’s find something for dinner.”
Skye let her sister lead her back into the house.
The goblins were right. Someday she’d weaken. She would go back out there, and she wouldn’t come back.
She didn’t even know yet what fate she might have brought down upon a well-meaning stranger with his whole life ahead of him.
Grady’s desire to forge a life in Seattle screeched to a stop. Everything in him concentrated upon the mystery woman. Presumably she was here in Bellwater, but where?
For the next three days, during non-work hours, he walked up and down every one of the few streets in town, and along the shore and around the bobbing docks of the marina, and of course through the forest too. His feet were blistered and the soles of his sneakers starting to peel off at the edges.
The woman was nowhere, vanished like a ghost.
While working at the garage he watched Shore Avenue in distraction, hoping to see her pass.
“What are you looking for?” Kit demanded on the third day.
“Nothing. Just looking.”
He couldn’t bring himself to ask Kit about her. Obviously he couldn’t say, “Hey, I kissed this babe in the forest, but I didn’t get her name and then she ran off. Dark hair, medium height, around my age. Any idea who that is?”
He considered altering it to a story about seeing a girl in passing, thinking she looked familiar, and describing her to see if Kit could identify her. But after the way Grady had teased Kit for his milkshake date with Livy, he didn’t dare. Kit would razz the hell out of him.
What was her name? He couldn’t leave town again without at least learning that much, without seeing her one more time, without asking what exactly had happened in the forest.
Yes, he knew it was crazy to be this obsessed over an encounter that had taken up maybe sixty seconds of his life. (Or had it been an hour and sixty seconds?) But what an encounter. His fingers still felt the bones and flesh through her sweater, his tongue still tasted her mysterious bitter-greens mouth, her voice still haunted him with that whispered Help me.
He needed an explanation. He had to know why she needed help. He might very well go insane if he never saw her again.
CHAPTER NINE
“CAN I FOLLOW UP WITH YOU A MINUTE?” LIVY ASKED MORGAN TRAN, SKYE’S THERAPIST.
Skye had just come out of Morgan’s office in Olympia after her weekly hour there.
“Sure.” Morgan tucked her notebook against her chest. “Skye, make yourself at home. We have some yummy new green tea you can try if you like.”
Instead of fixing herself anything from the beverage counter in the clinic lobby, Skye plucked a Seattle Weekly from the racks and hunched down into a chair with it.
“I won’t be long,” Livy promised her.
Skye nodded without looking up from the newspaper. Livy exchanged a glance with the receptionist, who reassured her with a smile. At least the receptionist knew to stop Skye if she tried to wander off. Lord, the things Livy had to worry about these days.
She entered Morgan’s office, which was soothingly done up in aquamarine paint and cushions, with a splash of orange in the form of Gerbera daisies in a vase.
“Have a seat.” Morgan shut the door and came around to one of the two chairs facing her desk.
Livy sat in the other, appreciating that Morgan joined her there, rather than clinically putting the desk between them.
Livy clutched her hands atop her knees. “Did she talk today?”
“Not much. Still only a few words at a time, mostly just echoing me, though in a way that made sense as an answer. It’s like you’ve said—I think she’s present, just inhibited from communicating with us for some reason. Have you come up with any ideas about what might have happened?”
Livy shook her head. “If anyone assaulted her, I haven’t seen any proof, and she hasn’t said a word. Which isn’t like her.”
“Well, while we hope it’s not that, sometimes a trauma does take a while to surface. Which is unfortunate for the law enforcement side of the issue, where sooner would be better.”
Livy curled her knuckles tight inside the opposite palm. “But it could just be S.A.D. or other depression?”
“It could. It’s a sudden onset and a serious case, but depression works in a lot of different ways. I’ve seen quite a variety of cases. Were you concerned about any new behavior of hers?”
“Sort of. She went out for a walk a few days ago without leaving a note or anything, and it was dark when she got back. When I got home and she wasn’t there, I kind of freaked out. I mean, she seemed mostly okay—tired and winded, like maybe she walked too far. But I feel like I can’t even trust her to leave me a note anymore. I feel like she might just wander off and…not come back. If she went out by herself…I guess, do you think she’s in a condition where I should worry?”
“Sounds like you live in a small town, not a high-crime region or anything?”
“It is small and relatively safe, but…” Livy uncurled her hands and pressed them flat on her thighs. “We do live right up against the Sound. With a marina and docks and bridges. I mean, is there any chance she’d…”
“You’re concerned she might be suicidal?” Ever the professional, Morgan asked even that alarming question gently.
“I would never have suspected it of her before. Not ever. But lately she’s just so withdrawn. She doesn’t shower unless I remind her. She doesn’t eat enough. I think she has nothing but coffee for breakfast and lunch, and only has dinner because I tell her to. She hasn’t said or done anything that’s clearly…suicidal.” Livy had to swallow and collect her strength before saying the word. “But I wanted your opinion.”
Morgan nodded, rolling her fingertips across the cover of her notebook. “I haven’t seen any clear suicidal tendencies either. I would definitely alert you right away if I did. But you know her best and I trust your instincts, so if you’re worried to leave her alone—well, maybe you can ask for help? That way at least you can relax and tend to your own well-being a little more.” Morgan smiled in commiseration.
“Our mom visits sometimes, but not a lot. She lives down in Portland now. And Skye’s friend Jamie comes by once in a while, but she’s got classes and work. Or are you saying we should hire someone? Like a nurse?” Livy winced.
“I wouldn’t say she needs a nurse. Some friendly company, though. Someone who can make sure she’s all right, maybe remind her to eat.”
Livy nodded, though her mind raced desperately through their neighbors and dismissed each one as too busy, too elderly, or too annoying for Skye to want to put up with. There had to be someone.
“I’ll think about it,” she said.