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Authors: Paisley Ray
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needs to sort through things .”
Oxygen shuddered inside my chest and my nose began to leak. “Whatever her dealings are, I’m not involved.”
He sat up. “But you are. And now so am I.”
My fingers fell on the eye of Horus trinket I wore around my neck. Deep down, I knew this mess was about the oyster. If I dug through the gobbledygook in my emotional warehouse, yeah, I’d admit I’d been afraid of opening a can of worms. We’ve all done things we shouldn’t have—drunk too much, had a misjudged romantic encounter, said things we shouldn’t. Hell, I did that stuff all the time and maybe mistakes didn’t stop when you passed fifty or sixty. Maybe GG still had her own share of goings-on. She lived a hidden life of sorts and I was fine with that. Somehow through her career she’d come into money and owned a lot of expensive stuff. And if some of her dealings weren’t on the up and up, I didn’t want to know about them. But now, Edmond was in trouble, and probably GG, too. Keeping the message inside the brooch a secret somehow complicated my life, and now I was up to my eyeballs in murky waters.
“What are we going to do?” he asked.
We? That meant he wasn’t mad at me.
Exhaustion weighed on my shoulders. “This round-up is probably about the brooch.”
He clapped. “Good guess.”
“Maybe it’s had other owners and one of them wants it back.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
A narrow set of steps led to the deck from inside the cabin. Moving below he leaned over a barstool in the galley.
Slowing the motor to idle, the river current guided us along. I crossed my arms against my chest and leaned against the rail at the rear of the boat. Holding the brooch in my hand, I wondered if curses were more than imaginary. My mother and few other extrasensory-perceiving women I’d met all believed in that woo-woo stuff, but I struggled to trust things I couldn’t see.
Being on black water dredged up images of the man I’d worked hard to suppress. When I closed my eyes, my mind’s imagery flashed snapshots of Billy Ray being shot then dropping to his knees. I blinked them open before I saw what I knew happened next.
“Is there anything you’re not telling me?”
Icy tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. I’d promised myself never to tell anyone, but when I kept secrets they grew a life of their own and led me into danger. “Something happened last year. Something really bad.”
Toying with a stack of coasters, he waited.
Midway down the steps, I rested my hands on the deck above. “Billy Ray, he’s…”
“He’s an asswipe prick.”
I walked down the few stairs into the cabin. Travis slid my frozen hands into his. “He didn’t? Please tell me that you were never alone with him long enough for…”
“No. Not that.”
The night stood still and gave me goosebumps. Under a heave of air, I blurted, “He’s dead.”
From a dim corner lantern that cast a yellow glow, I watched Travis crinkle his face and process what I’d said. “What happened?”
“On spring break, I didn’t know it but he stalked me. We were at a Lowcountry boil on the May River. He attacked me when I was alone inside the oyster refinery.”
Travis wrapped me in his arms. “Oh my God, Rachael.”
My chest tightened and I swallowed against my dry throat. With my head pressed against his shoulder, I told him what happened. “I ran out of the building. He chased me through the parking lot and across the street into a wooded swamp until I was trapped by water. I was so scared and so mad that I threw the only thing I had at him, the oyster brooch.”
“That a girl.”
“It hit him square in the forehead and he laughed. He was taunting me with a gun and I shut my eyes. Then I heard the bullet blast from the barrel, and I thought I was dead, but didn’t feel any pain. When my eyes opened, Billy Ray was on his knees, blood puddling from his chest into the swampy water.”
He pushed me out from his
Oxygen shuddered inside my chest and my nose began to leak. “Whatever her dealings are, I’m not involved.”
He sat up. “But you are. And now so am I.”
My fingers fell on the eye of Horus trinket I wore around my neck. Deep down, I knew this mess was about the oyster. If I dug through the gobbledygook in my emotional warehouse, yeah, I’d admit I’d been afraid of opening a can of worms. We’ve all done things we shouldn’t have—drunk too much, had a misjudged romantic encounter, said things we shouldn’t. Hell, I did that stuff all the time and maybe mistakes didn’t stop when you passed fifty or sixty. Maybe GG still had her own share of goings-on. She lived a hidden life of sorts and I was fine with that. Somehow through her career she’d come into money and owned a lot of expensive stuff. And if some of her dealings weren’t on the up and up, I didn’t want to know about them. But now, Edmond was in trouble, and probably GG, too. Keeping the message inside the brooch a secret somehow complicated my life, and now I was up to my eyeballs in murky waters.
“What are we going to do?” he asked.
We? That meant he wasn’t mad at me.
Exhaustion weighed on my shoulders. “This round-up is probably about the brooch.”
He clapped. “Good guess.”
“Maybe it’s had other owners and one of them wants it back.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
A narrow set of steps led to the deck from inside the cabin. Moving below he leaned over a barstool in the galley.
Slowing the motor to idle, the river current guided us along. I crossed my arms against my chest and leaned against the rail at the rear of the boat. Holding the brooch in my hand, I wondered if curses were more than imaginary. My mother and few other extrasensory-perceiving women I’d met all believed in that woo-woo stuff, but I struggled to trust things I couldn’t see.
Being on black water dredged up images of the man I’d worked hard to suppress. When I closed my eyes, my mind’s imagery flashed snapshots of Billy Ray being shot then dropping to his knees. I blinked them open before I saw what I knew happened next.
“Is there anything you’re not telling me?”
Icy tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. I’d promised myself never to tell anyone, but when I kept secrets they grew a life of their own and led me into danger. “Something happened last year. Something really bad.”
Toying with a stack of coasters, he waited.
Midway down the steps, I rested my hands on the deck above. “Billy Ray, he’s…”
“He’s an asswipe prick.”
I walked down the few stairs into the cabin. Travis slid my frozen hands into his. “He didn’t? Please tell me that you were never alone with him long enough for…”
“No. Not that.”
The night stood still and gave me goosebumps. Under a heave of air, I blurted, “He’s dead.”
From a dim corner lantern that cast a yellow glow, I watched Travis crinkle his face and process what I’d said. “What happened?”
“On spring break, I didn’t know it but he stalked me. We were at a Lowcountry boil on the May River. He attacked me when I was alone inside the oyster refinery.”
Travis wrapped me in his arms. “Oh my God, Rachael.”
My chest tightened and I swallowed against my dry throat. With my head pressed against his shoulder, I told him what happened. “I ran out of the building. He chased me through the parking lot and across the street into a wooded swamp until I was trapped by water. I was so scared and so mad that I threw the only thing I had at him, the oyster brooch.”
“That a girl.”
“It hit him square in the forehead and he laughed. He was taunting me with a gun and I shut my eyes. Then I heard the bullet blast from the barrel, and I thought I was dead, but didn’t feel any pain. When my eyes opened, Billy Ray was on his knees, blood puddling from his chest into the swampy water.”
He pushed me out from his
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