Dark clouds blocked out the glare of the sun on the computer screen. The phone rang again and Faith picked it up.
“Pierce Lavelle’s office. How can Lavelle Property Insurance help?” Faith tried to sound perky, but this was the tenth call today. Her perkiness always wore out by the end of the day, and today was no different.
“It’s Lydia, Pierce’s girlfriend,” a young sounding voice said. “Can I talk to him?”
“He’s out of the office right now,” Faith said. “Can I give him a message?”
There was silence for a moment. “I know about Kindra.” Her voice shook. “Tell him that.” She hung up.
Faith sighed and set the phone back in its cradle. The computer was new, but Pierce hadn’t bothered to update the phones. Or to stop giving his girlfriends the number of the phone on her desk. The last time one of his girlfriends had called, Faith had almost given her Pierce’s actual number, but she wanted to keep her job. This wasn’t the first time one of his girlfriends had found out he’d been seeing someone else.
Faith looked around at the gloomy office. The fluorescent light overhead buzzed incessantly and gave off little light. Especially with how gloomy it had gotten outside the window behind her. Her desk faced the door out to the rest of the office. She was Pierce’s secretary. She was supposed to keep track of his meetings and clients who called, but she received more calls from jilted girlfriends than from clients.
The door opened and Pierce Lavelle himself walked in. His suit was perfectly ironed, as it always was. His tie was loose and crooked, as though he’d tied it in a hurry. Pierce’s short black hair was graying, but only on the sides. The dark circles under his pale gray eyes told her he’d had another long night of partying. The man was forty-five, but he had far more energy than Faith did, and she was ten years younger than him.
“Anyone call?” Pierce asked, closing the door and stepping up to her desk.
“Lydia,” Faith said. “She knows about Kindra.”
Pierce grimaced, but then he laughed quietly. “Oops.”
Faith again told herself she would find a new job. She’d told herself that after her first month there, after two calls from Pierce’s girlfriends and acquaintances he’d spent the night with. Despite wanting to leave, she knew she couldn’t. And she couldn’t tell Riley how things were at the office. He would be all too agreeable about her leaving, but there weren’t other jobs. Not ones that paid as well, and they could barely afford the house as it was, with both of them working.
Pierce leaned forward on her desk, pressing his fingertips against the wood. “We might have a new client. A very rich new client.” His voice was low, as though it was a secret. He grinned. “He’s invited us out to his island mansion to talk business. If all goes well, he’ll sign on with us. Kindra and I are going. You could bring your husband.”
“We can’t leave Suzie—” Faith started.
“Faith, I need you there.” Pierce stared at her with a hard frown. A faint smile flitted across his oddly dry, chapped lips. “You enjoy your job here, don’t you?”
Faith stopped herself from telling the truth about that. She nodded. He didn’t really want to know if she enjoyed her job, that had been a threat.
Pierce let go of the desk, standing to his full, not very formidable height. “Good. I like having you here. The boat will be at the harbor on Saturday morning. We’ll come back on Monday morning. Don’t be late, and bring your husband. The client specifically invited us and our significant others.” He went through the door on the right wall. Faith doubted Kindra was significant to Pierce. She was the next in a long line of girlfriends and doubtless wouldn’t be the last.
Faith sat back in her chair, not having realized she was sitting bolt upright, with every muscle clenched. Would he really fire her if she didn’t go? She had a feeling he would, and she didn’t want to test any theory that he wouldn’t. Fortunately, no one else called for the rest of the day. She sorted through Pierce’s calendar on the computer, then forwarded it to him with updates, with business meetings made for later next week.
The moment the clock on the computer reached five, Faith was out of there. She walked down the stairs, not feeling like taking the cramped elevator. It was rare she did. The thing was musty and made weird sounds like it was about to plummet into the basement. On the way out to the car, rain started to drizzle. Hopefully Riley was already home.
Faith got in the pale blue car, the door creaking in protest when she closed it. She turned the key, hoping today wasn’t about to get worse. The car started. Faith breathed out, then tried not to relax too much. Just last week, the car had broken down on the way home. They’d had it fixed, but the car had never been reliable. She drove home on the wet roads, with the rain pouring down. The windshield wipers squeaked, trying and mostly failing to wipe the rain away.
Billen being a seaside city, it was expensive. Faith and Riley lived as far from the water as they could, but they could still barely afford it. It had been good with Riley’s previous job, but the company had closed. They’d been put out of business by Lavelle’s company two years ago. Things had been tight since then. They had lived in their small house for four years. Hannah and Bradley liked them living close, so they could see Suzie any time.
Hannah and Bradley were Collin’s parents. He was Suzie’s father, and he’d drowned at sea years ago. There was more to it than that, but Faith tried not to think about the rest. At last she pulled into her usual spot at the curb. They didn’t have a driveway or a garage. She parked behind Riley’s dark gray car. It was the same car as Faith’s, only a different color. It was in just as bad of shape as hers.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
The rain hadn’t stopped hammering down. Faith ran inside, the warmth of the narrow front hall greeting her. She left her shoes by Suzie’s muddy boots and hung up her coat on the rack. Down the hall, past Suzie’s open bedroom door on the right, was the kitchen. It was also the living room at the end closer to the hall, with the dining room in between. Suzie was at the table, doing her homework. Her long light brown hair was tied back, still wet from the rain outside.
