Blackfin Sky (23 page)

‘Oh.’ Sky forced her muscles to relax a little. ‘But what if your aunt comes in?’

A brush of Sean’s fingers against hers had Sky squeezing his hand in reflex.

‘She never comes in here without knocking, and even then, rarely. She wakes up at six sharp, then gets showered and dressed and knocks on my door to ask if I want breakfast at six-twenty-five. If you can sneak out of here while she’s in the shower, there won’t be any chance of her hearing you.’

‘What about Cam?’

Sean’s fingers flexed. ‘She stayed at Bo’s house after the party last night. She’s been staying there a lot since … you know.’

Sky’s heart did a flip.

‘Did they find anything at the woods? Was Madame Curio still there? What did she say?’

Sean shushed her when her voice crept above a whisper. They both stayed quiet for a minute, waiting for the sound of Sean’s aunt coming downstairs to investigate. When no telltale footsteps gave away her approach, Sean relaxed again.

She scooted closer to Sean to whisper. He leaned in, having simultaneously had the same thought, and brought them close enough that she could feel the heat of his skin on her lips.

Sky swallowed, hard. Sean was either a lot less nervous about the position they were in, or he was hiding it very well.

‘Jared had already fixed it so that nobody could get past the gate. He’d even put vandal grease on the fence. The party moved down to the beach, but it didn’t go on for very long. Nobody really seemed in the mood.’

At least one thing had gone in Sky’s favour.

‘Are you sure you don’t mind if I stay here? I can sleep on the floor…’

Sean’s answer was to wrap his arm across her stomach, rolling her so that her back was to his chest.

‘Goodnight, Sky.’

Sky was absolutely certain she would not be able to relax knowing she was pressed up against Sean Vega,
in his bed,
but the night’s adventures caught up with her quickly, sending her into a dreamless sleep.

19

Sky knew something was wrong even before opening her eyes. When she did, the stern figure of Officer Holly Vega loomed in the doorway.

Sean remained asleep, snoring softly with his face to the wall.

Officer Vega made a series of hand gestures, conveying that she would be waiting in the kitchen for Sky to join her there.

Sky nodded, mortified.

Sky spidered her way out of Sean’s bed, pausing to tie on her boots – as though that might make things seem more appropriate to Sean’s aunt – and looked at his sleeping face. He looked younger, somehow, a frown creasing his forehead. Sky tucked away her smile and crept from the room.

She steeled herself and sat down opposite the police officer at her dark wood dining table. Officer Vega slid a steaming cup of coffee across the table to Sky.

‘We might be having a slightly different conversation had I not seen that you were fully clothed in my nephew’s bed, but Sean has a right to his privacy and so do you. So, let’s not get into that.’ Officer Vega paused before continuing. ‘But I am
not
happy to find unexpected visitors in my house. I could have hurt you, Skylar, and I’d really rather not have to re-file all the paperwork I did when you died the last time.’ She smiled thinly. ‘So if you’re staying over, I want to know you’re here. Stick a note on Sean’s door, hang a sock from the door handle –
whatever –
just so that I know. Are we clear?’

Sky nodded. ‘I’m sorry if finding me there was … weird.’

Officer Vega laughed. ‘I wouldn’t have known you were there at all if you didn’t mutter in your sleep. I’ll be having this same conversation with Sean when he wakes up, but I wanted to speak with you alone first.’ She paused to inhale the contents of her cup. ‘I thought I should update you on the investigation.’

Sky flinched, almost scalding herself with coffee. ‘Investigation?’

‘After the Swivellers’ assault on you last week, I took a look around the property – unofficially, at first – to see if I could unearth some connection between that and what happened on your birthday.’

Officer Vega waited for Sky to connect the dots.

‘You thought they might have had something to do with me falling from the pier?’

The police officer tipped her head to one side. ‘Possibly. But either way, after they admitted to digging up your grave to bury their dog,’ her mouth twisted in a grimace, ‘I knew they would be able to answer a few questions which have been bothering me ever since you came back.’

‘Oh?’

‘Like what happened to the body buried in your place after they unearthed it. And who it belonged to, if not to you. After all, it wasn’t inconceivable that a body might have washed up on the beach from outside Blackfin.’ She stood and walked into the family room, only to reappear a moment later holding a manila folder. ‘But then I found these hidden in the old barn behind the Swiveller place.’ She placed the folder on the table in front of Sky, but kept her hand on top of it for a moment. ‘I must warn you, there are photos in there which are very disturbing. If you’d rather not look at them, I completely understand, but I don’t see how you’ll believe what’s in them otherwise.’

Officer Vega slid her hand from the folder and went back to her seat opposite Sky.

There was no way she wanted to see whatever was in those photos if the steady, practical woman facing her called them ‘disturbing’, and was now looking at her in silent apology. But even as Sky recoiled, a part of her knew she
had
to look at them.

