Murder at Sunrise Lake

Raine liked to mountain bike as well as backpack. Like Stella, she wasn’t into running and she didn’t do peak bagging, but she bouldered and trad climbed when pushed. She was a problem solver, so bouldering afforded her, like Stella, that continual occupation of the mind she needed.

The thing that Raine really loved about her house other than the acreage that allowed her gardens was her secret indoor pool. She loved to swim. She joked that when she was younger, she had permanently green hair from constantly swimming in chlorinated pools until she could figure out how to take care of her hair and swim without damage. The pool was heated too, so in the winter Raine’s house was the place to go when the friends wanted to get together. Stella had to admit, she’d grown fond of that pool.

Bailey’s very best friend in the entire world was Daisy, Raine’s Jack Russell. The little female went everywhere with Raine as a rule, even when helicopters came and picked her up and took her off to work, or she hiked hundreds of miles. Sometimes, it was true, Daisy rode in Raine’s backpack, but the energetic dog usually ran circles around them all when they went hiking or camping together. When Daisy couldn’t go with Raine, she usually stayed with Stella and Bailey at the resort. Right now, Daisy was running around the yard with Bailey, occasionally giving a yip of pure joy as the two animals dashed together in one direction then the next, discovering every little insect and lizard that dared take up residence in Daisy’s territory.

Stella couldn’t help but smile. “Those two out there, they are so cute together. I love their friendship. They live life without all the complications. Sam seems to do that too. He doesn’t worry about things that haven’t happened yet. This thing that’s happening, Raine, it’s really shaken me. I’ve built a good life here. It isn’t just that for the first time I’ve actually found friends I love, and that’s true. I’ve never had that before. It’s that I’ve found peace up in the Sierras. There’s something about that country that calls to me.”

Raine nodded slowly. “I do understand because I feel it too. That’s why I settled here. I could work from anywhere, but this is my happy place. There’s a reason I backpack so much. Being in the forest and hiking along the trails at ten thousand feet, taking in the ever-changing nature, is an incredible experience. I feel more alive than I do anywhere else, but like you, that same peace. This is a glitch, Stella. The Sierras have been here for thousands of years. We’re like little ants crawling around on it. This killer is nothing. He’s come and you’ll eventually catch him. The Sierras will remain, and so will their beauty. You can count on that and the peace they bring to you because that will never change. He can’t change that. Nothing can.”

Stella kept her gaze on the two dogs now rolling around on the golden grass, legs in the air, kicking wildly. Bailey looked like a bear next to the petite Jack Russell, and rather silly too, with his giant legs in the air. She laughed at the two dogs. They certainly weren’t concerned with a serial killer.

“You went to UC Berkeley, right? After finishing high school, you were accepted straight into the university.”

Stella turned to face Raine, hearing the speculation in her voice. “Yes, why?”

“Do you realize there was a serial killer at work in the area near the university at the time you went to school there?”

Stella nodded slowly, wrapping her arms around her middle, her stomach dropping. She suddenly wished Sam was there. Her mind shied away from where she knew Raine was going. Sam let her get away with it; Raine wasn’t going to.

“Yes, of course, it was all over the news. He had a particular type. He went after mothers of children playing sports. The mothers who stay home, take care of their children, drive them to practices and all of their games. He followed them home, tied the child or children to chairs and made them watch while he tortured and then killed the mother. He left the children alive, but very traumatized. How could anyone forget that?”

“But you didn’t have nightmares. You weren’t in any way involved, yet it was close to you, right in the same city.”

“It’s a big city.”

“Stella.” Raine’s voice was gentle. Low. She shook her head, those gray-blue eyes compassionate but steady. “Not so big. He struck close several times. The killer was one of the security guards right there on campus.”

Now Stella’s heart was beating too fast. Galloping wildly like a runaway horse. Don’t say it. Don’t think it. Don’t say it. If Raine said aloud what Stella was pushing out of her mind so it could never be true, then Raine might make it true. She opened her mouth to tell Raine it was a big campus, but her throat closed, threatening to choke her.