I dialed his number back and made my way to the front of the house.
Looking out the window, I stared across at his darkened home.
He sent me straight to voicemail, which didn’t surprise me at all.
“Fuck this shit,” I muttered.
I needed to confirm my suspicions, and nobody seemed willing to help me, so clearly, I was on my own. I slipped on a thin black hoodie and made my way across the street. The fallen leaves that had started to change colors blew around my feet.
I knew Max wouldn’t have his front door unlocked, so I circled around the house. Just as I expected, the window above his kitchen sink was still slightly cracked.
Old habits die hard.
Walking up onto the deck, I looked around for something that would help me knock it in. I contemplated going to search in his shed, but the thing looked like it was ready to fall apart.
Spotting an ugly stone toad by the back door, I picked it up and then approached the window. I briefly wondered how bad I was supposed to feel about breaking and entering but then decided I didn’t care.
If he had nothing to hide, then I could embarrassingly explain myself, but I knew for certain that wasn’t the case. The screen fell out of its frame on my second swing, clattering down to the kitchen floor.
I sat the toad down, and then proceeded to pull myself up through the window. I had to lower myself partially in the sink before hopping down off the countertop. After securing the screen’s frame back in the window, I looked around the open floor plan, having no idea where to start.
Downstairs seemed basic and didn’t appear like it held anything that would give me an answer. The upper level was my best bet. I took the stairs two at a time.
I noticed immediately upon coming to the top that the door at the end of the hall was wide open. Based off the rhythmic clinking sound, there was a ceiling fan left on.
Not knowing where Max was or when he was due back, I jogged towards the room, pulling my cell out of my hoodie pocket when the ringtone began to play. Sheriff Reynolds’ name flashed across the screen, and I couldn’t answer fast enough.
“Sherriff?”
“Roselynn. What’s going on?”
“God, I’ve been trying to get hold of you all…day…” My voice trailed off as I entered the room.
My picture was plastered all over a bulletin board.
Me sleeping.
Me and Molly the day we moved in.
My silhouette in the fucking shower.
A feeling of absolute dread formed in the pit of my stomach the more I looked around the room. My pink lace underwear that had mysteriously vanished from the wash was balled up on a desk to my left, the stiffness caused by cum stains evident from where I stood.
“Roselynn!” the Sheriff yelled in my ear, snapping me out of my shocked state.
How long has he been watching me?
“What’s going on? Please tell me you know something,” I stressed to him, running a hand through my hair and going further into the room to get a better look at the desk.
“I’m so sorry, Rose. I just wanted to protect my family.” He sounded distraught, which did nothing to alleviate my nerves.
His nephew was never going to change, and I’d tried to tell him that multiple times.
“He came to me with a proposition to earn some cash. I needed it at the time. I didn’t know he was going to do any of this. I told him to leave you alone,” he swore.
“And?” I urged him to continue, sitting down in the computer chair and pulling the desk drawers open.
“It’s all a fucking mess and a long story I would rather tell you in person. Just tell me where you are exactly, and where you think he might be. Our main priority needs to be making sure you’re safe.”
“It’s already too late for any of that. Con is already here, and he already started killing again,” I divulged, leaving out all the explicit details. “I can’t get hold of Molly, though, and I think he might—”
“Rose, calm down. I need you to listen to me. You need to get in your car and start driving back towards Ponty-Poole. I’m already in mine. I’ll meet you in between. I can assure you, Constantine won’t hurt his sister,” he interjected.
His sister?
“Molly is Constantine’s sister?” I repeated slowly, making sure I understood him correctly.
“Shit,” he muttered. “She’s his half-sister. His step-momma and dad. I thought you knew. I thought the girl had a change of heart and was really looking out for you the night I told you to get away.”
“Molly is...”
The room tilted.
All this time we were together. All the times I thought I was protecting her. The nights she cried and I comforter her. None of that was real? I considered Molly my sister. I didn’t want to believe that she could—would—do this to me. She was probably telling him everything this whole time.
No wonder he kept the little bitch alive. It was almost funny, really, considering all the secrets we kept from each other.
This was more fucked than I thought. I needed to get my ass in gear and get the fuck out of Black Pine.
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t, but there aren’t too many other options.”
He was right. If I burst into a police station and blurted this story out, I would be handcuffed or detained. Con would no doubt slip away.
“How far out are you? I’m going to leave now.” I stood up, sending the desk chair rolling into the wall.
“There’s a diner—”
“I know where it is,” I interrupted him, flying out of the room.
“Be careful, okay? Con doesn’t look like himself these days.” I didn’t ask him to elaborate, because I already knew what he meant. The front door swung open just as I reached the top of the stairs, and Max walked in, looking straight at me.
“Rose?” he asked, pretending to feign confusion. Did he think I was still going to fall for this shit? He knew me better than that. Furthermore, did he think I somehow overlooked his creepy room with my pictures all over it?
“He’s here,” I mumbled into the phone, before slowly lowering it from my ear.
“Let me see you,” I ordered, not moving from my place at the top of the steps.
He sighed but obliged, starting with his left eye. He pulled the lower lid down and used his index finger to slide the first contact lens out, before doing the right.
When he was finished, he blinked a few times and rolled his neck, before looking back up at me. Even though I knew it was coming, I still blanched and took a step back, sucking in a small breath and openly staring at him.
“Rosie.” He completely ditched the accent and stared at me with bold blue eyes instead of dark ones.
They disintegrated my heart and made it race all at once. And his face…
“What did you do to yourself? Why would you do this to me?” I glared at him, feeling my chest tighten.
“What did I do to myself?” He raised his brows like he couldn’t believe I’d just asked him that. “I spent a shit load of money to change everything about me so we could start over. You know? Try and be a good guy for a little while. But then, you let Maxwell fuck you in the parking lot, and I knew you wanted the real me back.”
I scoffed, shaking my head.
“It would never have worked. You lied to me about everything. You’re fucking insane!” I screamed at him.