The Girl in the Mist (Misted Pines 1)

I was feeling something strange at the same time fighting not looking at Shelly and Ray again.

“And once Malorie was found, he went off the deep end. By that I mean protective. Takes her in to work in the morning, picks her up after.”

“What does he do?”

We shuffled forward again.

“He runs the rec center. Got some grants, started some after-school kids’ programs. My kids are older. Too old for them. But I heard they’re really neat. I hope the Bobby thing was, you know, exploring or something, and he marries her because he’s probably not going to stay in town. Especially after that video thing. But also, Kenneth says he’s super sharp. It was a real feather in the council’s cap to get him to run that service. They won’t keep him long at the center.”

“Who’s Kenneth?”

“Kenneth Warner. The president of the Town Council. The man I’m going to replace in the upcoming election.”

I smiled. “So, you’re running.”

She returned my smile. “I talked to Dan. He’s agreed. Kenneth has been on the council for thirty-five years, can you believe that?”

Yes, I could believe that. I would have guessed more like fifty. I might have even guessed he incorporated the town personally and had been on the council since Misted Pines became Misted Pines.

“I heard you were going after Gary’s seat,” I noted.

She shook her head, but said, “Not at first. To do it right, you should start where you’re supposed to start and learn what you need.” A ballsy grin and, “I’ll go after Gary in the next election.”

It was me returning the grin this time, though mine was happy for her, not ballsy.

“First order of business,” she said as we moved to the counter to place our order, “term limits.”

I was a big term limit enthusiast, which went hand in hand with being a let’s-have-a-lot-fewer-old-white-guys-running-things enthusiast.

I had a feeling Megan and I didn’t share a party, but I also had a feeling I’d vote for her.

I’d told her the chemistry teacher story, and she’d agreed with me, that’s all I was saying.

She started ordering, and I couldn’t shake the feeling I was getting, so I looked to where Ray and Shelly were standing, thinking he was still aiming his glower at me, but they weren’t there.

I turned to the seating area.

And the instant I did, a man who’d been watching me averted his head.

Quickly, he pulled the hood of his blue hoodie up over his hair, got up and hustled toward the door.

My skin went cold.

He had dark hair.

And the man I’d seen out my office window skulking toward Bohannan’s place had dark hair and had been wearing a hoodie.

And there was no paper cup on the table where he was sitting, and he didn’t have one in his hand.

And he’d been watching me.

“What do you want?” Megan asked. “I’m buying this time.”

I didn’t answer.

I moved toward the door, shrugging my purse off my shoulder to get my phone.

“Delphine?” Megan called.

Hoodie man twisted slightly at the door like he was looking back at me.

He didn’t quite look back at me.

He bolted out the door.

Oh my God!

I didn’t think.

I bolted after him.

I didn’t get a good look at him, but he was probably younger than me.

And he was a man.

He was also wearing running shoes.

I was in low-heeled booties, which were not running shoes.

It wouldn’t matter if I was in running shoes, he would have lost me.

Still, I kept after him.

Though I realized I’d need to check out the local Pilates place, because I got a block and a half and I was struggling, and he was so far ahead of me, I’d never catch him.

In my defense, that block and a half was uphill.

However, some type of exercise was definitely on the agenda.

It was then someone raced by me so fast, he made a breeze that ruffled my hair, and I watched Ray’s back as he sprinted after Hoodie Man.

Hoodie Man must have sensed he had someone in pursuit who could actually pursue, because he darted into an alley.

Ray ran like the wind and followed him.

I got my second wind and followed them both.

But by the time I got to the back alley, I didn’t see them, either way.

I stopped, wheezed, pulled my bag open, and was digging for my phone when Ray came into view, coming out of a side street and back into an alley from a block down.

“I lost him!” he shouted. “You see him?”

I shook my head, gathered some oxygen, and shouted back, “No!”

He took off the other way, darting down another side street.

I pulled out my phone and dialed Bohannan.

“Larue,” he greeted curtly after one ring.

“I think I…I think I just…”

I looked one way and then the other.

I was alone in the back alley.

Then I went back to Bohannan.

“I think I just saw the killer.”