Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

anyone seen it in the daytime?” He kept quiet about what he, Bo and Dean had witnessed. The goal here was to find out if anyone besides the three of them had seen the thing any time other than twilight.
“Not that I know of. Of course very few people go by there in the daytime, except when we have to go down the mountain for something. Even then, not everyone uses the staff trail all the time. It’s shorter, but it’s also steeper and more difficult, so we sometimes use the guest trails, and you don’t pass that area to get to those trails.”
Pursing his lips, Sam considered asking if anyone had ever witnessed the creature killing someone. He decided against it. If anyone had seen such a thing, surely they would have told Lex or Carl, and the information would have been passed on to BCPI. Besides, he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to talk about an active police investigation, never mind that the staff would eventually find out anyway.
“Has anyone followed it?” he asked after a moment’s thought.
Looking puzzled, Darren shook his head. “Not that I’m aware of. I sure as hell didn’t.”
“And no one’s seen it…do anything?”
Darren frowned. “Like what?”
“Anything at all,” Sam hedged. “Other than run into the woods, that is.”
“Not that I’ve heard.” With a quick glance toward the closed office door, Darren leaned an elbow on the arm of his chair and lowered his voice. “Does this have anything to do with the police officers and the detectives who came up here on horseback earlier? The two uniforms went back down, carrying what looked like a very full cooler, but I didn’t see the detectives with them that time, so they must still be here.”
Sam smiled. Darren was too smart for his own good, or anyone else’s. “It does, yes. But I can’t tell you what. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. I’m sure Lex and Carl will tell us as much as they can tonight.” An apprehensive expression crossed Darren’s face. “I know you can’t say anything, but I really hope the cops aren’t here because… Because of Harry. Everybody here is crazy about him. And he’s one of the most hard-working and reliable employees here, in spite of his condition.”
Instantly, Sam thought of the prescription bottle he’d stepped on in the woods. He’d seen the name of the drug—Dilantin—but he had no idea what it did, and he hadn’t thought to ask Dean or Bo. Maybe it had nothing to do with the dismembered body or the thing they’d seen in the woods, but it never hurt to have as much information as possible.
“What condition was that?” Sam darted a swift glance at the office door. It was still shut. “Was he sick? Is it possible his disappearance had something to do with that?”
“He had—has—epilepsy. It’s always been well controlled, though. I’ve never seen him have a seizure, and I don’t think anyone else has either.” Darren dropped his gaze to his lap. “He ran out of Dilantin. That’s why he went into town that day. He usually got three months worth of drug, but he’d had to switch pharmacies on the last refill, and they screwed it up and only gave him two months worth. We had a huge ice storm up here, and it kept him on the mountain long enough for him to run out of his medicine.”
In his mind, Sam saw the pharmacy bag and prescription bottle buried in the leaves mere feet from the spot where the mountain dropped into empty space. “Oh, my God. Do you think he could’ve had a seizure or something? He could’ve fallen off the mountain.”
Darren gave him an odd look, but before he could say anything the office door swung open. Lex walked out, looking pale and dazed. Parsons and Ramirez followed in her wake.
Leaping to his feet, Darren hurried over and put an arm around Lex’s shoulders. “Lex? Are you okay?”
She patted his hand and gave him a watery smile. “I’ll be all right. I’ll tell you and the others all about it as soon as Detective Parsons says it’s okay.”
Parsons glanced up from the notebook in which she was writing. “Actually, Mrs. Bledsoe, I think it’s okay to go ahead and talk to your employees about what’s happened. Ramirez and I will be staying here, and we will be questioning each of them anyway. They might as well know why, and they’ll probably take it better from you.”
Darren’s eyes narrowed, but he kept quiet. Rising slowly to his feet, Sam walked over to the group outside the office door. “Detective Parsons, what about Bo, Dean