Page 21 of The Girl and the Lies

I walk in the direction of her gesture and weave through the stacks until I see the row of glass doors on the far wall. Each leads to a tiny room featuring a table bolted to the wall and a simple office chair with its back to the rest of the library. There are people in three of them, but I duck into the last one on the row and put my bag down on the table. I take out my tablet and prop it up on the table so I can video call Sam.

He’s sitting in his office at the sheriff’s department when he answers.

“Hey, babe,” he says, then looks slightly confused. “Where are you?”

“I’m in a library study room,” I tell him. “The investigation is a bit of a drive from Bellamy and Eric’s house, so I’m hanging out here while I wait for my next meeting rather than going all the way back to their place.”

“That makes sense,” he says. “How is it going?”

“It’s going,” I tell him. “I met with Tracy Ellis this morning.”

“How did that go?” he asks. I let out a sigh, and he chuckles. “That well, huh?”

“It was fine,” I say. “I got a lot of good insight into her and her company, and I have to say, I really understand now why people might be so upset by her that they would want to threaten her.”

“Why is that?” he asks.

I try to describe the way Tracy talks and the fierce intensity she exhibits.

“It’s not her faith that bothers me necessarily,” I say. “It’s just some of the beliefs and perceptions that she has, that she masquerades as being about faith. She weaponizes them and turns them into something divisive and exclusive, even when she’s saying that she’s trying to spread her message and bring more people into it. She’s actually just trying to break people apart even more. She calls herself a teacher and says that she doesn’t have followers, but she very clearly puts herself on a pedestal and makes everything all about her and the way she wants things to be.

“I went to a company meeting she had so that she could talk about Gideon Bell’s death, and three people walked out of it, ready to quit right there rather than stay with the company and continue to be threatened. One of the women looked like she was ready to pass out just speaking out against what Tracy wanted, and there were other people in that room who looked absolutely terrified at what she was going to do. There are people in her company who wholeheartedly believe the same things she does and are completely loyal to her because they think she’s right, but I think that there are far more who are just scared of her and don’t want her wrath to come down on them,” I say.

“And this woman is supposed to be a spiritual leader?” Sam asks.

“According to her,” I say.

“Do you think this murder has anything to do with Terrence Brooks?” he asks.

“No,” I tell him, running my fingers back through the front of my hair to try to get some of the wispy pieces at the front to behave themselves in spite of the humidity I just left. “None of the people I’ve talked to who have actually seen the threatening notes have mentioned seeing the symbol that is on the Game Master communications. The killer wrote on the wall in Gideon Bell’s apartment, and it wasn’t there either. I don’t think that they are connected in any way.

“But that doesn’t mean I’m not bothered by the way that Tracy Ellis is talking about him and his death. She’s trying to posthumously make him a part of her stance against the world even though there’s nothing about him that I’ve read or heard that sounds like his beliefs were anything like hers. It’s almost like she’s trying to turn him into a martyr she can point at and scare more people into following what she says.

“Now that Gideon has been murdered, I’m afraid the media is going to latch on to it even more. There’s no clear evidence that Terrence Brooks’s death had anything to do with his religion or his job, but that’s popping up everywhere. It’s being called a hate crime, and I’ve even seen some posts online suggesting some sort of cult or satanic element to his death. I watched some of the coverage of Gideon’s death last night, and they mentioned Tracy and Terrence. They’re blending the two stories already, and that could have serious implications for the investigation.”

I don’t say it, but I think about the Game Master and how adamant he is about being recognized through the inclusion of the undecipherable symbol on his communications and on Terrence’s body. I don’t want to think that Terrence’s death being mixed up with Gideon’s and turned into something it isn’t will further trigger him into action. But it’s also about protecting the dignity of both victims. They deserve the truth about their deaths to be understood and their real stories to be told, which means not trying to find parallels and links where there aren’t any.

“What is your next meeting?” Sam asks. “You said you were waiting in the library for it.”

“I found out that Tracy Ellis’s main bodyguard has gotten some of the threats, and I’m going over to his house after he finishes work for the day to talk to him about them,” I tell him. “You know, it strikes me as really strange. She went on and on about how she wasn’t going to back down to a ‘mere human’ and that she wasn’t going to show any fear just because of what’s been going on. But she maintains a robust security detail, including a bodyguard who stands in front of her office and goes with her everywhere. Those two things don’t really seem to line up to me.”

“Maybe she’s worried about being mobbed by all her fans,” Sam says.

I laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.” I let out a breath. “How is work for you today? Anything interesting?”

“It’s still Sherwood, babe,” he says. “Interesting doesn’t really happen around here very often. And when it does, we’re not happy about it.”

That’s true. The sleepy little town is not a place where crime runs rampant and the newspapers overflow with stories of intrigue. But there have horrific events in Sherwood, most recently the bombing of the community center with me barely escaping before it detonated. As the trusted sheriff of the town, Sam is looked to for guidance and answers when things like this happen. People want him to protect them and stop the rest of the world from getting into our community. He’s been serving in the role for many years, just as his father and grandfather did before him, but now he’s planning the next step by running for mayor.

“How are the plans for candidates’ night coming?” I ask.

He’s been nervous but also looking forward to the first big event of his campaign since announcing his intention to run. The community gathering at the town square will give families of Sherwood the opportunity to come out and enjoy an evening of activities while adults hear from the candidates for the different offices and positions coming up for election. I know Sam wants to make a good impression and show how serious he is about committing himself to the town in this new capacity, but I don’t think he needs to be as worried as he is. The people love him and are thrilled about his candidacy.

Though he hasn’t said it, I think a lot of the nervousness he’s feeling comes from uncertainty about what it will be like to walk away from his role as sheriff. He’s served the community in that capacity for so long. It’s so much a part of his identity that I don’t know if he’s fully wrapped his head around the idea that if he’s elected, he’ll be doing something completely different and someone else will be in his old position.

“They look good. The high school band is going to come out to play, so that should be fun. We have the food all lined up. I think that new dessert food truck is even coming out,” he says. “The child safety tent is going to be doing fingerprinting and taking pictures of the kids, and Savannah designed a coloring book for them that’s getting printed. They’re also talking about a whole water play area with bubbles and things because it’s going to be really hot.”

“That should be fun,” I tell him. “Everyone will really like that.”

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