Harvest Moon (5 page)

“Sure,” he sighed. “He isn’t ordering anything, and
the place is just about dead. Dawn can handle it.”

“Sure can,” Dawn assured her friend. “Have fun, but
not too much fun!”

While Courtney practically dragged Gavin Mosley out of
the bar, Dawn delivered the federal agent’s beer to his table. He’d already
eaten most of his burger and the fries were all gone, but he was still watching
Gavin and Courtney as they left.

“She’ll be fine,” Dawn assured him. “Courtney’s a
little impulsive, but she’s never done anything really stupid.”

She was expecting more light small talk, maybe even
questions, but his response was little more than a grunt as he took his beer.
He didn’t even make note of the fact that it wasn’t what he ordered as he took
a big gulp of it and just about slammed it back on the table.

Touchy
, Dawn thought to herself as she moved
back to where Jim was standing behind the bar.

“So, what do you think?” Jim said in a low voice.

“About what?” Dawn asked.

“About everything,” Jim said, his voice somewhere
between a laugh and a sigh. “In a day we’ve got a dead body, FBI agents, and a
retired MLB player. I’ve lived in Goosemont my whole life, and we’ve never had
anything close to so much excitement.”

“It’ll pass,” Dawn said. “They’ll kill the bear, or
whatever it is, the FBI agents will go home, and Gavin Mosley will realize this
town his boring and he’ll move to Los Angeles, or something.”

“I guess that’s the bright side,” Jim laughed hard
enough that his belly shook. “Well, here’s hoping people don’t stay spooked for
long. We can’t afford many more nights like this.”

“We’ll be fine,” Dawn tried to reassure him. “I mean,
once word gets around that there’s some rabid bear or something out there,
hunters will flock to Goosemont. It’s like some kind of prize kill, right?”

Jim nodded. “You might be on to something. Would be
nice to have a bunch of hungry mouths to feed.”

Dawn was about to assure him that it would happen when
she noticed the federal agent stand up from the table. Without looking back at
them or waiting for his bill, he threw some money down on the table, finished
his second beer, and then walked out the front door.

“Shit,” Jim groaned. “Here’s hoping he paid up. I
don’t want to be chasing some hunter for his tab.”

“He’s not a hunter,” Dawn told him as she went to the
table. “He’s an FBI agent looking into the missing hikers.”

“Even worse,” Jim said. “Doesn’t look like some sort
of special agent to me. That boy looks like a hunter through and through.”

Dawn shrugged and let out a sigh of relief as she counted
up what Agent Nash had left her. It more than covered his tab and her tip,
though with a night like they’d had, it didn’t cover her losses from seeing so
few customers.
At least the lunch rush was okay,
she thought as she
counted the bills.

“Grill is shut down,” Gabe said as he poked his head
out of the kitchen. “Damn, is it ever dead.”

“Worse than that,” Jim sighed. “Sorry, Dawn. I’m going
to send you home early.”

“It’s fine.” She waved him off as she handed over what
the agent had left, save the portion that was her tip. “I could stand to do
some laundry.”

“Want me to walk you home?” Gabe offered. “It’s on my
way, if you don’t mind waiting another half hour.”

“Nah,” Dawn said. “I’ll be fine. See you guys
tomorrow?”

Really, Dawn knew it might be wise not to walk alone,
but she wanted some time to clear her head. The cold night air and the soft
sounds of the surrounding forests were better than anything else for settling
her nerves. Being so close to an FBI agent, revealing as much as she had, it all
made her belly heavy with nerves.

The walk wasn’t far, but she couldn’t help but pause
at the yellow tape that cordoned off the small alley between two of the town’s
older buildings. They’d done a good job of cleaning stuff up, and there wasn’t
much to see, but the idea of what had been there earlier reignited her nerves
and transformed them into something new.

I hope Courtney is having fun
, Dawn thought to
herself, trying to force her brain away from more sinister topics.

In the distance, a wolf, maybe a coyote, howled. The
sound of it broke through the crisp night air and got Dawn’s feet moving again
as she turned back toward the little house she called home.

As she walked, another howl echoed through the night,
though this one seemed closer. She knew the echoes from the trees and the
mountains could play tricks on you, but she was certain the sounds were getting
closer. Worse yet, suddenly she could feel eyes on her, watching her as she
walked.

Dawn spun to try to catch a glimpse of who or what she
was certain was watching her, but the streets were empty. There was nothing
there, but she still felt as if she wasn’t alone.

