Page 1 of Dirty Whispers

1

HARPER

“It still feels creepy.” Nikki shakes her head as we stroll along the end of the well-kept forest trail. "Unsettling, you know?"

"Remember, it's for the greater good," Jocelyn says with one of her quiet smiles. "Professor Hewitt has been doing studies like this for years."

"And we're going to keep it light," I chime in. "Nothing that could possibly cause anyone stress. Right?"

"Right." Nikki sighs. "Like talking about work on our nature walk?"

Jocelyn giggles. "I don't think we know enough about trees for a clever discussion about those."

"Hey, it's not too late," I smirk. "We're only two years in. We could switch from communications to botany. I mean, plants have got to be easier to figure out than people, right?"

We all laugh as we get to the end of Maple Trail. The main path is wide and well-marked, more of a slow, meandering nature walk than an actual hike. Since we're all city girls, we figured we weren’t ready for the more challenging trails. Like, I'm a bookworm, not a hiker. But getting a sense of the local terrain felt like a good idea for our first weekend here in a small mountain town.

When we get back to my old silver blue car, I notice that the parking lot is nearly empty. There were three more cars here when we first arrived. Now the only other vehicle is a big pickup truck.

Nikki tosses our small backpacks into the trunk as Jocelyn gets in the passenger seat and I start the car. Or rather, I try to. It makes a sad little noise, but the engine doesn't turn over.

Nikki snorts. "Please don’t tell me we’re stranded in the woods our very first day walking in them."

"You think it's a bad sign?" Jocelyn asks.

"For the country to hate city folk?" Nikki rolls her eyes. "Maybe."

My head jerks up as a man strides toward us, frowning slightly. He looks like an honest-to-frick lumberjack. "Need some help?"

"Um…maybe." I try again, and this time something makes an odd click. "Yeah, I think it's dead. Crap. I swear I didn't leave the lights on."

He motions for me to get out, so I do. He leans in and checks a few things, and I'm almost relieved that it doesn't even make a sound now when he tries to start it. At least that means I wasn't doing anything wrong. Right?

"It has at least a half tank of gas and a fairly new battery," I say. "And it was running fine earlier."

The man gets out, nodding. "Yeah. Rough mountain roads. The suspensions on older cars like this one, sometimes things get knocked loose." He smiles. It looks a bit forced. Maybe he's annoyed at having to help three out-of-towners.

"I'm Barrett. There are a few of us who patrol these trails here so that nobody gets stranded. I'll call the local tow guy – he's great."

"Thank you." Nikki is already pulling our things out of the car as Jocelyn gets out, looking nervous.

"Hey, Griff," Barrett says into his phone, his gaze locked on the horizon. "Three nice young ladies have a dead car at the Maple Trail parking lot."

It's faint, but I can kind of hear a laugh. "Ladies, you say? I'll be there in ten seconds."

"Thanks." Barrett ends the call and turns back to us. "You must be the group renting Riggs' house for a few months." My expression makes him chuckle. "News travels fast in a small town."

That's exactly what we're here to prove. I share a quick wide-eyed glance with Jocelyn and Nikki. We can read each other pretty well by now, since we were a study group for nearly a year before we were chosen for this country-wide research project.

"Griffin's tow truck just holds one passenger, and my truck only seats two more besides me. So I'll run two of you back to your place when he gets here."

A slight prickle of tension slithers down my spine at the thought of being alone with some strange guy. "It's my car, so I'll go with him."

Barrett checks, a little gruffly, that we're aware of all the hiking basics. Yes, we have an alarm that sounds an hour before sunset so we can make it back before then. Yes, we carry water, bandages, and a bear whistle. Yes, all our phones are charged in case we need to call 911.

"Actually, if you'll be staying in Old Hemlock Valley for the month, take this number down." He recites a number as we make new contacts in our phones. "We call it the OHV Hotline."

"Is it like 911?" Nikki asks.

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