Page 64 of Code Violation

Magnus rattled off the password, very boring compared to Forrest’s, and Nero logged on.

“What are you looking for?” Forrest asked.

“Are these modern pioneers still alive? Was this the last time any of them were seen? We already know there’s been no sign of Dina or Witt.”

Quickly, he typed the names of Witt and Dina’s homesteader pals into the search bar. Unsurprisingly, there were no results. Nero didn’t know what the women’s birth names might have been. Alive, dead? They had no idea.

“Huh,” said Forrest. “Here’s an article about Kaylee Fernsby’s disappearance.”

“What does it say?”

“It’s a photograph with her stats and a number to call. Not much else. It says here that she’d last been seen the week before. They took their time, didn’t they?” He set the edition down and looked through the stack. “Ah, here.” He plucked another out and waved it at Nero. “Front page news now. ‘Local Girl Found Dead.’”

“She was found outside of Zenith, right?”

Geographically, Zenith was the next closest town, if you could call it that, connected to Cooper Springs by an incredibly twisty road that doubled the distance between the population centers.

“Yeah, it says here she was found by someone walking their dog.”

“It’s always the dog walker,” Nero muttered under his breath.

“This is a waste of our time,” Magnus said, tossing the stack of papers to one side. “For whatever reasons, Pops must have been convinced there could be someone living up there. If he thought the bones were Dina’s or Witt’s all this time and wasn’t bothered with that outcome—sorry, Forrest—he may now believe that one or both of them are alive and responsible for the girls’ deaths.”

“Or maybe he wants to prove to himself that there’s no one up there,” Nero offered.

“Magnus, you know better than anyone that just because Rufus didn’t take a tent doesn’t mean he’s in trouble out there. He knows those woods better than anyone,” Forrest reminded him.

“I can know it and not have to like it,” Magnus said, standing so, presumably, he could pace around and continue to drive both Forrest and Nero to distraction. “I can’t go up after him. Someone has to stay here.”

“We don’t all need to go. I’ll do it,” said Forrest, his mouth set in a grim line.

Nero tossed the pen he’d been fiddling with down onto the table where it landed with a clack.

“No single person is disappearing into those woods. I’ve seen the movie and read the book already. One by one, would-be rescuers will be picked off by an unseen monster until we are all doomed. There has to be a better plan.”

“Fine,” said Forrest. “You and I will go up together. Magnus will stay back and if we don’t get back in a reasonable amount of time, he’ll contact Chief Dear, Critter, and Mags.”

* * *

“Why did I agree to this?” Nero muttered as a droplet of rain dripped down the bridge of his nose.

He knew why though. He’d agreed because he was worried about Rufus Ferguson and the very real concern that there likely was a dangerous human or humans living in the forest.

They’d stayed at Rufus’s house pouring over his maps of the area for hours and had headed out just as the sky was beginning to lighten. After barely getting any sleep, Nero was a tad cranky. Nero liked his sleep. Magnus agreed to open the Donkey rather than stay in Rufus’s house. Nero had argued that people might come to the pub with tips, and if Rufus returned and discovered they’d all disappeared, who knew what he might do. Magnus had left a note on Rufus’s coffee table before they locked up.

“He’d think we were idiots,” Magnus grumbled.

Nero had come up with the idea they should post on the town’s Facebook page asking if there had been other sightings of the “creepy man” before the day Ned had been killed, and anyone who may have seen something was to contact Magnus.

“What am I doing with this information? The crackpots are going to seep out of the woodwork.”

“This is why you’re perfect for this,” Nero had said. “You know everyone, Magnus. You’ll know who is likely to be telling the truth and who might be embellishing or flat-out lying to get attention. Maybe no one saw anyone unusual, but I keep going back to that one comment I saw. So keep track of responses. Oh, and maybe reach out to them and see if we can get a more complete description.”

“And if the two of you aren’t back by dark?” Magnus had asked. “This scheme has horror movie written all over it.”

“Do you have a better idea?” Forrest demanded.

Magnus had admitted that no, he did not.

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