Harvest Moon (3 page)

The younger agent turned his head just enough for them
to lock eyes. Light green eyes met hers from a car’s distance away, but it was
enough to send a current of electricity down her spine. There was recognition
there, of what she didn’t know, but for a moment, she held his gaze before she
forced herself to move again.

She was done with walking slow. She’d already been
noticed, and there was no point in taking her time. Her feet picked up speed,
and it was all she could do not the jog the last stretch of road to the bar.

The bar was deserted when Dawn arrived for her shift.
She had a habit of arriving early, and this day was no exception. All her life,
she had been early for everything, though it was different at the bar. There
was no sense of duty or urgency there, but rather a respect for the owner, Jim
Brewer, and her few coworkers that brought her in early every day.

“Hey, Jim,” Dawn said as she hung up her coat just
inside the double doors that led into the old, shabby bar. The place could
definitely use a few repairs and a fresh coat of paint, but it was homey. There
was something about the smell of beer, greasy food, and stale tobacco that just
seemed right to her. It was the exact opposite of the life she’d led so long
ago, and it suited Dawn just perfectly.

“God, girl,” Jim said as he lumbered out from behind
the bar and gave his number one waitress a bear hug. Jim might have looked more
beast than man, with a short, unkempt beard and a healthy beer belly, but at
heart, he was a big old softy. “I’m so glad to see you’re okay.”

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “I take it you saw the
commotion up the street?”

“Did I ever,” he said, worry touching the crow’s feet
around his eyes. “Rumor is that it’s some hiker who got tangled up with a momma
bear, but I don’t know about that. This close to town and all.”

“It’s happened before,” Gabe, the cook for Jim’s bar,
said as he poked his head out of the kitchen. Gabe was in his thirties, married
with a couple of kids. He was a little on the gruff side, but once Dawn got to
know him, she saw he was an all right guy, just rough around the edges.

“It has?” Dawn asked as she grabbed the small apron
she wore around her waist during her shifts.

“Well, not the mangled corpse part,” Gabe said.

“Watch your tongue,” Jim warned him. The two often
acted at odds with one another, but really, they were pretty cool. Get a few
drinks in Gabe and he’d go on about how much he respected the old bear that ran
the bar, and Jim was no different.

“Sorry,” Gabe said. “But I’ve lived here my whole
life, Jim too, and it’s not the first time a bear has wandered up Main Street.”

“Has anyone been attacked before?” Dawn asked as she
started to wipe down the bar.

“Well,” Gabe said as he ran a hand through his shaggy
dark hair, “there was this one time…”

“A long time ago,” Jim cut in. At nearly fifty, he
wasn’t the oldest man in town, but he was the oldest in the bar. “When I was a
pup, maybe fifteen or sixteen, we had a momma bear come through here a couple
times. Now, most folks around here know that when you see a bear and her
babies, you turn the other way, and that’s what we did. Too bad some kids from
Charleston who were up here looking for work didn’t quite get that idea. You
city kids need to have a healthier respect for nature.”

Dawn knew he was talking about her. She hadn’t said
she was from New York City, she’d never even mentioned the state, but she did
tell people she was from Cleveland. It was half true. She’d spent three months
there before she’d hopped a train for something new.

“Did the bear kill them?” Dawn asked. She was so
wrapped up in Jim’s story that she was barely paying attention to the cleaning,
though it didn’t matter much. There was a layer of old beer on everything that
would never come out, no matter how much she scrubbed.

“Nah,” Jim said. “But those idiot kids tried to run
that bear out of town one night after drinking in this very bar. Of course,
that was long before my pappy passed it down to me.”

“So, what did happen?” Dawn asked.

“One kid got mangled pretty bad,” Gabe said, cutting
into Jim’s tale.

“Hey,” Jim barked at him. “It’s my story, let me tell
it.”

“But you’ve told this story half a hundred times,”
Gabe laughed. “I could tell it myself.”

“Don’t you have prep to do?” Dawn asked him. Despite
the mutual respect the two men had for each other, Dawn wasn’t in the mood for
one of their pissing contests and she put her foot down right away.

“Fine,” Gabe relented. “But I’m telling you, that’s
what happened.”

Once they were alone again, Dawn asked Jim to finish
his story.

