“…I know.” Molly took a sip of water.
“Listen…” Alex straightened up. “I don’t mean to weird you out or anything. But I really do consider you to be a good friend.” He didn’t want to use the f-word, but he had to. “And I’m here for you. And if you need anyone to talk to, I’m here. I want to look out for you right now.”
Molly smiled. A sincere smile.
“Thank you. I think I could really use that right now. Senior year is already stressful enough. I just, I can’t get a handle on everything. I can’t wait for Christmas break when I can actually take a break.”
“What is your first choice for school? Who are you hoping to hear back from?” Alex tried to change the subject.
“Well, my parents want me to go to Vanderbilt. That’s where both of them went, and that’s their dream for my future. I think I would prefer to go to Duke, though. Just to go somewhere different. To prove to my parents that I don’t have to live out the perfect plan they have for my life. Does that make sense?”
Alex smiled. “Absolutely.”
Molly grabbed a piece of bread and started eating it. She sat back in her seat and relaxed. “What about you?”
Alex laughed to himself.
“I’m not sure.” He relaxed back in his chair. “I want to go to film school, but that doesn’t make a lot of financial sense. So, I may just go to community college next fall and keep working. Get some core credits out of the way. It’s hard talking to my mom about everything because I go back and forth. She says that sometimes it’s like she’s talking to two different people. If that makes any sense.”
From across the room, the TV interrupted their conversation. An obnoxious alert sound came over the regularly scheduled program. ‘Breaking News’ flashed across the screen.
“We are sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled program at this time, but we have local breaking news for the town of Pecos and the surrounding towns of Peytonsville and Shelbyville. The Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the major’s office, is enforcing a town-wide curfew of 9 p.m. starting tomorrow, December 18. The only exception will be police enforcement, government officials, and military…”
Alex and Molly looked at each other.
“Wow. A town curfew?” Alex said. Molly stared back at him. “Have they ever done that before?” Molly shook her head. “Looks like they are eager about finding the suspect.”
“It looks like they’re even more eager than you to find the culprit.” Molly smirked. “I didn’t think that was possible based on your enthusiasm.”
“I guess we’ll see who cracks the case first. My money is on me.” Alex smiled. “I, um, probably shouldn’t joke about that, actually.”
“Nope.” Molly looked down at her consumed plate of food.
“Sorry. I’m just trying to lighten things up. I think it’s easy for us to think we’re in danger. When we’re not. You’re not.” Alex gazed at Molly. She nodded. “I’m serious, Molly. You’re going to be okay.”
“I know.” She smiled. “I just tend to worry.”
“Well…” Alex raised his glass. “We might as well make the most of our last night out without a curfew.” Molly raised her glass with him. “To our final meal. Not a bad place to spend it. Good food. Good company.”
Molly blushed. They clinked their glasses together.
“…and…” Molly added. “…to the quick finding of the culprit. So our town can sleep well at night. Because until we know who it is, I’m going to need some extra melatonin to get to bed every night. Unlike you, who seems to have no problem sleeping right now.”
“Well, I’ll probably be up late too,” he said. “Not out of fear, but because I’m trying to solve this thing myself. The internet is a magical thing. There’s a lot out there. I’m hoping to put the local detectives out of business.”
Molly rolled her eyes. “You watch too many movies.”
“…and that’s a bad thing?” Alex teased back. “That might be the very thing that helps me here.”
The two headed out a few minutes later, parting ways after a bit more chatter at their cars. People around Pecos were starting to get uneasy about things. This curfew was just going to make things worse. As Molly struggled to see through the snow hitting off her windshield, she turned on the radio. Anything to pull her thoughts away from it all. Her fear of what might be.
Her fear that Amy was just the first case.
Her fear that things were just going to get worse.
Her fear that she was in danger.
And unfortunately for Molly, all of her fears were going to prove to be true.
Part II
Short-Staffed
8
Opening Shift
Saturday, December 18 – 8:45 A.M.
Alex yawned as he rolled the overloaded movie return drop box cart back into the store. It seemed like more people had used it than normal, probably because they didn’t want to get out of their car. Due to snow and unsolved murder cases.
As he wheeled it in and started checking them back in, the stillness of the store caused his mind to drift to a strange and eerie feeling. His storytelling mind floated to the reality that a killer was living in their town. Walking around in plain sight.
They blended right in with the culture, going about their business while the people around them had no idea what they were up to in secret. Eating pizza. Buying groceries. Renting movies. Hiding in plain sight.
As far as he knew, the cops still had absolutely no evidence on the guy. It drove Alex crazy that they didn’t even have a lead at this point. Just like most of the town, he couldn’t sleep well last night. Not out of fear. It was out of curiosity. There was already enough criticism of the local police station for even having a detective with the lack of crime and violence that happened in town. Townies criticized the department for overspending on unnecessary personnel. Now they finally get a crack at a juicy murder case and they have nothing to show for it. This will only make that narrative even stronger.
“Today’s the first day of curfew,” Ken said as he carried a stack of movies to the front. He always looked rough in the morning shifts. And with his ‘apparent’ sickness, he looked even worse this time. Alex was surprised to see him after calling out the night before.
“So, we’re closing at 8:30 now, right?” Alex said.
“Yep.” Ken pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth.
“Dude…” Alex said. “We talked about this…”
“No one’s here! We don’t open for ten minutes!” Ken pulled out a lighter and puffed as he plopped onto the counter by the soda cooler. It was moments like this that caused Alex to wonder how Ken had been able to keep a job here for the past seven years. “Plus, no one’s coming with this blizzard about to hit. I’m chalking this up to a slow business morning.” He took another big puff and blew it all over the check-out area.
“You know she can see the cameras from home,” Alex said. “She might be watching you right now.”