When You Were Mine (Stone Lake 2)

“Yeah, Josh is a good kid, too. Luna and Attie did good.”

“Attie?” I ask, the name squeezing something inside of me that I thought was frozen a long time ago.

“Yeah. Fuck. You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“Attie… Shit, man.”

My brother. Atticus. Luna and my brother. I thought the other blows were bad, but this one is harder than all of those combined and they don’t hit me…

They rip through me.

My voice drops and splinters along with the part of my heart that still feels. “I didn’t know,” I tell Wally, and I don’t think I keep emotion out of my voice this time. I can’t.

“Her and Atticus were living together when he died. I can’t believe you didn’t know,” Wally says, not realizing he just lodged the punch that has enough power to bring me to my knees.

“You remember my brother and I didn’t get along. I didn’t bother to stay in touch with him once I left,” I tell him, leaving it at that. My jaw ticks at the thought of my asshole brother.

“That’s tough, man. I guess I just assumed that changed with age. Though, I knew you didn’t come to Atticus’s funeral, but we all heard how you were in the hospital. They said you almost died.”

“Over exaggeration,” I answer, completely lying. I touch the scar on my side—the one that almost killed me. The one that I was glad was there, if only because it gave me an excuse to stay away from Stone Lake back then. It’s also the one delivered by the very serial killer I’m here to catch. Life, it seems, is big on irony.

“I better get, Wally. I need to report to the local police department in the morning and introduce myself. Then, I need to start hunting this asshole and see where the clues take me.”

“Yeah. Uh… Gavin, there’s something you should probably know, man.”

“What’s that?”

“Luna Marshall is the Mayor of Stone Lake,” he says.

The hits just keep coming…

I should have known. I read briefly through the file and there were press clippings released by the local mayor. For some reason, Mayor Marshall and Luna Marshall didn’t click together.

This is not good news. I don’t deal well with bureaucracy, and I knew just reading through the file I’d be expected to work with the Mayor closely.

My plan had been to avoid Luna while I was here.

So much for planning….

Luna

“You ready to roll?” I look at my son as I ask him that question. My heart squeezes as I take him in. He’s growing up so fast. It’s hard for me to believe that he’s twelve. It seems like only yesterday I was fighting to keep him alive. Joshua and I have been through so much. For the most part, it has been me and him against the world. I was so young, so naïve all those years ago.

Stupid.

I was stupid. I shake off the memories. I don’t have space for them in my heart anymore. I have to concentrate on Joshua and making sure he’s… protected.

“Mom,” he grumbles. I shake my head, holding it down to hide my smile. I knew this was coming.

“Do not Mom me, Josh. You’ve been here all evening.”

“But it’s the festival!”

“Yes, and it will be the Fall Festival all week. You can meet up with your buddies after school tomorrow,” I promise, making a mental note to make sure Ben has patrols stepped up. Ever since that girl’s body was found on the old docks, I’ve been afraid to let Joshua out of my sight.

“Okay fine,” he huffs, then looks back at his friends. “Later guys!”

“Later,” they call after him as we walk to my vehicle.

“What do you think about the festival?” I pester him, curious. This is my third term as Mayor, and each year I try to do something to better the Fall Festival that we have. It started as an event to bolster tourism and try to target money being spent downtown. It’s grown some the last couple of years, and I’m hoping it will continue to do so. Stone Lake definitely needs something to help with our economy. Ever since the government cutbacks on defense, people have been feeling the sting. Building naval ships was one of our biggest industries. I’m trying to work closely with the governor to attract a textiles factory to Stone Lake, but I’m not sure how long that’s going to take. It won’t relieve all of the pressure, but it will help.

“It’s good, Mom. Better than last years. My buddies are all looking forward to the rodeo that you added. They said there’s going to be real live bull riding!”

“That’s the plan.” I smile at Joshua as we hop into my Ford Explorer. The festival does seem to be a success, and I’m hoping it helps. I have noticed there are more people in attendance this year. It will be hard to tell if that translates to more spending, but I have my fingers crossed.