Dark Favors

“She does,” he said. “But that’s not always a bad thing.”

We stood for a minute, and he seemed to be looking for the right words to say. That was so Locke. Everything had to be so precise for him, so perfect. It was a little bit annoying, to be honest.

“Rebecca came to look for something,” he said.

“What kind of something?”

“The kind of something that only very rich, very elite people try to hide,” he said. “Long ago, this place used to be rented out occasionally for special galas or private parties.”

“Something happened,” I said, thinking of what Amber had said.

“Something happened,” he agreed. There was a long pause, and then he started speaking again. “She was working on a paper in college,” he said. “And she started researching someone very powerful. She found out that he had been associated with the missing woman from this place all of those years ago.”

“You didn’t want her to go,” I realized. “You didn’t want Rebecca to go sticking her nose in it. You probably knew this guy was bad news.”

“I didn’t know she was even planning on looking into the vanishing,” Locke said. “She was living with me at the time, and I was responsible for her. Our dad had passed away, and our Mom...” His voice trailed off for a minute, but then he just smiled sadly. “Our mom died giving birth to Rebecca.”

So that was why I hadn’t seen her in any pictures.

That was why she hadn’t been mentioned in any articles.

“It’s never easy losing people we love,” I told him.

“Not so much,” he agreed.

“She sneaked out,” I said. “She sneaked out and you feel bad,” I realized. Then something else hit me. “Locke, you don’t blame yourself, do you?”

“Of course, I blame myself,” he said.

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“It was entirely my fault.”

“She was an adult. She could make her own choices. It was her decision to go out. It might not have been the best decision, and it might not have been the one you wanted her to make, but it was hers to make.”

“You sound like her,” he said quietly, looking at me. “That’s exactly the kind of thing she would have said.”

I didn’t know how I felt about being compared t

o my not-boyfriend’s dead sister, but judging by Amber and Locke’s reactions to her memory, it sounded like Rebecca was actually a pretty cool person. There was definitely a little part of me that regretted the fact I would never get to know her. It sounded like she was quite interesting.

“He killed her. I know it. She was too close to the truth,” he whispered. “Too close, and then she lost everything.”

“How did you find out?”

“A police officer showed up at my door. Similar to what happened today. They had reports of trespassing. Apparently, there was a neighbor at the time who was nosey, just as there are nosey neighbors now. They’re different ones,” he added. “Trust me when I say I canvassed the neighborhood and talked to anyone who could tell me anything. Nobody ever was able to prove there was anyone here but Rebecca that night. Falling off a balcony wasn’t like her.” He shook his head. “They ruled it an accident, at least, and not a suicide, but I know it was murder.”

I let that sink in. Whoever Rebecca had been going after was a horrible person, apparently. It seemed as though that person was the kind of man who would do anything to protect his legacy and his secrets. That was the kind of dangerous person you didn’t want to be around, well, ever.

“So why did you buy this place?” I asked him, trying to get to the heart of everything. “I mean, it’s...it’s just a reminder of what you’ve lost.”

“It’s not a reminder,” he said. “There’s not a day that goes by when I’m not thinking of her, so this place? It’s no more of a reminder than just being alive is.”

I knew what he meant. It was how I felt about losing my mother, too. When she died, people were so scared to talk about her, as if them bringing her up would be the thing that made me hurt. Grief was so stupid in that way. I didn’t care if people brought up my mom because, well, I was always thinking about her.

“Why then?”

“I didn’t want anyone else to have this place,” he finally said. “The owner was an old man whose daughters rented out the property. He died a few months ago, and I contacted them and bought it before he could be placed on the market.”