The Curse Keepers Collection (76 page)

I dug my feet into the ground. “For how long?”

“Indefinitely.”

“What? No!”

Collin pushed me against the side of the truck, pressing his body into mine. My legs barely held me up. “Ellie, how many times do I have to apologize? I’m sorry, okay? Do you know how many times I’ve apologized in my life? I could count them on one hand, and most of them have been to you.” His hand slid up my neck, digging into my hair, and my traitorous body leaned into him. His mouth hovered over mine, and I could tell he was trying to resist me as much as I was trying to resist him. We were supposed to be fleeing, not making out.

“I can’t.”

“
Why?
I can’t stand here and watch you get hurt. Or worse.”

“I have a date.” I didn’t mean to say it like that, but it was the first thing that came to mind.

Collin’s hand stiffened in my hair. “You
what
?”

His reaction was enough for me to push on with my deception. He deserved it and more. “A professor of Native American studies is here working at the colony site. He’s offered to help me.”

His expressionless face barely registered my words, but a slight tic in the corner of his eye gave him away. “Help you how?”

“Help me send this thing away.”

“
What thing?
”

“Ukinim.”

He leaned back, moving his hands onto the truck, one on either side of my body. “What the hell is a Ukinim?”

“Are you serious? You really don’t know?”

His blank face answered my question.

“It’s the badger spirit that’s mutilating animals and eating their hearts. And apparently, now humans.”

“Is this something
he’s
told you?”

“No, it’s something Wapi told me.”

His head jerked up and his eyes narrowed. “Why would Wapi tell you any of this? Why would he care?”

“Because Ukinim doesn’t think Okeus’s rules apply to him, which makes me fair game. Okeus isn’t happy that I might not be around for his big surprise. Wapi was delivering a message warning me to be careful.”

The color drained from his face. “Why didn’t you come to me?” He had the nerve to sound accusatory.

“Because it happened last night. What would you have done, anyway?”

“Protect you!”

My anger flared white hot. “You gave up that duty when you betrayed me.”

“Bullshit, Ellie. I told you the night before the ceremony that you would be my responsibility no matter what happened.” Collin grabbed my wrist and shoved me toward the open door. “You’re coming with me.”

I jerked out of his grasp. “The hell I am!”

“For Christ’s sake! Grow up, Ellie! How much of your tattoo is left?”

I didn’t answer him.

“Have you found Ahone’s mark yet?”

“No.” And it burned a hole in my gut to admit that I hadn’t.

“Your professor
boyfriend
doesn’t know it? Then what good is he?”

“He’s trying to find it for me. Which is more than you’re doing.”

His eyes narrowed. “
Trying
to find it. And what if he doesn’t?”

“You know what.”

Rage filled his eyes. “If you think I’m going to stand back and watch you get killed, then you’re delusional. You need a new mark, and I’ll tie you down if I have to and put a new one on your back myself.”

“Like hell you will!”

His mouth found mine and I lost myself in him, which is undoubtedly what he had planned. He pushed me through the open door, lifting me up onto the seat, my legs straddling his waist.

“God, Ellie,” he groaned. “How can you fight this?”

His mouth claimed mine before I could answer, and I found myself wondering the same thing.

His hand skimmed up my back, underneath my shirt. “We have to go,” he said, but he didn’t pull away.

“Collin.” No one had ever felt as right as he did.

He was right. Our connection was more remarkable than anything I’d ever experienced. I was sure I would never find it with anyone else.

But I couldn’t trust him.

I started to cry, my heart breaking all over again.

Collin pulled back, worry in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

I pushed him away from me. “I have to go.”

He slid his hands down my back and up my arms, gripping my biceps gently. “Don’t go, Ellie. I need you.” There was a wistfulness in his voice I’d never heard before.

“I need you too.” I looked into his eyes, my tears making his face blurry. “But it’s not enough.”

I expected him to get angry, but he leaned his forehead against mine. “I know,” he whispered. He wiped a tear that had fallen down my cheek and pulled me to his chest, burying his face into my neck. “I just don’t know how to live without you.”

My throat clogged with tears. I couldn’t stay here with him another moment. I pushed his shoulders again, and he released me this time, helping me down from the seat.

He grabbed my left hand, putting it on his chest, and I looked up into his face, searching for proof that I should stay. That this time I could trust him. But all I saw was hopelessness.

I gently pulled my hand from his and walked toward the back door of the restaurant.

Collin’s truck started and pulled out of the parking lot.

My heart left with him.

C
HAPTER
S
IXTEEN

Tom showed up a couple of hours later as I was finishing my shift. The look of defeat on his face told me everything I needed to know.

“You didn’t get them.”

He shook his head. “No. They got away. I’m sorry.”

I took a deep breath. Collin was right. I was in deep trouble.

Tom’s back stiffened. He was in full Manteo Police Officer mode. “I need to get a statement of everything that has happened to you up until now. And you might need to go to Buxton and Morehead City to give statements there too.”

My eyes flew open. “Why?”

“You said they tried to abduct you in Morehead City. We don’t have jurisdiction there.”

I shook my head vigorously. “No. I’m not going to press charges.” I didn’t have time to travel hours away, and undoubtedly it would get messy with everything else I was dealing with.

“Ellie,” Tom groaned in exasperation.

