Hemlock Veils

Taggart’s mustache twitched like it did when he began losing patience. Now sweat dotted his temples, a single droplet rolling down with gravity. The matter of the beast had been eating at him for some time, in the opposite way it ate at Elizabeth. But now he seemed to be unraveling, on the verge of losing it. With a hand still resting on his hip, he glared at Elizabeth. “Be. Careful.”

Discomfort rested upon the room, and though her eyes shot to every set watching her, she skipped over Henry’s. “I won’t be careful. Call me evil, call me whatever you like, but I won’t stand by and let you talk about him like that. Not here, not in my place. Not anymore.”

“You…” Brian began. He stood and backed up. “You’re really defending it? After all this time, I thought it was just some act. But you…you really think it’s…”

“He,” she corrected.

“Dammit, Beth,” Taggart said, saliva spraying. “I’ve had enough. It’s one thing to be brave, maybe even to question its motives, but to defend it after all this—after what it’s done to Gina’s cats…You’re walking a thin line.”

“He didn’t do it.”

“And how do you know?”

“I just know. He wouldn’t.”

“Then what did? We got only one evil demon wandering the forest. And I can’t stand by and let it tear this town apart!”

“There’s something else out there.”

No one spoke, and without a thought her eyes shot to Henry’s for the first time. They were narrow, nearly twitching. She looked back to Taggart. “I’ve felt it. It’s something dark, something not the beast. I can’t explain it, but there’s something else…”

“She’s just covering for it,” Gina said. Elizabeth may as well have been a witch on trial.

“Beth,” Taggart said. “This is go

“What’s going to stop, Sheriff?”

“You! You’re scaring us. And with the way Eustace was this morning…something’s not right. I won’t have you acting like a crazy person anymore!”

“I’m crazy? Just because I’m the only one who can see him for who he is? Because you’re all too blind to?”

“Ms. Ashton!” Henry stood so quickly his chair knocked to the tile. That same discomfort saturated the silence, only tripled in intensity now. Her eyes challenged his, and his face darkened. “Outside. I need a word.”

“If you don’t like the way I’m talking, Mr. Clayton, you’re free to leave.” She folded her arms and looked to the others. “That goes for everyone.”

With that, all who were sitting stood, and every single body except hers and Henry’s filed out the door, one after the other and all silently. Taggart shook his head and Regina was the last through. The fact that she went at all made Elizabeth’s arms hang, as well as her heart. “I’m sorry, Beth,” she said before leaving.

It was just her and Henry now, his brow fierce and caramel eyes fiery. “Are you satisfied now? You’ve pushed everyone away.”

She stepped toward him, her chest so afire she could hardly speak. “All I’ve done is stood up for what’s right in this town. I’ve been true to myself, Mr. Clayton, true to him. That’s more than I can say for you.”

He recoiled.

“You want to hide?” she added. “Fine. But I won’t.”

“What am I hiding from?”

She swallowed. He couldn’t know she knew; things were bad enough as they were. “I won’t sit back anymore,” she said instead, sidestepping his question. “Not when an i

“He’s being treated the way he deserves! Can’t you just let it be? You’ve done nothing but turn this town upside-down, and now people are getting hurt.”

“No one is getting hurt.”

“You are, Ms. Ashton.”

She blinked, and for the briefest instant, that warmth showed through his eyes. And she understood. She understood why he was so angry, and why he wanted her to stay out of things. But she couldn’t, and no matter how altruistic his reason was, it infuriated her. “But what about him? He may not matter to anyone else, not even to himself, but he matters to me.”

He exhaled through his nose, slow and painful-sounding, since his jaw was clamped. “Ms. Ashton, you’re going to destroy your new business. I suggest you rethink the road you’re headed down.” He slammed himself into the door and was through it before she could argue.

***

Henry pushed through Jean’s door with a force that left it slamming against the window. It may have been morning, but he sweated already. As he crossed the street to Arne, who had a look of question in his eyes, Henry removed his tie with two quick movements. When Arne opened his door, he threw it in the car, along with his suit jacket, and then unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt; the collar suffocating.

“Rough morning?” Arne asked cautiously.

Henry paced back and forth on the sidewalk, the door to the car open, waiting. His heart beat in all his limbs, quick and heavy. “She’s impossible. She’s going to be her own downfall.” He stopped, meeting Arne’s eyes. “I’m only trying to help her, Arne. How can she not see that?”

“Henry,” he said, too softly, “perhaps it’s you who needs to see.”

He didn’t want to stick around to hear it; instead he marched back into her shop. “Dammit, Ms. Ashton,” he said, making her turn in surprise. “Why do you have to be so stubborn?”

She stood behind the counter, close to the doorway of the kitchen, and folded her arms. “You came back just to ask why I’m stubborn, Mr. Clayton?”

He took four giant steps toward her and she stood her ground, craning her neck to meet his eyes while the magnetism between them pulled more forcefully than it ever had. “You don’t know what you’re doing to yourself. I’m trying to prevent you from making the biggest mistake of your life.”

“It’s not your job to prevent me from making mistakes. And I do know. I know what can come out of this, what already has. Don’t insult my intelligence.”

“Then why?”

“As far as I can see, I’m the only one with any sense around here. And if I lose my job and my friends and the place I love just for that, then so be it.”

“He’s worth all that?”

“Yes.”

God, how his chest hurt. How it ached with the hottest of fires. He wanted to crumble at her feet, but with a sharp exhalation, he clenched his hand into a fist. “You’re infuriating. And too…”

“Too what, Mr. Clayton?”

“Too damn perfect!” His shallow breath came quickly, and she unfolded her arms. He wanted to run, hide from what he tried so hard to keep from her, but instead added, “You don’t do anything like a normal person. It’s human nature to protect yourself, Ms. Ashton, to protect your livelihood. But you’re too damn good to care about your own life, because you’re caring about everyone else’s. You’ve probably never done a thing wrong in your life, have you?”

The look in her eyes made him regret it immediately. “You mean aside from nearly chasing after Brian with a broken piece of glass?” He shook his head, but she went on, “You want to know why I ran from California, Mr. Clayton?” She swallowed. “I suppose this is as good a time as any.”

After a brief look of resolve, a certain deadness came over her, her eyes staring at the floor and nothing at the same time. In the short seconds that followed, it seemed she’d surrendered. To what, he didn’t know. But he couldn’t believe he was about to hear what he’d been digging for since the day she’d come into town. “I deserve this,” she admitted.

He huffed.

“I stole.”

His eyes forgot how to blink.

“That money, the money I’m using to pay for this place, the money I bought my house with. I stole it from Mr. Vanderzee.”

“Is this your idea of a joke, Ms. Ashton?”

The way her brows pulled together suggested great pain, her façade begi