Page 116 of Brimstone Hollow

“Annie-Girl,” he says. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Huh?”

I realize my arm hurts. Why does it hurt? It burns like the time I brushed against a wood stove, my skin sizzling. I look down at it. It is a strange purply-black color. The same shade as my granny’s hollyhocks. But it’s slick as a pool of oil. Shiny. Like a Japanese beetle. There’s a buzzing in my ears.

“I have a surprise for you, Annie-Girl,” he repeats. “When we get home. You’re gonna be so tickled when you see.”

But, as my stomach lurches, I realize I already know the surprise. I’ve known it for days. Ever since I heard him on the phone with her.

Faster now, thewhoosh whoosh whooshsound is replaced by aFwit! Fwit! Fwit!

The pain sears through my hand again and I suck in air through my teeth. I keep my eyes open. Keep them on the road. But my vision still goes dark.

“Annie…” my dad says from the darkness. “Can you hear me? Annie—Come on, now. I need you to wake up. Can you hear me?”

I open my eyes.

The world is red-hued, like someone’s slipped a mask of crimson gauze over my face.

“Annie?” my dad says again. “You awake?”

The rain pounds the windshield. The wipers make aSheek! Sheek! Sheek!sound as they slosh the deluge from side to side.

“Yeah…” I answer, turning my head to look at him.

Not my dad. Dishman.

I blink and the red moves over my eyes like a liquid. Notlikea liquid, I realize. My eyes are hemorrhaging. I’m seeing the world through a veil of my own blood.

“You killed him,” I say. “And then you lied to me about it.”

He keeps his eyes on the road but nods, a soft smile on his mouth.

“I’m sorry,” he says. “I only punched him. And he went backward… I was just so angry because he… Annie, there’s things you don’t know.”

“Your daughter,” I say. “Janey-Beth. You should’ve told me.”

Another nod. He takes his eyes off the road for a moment, long enough to glance at me, and he winces at what he sees.

“I know…” he says. “I wanted to tell you. I almost did. But… I also wanted to keep what I had, for everything to stay the same. Annie, I was greedy.”

“Like Shepherd,” I say, closing my eyes. They’re so heavy. My body issoheavy. “Like Ezra. Like Bradley. King of your kingdom and… your kingdom… your kingdom is no more…”

“Annie—” he says, alarmed. “Annie, you’ve got to try and stay awake, all right? Don’t go drifting off. Listen, I wanted to tell you. I was going to.But then you found Nickels’s body and then it was clear that Bradley was involved and—”

“Will,” I say. “Will… and Coroner Bradley.”

“Yeah,” he says. “That’s why I came back. The guys at the station pulled Roman Bradley’s financials and called me while I was on the road. There was no evidence of him taking a bribe. So, I figured it must’ve been blackmail instead. There was talk a while back that Roman and Will’d had some kind of relationship but… Will was just a kid.”

“Just a kid,” I repeat, my eyes closing again.

“Annie, come on now,” he says. “Stay with me. You listening?”

“Yeah,” I say. But the air feels too thin, too hot. I close my eyes again.

“Nope,” Dishman says. “Nope. Come on. Stay with me.”

Whiiiirrrrrr.