“I’ll tell
you
what happened, but no one else. And I don’t want to go down to the station. I want to give you my statement at the inn.”

“That’s a lot of conditions, Ellie.”

“Do you want me to cooperate or not?”

His eyes narrowed. “If you don’t cooperate, I can have you detained overnight for obstruction of justice. Or filing a false police report.”

“I didn’t even file a police report!”

“You made an accusation that involved a high-speed car chase. Don’t think I won’t lock you up to prove my point.”

If Tom locked me up, I’d be safe from Marino’s men, but I’d be totally at the mercy of the spirits without the protections on my door and the salt around my windows. I sighed. “Will you meet me at the inn or not?”

“Yes. Fine.” He released a heavy breath and glanced out at the parking lot. “I’ll meet you there in an hour.”

On the short drive to the bed and breakfast, I sorted through the story I planned to tell Tom. I’d been mulling it over for the last hour of my shift, but I still hadn’t worked out all the details. I couldn’t tell him everything, of course, and I needed to decide whether to include Collin. Instinct told me to keep him out of it, if nothing else than because of his criminal record. But I wasn’t sure how my story would make sense without him.

When he arrived, we sat down in the living room of the residential house. I hoped the researchers didn’t come back early. The last thing I needed was for them to see me delivering a statement to a uniformed policeman. And I sure didn’t want to worry Myra. “Tom, whatever I tell you, you can’t tell Myra. She’s upset enough over Daddy. There’s no need to involve her.”

“I can’t guarantee anything,” he said with a nod. “But I’ll do my best.”

It was all I could ask. “I’m not sure where to start.”

“Why don’t you start by telling me how you ended up in Buxton.”

“I’d heard about a loan shark there. We were behind on the mortgage, so I sold him a pair of silver candlesticks.”

“How did you hear about the loan shark? Why not somewhere closer? There’s a couple of pawnshops in Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk.”

I shrugged. “A customer at the New Moon told me about him.”

“And who was this customer?”

“I don’t know,” I said in exasperation. “Just some guy. I heard him tell his friend about hocking something to a guy in Buxton. He said he bought stuff for top dollar. So I got the guy’s information and took the candlesticks to him.”

“Can Myra corroborate this?”

My eyebrows rose. “Am I under suspicion for anything?”

His face hardened. “I just want to make sure I have all the facts.”

My gaze shifted to the doorway. I resisted the urge to cringe when I noticed that David was standing in the foyer. Our eyes locked and his eyebrows rose slightly. I gave him a slight nod. I wanted him to hear this. “She knows I sold the candlesticks to get money, but she has no idea who I sold them to and I don’t want her to know.”

Tom shifted in his seat. “Who did you take them to?”

“A guy named Marino. He works in the back of a nasty thrift store.”

“Why are his men after you?”

“I told you, Marino thought I was part of something he called the Ricardo deal.”

Tom’s eyes lit up. “Are you?”

I shuddered in surprise. Tom obviously had some idea what it was. Now I was even more curious. “No. The first time I heard of the Ricardo deal was when I showed up at his warehouse. I got away, but his men have been asking around about me ever since. He knew I’d pawned stuff in Kill Devil Hills, which is how he tracked me here.”

“What were you doing in Morehead City?”

Damn it. Why had I told him that part? I paused, trying to come up with a story, knowing I was starting to look more suspicious with each second. “I was there with a guy.”

“Why the hesitation?”

“Because I’m worried this is all going to get back to Myra. I had just broken up with Dwight and . . . ” I sighed and clasped my hands together. “Myra already thinks I date too many guys, but I don’t usually run off and shack up with one the day after I met him.”

He tilted his head. “Is that what you did? Shack up with a guy the day after you met?”

My eyes were drawn to David’s expressionless face. He was standing several feet outside the doorway and to the side.

Too late now.

I lifted my chin. Guys slept around all the time. Why should I be ashamed? “Yeah, I did. I met him in Buxton at a bar and he took me to a motel in Morehead City for a few days. Marino’s guys showed up and tried to kidnap me. I got away and came home.”

Tom shook his head in disbelief. “You just
got away
?”

“Don’t make it sound so inconceivable. I can take care of myself.”

His eyes found mine. “Before I came here, I did some digging about odd occurrences in Morehead City.”

“Did you now?” I asked, crossing my legs and casting a glance toward David. Lord knew what he thought of me now. “You move quickly.”

“People are dying. I’m trying to prevent more deaths.” He cleared his throat. “Guess what I found?”

I rubbed my forehead, “I’m too tired for guessing games.”

“Then I’ll cut to the chase.” He leaned forward. “A man was found dead in the parking lot of the North Carolina Outer Banks Museum the night before your father died.”

“People die all the time. Just because I was in Morehead City doesn’t mean I brought the Grim Reaper with me.”

“This guy was frozen solid, Ellie. And his fingers on one hand were broken off.”

My stomach rolled and I swallowed, looking away.

“I can see you know something about it.”

I jerked my gaze back to him. “Why? Because I had the decency to look upset that some guy’s fingers were broken off?”

“He was known to associate with a man named Joseph Marino.”

My mouth gaped. “You already knew about Marino?” My anger flared. “And you let me think you didn’t?”

“I never insinuated that I did or didn’t know about him. I wanted to find out what you knew. Or at least what you’d share with me. Do you know how Mr. Denton died?”