Page 10 of A Love Like Candle Light

I scramble to a stand and hurry after him. Gah, I want to tug on his shirt to make him stop but it fits him like a very tight glove. “Wait, where are we going?”

“Your place.” The corners of his mouth twitch as he answers over his shoulder. “Someone has to be there when the cavalry arrives. The cavalry being Erik to check out your skeleton friend.”

Abby and Dick trudge after us. If they could talk, they’d probably gossip about how ridiculous this whole situation is.

Kieran talks nonstop on our way over to my property, but I barely listen to him, my thoughts are racing.

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe a part of me wants something exciting to happen in my live and the bones are an animals’ after all. I’ll have embarrassed myself not even half a day after I moved here.

As we close in on the hole where Abby unearthed one of the bones, I keep her closer by my side. Kieran hands me his leash too and Dick sticks close to Abby as his owner carefully inches closer, almost slipping on wet grass, to take a look.

His now black leather clad shoulders tense. Then he turns around slowly, face as white as the mountain tops on the other side of the lake and eyes wide.

“What?” My heart races as I brace myself for his answer.

“I’m sorry to say, but this is most definitely a human skeleton.” He carefully walks away from the hole.

“What makes you say that?” I tilt my head. “Are you sure? It could be a deer. Hell, maybe even a bear.” I wave my hand through the air as I try to think of any other animals they could be from.

“I doubt any animal would have been buried with clothes.” He bites the inside of his cheek and puts his hand on my shoulder. “And I’m sorry to let you know, but there’s a very human-looking skull.”

“Oh fuck,” I mumble to myself and exhale the deepest sigh mankind has ever heard into the crisp autumn air. “Just my luck.”

Chapter 3

Erik

“Erik!” Jodie shouts from the front desk. Not sure why, after all this station is so tiny, I’d hear her whisper.

When I got her call about a supposed skeleton found at the lake shore, I was out helping Michael, one of the farmers near Wayward Hollow, herd some cows off a street and back into their enclosure. Henry also got a call to check them over upon return, and I was more than glad for more manpower, because those beasts are stubborn.

Thankfully, most of them were already back by the time she called me in.

“What is it?” I pop my head around the doorframe, then lean down to change my shoes and socks, because I had a rather unfortunate encounter with a puddle and am not looking to catch a cold. There’s a reason I keep spares of everything in my office.

“Kieran called with more information.” She clears her throat and I hear her type something on her decades-old keyboard. “According to him, what they found is most definitely a human skeleton.”

I stop, shoelaces wrapped around my fingers and slowly turn my head to her. She’s a small woman who has worked the police office’s front desk longer than I have been alive, usually sporting a knitted cardigan and half updo, much like today.

When she first called me in, it was clear she didn’t believe Kieran. But there’s an undertone of doubt in her voice now, a seriousness I’ve never heard from her before.

Quickly, I tie my shoes and get up. The floorboards creak as I take the two steps to the reception counter she’s sitting behind and lean against it. “How is he so sure?”

“He said there was also a dress and a very human-looking skull.” Her fingers fly over the keyboard once more.

What the hell? When she called me, I expected this to become a rather routine ‘we found deer bones’ call. I’d go there, check it out, tell the hikers who found them all is good and get home in time for dinner.

For some reason, I doubt this will be resolved in time for dinner.

I stare at the area map, hanging on the wall behind Jodie. It might be almost a century old and lost most of its color, but I can still see the basics and not much has changed since then. It takes me less than a minute to find the lake.

Let’s say someone buried a murder victim there. Why?

The lake used to be a prime hang out spot for Wayward Hollow’s and surrounding cities’ teenagers until someone decided to build four mansions there. It’s pretty far off the highway and before they paved driveways for the mansions, there was no way to get anywhere near the shore by car.

“Give me a minute,” I mumble and return to my office. The computer takes forever to boot. Usually, I’d start the filtered coffee machine I bought when I first started here. Lack of funding one way or another, but no way am I starting work without coffee.

This time, I wait, staring at the screen and will it to work faster. As fast as this computer from the last century will let me, I check the data base for any missing persons reports remotely tied to Wayward Hollow or its surrounding cities or towns. Then open murder cases tied to our area.