Page 54 of Snow River

“Some people around here get carried away at Halloween.It’s only a week away, maybe they’re getting warmed up.”He put his arm around her shoulders.“Are you okay?It must have given you a shock.”

She wasn’t sure if she was okay, so she just gave him a weak smile.“I didn’t even see it.You pushed my head down.”

“Yeah, it came at us when you pushed through the door.That must have triggered it.I didn’t know what it was, but I didn’t want you to get hurt.Sorry, did that scare you too?”

She shook her head.The thing that had scared her…it wasn’t anything still in this building.

Bear moved away from her, toward the ghoulish dress hanging from the cable.That dress…she peered at it more closely, noticed the pattern of faded blue roses along the hem.Was that a replica of Allison Casey’s dress?Or was it…could it be…the very same dress?

She grabbed Bear before he could get too far away.It was hard to get her throat to release the words.“Bear, don’t touch it.It might be evidence.”

“Hm?”He frowned back at her, but at least he wasn’t dismissing her out of hand.

“It’s not just a prank.I think it’s a message.”

25

Lila insistedon coming with him to check on the dress form in the hardware store.She seemed so shaken up that he wished she’d stay upstairs where she could be safe.

Then Bear remembered that the scariest part—for her—often took place inside her head.Maybe what she really needed was to deal with the here-and-now and practical reality.So they went together, diving into the strong wind that grabbed at their coats and Lila’s scarf.His eyes watered as he squinted into it.They should have taken the truck, but enough snow had fallen in the few hours they’d been upstairs that he’d need to spend some time scraping it off.

The hardware store was only about a quarter mile down the road, but the trek seemed to take much longer.He scanned the road for signs of footprints, but if there were any, the snow had covered them up.Maybe the perpetrator had been watching the weather, had known that he could get away with something tonight.Snow could work either way.Once it stopped, new footfalls were easy to spot.But if enough snow fell, all would be erased.

After Lila had unlocked the door, he took the lead and stepped inside.Right away, his gaze went to the dress form, which still displayed that old dress from the murder scene.That was a relief.If someone had gotten into Lila’s house and stolen the dress, that would have been a four-alarm situation.

“It’s not the same dress,” he told Lila as she ducked under his arm.“But very similar.”

“Not just similar.Practically identical.”She turned on the light, then grabbed a flashlight to illuminate it even more.He’d taken pictures of the dress at the bar, and now he pulled them up on his phone so they could compare.

A pattern of faded blue roses on the hem.Check.Two pockets, one of them torn at the upper left corner.Check.A zipper up the back.Check.A hook at the top of the zipper to close the neckline.Check.

But his detective’s eye noticed a few subtle differences.He looked back and forth from the dress to the photos, then thumbed to the shot he’d taken of the back of the prank dress.

“It’s definitely the same era,” he told her.“But look at this.”He pointed to the splotches of blood.“The bloodstains aren’t quite the same, and there are no bullet holes in the prank dress.”

“Bullet holes are probably harder to fake.”Lila said, shaking her head.“Or maybe they weren’t important to whoever did this.”

“Do you still think it wasn’t a prank?”

“I know it wasn’t a prank.But I don’t know any more than that.What’s the point?Just to scare us?Someone was able to get into the bar and set that whole thing up while we were upstairs.Also, they knew I was up there with you.It was meant for me, because I’m very familiar with that dress and obviously they know that.”

She made very good points, very unsettling ones as well.

“Someone’s been watching us,” he said slowly.

“Seems like it.It’s either someone we know, that we wouldn’t worry about, or someone lurking around without us noticing them.”

“This time of year, that’s unlikely.I think I know most people who are planning to be here this winter.”

“Which one of them would want to scare us with a dead woman’s dress right before Halloween?”

He cocked his head, thinking that one over.“If it really was a prank, then I can think of a few people who take that kind of thing too far.If it was someone involved with Rita Casey’s murder, I have no idea.It’s hard to believe any of The Fang customers would be part of that.But that’s my bar owner side talking.My former cop side understands that murderous types are very good at masking their true selves.”

He caught her shudder, and took her hand in his.

“I’m not saying that’s what’s going on.I know the folks around here pretty well, and I’m not the most trusting guy.I like to think I would have picked up on something that was off.I also think you would have.”

She nodded a few times.“Let’s go with that.Not everyone goes to The Fang.Some people avoid bars because they don’t drink or they don’t like to be in that environment.We don’t really knowallthe people around here.Just look at the Chilkoots.After that bust, it turned out they had people living there that no one had ever seen in town.I bet the same is true at the Community.There might be other places like that out there in the forest.”

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