The Suicide Forest (The River Book 5) by Michael Richan Page A

Robbie need your help, even if she doesn’t.”
    “Keep Robbie out of this,” Evie said.
    “He’s already involved!” June said. “He’s scared out of his
wits. He sleeps in my room half the time. I wish you’d let me send him over to
Uncle Bill’s place for a couple of nights, so we could both get a decent
night’s sleep!”
    “Please, more drama, mother,” Evie said.
    “It’s true!” June said. “He’s scared, and you want to pretend
he isn’t. Let me take him over to Bill’s.”
    “No,” Evie said, “that’s not going to happen. He’s perfectly
fine here.”
    Roy shook the rosemary sprig in the glass jar again,
irritated that it wasn’t working.
    “Perhaps we could talk to Robbie?” Steven asked.
    “Absolutely not,” Evie said.
    “Why not?” June asked.
    “Because I don’t want him to,” Evie said. “There’s no reason
for him to meet these two.”
    June sat back in her chair and let out a sigh. Steven could
tell she was used to having this argument with Evie, and never won it.
    “Well, I guess that’s it then,” Steven said, turning to
leave.
    “Bye,” Evie said.
    “Wait!” June said. “Don’t go. We do need your help, even if
Evie doesn’t think so.”
    “We’ll have to see about that,” Roy said to June. “We’ll be
in touch.” He followed Steven out the kitchen door and back to their car. He
pulled the glass jar out of his coat pocket and looked at it. “Worthless,” he
said.
    “We must have done it wrong,” Steven said. “What was it
supposed to do, exactly?”
    “Make her trust us,” Roy said. “Maybe you read it wrong? The
instructions?”
    “Or maybe,” Steven said, getting into the car, “she knew it
was there and countered it somehow.”
    “That seems more likely,” Roy said.
    “Winning her over is looking more and more like a bad
strategy,” Steven said. “So what do we do next? Seems like a dead end.”
    “I want to come back and talk with June after Evie leaves,”
Roy said. “There’s a few things that came out of that conversation that we need
to follow up on.”
     
    ◊
     
    They returned a couple of hours later. Evie’s car was no
longer in the driveway. Steven phoned June and told to have the token ready when
they arrived.
    “Sorry about that,” June said, inviting them both to sit.
“She’s strong willed.”
    “No need to apologize,” Steven said.
    “June,” Roy said, “we’re not going to get the information we
need from Evie, that’s obvious. I was wondering if there was anyone else who
might be able to help us understand what’s happening here. You mentioned an
Uncle?”
    “Yes, Bill,” June said, “Mark’s brother. He lives in Madrona.
He and Mark were very close. He used to be close to Evie, too, but when she had
her falling out with Mark, she stopped seeing Bill, too.”
    “You wanted to take Robbie over to Bill’s?” Steven asked.
    “Yes,” June said, “Robbie loves Bill, they get along great. I
was thinking if he could just get out of this house for a while, maybe he could
have a decent night’s sleep.”
    “But it’s not the house, is it?” Roy asked. “Evie said it’s
been going on for a while now.”
    “Well,” June said, “before we moved here, there was an
occasional strange thing that would happen now and again, but life is full of
occasional strange things. It’s only been since we moved here that they’re
happening so regularly.”
    “Would you mind if we spoke to Bill?” Steven asked. “If he
was close to Mark, he may know something that could help us. And, I’m not sure
where else to turn at the moment.”
    “Oh I’m sure Bill will help,” June said. “Let me get my
address book.”
    She returned with the book clasped between her fingers.
“Could one of you look it up please? It’s impossible to do with my palms held
together like this.”
    Steven took the address book from her fingers and flipped
through it. The cover was a 3D picture of a rose bush, and every page