After my shift ended I placed an order for two sandwiches, deciding I’d pay Eli at visit at his work. His shift at the bar had most likely just begun, but I knew Eli was always hungry. He wouldn’t turn down food, which meant I’d have time to discuss Jane Hawker and the things I’d overheard with him before the place got too busy.

Eli would want to visit her. He would see things my way and would understand the importance of talking with her. He believed in my gut feelings.

I parked in front of Eddie’s bar and cut the engine of my car. The place had just opened, but there were already three vehicles in the parking lot. Regulars. They’d be sitting at one end of the bar with a beer in hand, chatting about old times while smoking a cigarette.

I gathered our sandwiches and drinks before heading toward the entrance of Eddie’s. The stale scent of cigarette smoke hung in the air. It grew stronger the closer to the screen door I got. It was a familiar scent, one I’d grown accustomed to long ago. Something I wasn’t used to was not coming here daily to pick up my dad after he’d had a few too many.

Since Mom had come home, Dad’s drinking had drastically decreased. Actually, he’d gone from getting shit-faced daily to not having a drop in weeks. I didn’t know how; alcohol had been the way he dealt with his pain from the accident he was involved in years ago, his version of pain management.

Dad was doing amazing though. Especially considering the medication he was on didn’t work as well as it should due to his werewolf healing abilities. They made him metabolize the medication too fast.

The screen door creaked as I pushed it open and slipped inside the dimly lit bar. Cigarette smoke hung suspended in the air like white snakes, and low music played from a speaker in the ceiling.

“Mina Ryan, aren’t you ever a sight for sore eyes,” Eddie, the owner of the bar, said as the door slammed shut behind me. “Did you bring me lunch?”

“No, sorry, Eddie. I should have. Next time.” I smiled as I glanced around the place. “Eli around?” I asked when I didn’t see him.

“Sure is,” Eddie said. He motioned to the door behind him with his thumb. “He’s in the back, washing glasses.”

“Care if I take this to him? I know he’s supposed to be on the clock, but I promise I won’t be in his hair for long.”

“It’s fine. The boy needs to eat. Besides, it ain’t like I got anything more than pork rinds and peanuts sitting around anyway.”

“Thanks.” I made my way behind the bar to the back door of the place.

“How’s that dad of yours doin’?” Eddie asked when I reached the door.

“Yeah. We haven’t seen him ’round here in a while,” an older man whose name was Jimbo said. His voice was rough from smoking too many cigarettes in his life.

I glanced at him. He wiped white foam from his upper lip. “He’s good,” I said, meaning it.

Every time I said the words, pride swelled in me. There weren’t many people who could go cold turkey the way he had and not become a complete asshole to everyone close to them.

Dad wasn’t perfect, but he was pleasant to be around.

Maybe not every day. Maybe not every second. But he was still in good spirits, and it had everything to do with Mom being back.

He’d been lost without her.

“Still sober?” Eddie asked. A skeptical gleam entered his eyes.

“Still sober,” I said.

Eddie broke into a smile. “Damn. I sure am proud of him.”

“We all are,” I said.

“Never would have thought someone like him would’ve gone cold turkey,” Jimbo said as he puffed on a cigarette. “Shoot, I figured he would’ve drunk till the day he died.”

“Which is what you plan on doin’, ain’t it?” Eddie asked him with a chuckle.

“Damn straight,” Jimbo replied. He flashed a toothless grin and lifted his frothy beer as though he were saluting Eddie’s words.

“You weren’t the only one who thought he’d drink until the day he died,” I admitted. My voice was flat as old emotions flooded me.

“I’m sure his new take on life has everything to do with your mama comin’ back to town. I don’t know the whole story, but I sure am glad her and the rest of them who seemed to have been gone for so long returned the way they did,” Eddie said. More skepticism pooled through his eyes, and I was forced to look away.

Most in town didn’t comment on the few more residents living in the trailer park now. Maybe it was because they weren’t sure what to say, or maybe it was because they knew there was something more to their return.

