Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Ben Wake

Showing Carl the Negre sign definitely disturbed him. I had guessed correctly that he was taught the signs, but his reaction told me a lot more than that. He didn't think I was just making an idle threat – there was a very immediate fear on his face, but not of me.

I really want to find out more from Carl, but he's walking away, keeping himself tightly under control. I know that it would be a bad idea to keep the conversation going. Carl is walking away before things get ugly between us, the best thing for me to do is to honor that and let him go.

Not long after Carl drives off, Paul arrives to pick me up. "Have you noticed anything unusual around the house over the past few days," I ask him as we're on our way home.

"No," he says. "You asked us to let you know if we ever caught anybody in the yard or loitering around on the road, but we haven't seen anything."