red hill - jamie mcguire

Scarlet sighed, and then scratched her head. “It seemed like the safest place, and I knew there was
a chance my girls would come here.”
Ashley sat up as Scarlet sat down on the couch. She seemed to be suddenly exhausted, as if saying
the words out loud took the last bit of energy she had.
Ashley sniffed and wiped her nose with the sleeve of her jacket. “Why aren’t they with you”
I braced myself for what she might say.
Scarlet fidgeted, clearly trying not to break down. Ashley obviously knew her, but from what I
could gather from the bit of conversation I’d caught earlier, their father’s significant other was buried
outside with him. The woman sitting on the couch didn’t seem to be family, so I wondered how she
would know about this place, so far removed from everything.
“Scarlet” Ashley prodded. “Where are your girls”
“They’re coming.”
“Here” Ashley said, sounding surprised. “How do you know”
“Because I left them a message. On Andrew’s wall.”
The conversation made less sense as it went along, and Ashley didn’t seem to understand, either.
Agitated, Scarlet stood up and disappeared into the back of the house. Ashley and Cooper traded
glances, and then we all looked to the side door leading to wherever the father was buried. Bryce
was leading Miranda inside the house, shutting the wooden door. The bottom half was wood, the top
half Plexiglas.
“We’re going to need to board that up,” I said. “Tonight.”
Joey nodded and stood up from the corner. I’d almost forgotten he was here, he’d been so quiet.
“I’ll help you.”
Bryce jerked his head toward the door, careful not to take his arms from around Miranda. “There
should be some leftover wood in the barn. Be careful. There’s a bull out there.”
As Joey passed Miranda, she watched him walk by, and I assumed by the way her eyes fell to the
floor that something wasn’t right. I had been conditioned by Aubrey for years to detect a problem and
buffer it before it got too far out of control. These people were still strangers, but I had a very real
fear that if the delicate fibers of our group broke down, Joey, my daughter, and I would be the first to
go. The others seemed to know each other. We were the outsiders, and I needed to ensure my and
Zoe’s place here.
With the flashlight Scarlet had given me, I shined the light around in the darkness until it
highlighted the side of the barn. I could already hear the grunts and movements of the bull. Fortunately
the boards were in a different part of the barn than where the animal was corralled.
“Let’s get this and get back in,” I said. “We don’t want anything sneaking up on us out here.”
Joey nodded and lifted a stack of boards up into his arms with a grunt. I picked a stack as well,
and we made our way back to the house. Scarlet brought a small, red, carry toolbox and set it on top
of the dryer. “I didn’t board this because there aren’t many nails left.”
“We’ll make do,” I said, pulling the hammer out of the box. As I hit the nail head and watched it
slide easily through the board to the wood on the other side, I thought of Gary and Eric from the
church in Fairview, and wondered if they were alive. And then I thought of Skeeter, and of Jill, and