Her fingers trembled as she opened the folder.

‘Oh God … are these … are these pictures of
me
?’

The photos showed a girl uncannily similar to Sky, except for one tiny detail: she was dead. There was no doubt about her unfortunate state, her eyes shrivelled and sunken behind her closed eyelids, her skin blanched a terrible shade of white. Almost as disturbing as this was the way the girl had been posed, sitting on a hay bale in what had to be the Swivellers’ barn. Sky didn’t recognise the dress she was wearing, but it was a baggy, floral number that she suspected had gone missing from Mrs Swiveller’s wardrobe.

‘There was no sign of the body, and I couldn’t get the boys to confess what they’d done with it. All I found were these photos.’

‘Why did you show them to me?’

There was a long moment of silence as Sky glared at the older woman in reproach.

‘I’m sorry I had to do that, but I needed to be certain. The girl
is
you, unless you have an identical twin I’ve never heard about. Still, you’ve maintained since you reappeared that you had no idea you’ve been missing – presumed dead – for the last three months. And then I find these photos, with you most certainly in them, and I had to ask myself – is the girl in these photos really dead, or just playing some twisted kind of dress-up? Has this whole thing been a prank gone too far?’

Officer Vega silenced Sky’s protest by taking her hand.

‘Skylar, it was the only
logical
explanation I could think of. I know it’s not something you would do, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t rule out every possibility. You understand, don’t you?’

Sky forced her jaw to unclench. ‘I suppose so.’

Officer Vega leaned back, spreading her hands. ‘So that’s what I’ve got: a metric ton of unanswered questions, with no logical explanation.’

Sky studied the photos in front of her again, debating over telling the policewoman about the lost note. But that would mean having to explain what exactly a Pathfinder was, and Sky wasn’t sure how to explain it herself. ‘By logical, I take it you mean within the usual laws of physics?’

Officer Vega’s eyes narrowed. ‘Anything beyond that is outside of my scope, I’m afraid.’

Sky’s problem wasn’t a matter for the police, and it looked like Officer Vega had enough to deal with in figuring out who the missing corpse had been. Except Sky knew who the corpse had been – herself, only from another version of her life, displaced from her own reality to die in this one. But the body hadn’t been pulled back to its own reality the way she had.

Is that because
that
Skylar Rousseau wasn’t a Pathfinder, or because she was dead?

She clamped her mouth shut to stop the sob she could feel trying to escape her.

How can I feel guilty about killing someone – someone who’s basically me – when I didn’t even know I’d done it?

But she did feel guilty. And there was nothing she could do to make it better.

‘So what do you suggest I do?’

Officer Vega flipped the manila folder shut. ‘Same as I suggested before. If you want answers, talk to your mother.’ The older woman smiled. ‘Do you remember the first time I met you and your mother, Skylar?’ Sky shook her head. ‘No, of course not. You were only about three years old at the time. But she told me she was sorry to hear about my husband passing away.’

Sky didn’t understand the significance.

‘Nobody here knew about that – I’d made it a condition of the transfer. A woman police officer – the only police officer in a small town – has a hard enough time building a rapport with the locals as it is. If everyone in Blackfin had known I’d only moved here after Barney died, they’d have treated me differently. I didn’t want pity, Sky. I just wanted to do my job. So I didn’t tell anyone, not a soul.’

‘But Mum knew,’ Sky said, unease settling into resolve.

Officer Vega nodded, that knowing smile still in place. ‘Your mum knew.’

20

Sky found her mother on the back porch when she arrived at the Blood House, a thick blanket around her as she rocked back and forth on the old swing.

‘You knew where I’d gone for those three months, didn’t you, Mum?’

Lily Rousseau looked up at her daughter with bloodshot eyes. She looked so unlike herself in that moment, Sky wondered whether she had accidentally travelled to another version of her life where her mum was a drunk. But Lily was the same Lily Sky had always known – just one who had secrets keeping her awake at night, and a daughter she was lying to.

‘I didn’t know at the time, no. I thought you’d died, and I didn’t know it happened that way – that another you would be left here in your place.’ Tears slid down her cold-pinkened cheeks, and she swiped at them angrily. ‘I still see her, Skylar. It still feels
in here
,’ she held her hand to her chest, ‘like my baby died. But she wasn’t you, and then I feel guilty for mourning a child who wasn’t really mine.’ She sniffled, still looking furious.

‘Why haven’t you said anything?’

‘Because I’m your mother, and it’s my job to carry these things inside so you don’t have to.’ Her bloodshot eyes met Sky’s. ‘Hasn’t helped though, has it?’

Sky climbed the back porch steps and sat down next to her mother. ‘Are you a Pathfinder, or is Dad?’ Lily looked shocked for a moment, but her eyes narrowed as she studied Sky’s face.

‘I should have known you’d find out.’ Lily shook her head, refusing to look at Sky.