Page 47 of In Her Path

Jenna and Jake shared a glance.

“Then what happened?” Jake asked.

“Then they went their separate ways.” Meredith’s voice had gone flat in the careful way of someone trying not to editorialize. “People in the parking lot noticed. It wasn’t quiet.”

Jenna let that settle for a moment. Then: “What about Mayor Simmons and Curtis Paige? Any similar history there?”

This time Meredith didn’t hesitate at all. “More than similar. It’s been going on for months.” She moved to the side of the room slightly, as if creating space for the story. “Councilman Paige had been backing a plan to demolish three blocks of historic downtown buildings—part of the old theater district, the Regent Theatre and the two buildings beside it. He wanted to replace them with a new county courthouse and a parking structure.”

“And the theater,” Jenna said carefully. “Wasn’t that—”

“The Mayor’s grandfather built it,” Meredith confirmed. “Opened it in 1947. The Mayor’s been fighting the demolition for the better part of a year. She’s been quietly working to strip Paige of his committee chairmanship in retaliation.” Meredith paused. “They’ve had screaming matches about it. Twice that I know of, right here in the building. The second time, I thought the Mayor was going to—” She stopped herself. “It was bad.”

Jenna considered her words. Two murder victims. Two documented public conflicts between both victims and the same person. A murder weapon left on that person’s desk.

“Meredith,” she said. “I need to see last night’s security footage for this building.”

The composure reasserted itself almost immediately. “I’m sorry—that’s not something I can authorize on my own. We’d need approval from the Mayor’s office. From the Mayor herself, technically.”

“I understand that’s the normal procedure—”

“It’s not just procedure. It’s the Mayor’s policy. She was very specific about it after the break-in scare two years ago.” Meredith held Jenna’s gaze steadily. “I’ve already made exceptions to her rules…but I’m just not authorized to access that footage.”

Jenna was about to push back when her phone buzzed in her jacket pocket. She pulled it out, saw Clancy’s name on the screen.

“One second.” She turned slightly and answered. “Graves.”

"Sheriff, this is Officer Clancy." His voice came through calm but clipped. "I sent that team to the mayor's house like you asked."

Jenna stopped walking. "What'd they find?"

"No answer at the door. Lights off. Car's not in the driveway, not in the garage."

Jenna felt something cold settle in her stomach. "Neighbors?"

"Talked to three of them. None saw her since yesterday." A pause. "Team's still on scene if you want them to do more."

“Stay put,” Jenna told him. “I’ll be in touch shortly.”

She ended the call, Piper’s words from yesterday played again in her mind: “She’ll vanish soon into silence.” Was that happening right now? But exactly what did those words mean? Vanish how or where? And who did they refer to?

She turned to Meredith.

“That was one of my deputies,” she said to her. “We sent someone to check on Mayor Simmons just now. There was no answer at her home. Her car isn’t there.”

Meredith blinked. “Should I be … worried?” she said in a whisper.

Jenna chose her next words carefully. “There’s something else you should know. Diane Holt was found dead this morning, in her home. It appears she was murdered last night, in a manner similar to the way Curtis Paige was killed.”

The silence that followed was complete.

Meredith’s face went through several things at once—shock, confusion, something approaching grief—all of it colliding.

“Diane,” she said softly. Not grief exactly, Jenna noted, but a kind of horrified recognition. “And the Mayor is missing.”

“I wouldn’t say missing. She may simply be somewhere we haven’t located yet.”

“But you’re worried about her.”