Page 22 of Counting Quarters

Chapter Eleven

Kyle

MayorBishopslammedhis gavel to bring the flustered crowd back together.

As always, the clacking noise only served to add to the chaos rather than quiet it down. In the past year, these town meetings had become more of a nuisance to me than anything else. The mayor couldn't hold the small crowd that bothered coming anymore together for more than ten minutes without his words igniting some sort of uproar that usually resulted in the meeting ending prematurely to avoid an all-out brawl. For the past six months, I'd had to station at least one officer on the premises to keep some semblance of peace. More often than not, I didn't have the manpower to spare, so I ended up taking it on myself.

Since the Movement's attacks last year, everyone was on edge, and they had very little respect for the puffy, reddened face that stood before them preaching about peace and togetherness. I couldn't count how many times they called him out for hiding out when Rayner and his men launched their attack on Storie Graves and the Quarters.

There was an invisible line dividing the people of Beacon Grove. One that no one dared to admit which side they were on.

Matters of the coven bled into the normal, everyday matters of the town and with the High Priest having been exposed as a player in Rayner's game, no one could be trusted. It all added up to a heaping pile of shit for me to deal with.

The easiest way to remedy all of it was to weed out Movement Members and find Rayner before he could strike again. The problem was that no one outside of the Quarters and Tabitha Granger wanted to help.

With the exception of one other person.

My eyes drifted over the sea of faces and found hers already on me—my new neighbor. I still wasn’t sure what she could offer, but I was so desperate, I had to try.

Tabitha didn’t speak highly of her granddaughter, if she spoke about her at all. Blaire always acted as an accessory to her—there the moment she needed her and forgotten the rest of the time. It seemed as if she was highly underestimated, though, especially if her high-induced ramblings held any weight.

I held her stare for a few beats, watching her mouth curl up into a secret smirk, before Tabitha grabbed her arm and turned her toward the door.

The mayor dropped his head into his hand, and I knew then that the meeting was over. Ten minutes later, the community hall was nearly cleared out when he turned and offered an earnest smile.

“They don't want to listen.”

No, they didn’t. Not when they weren’t being given honest and clear answers. No one who could do anything wanted to be vulnerable and show their hand, either. They refused to admit that they essentially had no power over the situation.

“Maybe next time,” was all I could say, and we turned to walk out the back entrance together.

Mayor Douglas sighed, his pink cheeks puffing out even farther. “I’m afraid these meetings will remain useless until we can offer them some real answers about Rayner and what we’re going to do with the Movement moving forward.”

“Do you have a plan for what you’re going to do?” I probed.

He’d kept his mouth shut about what he and the council were going to do if Rayner ever stepped foot in town. As the sheriff, I had every right to arrest him on the spot. That didn’t mean one of those snakes wouldn’t slither their way in and find a way to let him roam free.

He shook his head. “None of the council members can come to a decision, either. Wariness is ruining this town like a disease.”

Wariness wouldn’t be an issue if they had a leader they could trust, but I kept my thoughts to myself. No one was willing to forgive the mayor's inaction against the Movement when they were at their worst, and I saw at least half of that council standing around the open fire the night I caught Rayner trying to sacrifice Storie Graves for his own twisted source of power. I just didn't have any hard evidence to debunk their false alibis, and it was my word against theirs.

He waited until we were standing outside his car, away from any prying ears, before he spoke again.

“Do you have any more information on the recent… incidents?” His round eyes dashed around, looking for any sign of someone eavesdropping.

I shook my head, the image of the deer hanging limply from a tree right outside of town flashing into my mind. It had been slung up by its neck with a pink ribbon. The worst part was that whoever did it had taken the time to dress the doe in the exact clothing that Toni Amster was wearing on the night she disappeared, six months ago. It was the height of the Movement’s activity, when we were getting calls for missing girls nearly every day.

Whoever it was either had access to Toni’s clothes and was likely involved in her murder, or they had a sick sense of humor. Luckily, one of the few officers I could trust was the one who found it during his morning hike. He called me immediately, and we managed to handle it before anyone else stumbled across the horrific scene. Mayor Douglas believed that if word got out, it would only fuel the fear that the Movement was attempting to create in order to push their agenda. He was adamantly against letting the town in on the attacks.

“The clothes were sent out for testing. Hopefully, whoever we’re dealing with was stupid enough to leave something behind for us to trace.”

It was all we could hope for at this point.

He nodded, his lips in a tight, grim line. I watched the irritated skin beneath his chin wobble around. He was holding so much information in, it was making him physically ill.

“Keep me posted. And, Kyle?” He regarded me with those bulging eyes. “Don’t tell anyone else about this. I can’t imagine what kind of a field day the town would have. I’m ready for it all to be behind us.”

He crammed himself into the driver’s seat of the compact car and closed the door with a final nod. I let out a breath of relief when he pulled away.

I hadn’t lied about us sending the DNA in for testing, but I left out that the results were already in. They matched Toni’s profile, confirming that they were likely the clothes she wore when she was taken from the Watchtower Tavern on the night she went missing. There were three other DNA samples found, all male, and all of which had no match in their system. Whoever it was, they’d never been caught before.

I couldn’t risk sharing that information with Mayor Douglas. Not when there was a chance he could have been involved somehow, and the more he asked about it, the more suspicious he became. I’d tell him the results when the time was right.

My only course of action at this point was to keep my trusted circle tight. I might be making a mistake by putting my faith in Tabitha Granger and the Quarters, but it was a gamble I was willing to take if it meant preventing another innocent life from being lost.

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