Page 8 of Shadow of Fear
Her wistful tone caught Dev by surprise. He rarely thought about the campground these days, short of reading the annual report from the manager and trying to find the person who broke into the cabins.
He surveyed each of the small cabins lit by two street lights near the end of the road. Normally a soft wash of light from the moon hanging over the lake helped illuminate the area, but smoky air prevented that tonight. The whole space was eerily shadowed, and he wished they were arriving in daylight instead of the evening. If someone wanted to shoot at Kinsley here, he could certainly find areas to take cover.
“It’s just like I remember it. At least on the days when we had wildfire smoke in the area.” Kinsley sighed. “But most of the time it was the perfect place for families to enjoy their vacation and get closer together. Too bad my parents never thought to do something like that. I don’t remember going on a single vacation trip with them. They never took off work, as far as I remember.”
Unfortunately, her parents were pretty lame. Thankfully, Dev’s mom unofficially adopted her, and she was able to spend a lot of time with them to see what a committed family was like. Even if they did have to work hard to keep the campground in tiptop shape, they worked together, so Dev should be thankful for his parents working alongside him. He certainly learned his work ethic from them. Well, mostly from his mom, because his dad passed away when he was seven. Still, years of interacting with his father helped him later in life to figure out what a real man was made of, and that didn’t mean all He-Man sort of things, but included compassion and a strong desire to do the right thing by others.
He glanced at Kinsley and didn’t like the sadness reflected back at him when she came here for happy memories. “I remember your mom and dad coming to our annual picnic a few times.”
“Yeah, they did take a few hours off here and there. I don’t remember any school events they attended or anything like that, but they did, for some reason, come to your mom’s picnics. Your mom was pretty legendary around here for the different themes she had at each picnic, and everyone wanted to get an invite to see the theme she chose for the year.”
“She was pretty cool like that. I hated when her lupus took over and she wasn’t able to hold the picnics anymore. We tried to step in and help, but it hurt more for her to see it go on without her involvement than to not have it at all. I know she misses them still.”
“Rotten lupus.” Kinsley pounded a fist on her knee. “I hate that for her. For anyone. But she’s the kindest, sweetest, most loving woman, and I hate to see her suffer.”
“I hear you there,” was all he could say because the agony his mother went through brought acid burning up his throat. He swallowed hard. “At least she’s doing better right now.”
Kinsley clasped her fingers in her lap. “Does she like living in town? I know it was hard for her to turn the campground over to a manager, but it would’ve been harder for her to sell it, right?”
“Right. The place hasn’t been making much money for years now, but she still has dreams of coming back here to run it. They’re pipe dreams if you ask me, but if they keep her going, then having a manager is the right decision for now.”
“I expected to see him on duty, but I didn’t see any lights on at the big cabin.”
“He takes time off, but he’ll be back at the first of November to start the off-season maintenance.”
She looked out the window. “Your parents always took such good care of this place, I would imagine the manager is doing an equally terrific job.”
“You know my mom well. He’d be long gone if he didn’t live up to her standards.” Dev laughed and swung into the parking area for the Bluebird Cabin, which was named after a cabin where his parents spent their honeymoon.
“I can’t wait to see your mom,” Kinsley said. “I wish it wasn’t too late to go see her tonight, but she invited us to lunch tomorrow, so that’ll have to be soon enough.”
She opened her window and snapped pictures ahead. She was likely trying to capture the cabin where light flooded out the windows, but would more likely get smoke-filled photos. She sighed as she settled back in her seat and tapped the screen on her phone.
“What are you up to?” he asked.
“Posting a picture of the cabin on my social media.”
He put his hand over her phone. “No. No social media.”
She glanced at him. “So you’re one of those people who hate social media?”
“I mean, as a former law enforcement officer, I don’t recommend it for posting personal information. It can lead to all kinds of problems that could jeopardize someone’s safety. But in this situation, you sure don’t want anyone to have any inkling of where you are. Your safety depends on your anonymity.”
“But I won’t post my location. I know better than that. It’s just a generic cabin in the woods.”
“You’d be surprised at the information that can be gleaned from a single photograph. Then the information is extrapolated until the person discovers your location.”
“But I?—”
“Don’t believe me?” He locked gazes with her. “Show me your last Facebook post when we get inside, and I’ll show you how much I can learn about you.”
“I doubt it,” she said. “My post was simply a picture of my memory box, and I said I was going to review items inside with my bestie at our favorite place this weekend.” She flashed up a hand. “Before you say anything, I didn’t mention who my bestie was or even that we were coming here.”
“How about you go ahead and promise me you won’t post anything on social media until this shooter has been apprehended? Then, if I can’t persuade you after looking at your latest post of what could be learned, we can talk about it.”
“I want to promise, but I don’t know if I can.” She bit her lip. “I’m a self-professed social media junkie, and I post multiple times a day. Probably comes from leading such a solitary life with little time for social interaction outside of a few work colleagues.”
“But that doesn’t matter right now. Your life is more important than any interaction on social media.” He continued to study her. “You can still go to the sites and see what your friends are up to. Just resist adding any information, including not commenting on anyone else’s posts.”
