Shadows Have Gone (24 page)

“Okay, I will. Really, I am sorry. I feel like I created this . . . situation or whatever you want to call it.”

“He would have found me sooner or later. Not your fault.” Justin clapped him on the shoulder. “Just send that message for me. Do it for about three days, in between whatever else you’re doing. Morse code, just like the message we got.”

“Think it will work?”

Justin gave him a small smile. “No.”

The smoke rose in the distance, a black smudge against the cool blue sky. Carly snuggled deeper into her jacket and edged closer to Justin.

They stood on top of the shipping containers that comprised part of the Wall. Many of the other townspeople had joined them up here, all staring toward the column of smoke in the distance.

Carly shivered and pulled her scarf up closer around her cheeks. Though the late January weather was cold, it wasn’t the chill that was making her shiver. It was the message of the smoke. She didn’t know what it was intended to say, but it wasn’t good.

“Hell of a big fire, whatever it is,” Grady said. “That’s not just one house. That’s, like, a town or something.”

“It’s Clayton, what’s left of it anyway. Someone torched the whole thing. I’m almost certain of it.” Justin handed the binoculars to Carly. She couldn’t see Clayton from this distance, of course, but she could see the huge size of the column, billowing into the air. “There’s nothing else that big in that direction.”

“Seems like it would have to be intentional,” Pearl said.

She was right. House fires happened all the time. Lightning, broken gas pipes, chemicals or oily rags in hot garages . . . from what they had heard, entire cities in the east had burned to the ground when fires ate their way through the tightly packed buildings with no one to combat it. But this was fast and this was huge, and the damp and cool weather conditions weren’t favorable for fires to spread so quickly.

Justin gazed at the smoke for a moment and then turned to Carly. “I’ve got to go,” he said.

“Oh, Justin, no—”

“I’ll be careful,” he said.

“What if it’s a trap?”

“It could be.” Justin gave her a smile. “But I’m pretty wily myself. Like the Roadrunner.”

“That’s the coyote,” she said but had to swallow against a rising ache.

He took her in his arms and hunched down until he could touch his forehead to hers. “I’ll be careful, I promise. I’ll just check it out. See if it’s some kind of . . . message.”

“I think we both know it is. He’s trying to draw you out.”

Justin turned to Grady. “I don’t know what he’s planning, but I don’t think he’ll attack the town. It’s not his style. Nevertheless, I want the perimeter guards to stay frosty.”

Grady nodded. “We will.”

Justin kissed Carly, and for a moment, the world around them faded away, and it was just Justin’s arms around her. Justin’s firm lips moving over hers. Justin’s warm body pressed against her. She wished she could freeze time in this instant, that she could somehow capture this moment so she could slip back into it at will, like an old warm sweater to hold around her and shield her from the cold.

She remembered an old line from a novel by Gabriel García Márquez.
“It is enough for me to be sure that you and I exist in this moment.”
She finally understood what it meant. And she felt that certainty slipping away, through her fingers like grains of sand.

“Come back to me,” she said.

“Always. I couldn’t stay away from you. You know that.”

“Come back to me, or I’m coming after you.”

He shook his head. “Carly, I’m going so you’ll be safe. Promise me—”

“Promise me you’ll come back.” Carly crossed her arms and stared at him.

He gave a soft laugh and kissed her again. “I guess I can’t extract an impossible promise from you, either.” He looked up at the dark streak of smoke against the gray-blue winter sky. “Keep Sam with you. Promise me that.”

She nodded. That she could do. “I promise.”

“Okay.” He kissed her again, long and sweet. “Go on home, Carly. Please. I can’t stand the thought of you standing here, watching me walk away.”

Was it because he didn’t think he was coming back and didn’t want that to be her last sight of him? Carly searched his face, but she got no answers.

He tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “I love you. God, I love you so much. Go home. Go.” He pecked another kiss on her lips and nudged her toward the wooden stairs.

Carly’s boots clomped on the wood treads. She reached the bottom and looked back up at him, but he was gone. Tears stung her eyes, and she blinked hard against them, tugging her jacket more closely around herself.

A chill wind whipped her hair around her face and she shivered, though not from the cold. Alone, she trudged home.

She must have fallen asleep, because Carly was jolted awake when Kaden pounded on her bedroom door, calling her name. She instinctively looked at her wrist to find out what time it was, but in the dark with no watch, the gesture was as futile as it was archaic. She guessed it was still midafternoon, because she didn’t feel like she’d been asleep for long. She’d put Dagny down for a nap and decided to rest a little herself. She felt like she’d barely closed her eyes before Kaden started knocking.

Her bedroom in the basement had no windows, so the light of Kaden’s lamp made her flinch when she opened the door. “What? What is it?”

“It’s Veronica. She’s missing.” He didn’t say
again
, but she heard it in the slight exasperation that colored his tone.

“
Missing
missing, or just not home?”

“I don’t know. It sounds serious.”

Carly closed her eyes. “Where’s Stacy?”

“She’s upstairs, waiting for you.”

