“Well, clearly, he’s alive and well and planning on building a strip mall, when he isn’t interfering in my kitchen. Why the mystery?”
“There was some trouble the summer after he graduated from high school. A girl went missing, and he was the last person seen with her.” I forced myself to slow down. “Of course, everyone in town got involved. The psychics all weighed in on whether she was dead or alive and where she might be.”
There had been tarot readings and animal consultations at my house. I had still been young enough that I hadn’t turned my back on the feelings and messages I received. My mom and Vi had hounded me every morning for a dream report and watched me for any change in demeanor that could indicate I knew something. All I saw when I thought of Julia was bruises. I could hear her crying and saw the grayish-purple marks on her arms and legs, but nothing more. Grace had moved all the way to New York City by then, due to one of my dreams. My family was looking to me to solve the mystery of Julia’s disappearance and establish myself as the true heir to my grandmother’s talents.
“Wow, I can’t believe I’ve never heard this. I thought Sara was the first murder in Crystal Haven.”
“Well, technically that’s true. Julia’s body was never found, but her clothing was discovered in the woods. She and Milo dated for most of high school. He left town shortly after the investigation closed, and he hasn’t been seen since, as far as I know.”
“He certainly hasn’t been acting like a fugitive from justice,” Alex said. “He’s been acting more like returning royalty if you ask me. He’s been in and out of town all spring, working on this project. And has no qualms about rearranging my kitchen and giving helpful hints to the staff. He and Stark are at each other, though. Joe doesn’t want the strip mall, so he’s always fighting the zoning.”
“There’s not a lot of fatherly support?”
“You could say that.”
“I saw Milo arguing with Tish today. What could Tish have to do with him? And Milo knew Baxter. He stopped to pet him outside the restaurant the other day.”
“I couldn’t tell you. I wouldn’t be surprised if he argues with plenty of people in town.”
I left Alex to his work and was halfway to my car when I remembered I had wanted to tell him about the digging and Sara’s land.
*
I went home to get two things; a stack of targets and my gun.
Thoughts and suspicions swirled in my head. I had to go do the only thing guaranteed to clear my mind: shoot things.
I don’t like hunting. But I discovered while in the police academy that I like guns. I like to shoot them and to hold them and the sound they make and the power that shoots up your arm when the bullet leaves the barrel. Even though my police career was possibly over due to a shooting incident, I still hadn’t found a better way to think than in that moment before I pulled the trigger.
I grabbed my Browning .22, since it is my favorite target pistol. I left my Glock locked in its box. I had no intention of shooting it until I decided whether I was returning to Ann Arbor.
I stopped at the small cabin my father had built when my sister and I were young. We used to come out here and camp in the summer. Now my father used it chiefly to get away from my aunt. It was set on three acres of woodland that was about a half mile west of the hotly disputed land of the developer. I wondered what would happen to our place if Milo succeeded in building his strip mall.
I walked out to the poor tree that had always served as the hanger for the target and hung the first one of the day. I walked away from the tree, turned, and took three deep breaths.
As I took aim through the sight, I felt the calm enter my body. When my hand was steady, I held my breath, pulled the trigger, and braced for the recoil. I felt it go up my arm into my shoulder. My mind was mercifully blank. I unloaded the clip into the tree and felt more at peace than I had since I found Sara’s body lying motionless on her kitchen floor.
A quick examination of the target showed I was a little off my game, but at least the shots were all near the center.
I shredded four more targets until my arm got tired.