Page 255 of Taken Away

Kelly looked toward the woods again. “What’s this about?”

Declan held his gaze.

“Would ye mind showing me what that camera recorded the night Mabel Blackwood died?”

Kelly nodded. "You got it."

He came out from behind the desk and led Declan across the lobby. A few guests sat near the tall windows overlooking the lake, talking over coffee. Kelly lowered his voice as he opened a cabinet beneath the television and pulled out a small case of memory cards.

“Emily is annoyingly organized,” he said, though there was affection in it. “What date?”

Declan told him.

Kelly found the card, slid it into the reader, and a grainy night-vision image filled the screen.

Trees.

Fence line.

The mineral block shone pale beneath the camera.

Kelly fast-forwarded.

Deer.

Darkness.

A raccoon.

Then—

Declan’s chin lifted.

“Hold there.”

Kelly stopped.

“What is it?”

“Back it up a wee bit.”

Kelly rewound the footage. Declan leaned closer.

"Again."

Kelly backed it up.

The footage played.

Only darkness.

Then the trees washed white as headlights swept across the logging road beyond the frame.

Kelly’s hand tightened around the remote.

The light vanished.

The woods went dark again.