Chapter 27: Chapter 27

LANCE

After I close the door to the truck with Wren inside, Grant approaches me.

“What the fuck is going on?”

“I don’t know, but I’m worried someone is out to hurt me,” I say.

“Why?”

“The snake was in Wren’s truck—seems pretty unlikely that it slithered in on its own. The window was only halfway down.”

Grant pauses. “So you think someone planted a rattlesnake? Why?”

“I don’t know. Tad threatened Wren and my family a few weeks ago. Plus, of course, we have a few of our own enemies at the farm,” I say.

“We’ll check the security camera when we get back. I think the main angle is of the driveway, so Wren’s truck may or may not be in it,” Grant says.

“Okay, any peace of mind we can get would be good. We’ve been laying low but if someone is targeting us at the ranch then it’s time to handle it,” I say.

“Right,” Grant says.

I’ve finally started to thaw toward Grant recently, maybe because I have started to see Emma for who she is. Plus I’m happy with Wren.

We aren’t exactly best pals or anything, but I am glad he is here today.

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask,” I say. “I’d like to try driving again. Maybe just around the farm and back roads.”

Grant smiles. “Good for you, man. Let me know how I can help,” he says.

“I will.”

Just then, Wren gets out of the truck.

“I’d like to go wait inside, in case they come out,” she says. Her eyes are swollen and red, and she is sniffling a lot, but she seems to have her strong exterior back in place.

“Okay, no problem,” I say as I put an arm around her.

“I’m going to make a few calls out here,” Grant says as he climbs into the truck.

“Okay, thanks, Grant,” Wren says.

We sit inside for about twenty minutes before Mindy comes out, looking positive.

“Wren?”

“Yes?! Is he okay?”

“Yes, he’s going to be fine,” she says. “We’ve given him a dose of antivenom and we’ll start him on a round of antibiotics to prevent infection.”

“Oh, thank god,” Wren says. “When can I see him?”

“We’ll take you back now but we’d like to keep him overnight for observation,” she says.

“Oh, okay.”

Wren looks at me.

“You go, I’ll let Grant know. You going to be okay?”

Wren nods.

“We’ll take good care of him,” Mindy says.

“Thanks, Mindy, I appreciate it.”

When Wren comes out, we head back to the farm. She said Puck looked good, albeit out of it, and she’s been quiet since then. I’m trying not to hover over her but I want to comfort her too.

Back at the farm, Wren sits out on the patio for a bit while I make her some food. She only eats a few bites before she says she’s done and gets up.

“Where are you going?” I ask.

“To figure out what’s wrong with my truck,” she says.

While Wren is under her truck, I go up to the house to look at security footage. Grant is already in the office in front of the monitors.

“What are you looking for?” I ask.

“Same thing you are,” he says, and I stand behind him while he clicks through settings and timestamps.

“Unfortunately, Wren is parked right on the edge of the camera’s boundary, but the passenger side is visible.”

“And?”

“And I don’t see anything suspicious, but I don’t know when this would’ve happened,” he says.

“What time are you looking at?”

“Yesterday and this morning,” he says.

He’s sped up the time so people speed-walk around the area, but no one comes close to Wren’s truck.

“Wait, go back.”

Grant stops the footage and rewinds it.

“Go forward at half the speed,” I say.

Grant adjusts the speed and hits play. We watch it for a few minutes. Just as I’m starting to think I imagined it, I see it. A slight shadow appears at the back of Wren’s truck and then disappears.

“Did you see that?!”

“I sure did,” says Grant. He rewinds and freezes the frame. It’s so pixelated from zooming in that you can’t tell anything about the shadow. Whatever made the shadow is out of the frame.

“Looks like it was at ten-fifteen a.m.”

“Today?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, please print that screenshot. And save the footage as an MPG and email it to me,” I say.

“You got it.”

“Also, please don’t mention this to anyone. I’ll talk to my parents, but until we know what’s going on, we don’t say anything to anyone.”

“Sure thing, Lance.”

I clap him on the back. “Thank you.”

Wren is leaning against her truck when I leave the house. As I get closer, I see her frowning.

“Hey, you okay?” I ask.

“Lance, I think someone cut my brake line,” she says.

“What?”

“Yeah. The cut is super small, you can hardly see it, but there’s a small snip in the line and there’s brake fluid on the ground.”

“Huh... Okay, show me.”

Wren slid a piece of plywood under the truck so she didn’t have to lie on gravel and we shimmy under it together. She turns the light on on her phone and points to a small, nearly imperceptible cut in the line.

“They made a small enough cut so the fluid would leak out slowly,” she says. “Someone wanted me to wreck.”

My heart turns to ice. I get out from under the truck and she follows.

“Come on, let’s get in the house,” I say, looking around the farm to see if anyone is around.

As soon as we enter the house, Wren turns to me. “Lance, this has Emma written all over it.”

I don’t mean to, but I laugh. “Emma?! She once put the wrong gas in her car, Wren. I highly doubt she knows how to cut a brake line, much less handle a rattlesnake.”

“Then what? Someone is trying to get to me, Lance, and I’m starting to get freaked out.”

“Okay, okay, let’s think about this. Have you rubbed anyone else the wrong way?”

I realize immediately what a stupid thing this was to say.

“Me?! You think this is my fault?”

“No, no, of course not, I just meant have you crossed paths with any other crazy people, like Tad.”

Unfortunately, this does not quell her anger.

“You know, I didn’t meet any ‘crazy people’ until I came to this godforsaken place and met YOU!”

My jaw clenches but I try to remain calm. Suddenly, Wren storms toward the door and throws it open.

“Wren, you can’t leave, it’s not safe,” I say, walking after her.

“Yeah, no shit. Lucky for you, my truck is broken and my dog is at the vet, so I couldn’t leave if I tried!”

“Please come back,” I say.

“Leave me alone, Lance.”

I watch her stomp the one hundred yards to the barn and disappear. I keep watching as she pulls the curtains shut on the apartment upstairs.

I sigh. At least I know where she is, even if it’s not with me.