Page 23 of A Reaper's Secret

“Yeah, she’s happy, and then she is like hermother.”

“What?”

“Her mother was the same. Always saying howmuch she hated Lost Creek. How she wanted to get out. She’d sleepwith random tourists too. Admittedly, not quite like her daughter, but it was close, and youdidn’t hear that from me.”

“But, Penelope’s mom is happily married.” Her friend was one offour children. Penelope was the second child. The eldest had goneaway to college. The other two were in high school and from time totime, they would visit the café, but not often.

“And has been for as long as I’ve knownher,” Amy said, but her argument had already started to lose steam,when she realized what she was saying. “I wasn’t born when she waslike Penelope, becausemy best friend also wasn’t born.”

“And we don’t keep dragging up a person’spast. We all make mistakes. We’re all just trying to get throughthis life with as little pain as possible. For Penelope, all we cando is be there, and if she decides she wants to leave town, then welet her. Lost Creek will always be her home, but think about it,she could have left long ago. On a bus. With her car.”

“But she always had so many excuses.” Oneof them had been that she hated riding buses, and there was no wayshe was leaving town on a bus. Another argument had been that shedidn’t want to leave because her car wasn’t in a good state. Then, after she got her carfixed, she couldn’t leave because she had spent all her moneyfixing her car, and now she had to save up. That argument was thelast one Amy remembered hearing a few years ago.

Penelope got a lot of tips, because eventhough she was a pain in the ass, when she buckled down and got thejob done, she was one hell of a waitress.

She got to her feet and made her waytoward the coffeepot, and she poured herself a generous mugful. She appreciatedthe company as Daniel had to go and do something. She couldn’tquite remember what it was, but it sounded important to her, andshe didn’t want to pull him away.

“Thank you for keeping me company today,”she said, moving back to sit opposite Martha.

“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t have tocancel anything to come and spend time with you.” She wagged herfinger at the air. “But I’ve got a feeling something bad isafoot.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I’ve got my Lost Creek sensetingling.”

Amy frowned. “Lost Creek sensetingling?”

“Yep, I remember telling my Nigel all aboutit when he was alive, and he would listen. Whenever I got thistingle all over my body, bad stuff happened in Lost Creek.”

This was … a little much.

Amy sipped her coffee and then thoughtabout Martha and all she had seen. For herself, she had only everknown Lost Creek to be a beautiful touristresort—quaint andbeautiful—but she knew ithadn’t always been the case.

“Martha?” she asked.

“Yes, honey.”

“Have you ever met a … Reaper?” Amyasked.

This made Martha pause. She’d reached forthe paper after giving her words of wisdom about Penelope. She hadn’t turned the paperover, and Amy waited, watching the older woman.

Slowly, she lifted her head up. “Yes, I havemet a Reaper.”

Amy opened her mouth and closed it. “But,I thought their identities were to remain a secret?”

“They are.”

Amy frowned because Martha was usually avery talkative woman, but right now she was quiet.

“Okay,” Amy said slowly. “Come on, Martha,you’ve got to give me something. Don’t get me wrong, I get thattheir presence has beensome kind of urban myth, but the town has been fine for years.There is no way we are under any threat or anything.”

Martha once again closed her newspaper andfocused on Amy. “Nigel was a Reaper.”

“How did you know?” Amy asked, unable tobelieve that Nigel, a man who didn’t seem capable of harming a fly, could protect thetown.

Martha placed her hands on the table. “I was much younger when itwasn’t safe for a young woman to walk the streets. I’d been datingNigel from time to time, since I was a girl. He was a little olderthan me, not too much older, but old enough. One Friday night, mysister, Betsy, God rest her soul, had gotten sick. My mom waspanicking. My dad had left for the weekend. He always went to thecity to try and earn a little extra. With the docks taken over, andthe inflation the gangs were charging to use the waters, hecouldn’t afford to fish. He was taking as many jobs as he could tosupport us. I know it was destroying everyone at thetime.”

Amy reached out and put a hand overMartha’s, trying to offer some support, any support.

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