Something supernatural.

This wasn’t the first time I’d thought Eddie might know what those of us living in the trailer park were. Still, I didn’t give him any inkling.

“It does. It has everything to do with my mom’s appearance in our lives again,” I said as I let myself into the back where Eli was supposed to be washing glasses. I could feel Eddie’s gaze on me through the solid door.

I pulled in a deep breath and exhaled as I stepped around boxes, searching for Eli. He was near the far wall, standing at the sink. Oldies music played from a speaker. It wasn’t Eli’s choice of music, but he still whistled along.

“I didn’t know you were an Aretha Franklin kind of guy,” I said as I started toward him. He shifted to face me, a wide grin on his face.

“What are you doing here?” Eli’s green eyes lit up at the sight of me.

“Well, hello to you too,” I teased.

“Hey.” He set the shot glass he’d been washing on the counter and dried his hands on a nearby dishtowel. “Sorry. I’m glad you’re here. I’m just surprised is all. And, what’s this?” He pointed to the Rosemary’s Diner bag in my hand.

“Lunch.” I held it out to him. “I got you a turkey club with extra bacon.”

“Chips?”

“Of course.”

Eli rummaged through the bag until he found his chips. He loved Doritos. “Want to step outside and eat with me? I don’t think Eddie will mind.”

“He won’t,” I said as I followed him to the back door of the place. “I talked to him when I came in.”

“Awesome, then let’s eat.”

Eli pushed the back door open and stepped out onto a tiny strip of gravel that butted up against the woods. Warm sunshine beamed down on us as he handed me my sandwich.

“So, what made you think to bring me lunch?” He passed me my chips. “Everything okay?”

It was no surprise he could tell something was bothering me. It was part of our connection, our imprinting. Eli was more in tune with me than I was with myself sometimes.

My mind circled back to what I overheard the older women talking about at the diner.

“Jane Hawker,” I said, deciding to get straight to the point. “Do you know her?”

Eli took a bite of his sandwich before answering. “I don’t think so. Should I?”

“She’s a couple of years younger than me.”

“Then, I probably don’t know her. Unless she’s someone Tate dated.”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think he did.”

“What about her?”

I tore a piece of bread from my sandwich and placed it in my mouth without meeting his gaze. “I think she knows something about the killings that happened in the city the other night.”

“Why do you think that?” His eyes were fixed on me. I knew he was picking apart my words and focusing on my expression.

“I heard a group of older women talking in the diner this morning about her. They said she was a witness. Apparently, she saw everything and is in shock.”

“That’s awful.”

“It is awful. She said she saw a monster. The police questioned her,” I said, keeping my eyes glued to Eli, waiting for him to understand where I was going with this. “Supposedly, she locked herself in her bedroom and is refusing to come out. She said the Midnight Reaper is a monster who saw into her soul and claims it will be coming for her next.”

Eli stared at me. He understood now. It was clear from the expression twisting his face.

“It’s normal for anyone who saw someone murdered to think they saw a monster performing the act.”

“What if it was a vampire? Or a rogue werewolf? What if it’s something even worse?” I couldn’t downplay the sharp edge of my tone.

“If it is, we’ll take care of it if it steps inside the boundaries of Mirror Lake. You have nothing to be afraid of.”

Okay, maybe he didn’t understand.

“I’m not afraid. I think there’s more to this than what you obviously do. I think there’s something supernatural at play here, and I think it’s headed for Mirror Lake. We should talk to Jane. See if we can figure out what she saw. We might be able to make more sense of it than the police.”

Eli frowned as his eyes narrowed on a strip of gravel between us. When he glanced at me again, I could still see the gears turning in his head.

“I’m supposed to meet my dad and some of the others tonight. I’ll be sure I run this by them. I’ll let you know what they say,” he said.

Not the answer I was hoping for. Hopefully, someone decided I was on to something and spoke with Jane. I had a feeling there was more to what she saw than the police were giving her credit for.