Shine (Kentucky Outlaw Book 1) (3 page)

She gave a little laugh in the darkness and said, “Yeah, a fresh start does sound like a good idea.”
 
She toasted and clinked his glass.
 
“To friends.”

“To friends,” he said, and they finished off their drinks.

They fell asleep not long after and woke up in the middle of the night and had passionate sex again.
 
With the first round out of the way, the second session lasted much longer and was more tender.
 
They explored each other, remembering forgotten territory.
 
When they joined this time it was less about sexual frenzy and more about forming a personal connection they had both been missing.
 

The next morning they woke up late and Ethan took Carol Lynn out for breakfast.
 
After they finished eating neither of them could think of another excuse for him to stay so they stood next to his car, saying goodbye.
 
He noticed how lovely she looked in the morning light.

“You sure you don’t want me to drive you back to your place?” he asked her.

“I’m sure.
 
I’ve got work to do on campus and if I go back home I might not make it back out today.
 
You wore me out last night.”

They hugged and kissed one more time.
 
Before letting him go Carol Lynn said, “Hey Dalton.
 
When you get back there, just do me one favor.”

“What’s that?”

“Just know that you’re worthy.
 
You’re smart and strong, and God knows you’re good looking.
 
Whatever it was that drove you away, just keep that in mind, please.”

He gave her a smile and said that he would.
 
He got into his car and rolled down the window.

“Goodbye Carol Lynn.
 
Make the damn Yankees say your name right.”

“Will do.
 
You call me sometime, OK?
 
Whatever it is you’re heading into, you let me know it went alright.”

He gave her the kindest smile he could manage and said, “See ya, Carol Lynn.”

“See ya, Dalton.”

As Ethan drove out of town he felt a lot better than when he arrived.
 
He thought about Carol Lynn, the misplaced Kentucky girl living in Indiana.
 
She was right, they weren’t getting married, but he was glad they were friends.
 
He had fucked up everything else in his life, but Carol Lynn was one little smooth patch that could make him smile.
 

As he left the town limits and got back on Highway 37 heading south, he realized that he had been avoiding telling her why he was heading back home, but she never asked.
 
He should’ve told her.
 
Maybe she could’ve said something to make him feel better.
 
He should’ve told her his friend had been murdered.

Julie Prescott hesitated on the street leading directly below the underpass, not wanting to get any closer.
 
She told herself she’d been down that alley a hundred times in her life, but Pin Alley had gone from the shortest way to get back to her house from work to the place where Nick Butler’s body had been found.

She told herself there was no reason to be afraid of the little patch of pavement right under the highway, the body wasn’t there anymore.
 
The police had had it hauled away three days ago.
 
She doubted the place looked any different now that it did before Nick was found down there.
 
Still, as she looked at the darkness on the street, the place where the sunlight couldn’t reach, it seemed like it’d changed in a way she couldn’t put her finger on.
 
It wasn’t the way the highway formed a cave around the street, and it wasn’t the dark clouds that had blocked out the midday sun, taking away the little warmth the day had in the first place.
 
No, it was something in the air.
 
It was like a charge in the atmosphere before a thunderstorm.
 
She just couldn’t believe the last breaths he took were right down there.

She leaned back on the hood of her car and let the cool breeze blow over her.
 
She wasn’t the same person that had agreed to marry Nick, but it wasn’t his murder that changed her, just like solving his murder wouldn’t turn her back.
 
She was no longer interested in being the good socialite daughter of Walter Prescott, even if the rest of the city still thought of her that way.

Julie got into her little hatchback and started up the engine when her phone rang.
 
She checked the screen and saw it was her daddy.
 
She answered, knowing what he was going to say before he even said it.

“Julie Mae.
 
Where the devil are you?”

She thought quickly.
 
“I’m driving back from Miller’s.”

“The hell you are.
 
You momma was just at Miller’s and she didn’t see you.”

Shit, caught in her lie.
 
“I didn’t go into Miller’s. I drove there and, I don’t know, sat in the car for a while, just thinking.”

“Well, you can do all the thinking you want inside the house, so get your hide back here now and we’ll talk about it later.”

He hung up the phone.
 
Sure, he was pissed, but it could’ve been worse.
 
She took a deep breath and put her phone down. She shook her head as she drove away from the underpass.
 
She was twenty-three years old and a college graduate she didn’t need her daddy telling her what to do and where to be.
 
But, at least for the time being, she was living under his roof and she’d have to follow his orders.

Eventually she reached the automatic gates to the house.
 
It took her an entire minute to get up the drive to the big house on top of the hill.
 
She parked her Civic next to her sister Madison’s Mercedes and her brother Austin’s police cruiser.
 
They all hated her car, but she loved it and wouldn’t give it up.

When she walked in the large kitchen, Vera, her mother, was busy with dinner, and Walter, her daddy, was drinking coffee at the table with a newspaper in front of him, and talking to Austin about something. They stopped speaking as soon as she walked in.

“Julie Mae sit and have a talk,” her daddy said.

“Do we have to go through this?” she said as more of a statement than a question.
 
