“Ginny will be fine. I’m helping her with the details,” Eve told him, her voice cool. They might be trying to appear as if everything was copacetic in public, Rowenna thought, but Eve still wasn’t happy.
And everything seemed to come back to the Harvest Festival.
Rowenna glanced at the bar. “Excuse me, will you? Brad seems to be slipping into his beer. I’m going to go back and keep him company.”
“Of course,” Eve said sympathetically.
When Rowenna returned to her stool, Brad was so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t even notice her at first.
“Here you go, Ro,” Hugh said, setting a cold beer in front of her. “On the house,” he added.
She smiled her thanks and touched Brad’s shoulder.
He jumped, then looked at her with anguished eyes. “Sorry. The waiting is getting to me. The not knowing.”
She nodded. “But you’re a cop. You know how investigations work, and that’s got to help.”
He straightened and nodded back. “Don’t worry. I won’t fall apart.” He turned on his stool, and watched Jeremy and the others playing. “I wish I played guitar,” he said, pointing at Jeremy with his beer bottle. “He works things out in his head when he plays, did you know that?”
“I wish I could play an instrument, too,” she told him.
“You’re great the way you are, Rowenna. You don’t need to be more.”
“Thank you.”
He pointed to the table where Eric, Daniel, Adam and Eve were sitting. “But,” he said, his words slurring just the tiniest bit, “you sure as hell have some really weird friends. I mean, they’re nice enough, but…they’re kind of scary-weird.” He turned back to the bar. “Except for Hugh, here. Hugh’s normal. He likes a good beer and a football game, and he doesn’t worship trees. Right, Hugh?”
Hugh looked apologetically at Rowenna. “Um, right, Brad.” He moved away, looking uncomfortable.
“Let’s just listen to Jeremy,” she suggested.
“One of them could be the Devil,” Brad whispered.
“Brad, seriously, they’re all just people,” she assured him.
“I’m sorry,” he told her.
He didn’t say anything else, and she couldn’t help but wonder, glancing over at the table where her friends were sitting, just what he’d been apologizing for.
Was he sorry that he had insulted her friends?
Sorry that her friends were weird?
Or sorry because one of her friends was the Devil?
She silently thanked God when Jeremy, to the sound of applause from the audience and thanks from the band, returned to them after the next number. When he reached the bar, he told her that he was famished and they needed to order dinner.
Brad needed to eat, she thought. He’d been drinking too fast and too long without anything to eat.
“I’m not hungry,” Brad protested
“I am,” Jeremy said. “So we’re going to have dinner.”
They moved to a table, and Jeremy watched people while they ate. He waved to Ginny, and asked Rowenna to introduce him to Dr. MacElroy, which she did when the two of them stopped by their table as they were leaving. Ginny spoke encouragingly to Brad, while Dr. MacElroy seemed to study Jeremy just as Jeremy studied him.
“Did you tell him?” Ginny asked Rowenna anxiously. “Did you tell him what I saw?”
Jeremy looked at Rowenna, his expression inquiring.
“No, not yet,” Rowenna admitted.
“Lights,” Ginny told Jeremy gravely.
“Lights?”
“In the night—just like a UFO,” Ginny said. “To the northwest of our house—and Rowenna’s, too. I forgot all about them until tonight.”
Dr. MacElroy looked uncomfortable, as if embarrassed for Ginny.
But Jeremy thanked her solemnly and asked, “When did you see them?”
“Well, I’m not sure. Let me think…. Oh, dear. I’m so sorry. I think I’ve noticed them a few times. I just don’t know how I could have forgotten.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jeremy said reassuringly. “And thank you very much. If you see them again, will you let me know?”
“Of course,” Ginny promised gravely. “Of course.”
“Good night, then,” Dr. MacElroy said, and he and Ginny exited.
“UFOs?” Brad said wearily as they walked away. “Give me a break.”
“Lights to the northwest. What’s out there, Rowenna?” Jeremy asked.
“Nothing. Just brush. It’s not even good farmland,” she told him. “And, Jeremy…” She hesitated to say anything, but it really did sound as if maybe Ginny was losing it a bit.
“What?” he asked.
“I hate to say it, but I think maybe Ginny’s getting a little senile, so you…you might not want to put too much stock in what she says.”
Jeremy didn’t say anything. He just looked thoughtful as he started eating again.
Eventually they finished their meals, walked Brad back to his B and B and then went on toward the house Jeremy had rented.
“What a strange night,” Rowenna said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many locals all there at once….”
“Interesting,” Jeremy agreed.
He looked pensive, though, and he sounded distracted.
“What are you thinking?” she asked after a long silence.