River of Bones

can’t leave my mother alone all night.”
“She’s doing great, Raven. At some point, you need to remove the training wheels and let her ride on her own.”
“I know. But she overdosed four months ago. She needs more time.”
He pulled the refrigerator open and rubbed his chin.
“I’m making a sandwich with the leftover porterhouse. You want one?”
“I guess so.”
Darren grabbed the bread out of the cupboard and sliced the steak on a cutting board. He possessed a firm jaw that matched his rugged shoulders, and his jeans fit his body in all the right places.
“Lettuce and onion?”
“Hold the onion.”
He plated her sandwich and cut it in half, setting it on the table in front of her. She took a bite and remembered this afternoon’s cookout. Surrounded by people she loved, she’d felt safe. Darren set his plate opposite hers and fell into the chair with a groan. He’d spent the day chopping firewood and walking the trails. Darren wiped his forehead and pried the cap off a bottled soda. He occupied himself with the food and drink as he talked, yet his attention never left her.
“How are you holding up?”
She wasn’t sure how to answer. Since the abduction, she’d awoken to nightmares and a sensation of someone inside the room with her. The night terrors prompted her to install the night light. It wasn’t helping. She’d convinced herself she just needed time to process the kidnapping.
Darren set the sandwich down and rested his forearms on the table. His forehead creased with concern over her non-answer.
“Are you sure you want to spend this much time with a basket case?” she asked.
“What’s that supposed to mean? Raven, you experienced a traumatic event, and it will take time to make sense of what happened. Tell me what you’re feeling.”
She picked her nails and sat back in the chair.
“The nightmares keep getting worse. Sometimes, I dream about Ellie Fisher.” Ellie Fisher was the woman Damian Ramos and Mark Benson kidnapped before they grabbed Raven. “I wake up in the farmhouse, and I hear Ellie screaming from another room. Damian tosses me inside the room with Ellie. But something is wrong. She’s not yelling anymore. There’s blood covering the walls. They slit her throat, and I’m next.”
“It’s a dream. In real life, you escaped.”
“I didn’t escape. You saved me.”
“Chelsey and Deputy Lambert saved you. I just came along for the ride.”
Raven dropped her face into her hands and rubbed her eyes.
“It happens during the day too. I go to work, and Chelsey’s sick half the time, so I’m alone in the office. Every little sound makes me jump, and I always worry someone is following me.”
“It will get better with time.”
“Will it? One month later, and I’m getting worse.”
Darren set his ankle on his knee. He bit into his sandwich, considering his words as he chewed.
“Have you considered visiting a therapist?”
“A shrink?”
“Would it be so bad? Thomas sees Dr. Mandal, and you keep saying Chelsey should seek counseling.”
“I suppose you’re right. Something has to change. I can’t live like this another month.”
“Don’t rush the process. I’m here for you.”
“And I appreciate you more than words can express. All this anxiety is in my head. As long as I’m around other people, I’m fine. Like this afternoon at the cookout, we were all together, laughing and talking, and my anxiety disappeared. Heck, I didn’t even think about the abduction.”
He tapped his hand on the table.
“There you go. Spend time around people. You’re always welcome here, and you can call me whenever Chelsey no-shows at work.”
“It would be nice to get over this. I used to love being alone.” She spied the hurt on his face and covered her mouth. “That came out wrong. I far prefer your company to being alone. But there was something relaxing about a long run in the early morning, or curling up with a book after Mom fell asleep. Now I leap at every noise.”
“I understand what you meant about being alone. Why do you think I live here?” He gestured around the cabin. “No horns honking outside my window day and night, no traffic jams or crowded sidewalks. Sometimes, it’s nice to be on your own. But it’s better if you spend time with friends and family until you get your sea legs back.”
As she sipped her water, she stared at him over the bottle.
“I regret something I did after the cookout.”
He straightened in his chair.
“This doesn’t sound good.”
She pressed her lips together and lowered her eyes.
“I kinda eavesdropped on Thomas and Gray while they discussed the Jane Doe.”
“Define eavesdropped. Like you overheard them while you chatted with LeVar?”
“I hid beside the house while they talked on the deck.”
Darren glared at her through the tops of his eyes.
“Raven.”
“Yeah, that was lousy of me.”
“Why would you do such a thing?”
Elbow on the table, she rested her cheek on her palm and toyed with the napkin.
“Scout Mourning and LeVar visited me this morning and offered to research the state park case. They have this crazy idea of collaborating with me.”
“So they’re solving the mystery.”
“Right.”
“Raven, this isn’t a game. Those bones belong to somebody’s daughter.”
“I’m not minimizing the girl’s death, and anything we discover we’ll share with the sheriff’s department. It’s just that working with LeVar and Scout gave me a boost. It made me excited to be an investigator again.”
Darren pushed his plate aside. A playful grin appeared on his face.
“Well, did you learn anything important?”
“Why? Do you want in on this investigation?”
“The bones were in my state park.”
“Good point.”
“Tell me what you overheard.”
“Sheriff Gray believes Skye Feron’s friends, Justine Adkins and Paige Sutton, lied to him during the investigation six years ago. They’re involved somehow.”
“That’s not much to go on.”
“No, but Paige Sutton still lives in Wolf Lake, and Justine Adkins arrived in town a few days ago.”
“She came after the story broke about the bones. That’s curious.”
Raven finished her water and set the bottle aside.
“Could be Justine believes the dead girl is Skye and wants to say goodbye.”
“Or Justine and Paige