Darline's Arc

Chapter 2 of 13

Darline walked back to The Fat Cow the next morning, her notebook tucked under her arm. The catalog felt heavier now that it was complete. She'd spent all night thinking about who to expose first, running through the list of florists and their crimes. But she needed to see Silas's operation with her own eyes before she spread anything about him. She'd heard whispers about his flower garden out past the burial ground, but gossip wasn't enough. Not for him. She followed a weathered wooden arrow sign that pointed toward the edge of town, her boots kicking up dust with each step. The sign had been there for years, marking the path to the old growing plots. When she reached the garden, she stopped short. Rows of roses stretched before her, thick and dark green, blooming weeks ahead of schedule. She pulled out her notebook and started writing. Plot size. Number of plants. The unnatural color of the petals. Silas stepped out from behind a cluster of vine-wrapped bones that marked the corner of his plot. His face went hard when he saw her pencil moving across the page. He crossed the garden in four long strides and snatched the notebook from her hands. His eyes scanned her notes—the measurements, the bloom counts, the questions she'd written about where his soil came from. "What are you planning to reveal about me?" The words came out flat and cold. Darline reached for the notebook, but he held it away. She could see her ex reading every line, seeing exactly how much she'd figured out about his unnatural roses. She grabbed for it again, and this time he let her have it. "You think you're so clever," he said. "But if one word about my garden reaches town, I'll tell everyone whose secrets are in that little book of yours. Every florist. Every supplier. Every bride who trusted you." Darline clutched the notebook against her chest. She'd gotten what she came for—proof that Silas was growing something wrong in soil that shouldn't work that way. But now he knew she was watching, and he'd made his threat clear. She turned and walked back toward the arrow sign, her boots heavy in the dust. The catalog was complete, but she couldn't use half of it without losing the rest. Silas had just made himself untouchable, and she'd have to choose her next target carefully.