Page 36 of Haunting the Deep

“You want me to communicate? How’s this for communicating? Mystepmotherwas the crow woman!” My hand flies to my mouth.

Oh no. What did I just do?

Jaxon screeches to a stop behind a parked car.“What?”

“Forget it.”Damn my temper! I’m such an idiot.

“I’m definitely not going to forget it.” He stares at me, and I stare at the dashboard.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Don’t you dare tell my dad.”

“Hold on. Yourdaddoesn’t know?”

I shake my head. “He knows that she was the woman in the woods, butnotthat she was the crow woman. That’s the name he associates with my grandmother’s death, and I just couldn’t lay that on him after everything else that happened. And I swear, if you tell him, I’ll…”

Jaxon rubs the back of his neck. “I won’t tell him. But what about the police?”

“No.”

“And she’s…gone now?”

“Dead. She’s dead now.”

“Holy shit, Sam. I never imagined…You told me she was after your dad’s money. It just seemed to fit her personality.”

Jaxon pulls away from the curb and turns left onto Blackbird Lane. “I wanna hear this.”

I twist my hair up into a messy ball, for no other reason than to occupy my hands. “You want to hear about my stepmother?”Please don’t let me regret this.“You’re not gonna like some of it.”

Jaxon pulls into his brick driveway, which is just as uneven as mine is, and turns his engine off. “Let’s grab dinner tonight. Out. We definitely can’t talk about all this stuff in your house, and I’m pretty sure my mom has superhuman hearing.”

I nod without looking at him. “Pizza or something?” I get out of the truck.

Jaxon closes his door and leans against it. “I’m always up for pizza. I’ll pick you up at eight?”

“Works for me,” I say, awkwardly waving goodbye to him and walking across his driveway to mine.

My dad’s car is gone. I pull out my cell phone. Sure enough, I have a text from him saying he went to grab groceries with Mrs. Meriwether.

I also have texts from the girls.

Alice:Come to Mary’s for dinner?

Mary:We’re getting takeout.

Damn. I can’t cancel on Jaxon. Not after that conversation we just had. I lock the front door behind me.

Me:Can’t come for dinner, but can meet after.

Susannah:We’ll come to you. Maybe help you go through family records? See if we can find anything on Myra and Henry?

Me:It’s a plan.

Alice:But do NOT touch that dress again, genius.

I slip my phone into my hoodie pocket and drop my bag by the door. I open my mouth to yell for my dad and remember he’s gone. I’m alone. I crack my knuckles.Should I?