Carly trudged up the stairs behind him and found Stacy pacing in the living room.

“Oh, Carly, she’s gone and—”

Carly held up her hands. “When? Tell me what happened. Are you sure she’s gone, or could she just be off exploring again?”

Stacy shook her head. “I don’t know. She went outside after breakfast, and I haven’t seen her since. The part that scares me is that she didn’t come home for lunch. She always does, even when she’s out wandering around. She knows how I worry.”

Carly almost felt sorry for Veronica because it seemed the girl really couldn’t help it. The urge to explore was marrow deep, a compulsion she couldn’t seem to fight, no matter how many times she got in trouble or how many promises were extracted from her. “Don’t panic, Stacy. We’ll find her. We always do.”

“I’m going to fit her with a ball and chain, I swear.”

Could this be related to the fire in Clayton? If Veronica had been curious, drawn out by the smoke, could she have run into whomever it was who set the fire? That was what worried Carly. If Veronica had gone in that direction, Justin would likely find her, but if she had gone out this morning before the fire started, it was hard to tell where she’d ended up.

Carly went to the gun closet.

“Kaden?”

“I’m on it,” he said. He had Dagny in his arms, and she was working at pulling two large blocks apart, oblivious to the tension around her. Had she slept through Dagny’s nap? Carly’s head swam with disorientation, and she gave it a shake to clear it. She had work to do. She glanced toward the window and confirmed it was still daylight, though the sun hung low in the sky.

She strapped on an extra gun and turned to Kaden with a grateful smile. “Thank you. I don’t know if I say it enough, but you’re my rock. I not sure what I’d do if I didn’t have you to keep Dagny safe for me.”

Kaden smiled. “Love you, Mom.”

“I love you, too.” She gave him a hard hug and kissed the baby before she headed out the door. Stacy followed her, but Carly held up a hand. “You stay here.”

“No way, Carly! She’s my daughter and—”

“You’re our town’s doctor,” Carly said. “Stacy, I know you’re worried, but you’ve got to stay here. What if someone was injured in your absence, or one of the twins needed help? Or if you got injured during the search? I’m sorry, Stacy, but we just can’t risk you. You have to stay here.”

“For God’s sake, Carly, that’s my daughter. If it were Dagny, there’s no way you would stay here!”

“Stacy, that’s an order.” Carly met her eyes with a hard glare. To her surprise, Stacy’s face crumpled, and she sank down onto the couch. A sob shuddered through her.

Carly knelt down. “Stacy, I’m so sorry. I know how hard it is, and yes, you’re right. If it were Dagny, there’s no force on earth that could make me stay behind. But I’m not as important as you are. I’m not. You’re absolutely essential to this community’s survival. We can’t risk you.”

Stacy gripped Carly’s hand so hard it hurt. “Just get her back.”

“Whatever it takes,” Carly whispered. “Just like I would if it were Dagny.”

Stacy closed her eyes, but she nodded. Carly pulled her hand away and stood. “We’ll be home soon,” she said. She looked at Dagny in Kaden’s arms again and then hurried out the front door.

She stood on the porch for a moment, gasping in the cold air. She had to find that cool, calm center. She had to concentrate on the task at hand. She couldn’t think about what it would be like if it were Dagny.

Someday it might be Dagny.

She shoved the thought away. Shoved away the knowledge that she couldn’t keep Dagny safe in this lawless world. Couldn’t keep anyone safe. All she could do was—

Focus.

Carly took another breath and stepped off the porch.

Pearl was waiting for her at the gate. She didn’t even wait for the first words to emerge from Carly’s mouth.

“Let’s not even waste time in debate, because you know very well the shitstorm I’d get from Justin if I didn’t go with you.”

“I should be insulted he thinks I need a bodyguard,” Carly grumbled.

“Think of me as Secret Service.”

“Okay, we know she liked to go to the cemetery, so let’s start there.”

“What about Clayton?”

Carly hesitated. “Let’s assume she hadn’t seen it yet. Stacy thinks she left after breakfast, and the fire only started a few hours ago.”

“Do you think she ran into trouble with the person who started the fire?”

Carly pulled at the fringe of her scarf with nervous energy. “That’s what I’m worried about. If she saw people, she’d probably want to talk to them, especially if there were women in the group. She thinks women are safe. But if they were with the people sending Justin messages . . .”

“What’s up with that? I know he’s been as jumpy as a short nun at a penguin shoot. He hasn’t wanted to talk to me about it, but I know it’s bothering him.”

“He thinks it’s his former commander.”

“Special forces?”

Carly nodded.

Pearl looked uneasy, and Carly knew she was picturing the same thing Carly had worried about—a team of elite troops they would have no chance of fighting off if they set their sights on Colby.

They cut through marshy areas and overgrown fields to get to the cemetery. Someone had been here within the last day, because the long, unmowed weeds and grass showed a path of bent and broken stalks. It seemed to lead to the Marson plot. Carly and Pearl exchanged a glance and quickened their steps.