Riley wasn’t in the room. The bedroom door at the far end of the main room was closed. He often stayed in there when it rained. Faith had told him it didn’t bother her, what happened to him when it rained and sometimes at night, but he seemed more distressed about it lately.
“How was school?” Faith asked Suzie, starting some mac and cheese on the stove.
Suzie barely looked up from her homework. “The usual.” Her voice was quiet. She didn’t talk often, not how she had before what had happened. She was eleven and had gotten surprisingly tall in the last four years.
“Did you walk home?” Faith asked.
Suzie nodded. “I stayed away from the harbor.”
“Good,” Faith said. She watched the water boil, not saying anything more.
Sometimes Suzie was strange around the sea, as though it was calling to her. Faith pushed that far from her mind. When the mac and cheese finished, the two of them ate in silence. Faith helped Suzie finish her homework, and by then it was getting late. Suzie went to bed while Faith finished cleaning up in the kitchen. When she was done, she went into the bedroom she and Riley shared. The blinds were open, and he wasn’t in there. Odd. He usually closed the blinds when it rained. It had stopped raining.
“Riley?” Faith called.
The bathroom door, on the other side of the bed, was closed. Faith got ready for bed, then lay on the bed and waited. They had to talk about the trip to the island. Faith untied her shoulder length dark brown hair. At last, the door to the bathroom opened. Riley’s short black hair was messy and wet. There were dark circles under his light blue eyes. Faith had never seen him look so exhausted. He lay next to her on the bed.
“Are you alright?” Faith asked.
Riley avoided looking at her. Then his eyes met hers. “You?”
Another sigh escaped her. There had been lots of those today. “Pierce wants us to go with him and his girlfriend to a possible client’s house. The client lives in a mansion on an island. The boat leaves Saturday morning and comes back Monday morning. I think he might fire me if we don’t go. He wants both of us to go.”
“He would do that?” Riley asked.
“He would,” Faith said. “It’s okay if you can’t go, but I think I have to.” She wasn’t sure if Pierce would fire her if Riley didn’t go, but they would have to get to the island.
Riley shook his head. “I’ll go with you.”
“We’ll be crossing the sea,” Faith said.
Riley frowned a little. “I’ll still go. You shouldn’t have to go alone, with your boss and his girlfriend.”
“What about Suzie?” Faith asked.
“Hannah and Bradley?” Riley asked.
Faith nodded. “I’ll call them in the morning. Maybe it will be good to get out of Billen for a few days.” Still, it wouldn’t be an escape from Pierce.
Faith turned out the lamp on the bedside table and closed her eyes. She felt a warm arm around her a moment later. They didn’t talk about what had happened, about why Riley had been hiding in the bathroom. They usually avoided talking about anything to do with what had happened four years ago. It might help Suzie if they talked about the past, but Faith didn’t know how to start, and she didn’t think Riley did either.
In the morning, the sky was blue and clear. Faith called Hannah and Bradley. It was Hannah who picked up the phone. She sounded excited as ever to see her granddaughter. When Faith and Riley told Suzie about the trip, she smiled but said nothing. She always seemed to enjoy visiting her grandparents.
Work wasn’t as dreadful that day. Maybe Faith was looking forward to seeing the island a little. She hadn’t known there was an island out past Billen. Pierce was in a good mood, though he usually was. Faith didn’t get any calls from angry girlfriends, only clients. Dark clouds rolled in after lunch, but it didn’t rain.
On the way home, she worried that tomorrow morning would be rainy. She tried not to worry about it, but the worry took up residence in the back of her mind. Riley was helping Suzie with her homework when Faith got home, and dinner was already cooking. The three of them ate in silence, but it was a good silence. Suzie was smiling, even though she didn’t say anything. She went to bed after dinner, while Faith and Riley cleaned up together.
“Hopefully it won’t rain tomorrow,” Riley said. He looked as worried as Faith was.
“Pierce said it’s not supposed to,” Faith said. That didn’t mean much. It had rained plenty of times when it wasn’t supposed to.
Riley understandably didn’t look reassured.
The two of them went to bed. Another of those dreams was waiting, another nightmare. Water rushed in all around Faith, dark and cold. It rushed in through her mouth and nose. She tried to breathe, but there was only water. She was sinking further into the darkness. The darkness spread out below her and around her, like an abyss pulling her in. Faith fought against the water, trying to swim to the surface, but she was still sinking.
She managed to look up, the first time she’d done that in this nightmare. Red drifted down through the water. At first she thought it was blood, but one of the red streaks came closer, floating down slowly. A red feather. Faith woke up with a gasp, coughing. No water came out. There was no water, it had just been a dream.
Still, she was soaked with sweat. The light of the rising sun came through the blinds. Faith stopped shaking after a moment. Riley came out of the bathroom, already dressed. He frowned.
“I’m fine,” Faith said, but her voice came out quiet.
“You’re sweaty,” Riley said. “And breathing hard.”
Faith got up quickly. “It was just a dream. I just need a shower. We should hurry and pack, Pierce said not to be late.”
She didn’t want to worry him with the dreams, but they were getting worse. Faith got in the shower. The warm water washed over her. She closed her eyes, trying to forget the feel of the nightmare. The water all around her didn’t help with that.