Whispers at Moonrise

heard the sound of the other campers leaving the area. Was Della still outside the door? If she screamed, would Della be able to get here in time to save her?
    “I don’t trust very easily,” Kylie said.
    “I got that feeling.” He took a step toward her.
    She took a step back, his presence making it hard to breathe. “You know what else I don’t do?” Her heartbeat played to the tune of fear, but she fought not to let it show.
    He laced his fingers together. She couldn’t help wondering if he was remembering how it had felt to use his hands as weapons.
    “What’s that?” he asked.
    “Let anyone hurt someone I love.” Kylie listened again, and there wasn’t a sound coming from outside. The only noise bouncing off the freshly painted walls was the whishing noise of the ceiling fan.
    Had Della left?
    He tilted his head to the side. “What are you accusing me of doing?”
    “What have you done?” Kylie fed her lungs a mouthful of air and held it.
    “Nothing,” he said.
    Liar! She could feel it, feel him hiding the truth. “Like I said, I don’t trust very easily.” She turned her back on him, and with each step, she expected to feel him snatch her back, to feel his hands wrap around her throat, choking the life out of her the way he’d done the others.
    *   *   *
    Three days later, after suffering through yet another Hayden Yates class, unable to think of anything except the threat this man posed to Holiday, Kylie stormed into the office. Burnett and Holiday were arguing again; she heard them before she reached the porch, but she didn’t care.
    Well, she did care, just not enough to quiet the alarm blaring inside her. Hayden Yates was hiding something. That something was probably murder. And until Kylie could make Burnett and Holiday see this, Holiday’s life was in jeopardy.
    Walking right into Holiday’s office, Kylie slammed the door behind her. “I don’t like him.”
    “Me either,” Burnett roared.
    Holiday cut her eyes from Kylie to Burnett. “You two aren’t even talking about the same person.”
    Kylie looked at Holiday for an explanation. Holiday obliged. “Blake has offered to help look into Hannah’s disappearance. He was the last person to see her alive, so I think we should accept his help.”
    “A suspect helping with the investigation, that makes about as much sense as fried ice cream.”
    Holiday leaned her elbows on her desk. “You can’t find one thing that points to his guilt.”
    “He slept with your sister!” Burnett roared.
    “Guilty of murder, not of being a piece of shit.”
    “And I’m telling both of you,” Kylie said, “Hayden is guilty.”
    “There’s no proof of that,” they said at the same time.
    “He wears a glove over his emotions. Every time he opens his mouth to speak, half truths come out. I feel it.”
    Burnett shook his head. “I’ve dug so deep into his background, I can practically tell you when he stopped wearing diapers.”
    Holiday’s chair squeaked. “Kylie, if Hayden was out to hurt me, he’s had plenty of opportunity. I interviewed him the first time when I was away taking care of my aunt’s funeral. It was just him and me.”
    Kylie frowned. “I don’t care. I still—”
    “Both of you are wrong,” Holiday insisted. “Blake didn’t do this, and neither did Hayden. And if we don’t stop focusing on them, we’ll never find the killer. And we might never find Hannah’s and the other two girls’ bodies.”
    Burnett’s eyes brightened and Kylie could read his mind. It wasn’t finding the bodies that worried him so much; it was protecting Holiday. Hannah’s warning felt imminent and Burnett felt that, too.
    “Where the hell is Hannah when we need her?” Burnett bit out. He looked at Kylie. “You haven’t seen her, felt her? Nothing?”
    Kylie dropped on the sofa. “The last time was when she saw Blake here in the office.”
    “See,” Burnett bellowed. “She probably figures we caught the bastard.”
    “I don’t think so.” Kylie almost feared disagreeing with Burnett when he was in this kind of mood, but getting them to see her point felt crucial. “She didn’t look as if she thought it was over when she left.”
    He folded his arms over his wide chest. “Can we have a séance? Hold hands and call her back?”
    “A séance?” Holiday rolled her eyes. “You have so much to learn about spirits.”
    “I don’t give a damn about learning about spirits. I just need Hannah to come and tell me