Watching Trin by Freya Barker

Chapter 30

Bodhi

“That was a bear! Did you see that?”

Tucker is almost vibrating with excitement when I get to the final ground-level platform at the base of the mountain. Ravi is standing beside him wearing just a grin. Vic seems to be less excited.

I saw the bear, foraging around a clearing we passed on the last leg down.

“Probably filling its stomach before winter,” I suggest while unclipping my harness. “This time of year they eat between twenty or thirty pounds of food a day to sustain them during hibernation.”

“That’s a shitload of berries,” Tuck observes.

“It is, which is why they basically eat all day. And not just berries and acorns, they’ll eat anything, even grass if they can’t find anything else.”

“Tell me we’re not going to bump into that thing on the trail,” Vic directs at Brett, who is grinning.

“The lodge is the opposite way,” he assures her just as my phone vibrates in my jacket pocket.

I zip it open and shove my hand in, encountering two phones. Right. Trin gave me hers because she didn’t have zipped pockets in her coat. I identify mine and pull it out, noting VanDyken’s number on the display.

“Jay.”

“We may have an issue.”

I’m instantly alert as I step out of my harness, picking it up to hand to Brett.

“How so?”

Vic picks up on the tone of my voice and sends me an inquiring look. I move a few steps away from the group and turn my back.

“A few things, but first let me ask; do you have eyes on Trin?”

Cold fingers crawl up my spine.

“She’s with my sister and her cop friend.”

“Good. Tell them to stick close. I don’t think Hawkins is our man. We’ve been barking up the wrong tree.”

“Hang on a second,” I tell Jay. Then I press the phone to my chest and turn to find Vic’s eyes keen on me. “I’m gonna start walking ahead. You stick with the boys, okay?”

She stares hard at me before nodding sharply, immediately turning to the rest of the group. I have no doubt she knows something is up and will be alert with those kids.

“Talk to me,” I snap at Jay.

“Ramirez executed a wellness check at the Anderson place this morning, after discovering no one has seen Marianne Anderson since Wednesday night when she left the hospital with her daughter.”

“And?”

“Mrs. Anderson was dead in her bed. Looks like she took an overdose. They found a collection of empty pill bottles on the nightstand. The Vicodin was her husband’s prescription, and the Xanax she just picked up at the hospital pharmacy on Wednesday. The third bottle was for clozapine. The name on the bottle was Jeannie’s.”

Pieces are falling in place and a picture is starting to form I don’t much like so I take my hurried steps into a jog.

“An antipsychotic,” I note.

“Yes.”

“Anyone talk to Jeannie?” I ask, fearing the answer.

“Not answering her phone. Neighbors haven’t seen her, and my wife just informed me the ME’s office hasn’t been able to get hold of her to discuss what she’d like done with her father’s remains either. Hank Anderson’s autopsy is scheduled for this afternoon.”

“Fuck.”

“She’s in the wind.”

* * *

Trin

Branches snag on my clothes and hit my face as I make my way through the thick brush.

Every time I slow down, the gun is jabbed violently in my back.

It’s a woman, I know that much, but I have a hard time placing the voice from the handful of growled words she’s uttered. I can tell from the slope of the ground she’s leading me back down the mountain. I’ve been glancing up to see if I can spot the zip line but no luck so far. The zip line would mean we could be close to one of the trails and the possibility of running into help. And I need it. Badly.

Despite the cool temperatures the sweat is starting to run down my back under my jacket. Exertion and stark fear.

“Where are we going?”

I try to glance over my shoulder but she shoves me in the back with the gun, causing me to lose my footing. One of my boots gets snagged on something and I go down. I manage to break my fall without breaking a bone and have the presence of mind to roll on my back.

I can finally see her face looming over me.

The red hair throws me off at first—it’s a bad dye job and the result almost looks like a clown’s wig—but the face is familiar.

“Jeannie?”

She pats her new do when she sees me looking. The gun is unwavering in the other hand as she grins down at me.

“Do you think he’ll like it?”

He? Is she talking about Bodhi?

