Page 38 of Frost and Venom

A chill went down Harlow’s spine. Knightly had dealt with a very clever serial killer not too long ago. The small town hadn’t fully recovered from the shock that one of their own had been staging accidents to kill his victims. It made no sense to think that someone could be murdering people she knew without apparent cause, and yet it had happened before. Even though the thought had crossed her mind that the deaths were related and might be the work of a serial killer, having someone outside her circle of close friends suggest that theory made it even more real.

“Why would you think that, Alek?” But suddenly adrenaline poured into her, making her shaky. Deep down, she knew the deaths had to be related. If so, how? To give herself something to focus on, she removed the print from her wall. The photograph had been mounted on foam board. It wasn’t her final version, so she hadn’t used an acrylic sleeve to protect the picture from dust or dirt particles.

“I don’t know, Harlow. Giselle Gentry was from one of the founding families of this town. She was a pillar here. She was generous. The first person to give if there was a tragedy or fundraiser for search and rescue or the hospital. But she was a force. You know that. She was entitled and demanded her way in all things. She made life miserable for anyone who dared to challenge her. Even the two other founding members’ families. There would be reasons to target her.”

Harlow knew Giselle was considered extremely difficult. Zahra had to deal with her often because Zahra was an administrator at the hospital, and Giselle had been on the board. Fortunately, Zahra had a way of talking to the older woman that sounded admiring and respectful, along with a method of sharing ideas, as if Giselle had thought of them. Most people didn’t have Zahra’s very patient people skills. Giselle had many enemies in town, but was her entitled, irritating behavior enough to have someone plot her death?

“What about Lawyer?” She wrapped the photograph carefully, taking her time, not looking at Alek. He seemed to be as uncomfortable with the subject as she was. The wounds from their friend’s betrayal were still too raw. “Lawyer was one of the nicest men in town. As far as I knew, he helped anyone who needed it.”

Alek was silent so long she turned her head to look at him. His dark brown eyes were assessing her shrewdly. She knew him to be an intelligent businessman, but other than that, they had a superficial friendship. That was on her. She just held herself apart from most people.

“You do know Lawyer was in love with you.”

She heard the cautious note in his voice. He didn’t want to upset her, but for some reason he felt he had to say it.

“He was in love with the idea of me, Alek. Maybe the way I look, I don’t know, but he didn’t know me as a person.”

“I don’t know you in the way you’re talking about, but I could love you, and you know I’m madly in love with my wife. There’s something very special about you, Harlow. And you have a quality in you that makes me want to take care of you.”

She tilted her chin at him. “I’ve been taking care of myself for a number of years, Alek.” Still, it was nice to hear his positive opinion of her. Wilder was making it easier to accept compliments. She might never get to a place where she felt worthy of what others said about her, but she could hear it without feeling like a fraud.

“I didn’t say you couldn’t take care of yourself, only that when a man is around you, his protective instincts come out. Makes him feel very manly.” He gave her a brief smile. “Lawyer talked about you all the time.”

“I tried to let him down as gently as possible.” Harlow wasn’t certain if she was defending herself or just stating facts. She respected Alek. She didn’t want him thinking the worst of her. “How would the way Lawyer felt about me make him a target?”

Alek shrugged. “I don’t know, Harlow, but you took care of the old lady every time she was in the hospital. She requested you. Even when you had time off, you went in to take care of her.”

That was true. She liked Giselle Gentry in spite of her entitled, off-putting manners.

“She wasn’t easy,” Harlow admitted. “But I liked her.” She found herself smiling as a memory came to her. “She once told me how this town came to be called Knightly.”

“That’s always been somewhat of a mystery.”

“Most of those on the town council prefer not to repeat the story of the most courageous rooster in the Gentry coop. He was a notorious ladies’ man. Hens, even from neighboring ranches, would try to get to him. He defended his hens fiercely, fighting off even the larger predators. Weasels, foxes, skunks, even raccoons, you name it, he managed to fight them off and stay alive. In those days, apparently, a good rooster was worth his weight in gold, and Knightly was considered a premier rooster.”

“You’re telling me this town was named after a rooster?”

“Some of the streets in town are named after roosters. That’s also why there were so many roosters carved into wood on storefronts. You can clearly see them in the old town photographs.”

“The Gentry family had a lot of pull to get the town named after their rooster.” There was amusement in Alek’s voice. “With a name like Knightly, I thought the town was named after some Knight in medieval times.”

“Old Man Gentry, according to Giselle, loved his rooster. He did a full knighting ceremony in front of his grandchildren at a party one time and dubbed the rooster Sir Knightly. He got a huge kick out of it, and the name stuck. As the rooster grew in size, and he was apparently quite large, his reputation grew as well. In any case, when the rooster died, he was old for a rooster, and he went out fighting. He saved his hens from foxes, but he was torn up. They couldn’t save him. That’s when Gentry wanted to honor him and was able to persuade the committee to name the town after him.”

“What was the original name?”

“I don’t think they had an official name at that time. They were mostly ranches and a few stores. The committee was considering names. Some of the founding families wanted the town named after them. Certainly not a rooster, although it probably saved a lot of arguing and bad feelings if one family name had been chosen over another.”

“Does Stella know this story? I ask because she’s good at marketing and she could put a huge spin on this, use it for great publicity.”

“I think our town council tries to hide the truth. They didn’t like Giselle ever bringing it up, which she did whenever she was annoyed with them. I think it was a veiled threat to tell the world our beloved town is named after a rooster.”

Alek sobered instantly. “That would make some people dislike her for sure.”

Harlow saw where he was going with his simple statement. It was true. There were one or two people on the committee who valued their status and would feel they would be the laughingstock of the Sierra if it came out that Knightly was named after a rooster.

“If I knew you were close with Giselle, then others did as well,” Alek continued. “And now Helen’s gone, under mysterious circumstances. You were as close to Helen as she’d let anyone get.”

Strangely, she wanted the comfort of Wilder. He was her first thought, and that bothered her. She’d always faced every crisis on her own or with her friends. Was she actually considering that Alek might be onto something? It seemed far-fetched, but Stella was having her serial killer dreams. That might line up with Alek’s theory.