Page 23 of In Her Fears
Jenna hesitated, then made a decision.“I had a dream last night.One of those dreams.”
“A visitation?”Jake’s voice dropped lower, though they were alone in the car.“Who came to you?”
“A woman I didn’t recognize.Middle-aged, artist type.We were in some kind of studio filled with blank canvases.”Jenna maneuvered around a delivery truck double-parked in front of the hardware store.“She was distraught, kept saying something was her fault.”
“Did she mention Alexis?”
“No.Nothing specific at all.Just that ‘it’ was going to happen again, and it was her fault.”Jenna’s stomach twisted at the memory.“Then there was blood everywhere, spraying across all the blank canvases.”
Jake inhaled sharply.“Wow.”
“Before the dream ended, she said, ‘Find him, before he makes another masterpiece.’”
“And you think this is connected to Alexis somehow?”
Jenna turned onto Cedar Lane, where well-kept bungalows lined both sides of the street.“The timing...it feels significant.And I can’t help thinking about Martin Holbrook staked to a tree with a pentagram carved above him.That was theatrical, staged—perhaps a ‘masterpiece’ in someone’s view.”
A silence fell between them before Jake spoke again.
“How have you been sleeping the last few days?”
“Not well,” she said.Then, trying to make light of the issue, she added, “Does it show?”
“You look tired.And I worry.”
Jenna pulled to the curb in front of a modest two-story house with blue shutters.She and Jake walked up the short path to the front door.Before Jenna could knock, it swung open to reveal a young woman with a worried expression.She wore hospital scrubs, clearly interrupted in the middle of preparing for work.Relief flooded her features as she recognized them.
“Sheriff Graves?Thank you for coming so quickly.I’m Chloe Bennett.”
“Of course,” Jenna said, stepping inside as Chloe moved back.“This is Deputy Hawkins.We want to hear everything you can tell us about when you last saw Alexis.”
The living room was modestly furnished but tidy—a secondhand couch with throw pillows, bookshelves filled with paperbacks and framed photos, a small TV in the corner.A nurse’s textbook lay open on the coffee table next to a half-empty mug of coffee.
“I should have called sooner,” Chloe said, wringing her hands.“I just kept thinking she must be with Ryan, but then when I called him...”
“Start from the beginning,” Jenna said gently.“When did you last see Alexis?”
Chloe took a steadying breath.“Last night.We were in the back yard with our telescope—Galileo, we call it.It was such a beautiful full moon.I was tired from my shift, so I went to bed around ten.Alexis stayed outside; she said she was going to look a bit longer, then maybe head over to Ryan’s.He was playing a gig at the Centaur’s Den.”
“And that wasn’t unusual?Her going to Ryan’s after his shows?”
“Not at all.They’re really serious—she stays at his place most nights now.She’s planning to move in with him at the end of the month.”
Jake made notes as Chloe spoke.“What time did you realize something was wrong?”
“This morning, around six.I got up for my shift and noticed her car was still in the driveway.”Chloe gestured toward the window.“At first I thought maybe they’d taken Ryan’s car, but then I saw her purse and phone still on the table by the back door.”
“And you called Ryan?”
“Yes.He said Alexis never showed up last night.He’d texted her a few times during his break, but when she didn’t respond, he figured she’d decided to stay home.”Chloe’s voice cracked slightly.“That’s when I knew something was wrong.Alexis wouldn’t just leave her phone.And she always lets Ryan know if she changes plans.I’ve been calling our friends ever since, but nobody seems to have seen her.”
“May we see the backyard?”Jenna asked.
Chloe led them through the kitchen to a back door that opened onto a modest yard enclosed by a wooden fence.In the center of the patchy grass stood a telescope on a tripod, its lens still aimed at where the moon would have been visible the night before.
“This is exactly how it was when I came out this morning,” Chloe said.“Alexis would never leave Galileo out overnight.She’s always super careful with it—covers it, brings it inside, everything.”
Jenna approached the telescope, noting two empty beer bottles on a small table nearby.She felt a chill as she remembered the full moon from her dream—the silver light illuminating the blank canvases.The full moon was an undeniable connection.