“It didn’t even occur to me, until I saw you with him, he has a preference for redheads. All those years I was waiting for him to notice.” She shakes her head. “So much time wasted, all because of my hair.”

I could argue my hair isn’t exactly red, but more a strawberry blonde but I’m pretty sure that won’t get me anywhere. She’s clearly unhinged—living in her own reality—which makes me think of my father. Maybe if I follow along in her fantasy I can get her to relax, it worked with Pops. I could make a run for it if that gun wasn’t aimed right at me.

She doesn’t stop me when I scramble to my feet and I feel a modicum better standing face-to-face with her.

“I’m sure he’s noticed you,” I placate her. “He’s known you for more than half his life. You’re friends with his sister after all.”

“Hardly,” she scoffs. “She’s a bitch. Won’t have anything to do with me, I’ve tried. Oh, she’s all friendly to my face when I manage to catch her, right before she blows me off. I’m not an idiot, I know she wants to keep me from him.”

Yikes. She doesn’t just sound off her rocker, she’s got some serious paranoia going on as well. All of it circling around Bodhi.

“Does she know how you feel about him?” I ask, taking a small step back to test her.

“Of course she does.” She doesn’t seem to notice so I take another step when she adds, “I’m going to have to take care of her too.”

That stops me in my tracks.

“Too?”

She shrugs but still has that fucking gun trained on me.

“Anyone in my way. Now turn around.”

I don’t want to turn around. I won’t be able to see her, react to her if she decides to pull that trigger.

“Bodhi will be devastated if you hurt his sister.”

I purposely leave myself out of it when I mention Bodhi. I’m sure it’ll only inflame the situation.

“Then I can support him in his grief, make him see how much he needs me. He won’t want to stay here where he’ll be reminded every day, so we’ll go to Mexico. I planned it all out. I have money I’ve been saving up for years. But first I have to make you disappear like I did the others.”

The others? Plural?

“I’ve been watching you. Ever since he brought you to the restaurant. Other than his crew, the only other person he’d ever brought in was that junkie. I could see it right away; the stupid cunt was going to take him down with her.” She snorts, like she finds all of this amusing. “It was too easy. The promise of an easy score was all it took.”

Jesus Christ, she’s talking about Tasha. Bodhi thinks she hightailed it out of here, but I don’t think she ever left.

My God, she’s fucking batshit crazy.

If there was any doubt she intends to kill me it’s gone now.

“So get moving.” She takes a step toward me and gestures with the gun. “Go on,” she urges when I don’t comply. “Otherwise, I’ll shoot you where you stand and make sure your son is next.”

That’s enough of an incentive for me. The farther I can get her away from the people I care about, the better.

I turn my back as she demanded and resume walking, but I’m going to try and keep her talking.

“Jeannie, what about your mother? Who’s gonna look after her?”

Jeannie laughs behind me. A deranged cackle almost more frightening than her insane words.

“No one will need to. She’s already looked after. I had no choice. She was supposed to be in the kitchen with my dad. I knew when Cherry’s car was found my dad wouldn’t stay quiet and I couldn’t risk her knowing. It should’ve been quick.”

Bile rises to my throat, burning all the way and bringing tears to my eyes, but I fight to keep my voice steady.

“Your father killed Cherry?”

That has her cackling again.

“My dad? That’s funny. She was a slut. I saw her that night, draping herself all over Bodhi. He left with her, even though she was supposed to be seeing JD. I knew I had to do something.”

She snorts.

“Cherry made it so easy. Everyone was asleep or passed out and I snuck into Bodhi’s room, sitting on his bed watching him, when I heard something outside. She’d come back and was getting into her car that was still parked at the end of the driveway. I ran out, started crying, and begged for a ride home.”

My blood runs like ice through my veins. She can’t have been more than fifteen or sixteen at the time. Tucker’s age. But what scares me most is the casual yet detailed way she tells her story. Like something she’s kept fresh in her mind, an accomplishment she’s proud of.

“We used to have a low rock wall bordering our driveway. I told her pull in beside my father’s car so when I swung the door open to get out, I made sure it hit the wall. And when she came out to check the damage, I bashed in her skull.”

