Running with Rogues

CHAPTER 34 - CONSPIRACY

They weren't very deep, but some of them were painted brown with long-dried blood. It wasn't like someone had been trying to claw their way out of this cramped, dark little room. It was more like someone had got bored and frustrated enough that they'd torn their fingertips on the wood splinters just for something to do.

"Hey, Eva," a voice chirped from behind me. I jumped out of my skin, smacked my head against the wall and then swore softly. It was Lin, of course, and she was looking as chirpy as ever. "Sorry I'm so late. Will and I were... Mm, maybe I'll spare you the details."

Oh. Ew. Who cared?

"Come and have a look at this," I told her, nodding towards the scratch marks. "Weird, isn't it?"

Lin frowned at me. "Rats, I guess."

I caught her eye and held it. "Or fingernails."

"Seriously? I think that's reaching," she muttered.

My eyebrows were making their way upwards at a rate of knots. I stepped out of the cupboard and began examining the door instead. There wasn't a lock on the outside, but there was a set of tiny little holes like there had been a bolt screwed on at some point. Oh, Liam. If I was right, this would certainly explain the claustrophobia.

"Look at this shit," I murmured. "Doesn't it bother you?"

I wanted to see what she'd do when confronted with such blatant evidence of abuse. I wanted to see what all these pack members had been doing all these years. Everyone who had turned their back, everyone who had looked the other way, everyone who had covered for these pieces of shit.

I understood in some ways. Everything to lose. Nothing to gain. And yet I kinda hoped I would have done something differently if it had been me - that I'd have tried, at the very least. I wanted to think I would have drawn my line in the sand and decided that this is not okay.

Lin glanced at those holes, and then she chewed on her lip. "What do you want me to do, Eva? Should I go and confront him right now? Do you think that'll help, somehow?"

We were using hushed voices, barely louder than whispers, but Mason looked up anyway. I scowled at her, trying to ignore the way my skin was crawling under the weight of that stare. "And how will ignoring it help?"

"I don't know, okay?" she hissed "But at least I won't make anything worse."

I just stared at her. She stared right back. Mason stared at both of us, his laptop and his daughter forgotten for the time being. I got the sense that his patience was slipping away, inch by inch, and we wouldn't like what happened when it ran out.

"I'll start in the bedroom," I muttered, my hand closing around the mop.

It was her turn to raise her eyebrows. Smugly, she took it off me and pressed the hoover into my hands instead. "Maybe you should start minding your own business, Eva, or I'll stop minding mine. I get the weirdest feeling you might have a few secrets of your own."

Shit. Did she know? Had I given myself away, somehow? I was gaping like a fish, which made Lin smile all the wider. Should I just bugger off and pretend like I hadn't heard her, or I should I confront her and see the extent of the damage?

Normally, I'd have picked running away over confrontation in a heartbeat, but I'd spent so long getting over my shock that it was now too late to make an exit.

"What...?" I stammered out. "I don't- What are you talking about?"

She leant in closer and squeezed my shoulder. "Let's just say I've connected the dots, honey."