“I’m old enough to drive through town.”

“Sit,” her daddy said.
 
The look in his eye told her not to argue anymore, but when she sat across from him his face softened a bit.
 
“I know you’re hurting right now, but you’ve got to use some common sense.
 
Nick Butler was murdered, right here in our town, and until the killer is behind bars I don’t want you wandering the streets.”

Julie got up and poured herself a cup of coffee.
 
Her daddy was a smart man, but the truth was he’d lived in Remington his entire life.
 
He thought danger lurked just outside the gates of the house.
 

“Daddy, that didn’t have anything to do with me.”

“He was your boyfriend,” said Austin.
 
“We don’t know if it had anything to do with you or not.
 
The official police report isn’t in.”

Walter continued, “You was set to be married to the boy, Julie Mae.
 
We don’t know why he was killed, but until we find out for sure I don’t want you running off.”

Julie looked to her mother, the one person she thought would be on her side, but her mother said, “Listen to your father.
 
All this’ll be sorted soon enough.”

Julie nodded and excused herself.
 
She headed up the long stairwell to the top floor of the house and closed her bedroom door behind her, kicking off her boots as she laid down on the bed.
 
The room was a constant reminder of someone she used to be.
 
There were photos from high school, posters of bands she used to like, and a closet full of clothes she’d never wear again.
 
She hated to admit it, but the house didn’t feel like home anymore.
 
It was her parents’ house and it would always been familiar, but it didn’t belong to her anymore. It belonged to a version of her that didn’t exist anymore.
 

Julie checked her phone and saw she had a missed call.
 
It was from Nicky’s mother.
 
Her voice on the message sounded shaky she’d been crying.
 
Mrs. Butler asked Julie to stop by the house the next day.
 
There was some stuff of Nick’s she wanted Julie to have.
 
Julie deleted the message and didn’t call back.

There was a knock on the door and Julie’s mother entered.
 

“Dinner’s ready, if you’re hungry.”

“Yeah I’ll be down in a minute.”

Her mother sat on the bed.
 
She was nearing sixty, but was still a slender and attractive woman.
 
She didn’t say anything for several minutes.
 

“Julie, with all this stuff about Nicky’s killer still out there we lose sight of how you’re taking it.
 
You’re allowed to be sad, even angry.
 
You loved Nick and he’s gone forever.”
 

Julie wanted to tell her mother what was really going on, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it, not yet.
 
“I’m fine, I promise.”
 
It wasn’t the whole truth, but it would do for now.
 

“Well come on down and get something to eat.
 
You’ll feel better on a full stomach.”

Later that night, after everyone was in bed, Julie opened her bedroom window and stood out on the roof.
 
She hadn’t snuck out of the house since high school, but she still knew the way by heart.
 
She grabbed the drainpipe and held steady for the little jump down to the next roof.
 
She was careful not to make too much noise even though her parents were asleep on the other side of the house.
 
She cautiously grabbed the slick trellis and climbed down, then walked to the driveway, put her car in neutral and coasted down the drive until the gate swings open.

She pulled it off without a hitch.
 
Her daddy would skin her alive if he knew she was sneaking out, but she couldn’t stay cooped up in that house, with everyone worried about her and feeling sorry for her.
 
It was a lovely place, but ever since Nicky was killed that house just seemed like a prison.

The car slid down the drive and out the silent opening gates.
 
To the right was Remington.
 
The left would take her further up the hill.
 
She choose left and drove up the winding road for fifteen minutes.
 
She had the radio off, so it was just Julie, the sound of the engine, and the night sky.
 
She loved driving at night with no one else around.
 
It was the only time she felt truly at ease.
 
Turning off the public road onto an old dirt path the trees and bushes started taking over and they scrapped against the car as she drove up the hill.
 
The incline was steep enough that little engine struggled and whined loudly.
 

She reached the top of the hill – it was more of a small mountain than a hill really - and parked her car along the ridge.
 
Her family owned this land, and had as far back as she could remember.
 
None of her brothers went up there and no one knew Julie went up there.
 
She grabbed a half empty bottle of bourbon from under the spare tire in the trunk and sat on the hood of the car looking out.

Remington shimmered below her.
 
The grid of streetlights and neon signs illuminated her town.
 
It wasn’t New York or Chicago, but it wasn’t nearly as small as her college friends thought. Forty thousand people congregated among those twinkling lights, living their lives, loving, despairing, and doing whatever else it is people do.
 
And out of those forty thousand people, one of them was Nick’s killer.

Julie took a swig.
 
It was a shame to drink good whiskey straight from the bottle, but she couldn’t fit the bottle as well as a cup under the tire.
 
No, moonshine should be drunk straight from the jar.
 
Julie loved a good jar of shine, but she hadn’t drunk any since Nick died.

Poor Nicky.
 
He’d never taste a jar of shine again.
 
Never drive a car or make love again.
 
He was already cremated too, since his parents hadn’t even wanted a funeral.
 
They couldn’t stand the thought of it.
 
Thank God for that too, because there was no way Julie could’ve sat that in front of everyone and played the part of the grieving widow.