“Well,” Jim said as he pulled up the waist of his
faded jeans, “Gabe was half right. After the boys got drunk, word is they were
stumbling home and the bear was digging through some trash with her cubs. They
decided to try to chase her off, idiots. Of course, she stood her ground and
charged. One boy lost an arm, another an eye. Only one of them walked away
without any serious damage, and I heard that was only because he collapsed from
fright and the bear let him be.”

“Damn.” Dawn shook her head. “What happened to the
bear?”

“What I expect is going to happen this time,” Jim
said. “Now that there’s been an attack in town, hunters will come in and shoot
whatever’s doing the killin’. The last time, they shot the bear after three
days. Word is they gave the cubs to a zoo down south. Chances are, that’s how
it’ll go again. Can’t complain, though. The more hunters who show up, the more
thirsty people looking for some cheap beers at Jim’s.”

“Hey, speaking of that,” Dawn said as she eyed the old
grandfather clock in the corner of the bar, “it’s about time we opened.”

“Right you are,” Jim said as he moved toward the door
and clicked the open sign on.

The bar never did have much of a lunch rush, but a few
of the people who had been gawking at the carnage did meander into the musty
old bar for some greasy food and a drink. The place may have looked a little
shoddy, but Gabe had a way with the bar standards, and Dawn had never had a
better cheeseburger anywhere, ever.

Even though Jim’s was busier than usual on a weekday
afternoon, the place was oddly quiet. The few people who had claimed seats were
talking amongst themselves in hushed whispers, like what they were discussing
was some secret, despite the fact that everyone was talking about the same
thing.

They’re scared
, she reminded herself.
And
you should be, too
.

That much was true. With the feds in town, the media
might not be far behind. Not much that was considered news worthy happened
around Goosemont, and Dawn was glad of that. The last thing she needed was to
have her face on national TV. Even if she was just in the background, it was
too risky to allow.

The hushed anxiety and curiosity permeating the bar
broke as the front door swung open. With the cold breeze from the early
November day came Courtney, the second waitress at Jim’s and Dawn’s de facto
best friend in Goosemont.

“Courtney, hey,” Dawn greeted her flame-haired friend
as she set down a tray of nachos for a small group of diners.

It hadn’t crossed Dawn’s mind to worry about Courtney
in the same way that Jim had worried about her. Courtney had grown up in
Goosemont, and her father and brothers were all working in the lumber yards
that provided jobs for most of the town. Though she was energetic, Courtney
wasn’t an idiot, and Dawn knew she wouldn’t do something like tangle with a
bear, or wolf, or whatever animal it was that had killed that poor hiker.

“Oh my God,” Courtney gushed as she tossed her fleece
vest over Dawn’s flannel jacket that hung by the door. The girl had grown up
with the mountain cold, and this weather was nothing for her. “Did you hear the
news?”

“Um,” Dawn mumbled as she watched the patrons eying
Courtney. She was a bundle of excitement and could barely stand still as she
grabbed her apron and tied it on.

Though everyone was just as curious about the dead
hiker, Courtney’s shocking lack of tact was obviously agitating them, and the
last thing Dawn wanted was to piss off Jim’s customers. That, and she had no
desire to lose her tips because Courtney was acting like a fool.

“Come here,” Dawn hissed as she pulled Courtney back
into the kitchen by her elbow.

“What?” Courtney snapped at her, wrenching her arm
away once they were out of view of the diners. “Stop being a grump!”

“Me?” Dawn snapped back at her in a hushed voice.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Someone’s dead, and you’re acting
like the president came to town.”

“Wait, someone’s dead?” Courtney asked as her mouth
fell open. “No, you’re joking!”

“No joke,” Gabe cut in while he flipped a burger and
let it sizzle on the flat-top. “Some hiker ate it sometime last night.”

“No!” Courtney said as she slapped her hand over her
mouth. “Oh my God.”

“How did you not know?” Dawn whispered, trying to keep
their conversation quiet. “Everyone in town knows. Didn’t you see the crowd?”

Courtney shook her head. “No. I mean, I guess I
noticed some people hanging out more toward your way, but I didn’t see
anything.”

That much was at least plausible. Courtney lived with
her folks in a house in the opposite direction from Jim’s. She didn’t have to
walk by the scene to get to work like Dawn did.

“Some hiker was attacked by an animal,” Dawn
explained. “In town. There are cops and FBI checking it out now.”

