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Jeff scratched his neck before giving Calloway his full attention. “I made a vow not to talk about this.”

“What if your safety, or Claire’s, is in jeopardy?”

“I can take care of us.”

“I don’t disagree, but this is serious, Jeff,” Calloway said.

Jeff frowned. “All right. When I walked into the room, Silas was standing in a corner. He was covered in blood and holding a bucket with even more. Everybody had blood on them.” Jeff put his hand on his stomach. “God, the smell alone was horrific. Everyone was freaking out, trying to get him to put down the bucket. Thalia was trying to get out of the room, but Wilmot kept stopping her. He was trying to get everyone to calm down. When I came in, he looked at me and told me to shut the door. I did, behind me as I ran. I heard that Wilmot took care of getting everyone cleaned up and home. Let them take showers and everything. Washed their clothes. I found some blood on my shoes later. Threw them away and wore my pop’s old sneakers until I could buy something else for me.”

Calloway looked at me. I could see the question in his eyes. Did I remember any of this strange behavior? A group of teenagers taking showers, bloody clothes, the bloody lab?

I shook my head. “I don’t remember any of it.”

“Susan helped, I heard,” Jeff said.

I blinked at the news, the name. “Who?”

“Susan,” Jeff said.

“Who the hell is that?” I asked.

“Your aunt, I guess.” Jeff shrugged.

My world spun, tipped on its axis. I didn’t have an aunt—no, that wasn’t it. I didn’t have an aunt in Black Vulture.

Wilmot had been an only child, but my mother had grown up with a sister. I kind of remembered meeting her as she traveled through town when I was a little girl, but that was all I knew of her.

“Susan Shaw. She’s your mom’s sister.”

I squinted as I looked at Jeff. “No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded.

“Do you know Susan Shaw?” Jeff asked Calloway.

“Not at all.”

“She lives somewhere around here, in the county, I think,” Jeff said.

“I don’t know all the residents of the county, Jeff,” Calloway said.

Jeff looked at me again. “I saw her not long ago. She’s still around. Wilmot introduced her as his sister-in-law. She was around during the classes. She was … mostly quiet. If I look back on it now, I wonder if Wilmot thought it would be better to have another adult around, so she was there. I don’t know, though.”

How big was this black hole in my memory? I didn’t remember Aunt Susan other than faintly that one time. Had she been hanging around our place when I wasn’t there? Where had she been after Wilmot disappeared?

Where had I been during all this time, which was sounding more like a slice from some horror movie than real life?

Had it all been so traumatic that my brain had suppressed it?

“Jeff, I don’t remember any of this,” I said.

“I guess that checks out because I really don’t remember seeing you around, but I don’t know how your dad managed to keep it all hidden from you.”

I didn’t either. “Does Minnie talk about Susan in the podcast?”

“No. She doesn’t mention any names other than Wilmot’s.”