Page 24 of Fire Harbor

He stared at the necklace until realizing it had to be important. He couldn’t just leave it there. What if he could never locate this spot again? He patted his pockets for something to use as an evidence bag and took out a deposit envelope from the bank. Trying not to touch the chain, with some difficulty, he managed to get the necklace to slide into the envelope. That’s when he realized that attached to the chain was a solid round gold pendant the size of a quarter. Stamped in the design was the figure of a woman with long hair holding a flower.

Still on bended knee, through the downpour, Linus squinted up ahead. His eyes landed on underbrush so thick he couldn’t see through it to the other side.

“Time to turn back,” Linus shouted over the rain. “But when this clears up, somebody needs to chain-saw their way through that wall and see what’s on the other side.”

Getting to his feet, he decided that coming here hadn’t been a complete waste of time. He patted his jacket pocket where the necklace was. “With any luck, we’ll find out if this belongs to any of the missing women.”

Chapter Six

For a Friday, Lake and her assistant, Greta, stayed busy. While Greta took care of the service desk, Lake kept her head down, reviewing numbers for the next quarter’s budget. She had been interrupted a couple of times to answer questions. After all, she never closed her office door and always made herself available to patrons eager to find a certain book. During those times away from her desk, she had noticed something odd. Every time she walked past the computer area women occupied all three workstations, several whispering to one another, their eyes fearful, filled with worry.

It wasn’t until Jolene Sanders knocked on her office door that she learned why. “The entire town is on edge. When I went to gas up my car this morning, Lilly told me we have a serial killer targeting young women. Gabby Moreland was one of his victims. Everyone’s talking about it. Aren’t you afraid, Lake?”

Lake wasn’t sure how to calm Jolene’s fears. Yet. But now, with the news leaking out about a serial killer, she knew she had to think of something meaningful. She couldn’t just sit back and let fear grip the community. Taking a deep breath, she stared at Jolene, determined to get through.

“Now, listen to me,” Lake replied. “Being afraid is a natural reaction, but it isn’t the answer. We shouldn’t let fear consume us. I understand why everyone is scared, but we need to stay focused and united.”

“And how do we do that?” Jolene asked.

“First, we need to give Chief Cody time to catch this guy,” Lake stated. “In the meantime, we come together as a community and support each other, maybe organize a neighborhood watch, increase our security measures at home, and keep an eye out for anything that doesn’t look right. After all, most of the women who’ve disappeared, did so near that bridge, either coming from or going to Santa Cruz.”

Jolene nodded. “I suppose. But you do realize whoever this guy is he probably lives among us.”

Lake cleared her throat and stood up. “It’s a possibility. But we need to keep our heads. Why don’t we plan a neighborhood meeting where everyone has a chance to speak to law enforcement, ask their questions, and get their concerns out in the open?”

Standing at the doorway, Jordan Harris spoke up. “That’s a great idea. I’ll ask Seth Larrabee if we can hold the meeting at the church tomorrow night. We could make it a Saturday night potluck dinner so more people could show up. That is, if the weather cooperates.”

“Are you offering to organize it?” Lake asked. “The food, that is. Because I could send out emails right now to everyone who’s signed up to get updates through the library. Almost everyone in town has, over the last seven years, joined our mailing list.”

“You take care of getting the word out and I’ll make sure we have food, even if it’s just simple appetizers.”

“It’s such short notice, though,” Jolene mentioned. “I have to work tomorrow night. As hostess at The Pointe, it’s our busiest night of the week.”

“She’s right about the short notice,” Lake agreed. “What if we moved the meeting to Sunday afternoon after services? That way we’d give people at least two days heads-up to bring a dish.”

“That would work better for me,” Jolene reasoned. “And I can help get the word out while I’m working Saturday night.”

“Okay. Then we’ll plan for a Sunday afternoon luncheon after church service,” Jordan said. “Someone needs to get a member of law enforcement to show up. It should be Brent, don’t you think?”

“Yes, I agree,” Lake said with a nod. “The man in charge. But who’s going to approach him?”

“Nick will do it,” Jordan volunteered. “I already talked to him this morning after dropping the kids off at school. He knows I’m concerned about opening the B&B to strangers with a serial killer out there.”

Lake’s eyes widened. “That is risky. Maybe you should think about canceling reservations until Brent catches this guy.”

Jordan chewed her lip. “I might do that. Although we’re heading into our busiest season. And I’ve never done anything so drastic before now but maybe the circumstances warrant it. What would you do?”

The idea of letting strangers wander around her house had Lake’s heart rate spiking. “I realize after running a B&B for over a decade, you know your clientele better than anyone by now. But I wouldn’t want to let someone stay that I didn’t know. Maybe keep the reservations to repeat customers, those with a clear track record who’ve had a history of trouble-free visits.”

“That’s not a bad approach. I’ll bring that up to Nick.”

“By the way, all the books about serial killers are gone from the true crime section,” Jolene pointed out. “Were you aware of that? Did you do that on purpose?”

Chills shot up Lake’s arms. “No, no I didn’t realize it. Maybe that’s a trend from this morning after the news got out. I’ll go through the checkout history of every book on the subject just to see who’s interested in true crime.”

After the two women agreed to keep the planning simple via text messages, they left Lake’s office excited about the prospects for Sunday.

Lake spent the next twenty minutes composing the email about the meeting before sending it out to the library’s mailing list. She also reviewed the list of people who had checked out books about serial killers recently and was stunned by the results.

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