“Wow,” Courtney said, but there was still excitement
in her eyes. Even the news of a dead hiker found so close to home wasn’t enough
to kill the energy that was bursting from her. “Okay, that sucks, but can I
tell you the good news now?”

“Sure,” Dawn relented.
It better be good
, she
thought to herself. It wasn’t like Courtney to be so uncouth about a situation
like this.

“Okay, this is crazy,” Courtney gushed. “You know that
cabin off of highway seventy-nine?”

“Um, no?” Dawn said. She wasn’t much for doing any
exploring outside of town, and she definitely didn’t go looking at other
houses. She was lucky enough to be renting the place she had.

“Well, someone bought it!” she said, but Dawn already
assumed that’s where she was headed with her train of thought.

“Is it someone you know?” Dawn asked, feeling like she
was playing twenty questions.

“Yes!” Courtney gushed. “Well, not
know
know,
but he’s totally famous.”

“Okay,” Dawn said. “Spill the beans. Who is it?”

“Gavin Mosley!” she shrieked. “He moved in last week,
my brother Andy saw him at the hardware store and they were chatting. He told
Andy that after his shoulder injury forced him to retire last season, he had
been thinking about moving to a small town, and he chose Goosemont!”

“Who’s Gavin Mosley?” was all Dawn could reply with.

“Are you kidding me?” Courtney laughed. “He’s only one
of the greatest first basemen ever! In his first season, he broke the record
for most stolen bases by a rookie player, and he was on track to becoming one
of the greats before he wrecked his shoulder sliding into third base last
year.”

Dawn shrugged. “Sorry. Never heard of him.”

“Whatever,” Courtney said. “He’s famous, and I’ve
heard he’s really nice and he’s totally hot. Oh my God, I’m so excited, I can’t
even see straight.”

“Well, tell you what,” Dawn said as she listened to
Gabe chuckling at Courtney’s hyperactive rambling. “It’s not busy, and you are
way too energetic for today’s crowd. Hang back here with Gabe and calm down for
a bit. I’ll take care of the tables.”

Courtney stuck out her tongue at Dawn’s instructions,
but her eyes were playful and excited and Dawn knew her friend wasn’t really
mad. How could she be? Her mind was probably too wrapped up in some baseball
player to remember Dawn even confining her to the kitchen for a spell.

It wasn’t like Dawn needed the help on the floor. Only
a few tables were occupied come six, and most of them were only grabbing a
couple beers.

“Damn,” Jim said as he stepped out of his office and
into the dining room. “Figured those FBI guys might at least come by for
dinner, get a few more mouths through the door.”

Just the thought of the FBI agents coming into the bar
made Dawn’s stomach flutter. She didn’t need them coming to her bar, seeing her
name on their tab, or getting a good look at her face.

“Do you think they’re staying at the Mountain Lodge?”
she asked Jim.

The Mountain Lodge was a small motel near the edge of
town. Originally built in the fifties to house hikers and tourists, the place
hadn’t seen much upkeep since it opened. Over the years, it had fallen into
disrepair, but the elderly couple who ran it refused to close up shop. By
comparison, the Mountain Lodge made Jim’s bar look like a five-star Manhattan
gastro pub.

“Ha!” was the answer Jim offered. “You can’t be
serious.”

“I guess not.” Dawn had to laugh at that. She was
still pretty new in town, but everyone knew about the Mountain Lodge and how
rundown it was.

“They all probably stayed over in Chester. Their motel
is at least free of bugs,” Jim said. “Which means they’re all probably drinking
over there.”

Jim had a good point. The bar was nearly dead, save
the few diehards that came almost every night for their beers.

As the sun set, Courtney finally came out of the
kitchen, having calmed down enough that she could handle pouring some beers
while Dawn went to the kitchen to grab one of Gabe’s amazing cheeseburgers.

“So what do you make of this dead hiker thing?” Gabe
asked while Dawn began to munch on the juicy, if incredibly greasy, food.

“I dunno,” Dawn mumbled between bites. “I mean, it’s
pretty scary, but if we don’t go wandering off alone at night, we should be
fine, right?”

“Oh, totally,” Gabe said as he grabbed one of the
fries right out of the basket and began to nibble on it. “And don’t worry, I’m
happy to walk you and Courtney home after work, just to be safe.”

“Thanks Gabe,” Dawn said with a smile. Gabe could be a
bit of a blowhard at times, but he was genuinely a nice guy. A bit crass, but
he was the first one to step up when someone needed him.