I stumble and fall forward, but manage to stop myself from landing on my face by grabbing on to a tree. A flash of burgundy seems to disappear behind a thick trunk about twenty feet away and my heart starts to hammer in my chest.

The same color as Bodhi’s jacket.

I need to keep her talking so he knows where she is.

“Let me guess, your father caught you?”

“You’re smarter than the others, I’ll say that for you.”

The cold steel of the barrel is pressed to the base of my skull.

* * *

Bodhi

“Anika. Is Trin with you?”

“No, that’s why I’m calling. We were in the bathroom and she was going to grab her purse from the locker, but she never came back. Hayden is out looking for her.”

“She armed?”

“Armed? I don’t know. Why?”

“I don’t have time to explain. Where are you?”

I know I’m curt, and I’m sure I’m freaking her out even more, but at least that means she’ll be careful.

“In the foyer of the lodge. Hayden told me to wait here in case she shows up. What’s going on?”

“I need you to stay there. Make sure you’re never alone, stick close to people.”

“You’re scaring me to death, Bodhi.”

She sounds near tears.

“I know. I’m sorry, but I have to go.”

I shove the phone in my pocket and am probably halfway up to the lodge when I hear a woman laugh. It’s not a happy sound.

It’s coming from somewhere in the woods bordering the path, so I step into the underbrush.

I fucking wish I had a weapon. VanDyken is on his way, but it’ll be some time before he gets here and God knows where Hayden is.

Voices. Or maybe it’s just one, it’s hard to tell. I can’t make out what they’re saying but I hear them.

The trees are thick here and the ground almost invisible under the ferns and brush. I carefully place each foot, unsure what I’m about to head into. I don’t want to give myself away before I know who it is.

Now I hear it—Jeannie’s voice.

“…snuck into Bodhi’s room, sitting on his bed watching him, when I heard something…”

I clench my jaw and determinedly shove aside what I’m hearing, that’s for later concern. I’m sure it’s Jeannie and she appears to be talking to Trin. A few steps is all it takes and then I suddenly see her between the trees, just as she seems to stumble. I move as fast as I can behind a thick trunk, but not before I get a glimpse of her blue eyes aimed in my direction.

I hear her voice, “Let me guess, your father caught you?”

Then I see her move from the tree she was leaning against, a gun pressed to her head. Holding the gun is Jeannie. With red fucking hair. What the hell?

The loud snap of a branch alerts everyone, including Jeannie, who is turning her head in the direction of the sound. From my vantage point I catch Hayden about thirty feet behind the two women, looking around for some cover.

I make a split-second decision.

“That was me.”

I hold up my hands, palms out, as I step into the open. Jeannie’s head snaps my way and I swear I see her eyes light up for a moment.

“Bodhi, no!” Trin yells out as I start walking toward them, my hands still up in front of my chest.

Her head snaps back as Jeannie grabs a hank of hair and pulls her back.

“Down on your knees.”

“Let her go, Jeannie. You and me can work this out.”

“On. Your. Knees.”

I watch as she forces Trin down by the hair. Her eyes darting all over the place.

“Come on, Jeannie, we don’t need her for this. Let her go.”

“I can’t. She’s in the way.”

From the corner of my eye, I get a glimpse of Hayden crouched over and carefully approaching Jeannie from behind, staying out of her field of vision. I need to keep her occupied.

“How is she in the way, Jeannie?”

“Of my plans…our plans. She’s an obstacle.”

I glance down at Trin and catch her trying to look my way, but Jeannie does too, giving her hair a vicious yank, forcing the gun under her jaw.

“Hey, Jeannie,” I desperately call out, trying to get her attention back on me. “She doesn’t mean anything.”

“That’s a lie,” she spits out. “I’ve seen you with her. I’ve been watching you.”

Her movements become more agitated and I’m afraid we’re running out of time.

“Look, if I’d known you were interested, I would’ve—”

The words freeze in my throat when Hayden suddenly pops up a few feet behind Jeannie, swinging a massive branch. At the last moment she swings her head around, but it’s too late.

The impact is sickeningly loud, but so is the sound of the gunshot.