Page 11 of Missing Moon

Of course, they’re just the tip of the iceberg...

“That was creepy,” says Paxton. “Like the opening scene of a horror movie where the people are going to a cabin in the woods… and the local dude tries to warn them away but they’re so dumb they go anyway and all die.”

“Right?” Tammy chuckles. “Whatever’s going on…ifsomething is going on, that guy sure believes it.”

“He was worried about us.” Paxton squirms in her seat. “Is something really out there?”

“The truth is out there,” says Anthony, doing his best Agent Mulder.

Tammy laughs.

Paxton doesn’t… probably because she’s never seenThe X-Files.

“Now I’m not the one who doesn’t get it.” Anthony flicks at the keys hanging from the steering column.

“Ma?” Tammy tilts her head. “Is the gas station dude paranoid or is something really going on?”

She’s asking if I took a peek inside his head. I nod. “Something is definitely going on, or so he believes.”

Tammy stares at me. “I guess I coulda just Googled... ‘Murder in Klamath’.”

“Do it,” I say.

“M’kay, hold on.”

Sure, a ‘please’ would have gone a long way, but Tammy works for me now, and I’ve gotten kind of used to bossing her around a little. My other two kids look up at me, but Tammy saves me the explanation. “She always talks to me like this. I’m used to it.”

Pax breathes a sigh of relief, while Anthony says, “Well?”

“Hang on, I’m not getting the best service here. We are, after all, in BFE.”

“What’s BFE?” asks Paxton.

“Nothing,” I say, jumping in. “Well, Tammy? Anything?”

“There. Yes, lots of articles and headlines about mysterious deaths around here. No known suspects.”

“Cool!” says Ant, rubbing his hands like a fighter about to enter the ring. He’s up for the challenge, apparently.

“Mommy,” says Pax. “I’m scared.”

“Really?” says Tammy. “You’re in a car full of Avengers, and you’re scared?”

“Well, no one knows who’s doing the killing. And I’m just thirteen.”

“What does your gut say, Ma?” asks Tammy. “Any hits?”

It’s a good question, and after a moment of staring ahead at the road disappearing under my hood, nothing’s come to mind other than a faint sense of caution. This might just be normal for driving. It’s inherently dangerous to hurtle along at highway speeds inside a metal box. Maybe it means whatever’s going on in Klamath is a thing but not particularly dangerous to me—or for us. For all I know it might even be lunch not sitting well. Not sure. Like I’ve said already, this psychic thing didn’t come with an instruction book.

“Nothing strong enough to say for sure.”

We don’t have much conversation over the next like twenty minutes as we head along a series of progressively smaller roads. We’d left the ‘highway’ behind an hour or so before finding Bill’s gas station. Hate to say it, but without the GPS on my phone, I wouldn’t be able to find my way. It’s been roughly twenty-seven years since I’ve been to Klamath. Okay, to be fair, it’s closer to sixteen… but the time we visited with toddler Tammy didn’t involve much time downtown… and Danny did the driving.

Thanks to modern technology telling me where to turn, the winding single-lane road I’ve been following eventually brings me to more familiar surroundings. We pass a ‘welcome to Klamath, California’ sign. I almost feel like I’ve gone back in time. Everything looks pretty much as I remember it looking. The cars are obviously newer.

I can’t help but look around in… awe. It’s shocking howsameit is.

And then I see it.

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