Goosemont was eerily quiet as she began to walk toward
home again. There were no birds chirping, no leaves rustling. It wasn’t even
very late, yet she couldn’t hear the echo of TVs or radios. Not even a car was
running. It was if the town had emptied while she was at work and they had
neglected to inform her.

Another howl shattered the silence, and this one was
definitely closer. Dawn had worked tirelessly to appear unfazed, even when she
was at her most paranoid, but this was different. Something was close, and she
knew it.

Her feet didn’t just begin to pick up speed or jog as
she moved toward home, she broke out into a full sprint. The beer she’d drank
at the bar sloshed in her belly as she ran, but she didn’t care. There was
something in town, and it wasn’t far behind her. She didn’t need to look behind
herself to know that much was true.

Home was in reach, her little wooden door only feet
away, and she threw herself up the steps of the sagging porch that framed the
front of the house. Clumsily, she fought with her keys and worked to stab one
into the lock before whatever was out there had time to pounce.

“Come on, come on,” she muttered as she worked the
unreliable lock. She had to hurry, she couldn’t look back, but as the door
finally gave way in front of her, she couldn’t help but gaze over her shoulder.

Yet she found nothing. The street was empty and quiet
and there was no one and nothing out there with her. Goosemont was empty.
Everyone was tucked inside their homes, safe and sound.

“Idiot,” she laughed at herself as she stepped inside,
but her laugh was hollow. Something had been out there. Deep down, she knew
that. She just couldn’t prove it.

For the first time since moving to Goosemont, Dawn had
spent the night with her bedroom window closed. She liked the cold breeze the
open window offered, but her adrenaline had been running high when she’d gotten
home, and the idea of not having everything locked up tight seemed like a bad
one. Even though she hadn’t seen anything with her own eyes the night before,
nothing could convince her that there hadn’t been something—or some
one
—watching
her.

At least the sounds from outside were back to normal
when she woke. Even through the closed window, she could hear the rumble of the
few cars that passed through town, birds chirping their usual songs, and the
roar of chainsaws echoing through the woods. Everything was normal, or as normal
as Dawn was used to.

Even though she’d had trouble sleeping, Dawn had taken
out her contacts and she’d put her dyed hair up in a loose bun before bed.
Wearing her hair up showed her dark roots more easily, and she cursed herself
for forgetting all about the dye that she’d meant to pick up earlier.

“Crap,” she said as she examined her roots. They were
passable for another week at the absolute max, and that meant she needed to get
to Guy’s Drugs, the small pharmacy that also served as a corner store and post
office, to pick up the dye before people started to notice that she wasn’t a
natural blonde.

With her green contacts covering her brown eyes, Dawn
pulled on her plaid jacket and her old boots before she went out. She didn’t
have to be at work for another hour, but it would give her time to stop at
Guy’s before she needed to get to the bar.

It was her turn doing prep. Wednesday was the one day
a week that Jim took the morning off, and she and Courtney were responsible for
prepping the kitchen for Gabe. Because of Courtney’s early departure the night
before, Dawn had a feeling she’d be working alone, which mean being early
wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

The pharmacy was busier than she’d expected so early
in the day, but without many other options in town, a lot of Goosemont’s older
residents seemed to gather at Guy’s Drugs to share gossip. After the excitement
the day before, the place was packed with the over-sixty crowd.

Dawn weaved her way past a pair of ladies with blue-gray
hair as they gabbed by the magazine rack. The store had a limited hair dye
selection, tucked off to the side of the shampoos, but as she searched for the
least brassy or ashy blonde she could find, she let herself listen to what was
being said.

“Apparently, it’s some hiker that went missing a
couple days ago on the trail,” one of the blue-haired ladies said.

“I heard it was a woman,” another cut in. “Out with
some friends and she got separated. Next thing you know, she’s half eaten here
in town.”

“Someone told me all the hikers missing are women,”
another woman said while Dawn pretended to examine the ingredients of a shade
called
Autumn Barley Blonde
.

“But do you think they’re connected?” one of them
said. “I mean, people go missing off the Appalachian Trail all the time.”

“Not all in the same area, though,” someone corrected
her. “But four women in a month and one turned up dead in town? It’s mighty
suspicious to me.”

“It’s a bear, or a wolf,” one lady said. “Like that
time back in nineteen-eighty. Remember those fool boys? Could be the same
thing.”

“There’s no way!” one lady argued. “That bear was
protecting her cubs. This one acts like it’s hunting people!”

“Bears don’t hunt people,” someone shot back while
Dawn continued to pretend to read her box of peroxide. “A puma, maybe.”

She wanted to stay and listen, but with the pharmacy
being pretty busy, the line might take forever if one particularly chatty
customer got in ahead of her, and she really did need to get to the bar soon if
she didn’t want to rush through prep.

