Deputy Mayes had his weapon drawn beside a black SUV when we burst through the path into the campsite. I pulled up short, stepping in front of my family. Deputy Duncan sped past me, bumping my shoulder in his mad dash.
Charlotte followed her friend. Truthfully, I’d never seen her move so fast.
“Report,” Mayes spat out. His dark eyes swept us, but he kept glancing around the perimeter. Something had spooked him.
“All quiet here,” Duncan said. “Not so much as an owl call in the night.”
Mayes nodded, checking the perimeter again. He lowered his service weapon.
I edged toward Mayes. “What happened? Why the SOS signal?”
He shook his head, rubbed his eyes. “The mist. This place. When I arrived, everyone was gone. From the embers in the fire pit, I knew you hadn’t been at the campsite in a while. The vehicles were accounted for. I hoped you’d gone for a walk, but what were the odds of everyone going at the same time?”
“Turned out, pretty good, since we all went to see the sunrise at the lake,” I said.
“The sun’s been up for thirty minutes at least. Maybe an hour.” Mayes checked his watch. “Definitely an hour.”
“We haven’t been gone that long,” I said. “But something weird happened at the lake. I saw faces in the mist. And the rock somehow made everything worse.”
“What rock?”
“The boulder by the water’s edge.”
“There are no boulders on this property.”
“I don’t understand. Are you saying we had some sort of group hallucination about a rock?”
“Show me.”
“Can it wait until after breakfast?”
“No. Show me the rock.”
“We’ll start breakfast,” Mom said. “Larissa can help me crack the eggs.”
“I need coffee,” I said simply.
Mayes reached inside his vehicle and withdrew a carryout cup of Joe. “Thought you might.”
I took it and gulped greedily. The brew had cooled enough that it didn’t take the skin off my throat. “Thanks. Feeling better already.”
Mayes nodded at his deputy. “Stay here with the Powells.”
“I’m staying too,” Charlotte said.
“Did you see the rock?” I asked.
“What wasn’t to see? It was big, gray, and right next to the water.”
“Come with us,” I said. “Just to make sure I have the place right. I need another set of eyes.”
“All right, but just so you know, this is more exercise that I usually have in a month. I’m on vacation. And you have to share your coffee with me.”
“This is turning out to be a different sort of vacation for me, too,” I said, handing her the cup.
I led the way, with Charlotte right behind me and Mayes bringing up the rear. We got to the fishing part of the lake, turned, and angled up the shore. The sky above was crystal clear, the water glinting in the bright sunlight. No trace of the mist remained. The rock was right where we left it. “There it is.” I pointed it out in case Mayes couldn’t see the big lump beside the path.
“I didn’t know this was here,” he said.
“Kind of hard to miss.”
“Tell me again what happened.”
I ran through the scenario, including the part where I thought the Little People were calling us. Mayes listened impassively, then he walked around to study the rock from all angles.
“This is a rock all right, but it may be more than that.”
“Oh?”
“There’s another rock—same color, but a different shape—across the lake. Our people avoid it.”
“Why’s that?”
“For the very reason you mentioned. The drums of the Little People. The rock snares you until they come for you. It is a people trap.”
“And, because you fall under the influence of the drums, you don’t notice time passing.”
“Yes. That’s why you were unaware how long y’all had been out here.”
“Charlotte and Deputy Powell weren’t on the rock.”
“They didn’t need to be. With their mutual fascination society going on, they were in their own world.”
Charlotte looked appalled. I snorted with laughter, then covered up my face, embarrassed by the rude noise.
“Am I right?” he persisted.
“Yes, they are definitely still enamored of each other,” I said.
Charlotte’s face turned red. “Since when is it a crime to make out?”
“Since my deputy was supposed to be guarding your entire party,” Mayes said. “You’re keeping him from doing his job.”
Charlotte and I looked at each other and burst out laughing. Mayes stiffened. “I fail to see the joke.”
I tried to rein it in, but it wasn’t easy. “Charlotte is delighted to be cast in the role of Scarlet Lady.”
“You might say this is my first starring role,” Charlotte added. “Your deputy is a great kisser.”
Mayes rubbed his eyes. “You are aware that supernatural beings kidnapped the two of you yesterday, and anything—I mean anything—you’re feeling may not be real.”
“It’s real to me,” Charlotte said. “And so what if it is temporary? I’ve never been in love or even in infatuation before. I would give up my career in a heartbeat to be with the good deputy.”
I grabbed her arm. “Charlotte! You mean it? After all you’ve worked for?”
“You want a dose of reality?” she said. “Here it is. No matter how hard I work my tail off for Kip, he’ll always look to a Bernard to solve his problems. Through your cases, my stories got picked up several times by the bigs. Did they want to hire me? No. Toby Duncan is the first person who has seen me, talked to me, and listened to me—besides you and your family—in years. Maybe in my whole life. I would be stupid to put a floundering career ahead of genuine caring.”
“If it is genuine,” I reminded her gently. “We don’t know how either of you will feel in a few days.”
“That’s why I’m getting to know him now. I want to find common ground and build on that. I want to do whatever it takes to be his girlfriend.”
“You used to make fun of girls who did that.”
“In hindsight, I was only half wrong. It’s wrong to reinvent yourself for someone else. I would never do that, but I will nurture the activities we enjoy doing together.”
“You don’t know what you’re getting into,” Mayes said. “Dunc lives with his mom and sleeps with his blue tick hounds. He hunts and fishes whenever he isn’t working.”
Charlotte’s chin jutted out and a militant glare radiated from her eyes. “He also reads thrillers, loves cooking shows on TV, and sings like an angel. We have that in common.”
I nodded and fought back a smile. Charlotte might have had supernatural help launching her romance, but she would massage that into something real. “Good for you.”
Mayes held up a hand. “Enough. We have murders to solve. Don’t touch this rock again. Keep your family away from it.”
“Gotcha.”
“Breakfast, and then we hit the road,” Mayes said. “I’ve got to keep Duncan away from Charlotte today so he can do his job.”
We hoofed it back to camp, where breakfast was waiting. Deputy Duncan raced to Charlotte and swept her into a hug. “I missed you.”
It was painful to hear his voice cracking with truth, and I hoped for Charlotte’s sake that the romantic bubble didn’t burst.
Soon we were loaded up and headed in different directions: my family and Charlotte to the farm, Deputy Duncan to the rehab center, and Mayes and I to the cop shop. First up on our to-do list was interviewing Burl Sayer.