Page 13 of Forever Dark
The tires rolled slowly across the lot.Two pickup trucks sat parked near the far end, both dusty, one with a dog box in the bed.A porch light burned outside Room 6.Nothing moved behind the curtains.
Selena killed the engine and stepped out.
Night air touched her face at once.It carried damp grass, river mud from somewhere not far off, and the faint smell of cut hay, sweet and bitter, that had dried in fields her whole childhood.Home had always had a smell to it.She had forgotten that.Or maybe she had tried to.
The recognition sat badly and tenderly at the same time.
Bittersweet was too soft a word for it.
She took her bag from the back seat and headed for the lobby, hoping the room would be clean enough, hoping the mattress wouldn’t sink in the middle, hoping she could get a few hours of sleep before walking into the sheriff’s office in the morning.
Most of all, she hoped she could focus on the case, keep her head down, and get out of Harlan County as soon as possible.
The lobby bell gave a dull clack when she pushed through the glass door.
Inside, the air smelled of old carpet and lemon cleaner.A television mounted in one corner played a late-night sitcom with the volume low.Behind the front desk sat a man in his forties wearing a gray sweatshirt and reading glasses.He looked up from a ledger, his expression polite but blank.
Selena set her bag down.“Hi.You got a room?”
“Sure do.”He pulled the glasses off and stood.“Just need one?”
“That’s right.”
He slid a registration card toward her.“How many nights?”
“I’m not sure, let’s say for the next four, just for now.”
“All right.”
Selena took the pen and started filling out the form.Halfway through writing her surname, she felt his gaze sharpen.
He leaned forward slightly.“Raven?”
She looked up.
Recognition came to him in pieces.First the name, then the face, then the surprise of finding both standing in front of him after years.
“Selena Raven,” he said.“Well, I’ll be damned.”
She studied him for a second before it clicked.“Eric Wilson.”
A smile tugged at one side of his mouth.“Couple years ahead of you at Elmsview High.”
“I remember.”
“Didn’t think you would.”
“You had a Camaro with no muffler.The whole county remembered.”
That earned a short laugh.“Boys will be boys.”
He took the card back once she finished and glanced over it.“You in town visiting family?”
“I’m here for work,” Selena said.
“So, how’s life been treating you?”he asked with a grin, a toothpick now hanging from his lips.
“Eric, it’s nice to see you, but I’m beat.”