The only downside about coloring her hair, beyond how
damaging the bleach was, was having to actually buy the stuff. She thought
about ordering it online so no one in town, not even the pimply checkout girl,
would know for sure she dyed her hair, but that would mean either getting a
credit card or PayPal account. Both were too risky, so Dawn was stuck buying
the dye from the pharmacy every four weeks or so.

Despite the aisles of the pharmacy being full of
gossiping men and women, there was no line for the checkout, and Dawn threw
down her box of dye along with some other things she didn’t particularly need
to try to take the focus off the bleach.

“Did you hear the FBI is in town?” the young woman
behind the counter asked Dawn as she scanned a nude lipstick that she’d grabbed
off an impulse rack.

“Yeah,” Dawn said, trying to shut down the small talk.

“My mom said this is the most excitement Goosemont has
ever seen,” the girl with the nametag of Becky said, oblivious to Dawn’s desire
to leave. “I’ve never seen a real FBI agent before. Did you see them? Are they
like the guys in the movies?”

“I guess,” Dawn replied, shrugging as Becky tossed her
items haphazardly into a plastic shopping bag.

“Well, I hope they come in here,” Becky gushed. “It would
be so cool, like
The X-Files
or something.”

“I don’t think it’s anything like that,” Dawn shot her
down. “It’s an animal attack, and hopefully no one else gets hurt.”

“Yeah,” the girl said, her cheeks flushing as she
spoke. “Yeah, sucks about that poor hiker.”

“It really does,” Dawn agreed as she handed over her
cash and scooped up her things. Not only was she now running behind, but
something about the spectacle the town was putting on over the death of a
stranger was really rubbing her the wrong way. What if it had of been someone
they knew or cared about? No one knew this hiker, but they could have. It was
awful to think about, and having the FBI poking around was no better. For
people to actually be excited about it? It was low, really low.

Dawn’s shoulders tensed as she walked toward Jim’s.
Starting her day feeling that put off by her neighbors was going to do her no
favors, and she tried to shake it off, but by time she got to the bar at
eleven, she was pouring herself a shot of whiskey just to calm down some.

To make matters worse, Courtney was nowhere to be seen
as Dawn started to fire up the grill. Courtney did have a habit of being late,
but Dawn was already in a foul mood and she found herself cursing Courtney as
she began to wipe down the tables and lay out fresh utensils.

“Morning,” Jim said as he strolled into the bar that
carried his name.

“Hey,” Dawn said, unable to hide the edge in her
voice.

“Just you?” he asked as he hung up his slightly
tattered jacket before moving to the bar to pour himself a pint.

“Just me,” Dawn confirmed with a hint of venom on her
tongue. “Courtney hasn’t even called. She probably spent the night with that
guy, and now I’m stuck doing both our jobs.”

“Hey, now,” Jim said with a chuckle. “You’re the one who
said she should go. She asked if you were cool with it, and you should have
known that also meant she was coming in late.”

“I know,” Dawn relented. “I’m not even really mad
about that. It’s just... people.”

“All of them?” Jim laughed again, this time a little
louder.

“Everyone I’ve seen so far today,” Dawn said. “Except
you, of course.”

“Well, I’m flattered,” Jim said as he began to drink
his beer.

“Everyone is turning this animal attack into a circus
or something,” Dawn griped. “They’re treating it like it’s something out of a
movie, and I mean,
someone died
. They died horribly, and no one is
treating that with any sort of sadness or respect. It’s a spectacle.”

“Maybe they don’t know how else to think about it,”
Jim said, his eyes turning soft and fatherly. “Think about it. Maybe they
aren’t being sad because that’s too hard for them. If they treat it like it’s
some fantasy, like it’s a movie, it’s easier for them to process and deal with.
Maybe it’s just how they’re coping with it.”

“You have a point,” Dawn said, hot shame creeping into
her cheeks. “I guess I’m just on edge.”

Jim nodded. “I think we all are. Except for Courtney.
Where is that girl?”

“I’ll give her another half hour,” Dawn said. “Then
I’ll call her. Don’t want to wake her if she was up all night.”

“Now that sounds more like the Dawn I know,” Jim said.
“I’ll be in my office, if you need me.”

The half hour window that Dawn had given Courtney
quickly turned into forty-five minutes, then an hour. Even after Gabe arrived
and the bar opened for business, there was no sign of the redheaded waitress.
Dawn imagined Courtney bouncing through the front door of the bar and sharing
with everyone how wonderful her night with the great Gavin Mosley was, but even
at one-thirty, there was no sign of her.

