Page 4 of Date Night

I've had maybe three boyfriends in my lifetime, all of whom were only with me so I could put out. It was sad that I didn't realize it at the time but it was so obvious. The last boyfrienddidn't even know I considered him a boyfriend until I told him I expected us to be exclusive to each other.

Turns out he was cheating on me the entire time I thought we were together.

I have exceptionally bad taste in men.

Of course, it would make sense that I'd be envious of how well a psychopath treated his victims.

Maybe that's what I need to find for myself—a crazed murderer.

"Starla, what are you busy with?" Braylon pokes his head around the corner to see me sitting at the small machine.

"Oh, I found this microfilm; there are a lot of good stuff on here." I nod my head, smiling for his benefit.

He walks over to me, his face going serious for a second before he smirks and looks down at me. "You trying to tell me there's something from these news clippings that you don't already have?"

I chuckle and push back from my seat. "No, I've seen it all, but there's no shame in being thorough."

"Come on, we've got something else to deal with right now."

He's still got a slight smile on his face, but I can tell from the tone of his voice that whatever it is he wants to show me must not be good.

"What's going on?" I ask as we make our way back to the front of the library.

The volunteers, along with the librarian, are all standing at the front. None of them are going outside, but everyone is looking at the scene out on the street.

"I know you said you'd show off the library a little bit in exchange for the back room, but I'm not sure it's worth all this," Midge, the old librarian who allowed us to work here, says as she lifts her thumb to gnaw at the nail.

"What's going on?" I ask, trying to push to the front of the small crowd.

Braylon takes a deep breath before he answers me. "Seems like the secret is out. That's probably my fault. I told everyone who would listen that we were doing this documentary. It's a small town. I should've known it wouldn't stay hidden for too long."

I look through the front window of the library, and right there on the street is about a dozen people, all of them screaming and shaking their fists in our direction.

The date night killer is more than just a sore spot for some of these people. For some, it's a memory of losing a family member or loved one.

These people have been hurt by this monster.

I expected some pushback, but I didn't think it would be this bad.

"Everything is going to be fine," I say, more to myself than anyone else. Remembering that I'm the lead on this documentary, I turn to face the volunteers. "We all knew that the folks in town would be upset by us rehashing this, but it needs to be done. The world needs to know about the date night killer."

Everyone around me nodded their heads and turned to go back to what they were doing but I could hear the mumbling. It's the same thing I've heard from everyone when I tell them I'm going to dig around for information about an infamous serial killer.

This is crazy.

"You want to plot out the next few days. Maybe pick out where we want to get some base shots?" Braylon asks from my side, obviously trying to get me to ignore what's going on outside.

"Yeah. I guess we can do that." I answered with a noncommital shrug.

We walk over to the large map we've got pinned up on one of the boards and start talking about the best places to get some shots for the documentary. With a project like this it's always best to have more images, still and motion, than less. By the time we've finished I've located at least three dozen places in the small town where we could get some great shots. As much as I want to be excited about the progress we're making, in the back of my mind I can't help but be concerned about the growing noise the crowd outside is making.

It's not just me, either. Everyone seems like they're more focused on what's going on outside than what's actually going on in the library.

"Alright guys." I clap my hands and there are actually a few people in the room that actually jump from the tension. This is getting us nowhere. "Obviously, the people outside are not going to be happy with us being here tonight. I think we should all go home and get some rest, we'll start back up early tomorrow morning."

Along with the collective groan from my small team there was also a sigh of relief. I have to remember that it's not just me who is affected by the things that are going on here. It's a team. My team.

"You sure about this?" Braylon asks from my side.

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