you can occupy my every sigh

Chapter Thirteen

CW: Little bit of blood, they get rough - stop when they start making out if that's not your cup of tea and resume post-everything! 

Wednesday immediately pointed the tattoo out to Tyler, who inhaled sharply at the information. It seemed Kinbott had jumped back up to number one on their suspect list. Wednesday was going to have to update the board in the Hummer's shed, along with harvesting the apiaries – she'd had to skimp on upkeep with everything that had been happening recently, but the bees were important to Eugene, so she'd get back out there and take care of them after working on the board. Tyler ran a hand through his hair, the day soured by the knowledge that Kinbott, a woman they'd both shared private information to (Wednesday less than Tyler) was possibly the mastermind who set out to kill/capture them.

"What do you think we should do? Do we tell Weems?" Tyler asked all the earlier joy in his voice from the day now completely gone. Wednesday shook her head; if it really was Kinbott, there was no way Weems would expose her or target her. It would completely ruin Nevermore's reputation, and that was the only thing Weems truly cared about. That woman would sacrifice as many leads as she needed in order to keep the school's doors open. The worst part was that she genuinely believed she was doing the right thing.

"No. I'm confident that Weems isn't the mastermind, but that doesn't mean she's on our side, either. She purposefully erased evidence on the cult revisiting the crime scene," Wednesday remarked, and Tyler nodded in agreement. "Our best course of action is to follow any trails Kinbott is leaving. Does she meet with Xavier?" Tyler scowled at the mention of Xavier, but quickly composed himself.

"Yeah, I think so. Do you figure Xavier was the one who broke into your room?"

"No," Wednesday sighed, "I'm pretty sure it's not him. It's not his style; along with the fact that he gave us the information because he doesn't want me in danger. The last thing he'd do is leave a blatant threat in my room."

"Unless he wants you to get scared off," Tyler remarked. Wednesday considered the idea for a minute before discarding it.

"He might be ignoring almost every aspect of my personality, but he knows enough to deduce that a threat against my life would only make me more invested." Tyler conceded the point, and the two of them went back to try to figure out a plan. "Next time you're in therapy," Wednesday started, "Mention that you saw some of the symbols around. Ask if she knows what they mean. I'll do some digging on why exactly she came to Jericho."

"It's a small town," Tyler responded, "Someone will know something." Tyler took one hand off the steering wheel and laced it with Wednesday's. Wednesday turned her head to look out of the window, observing the countryside. As they drove past trees, small clearings, and squat houses, Wednesday saw a heavily obscured worn but clearly purposeful path.

"What's that?" Wednesday asked, motioning to the path. Tyler looked over and shrugged, not sure. Wednesday narrowed her eyes at the path. It wasn't a wide enough road to be leading up to any sort of mansion, and it was pretty overgrown, but from what Wednesday saw, it used to be a quaint way further into the woods. It didn't look like a trail or anything of that sort, which confused Wednesday further. It wasn't super noticeable from the road, but for some reason, Wednesday had seen it clear as day. "Pull into it." Something told Wednesday there was something valuable up that path.

Tyler pulled up the dirt road as Wednesday stepped out, clearing branches from his path. Once the road tapered off from the overgrown dirt and into a smooth, well worn flat dirt road, Wednesday got back into the car. It traveled secretively behind clearings, past a creek, and winded throughout the forest in a way that would be hard to catch by the naked eye. Whatever was at the end of the path, the person that put it there didn't want anyone to find it.