Free The Lost: Book Two, The Eddie McCloskey Series (The Unearthed 2) by Evan Ronan

his face up into a smile. “Any more wet spots?”
    “In here.” Hollis shuffled backward into his bedroom and propped himself against a chest of drawers for support.
    Eddie decided to wrap it up as quickly as possible. Hollis wouldn’t let him film and probably wouldn’t let him come back inside again. Hollis hadn’t known Eddie was coming so why would he make up this story. Plus, Hollis clearly didn’t like visitors, and these claims would invite attention he didn’t want. That made these admissions against self-interest. Eddie had learned over the years to generally trust such things.
    “When do these wet spots appear?” Eddie asked.
    Hollis shifted his weight heavily to his other foot. “No particular time. Just all of a sudden-like and there they are.”
    “Bad hip or bad back?” Eddie asked.
    “Not that that’s any of your business, Mister Eddie, but both. Herniated discs and pinched nerves. Then those wetbacks hit me with their fucking car. Twice.”
    Eddie did a quick scan of the room, by far the darkest in the whole shack. Heavy black curtains were drawn. A shoebox of a bathroom to Eddie’s left. The record player in the far corner of the room, the needle bouncing over the end of the album.
    A cot in the middle of the room. A chair and a tall reading lamp. There was something rectangular on the cot, with a plug running to the wall.
    “Did you ever work at the Mill?” Eddie asked.
    “Long time ago. Back when old man Kindler was running things. He knew what he was doing, not like that worthless son of his.”
    Eddie felt like there was more to the story there but Hollis wasn’t going to open up. Hollis shifted his weight back to his other leg. It seemed like he couldn’t make up his mind which side hurt more.
    Hollis said, “The latest puddle appeared two days ago. Was up to the doc’s office and when I come back, there she was.”
    Eddie realized what the black rectangular box on the old man’s bed was. “Is that a laptop?”
    “Bet you didn’t think you’d find one of those in here.” Hollis snorted. “My boy bought it for me so’s we could keep in touch. Been e-mailing back and forth, just like you high-falutin city folk.”
    Eddie suppressed a smile. The old man was playing up being a rube, he could tell.
    Eddie looked at Hollis like a thought had just occurred to him. “Why would Tessa haunt you?”
    Hollis stiffened. “How do you know it’s Tessa? May be my ex-wife. Folks seem to think I treated her a lot worse than that bitch Tessa Lovsky.”
    “Just wondering.” Eddie scratched his chin like he was thinking. “Me, I think Tessa went out on that lake by herself. From what I hear, she didn’t need any coaxing to be a wild child.”
    Hollis’s body slowly untensed. “My son never went out on that ice. I know that because he was a chicken-shit. More coward than a draft-dodger. Those assholes got together and made up a story and the whole town bought it because they loved that little tramp. God knows why. And they love that little whore sister of hers too.”
    Eddie knew the old man was goading him. All the same, Eddie decided to say something.
    “You’re just a broken down, bitter old man, Hollis. I almost feel sorry for you. Almost. You’ve got everyone around here scared of you and you’re nothing but a pathetic geriatric fuck.”
    “You, you get the fuck out of my house before I—”
    “Before you what? You gonna shoot me? You make a move for that gun and I’ll stick it up your ass your miserable piece of shit.”
    Hollis wasn’t expecting this and he was momentarily taken aback. He must have seen the anger in Eddie’s eyes.
    “You get outta here or I’ll sick the lieutenant on you for trespassing and making threats.”
    Eddie laughed on his way out of the shack. “Have a nice day, asshole.”
    Eddie took the slope of the hill on the way back to the car. He wondered how Hollis, with his bad hip and back, could move soundlessly through the hilly woods of