Page 25 of Snow River

“Dumbass pose,” he admitted.“But it made Candy Apple laugh.”

It’s just syrup, Lila told herself, even though the sight made her stomach roil.It could have been a scene in a movie about axe murderers.So much blood.Just syrup.

She used her fingers to zoom in on the area where someone had used the syrup to write a message.It was clear as day to her.“It says ‘run and hide.’Not rawhide.‘Run and hide.’”

13

Bear looked at Oil Can.“Who would want you to run and hide?”

“Whoaaaa…” He was still gaping in amazement at Lila.“How do you read syrup so well?”

“I don’t know…I could be wrong.That’s what jumps out at me, that’s all.”

“You’re a wizard.Now that you say it, you’re right.That’s what it says.Man, Candy Apple’s going to be psyched cause she got closest.”

Bear tried to refocus him.“Have you gotten a threat like this before?”

“A threat?No, man.We got no beef with anyone around here.We’re all about love and happiness and everyone knows it.If we tick someone off, we have our guaranteed ‘get out of jail free’ card, a pan of magic brownies.Works every time.”

“Not this time,” he pointed out.“Seems like someone’s not happy with you.”

Oil Can shook his head.“I’m being real with you.We’re copacetic with everyone in Firelight Ridge.It took us a while, but we got there and we’re careful not to mess it up.This wasn’t anyone who lives here.We had a group meeting and burned some sage, did some meditating.Consensus is, we think it was a prank.”

“Burned some sage?”Bear asked.

“It helps us tune into our inner knowing.In some part of ourselves, we know who did it.”

Bear glanced at Lila, curious if she thought that was as ridiculous as he did.Hard to tell, since she was still staring at the photo of the bloody-looking mess.“So what did your inner knowing tell you?”

“It told us to ask you if you can look into it.”

“Me?”Bear frowned, since as far as he knew, no one in Firelight Ridge, let alone the Community, knew he had experience as a cop.

“Yeah.We all agreed.You’ve got a cool head.We can pay you in brownies.”He winked.

“You don’t have to pay me in anything.I’ll come out and take a look around.Any chance I can do that before you clean it up?”

“Too late for that.Candy Apple and Alex are already on it.We didn’t want it to set up for too long or we might never get it out.Sad part is, the syrup isn’t organic.It’s all chemicals.We thought about trying to use it so it didn’t go to waste, but we made the sad decision that we have to let this syrup go.”

Bear fought with all his might to keep from laughing.“Good call.”

“If they’d been mindful enough to choose organic…” Oil Can shrugged.“We all need to make better choices.”

“You think the syrup hooligan might strike again?”

Oil Can cracked up at that, and repeated it several times.“Syrup hooligan…good one, Bear.The Community will get a kick out of that.Come out any time you’re free.”He angled toward Lila.“Both of you are welcome anytime.Except for between five and seven in the morning, that’s for meditation.”

“Got it.”Bear didn’t make a habit of showing up at anyone’s house between five and seven unless there was sex involved.And he hadn’t done that since earlier in the summer.Hadn’t been tempted.

Oil Can asked for tomato juice with horseradish for the road, and set three Thermoses on the counter.“We’re doing a fall cleanse,” he explained.“Clearing out the toxins before winter.”

While Lila poured out the tomato juice, Bear got directions for the most passable route to the old train station.He knew where it was, of course, but he’d never gone to one of their monthly potlucks, or their midsummer bonfires, or their random ecstatic dance events.

After Oil Can and his Community entourage had left, Lila let out a long breath of relief.“I couldn’t say this while they were here, but Bear…I don’t think that was a prank.”

“What do you mean?”

Did her intuition work even with selfies on a phone?

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