Page 208 of Smoke and Fire
“What if they don’t?”
She frowned. “Then,” she murmured, “they don’t.”
"Macabre," I muttered.
"Very. We didn't have time to get a trailer and get them all out. For the record," she added with an upheld finger, "all of us told Marknotto get horses, but he had to follow through—"
"Lizbeth—"
"Back to the point." She nodded once. "I'm also here in Pineville to make sure Bethany and Mav are safe, because the fire could push close to their house up on the mountain. They're already ready to go in case they need to. And this?" Her finger twirled in a circle. "Is bananas."
"Right?" I croaked, brought back to the moment with a dose of reality. We had several things we needed to figure out.
"What is going on?"
She slipped behind the counter, but her gaze traveled wordlessly outside again. The fact that she didn't immediately drill me for answers or accuse me of harboring secrets calmed my nerves. All she knew about this situation came from social media.
Good enough.
For several long moments, we stared at the parking lot together. Women milled around, talking to each other after Katrina finished. Some of them kept an eye on the horizon. Others laughed, joining circles. Wind twisted by outside and ruffled their hair.
"Well," Lizbeth murmured, "they are calm."
"At least that," I sighed.
"So spill,” she demanded. “What’s going on?”
Lizbeth deserved as much of the truth as was mine to give. I wouldn't lie to her, but I also wouldn't betray Bastian either. I drew in a deep breath.
"Katrina, the girl that had been speaking out there, tracked Jess to the Frolicking Moose."
"Here?" she screeched.
I nodded. "Says she tracked Jess’s IP."
Lizbeth's eyes narrowed to slashes. "Interesting," she murmured. "I never thought about that, to be honest. Bit . . . weird and maybe creepy and desperate at the same time. Is she stable?"
"I think so."
"This is the same girl that had been claiming to have found Jess?"
"The one. Itwasa desperate move. It's this big dramatic story," I said with a wave of my hand, "but she basically thought the real Jess was a girl she once met and dated online that catfished her. Katrina wanted to out her. So she told all these women that Jess worked from here and they all decided to come. Today. They were hoping that a sit-in or a big crowd would draw Jess out of hiding."
"Sweet baby pineapple," Lizbeth muttered. "It's mad or brilliant or both. If this is what other romance lovers are doing, I might need to step up my game. Where are all these people coming from?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. Everywhere? Local? Both? I haven't had a chance to ask."
"Some are local," she murmured, then waved to someone that calledhello! through the window. "I recognize a few women from the library and book club, but . . . not all of them I'd wager. That's nuts."
"Yeah," I whispered.
"Think it'll work?" Her voice pitched a bit higher. "Do you think Jess will actually come?”
“No.”
“When I walked in, Katrina was saying that they should just have a big discussion and book club inside in the back room, but that she was wrong about Jess. Katrina said that Jess isn't here."
My heart crinkled for Katrina. Well-enough intentioned of a motive, if not totally creeptastic, but not well thought out. I felt for her. Heartbreak sucked. Unrequited, unexpected heartbreak? That musttotallysuck.