The last of Dawn’s frustration and anger with
Courtney’s lateness faded by time two rolled around. The first customers of the
day had just been seated, but there was still nothing to be seen of her friend.
No call, no text to Gabe’s cell, nothing to indicate that Courtney knew she was
late for work.

“Hey, Jim,” Dawn said as she poked her head into the
owner’s office. “Can you watch the tables for a second? I’m just going to call
Courtney’s mom and make sure she’s just hung-over or forgetful or something.”

“I was about to do the same,” Jim said. “But I think
she’d prefer if you called. Tell her I’m disappointed in her.”

It was a thin attempt at a joke, but Dawn told him she
would as he left the dark closet he called an office. There was barely enough
space for the old table that doubled as a desk, or Jim’s old Compaq computer
and an even older rotary phone.

Dawn hadn’t owned a cell phone in over two years, and
that meant she’d gotten quite good at remembering people’s numbers without the
aid of a contact list. She stuck her finger in the loop of the dial and began
to run it around until the she completed the number to Courtney’s house.

“Hello?” a familiar voice answered, though it was
strained with worry.

“Hey, Mrs. Frey?” Dawn said. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh, I’m sure it is,” the woman on the other end of
the call said. “I was just going to call you girls at the bar.”

That seemed to be an ongoing theme.

“Um,” Dawn said, realizing she might not have the best
news for Courtney’s mother. “See, I was actually calling to see if Courtney is
there.”

“Oh,” Mrs. Frey said, her voice a thin whisper. “No, I
haven’t seen her. I thought she maybe just went to work early.”

“I’m really sorry,” Dawn said. “She isn’t here. I know
she probably doesn’t want you knowing this, but she left with a customer not
long before close. She didn’t leave you his number or anything, did she?”

“No, dear, she didn’t,” Mrs. Frey said, her voice
cracking.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Dawn insisted. “She left with
that baseball player who moved to town, Gavin-somebody.”

“Mosley,” Mrs. Frey said. “Well, that’s probably it.
She’s done nothing but talk about him since her brother saw him. I can’t blame
her for being a little enthusiastic.”

“Me either,” Dawn said, trying to sound relieved, but
it wouldn’t come. “Can you just get her to call the bar when she does get home?
Just so Jim can chew her out a little.”

That wasn’t entirely why. Dawn was really starting to
worry, and she knew it wouldn’t get better until she talked to Courtney
herself.

“Of course I can,” Mrs. Frey said. “She’s going to get
an earful from me, too.”

Their banter was meant to reassure one another, but it
didn’t seem to be going well. Maybe if a hiker who, if rumor was to be
believed, was about Courtney’s age hadn’t been found dead in town, they
wouldn’t be so alarmed. With everything going on, though, both women were
struggling to act like they really believed everything would be okay.

Once she was done on the phone, Dawn had to force
herself to go back to business as usual at Jim’s. There weren’t many customers,
just a few regulars who were after some beer and commiseration, and there was
little to take her mind off where Courtney had gone off to.

Even when things did pick up, Dawn couldn’t
concentrate. Their small dinner rush was nothing compared to the worry eating
away at Dawn’s gut. Nothing was going right. She forgot which beers the bar
carried, she gave people the wrong change, but it was when she dropped a plate
full of nachos on the floor that Jim stepped in and told her to take a break.

“I’m sure she’s fine,” Gabe tried to assure Dawn as
she paced the small kitchen. “Remember when she took off for the weekend to see
Chuck?”

“Yes,” Dawn said, her voice tight and snappy. “I went
with her, remember? We told you two days before we left that we were going.”

“True, but that was just some guy,” Gabe said as he
flipped a burger. “This is someone famous. Girls like Courtney go nuts with
guys like him. They’re probably naked at his house, laying out on a bearskin
rug, or something like that.”

“Yeah,” Dawn said, but she didn’t believe him. She
knew Gabe was just trying to reassure her, but he was painting a picture of
Courtney that she just didn’t like.

“I think I’m good now,” she announced. “Better to get
back to work to keep my mind off things.”

“Let me know if she calls,” Gabe called after her as
Dawn stepped back out into the bar.

What she expected to see was a few patrons waiting for
Jim to get them beer, or maybe a burger. The last thing she wanted to see was
the three FBI agents and the town’s only cops in tow.

“I’m really sorry,” one of the agents whose name Dawn
didn’t know was saying to Jim. “We need to talk to everyone who was here last
night.”

“What’s going on?” Dawn said, her feet moving below
her without her knowing. “What happened?”