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"How was lunch?" Chance asked as I walked back into the booth.
"More exciting than I anticipated. Someone tried to kill Helen."
Chance had been putting out some more flyers for his guide business when I dropped that bombshell. He laid down the pile he was still holding and wrapped his hands around my upper arms turning me toward him. "Are you OK?"
"I'm fine. Confused by Helen's reaction but OK. Have you seen Jerry in the last half hour or so?"
"I kept him talking so you guys could escape, but when I was sure you made your getaway, I let him wander off. I haven't seen him lately. Do you think he's the one who tried to kill Helen?"
"I don't know. I'm still having trouble believing what happened."
"I want to hear every detail, but not here," Chance said. "It'll have to wait until the vendor hall closes at 6:00. Are you sure you're OK? You can go to your room and lie down if you need to. I can handle things here."
"Thanks, but I'm fine. I'd rather not be alone right now."
"Want me to get you a cup of tea?"
"That would be great, thanks."
The afternoon passed surprisingly quickly. I saw Jerry out of the corner of my eye a couple of times, but he didn't approach me. While telling people about Hairy's Cryptid Cafe, I kept replaying everything about the time I'd spent with Helen. Something was off about her, but I couldn't quite figure it out. "How about pizza delivery?" Chance asked as we were closing up for the day. "May as well enjoy being in the big city."
"Sounds perfect."
Whenever someone invited Chance to dinner, he'd put his arm around my shoulders and say he had other plans. He followed me into my room. "You need anything?"
I told him I was fine. He went to his room to drop off his bag and get something to drink. I changed into yoga pants and a t-shirt, made a mug of tea, and wondered what in the fudge was up with the woman who had been Harry's girlfriend.
I was headed to the door to answer the knock before realizing it had come from the connecting doors between my room and Chance's. I opened my side, and Chance walked in with his laptop under his arm and a Diet Coke in his hand. We called the front desk to find out which local pizza place delivered to the hotel, then I called and placed our order.
"Before we get into what happened with Helen, come here," Chance said, standing there with his arms open. I wanted to resist, but it was too hard. I walked into his arms and laid my head on his chest. He hugged me tight against him. It felt safe, and the tears flowed.
"You're safe. Please don't cry. I can deal with scary animals and cryptids, but I'm not good with crying women."
I sniffled and looked up at him. "Do you make a lot of women cry?"
"I try to avoid it," he said, brushing my lips with his.
Once I calmed down, I settled into the chair with Chance sitting on my bed. "I want to hear everything that happened with Helen. I'll start." He filled me in on his conversation with her when she stopped by the booth that morning. It was brief and seemed normal enough. Then I replayed the conversation I had with her when she introduced herself to me after the presentation and invited me to lunch.
When there was a knock on the door, Chance pulled me up and pushed me through the connecting doors into his room and whispered for me to lock it. He answered the door and paid for the pizza. "You can come back now. It's clear."
"Do you really think the pizza delivery guy might be involved?"
"Could be. I don't know. I'm just trying to be cautious."
We ate while I told him everything Helen did or said in as much detail as possible. "When I asked her why Jerry would be watching her, she avoided my question."
When I told Chance what happened in the car, I was relieved that he felt Helen's reaction was as far off as I did. We decided to divide and conquer. I would do some research online while Chance worked his contacts in the cryptid world.
Searches for Helen Kepler and cryptid brought up zero results. The same was true when I substituted Jerry Lucas for Helen Kepler. For comparison, I ran searches for Harry, Dutch, and Chance. All three of those searches brought up many hits. I realized I got lost in reading some of those threads which I needed to save for later. I was getting the feeling that Helen Kepler and Jerry Lucas were not who they were pretending to be.
When Chance returned, he had come to the same conclusion. "I'm going to call Tom. Want me to say hi for you?"
"What can Tom do to help?"
"I want to see what's in the police report. Because of his position as fire chief, Tom has some connections in the law enforcement side." He picked up his phone and walked around my room while he talked with Tom. "Hi, Tom. Any excitement in Wilkins’ Gap?... Good... Yeah, I'm in her room now... I'll tell her... I need your help. She got into a little trouble today that involved the police. I'd like to see the police report. Any chance you can get a copy?... She's fine. I'll tell her... Will do. Thanks man."
"He said to tell you to take care of yourself and stay safe."
"Why do you want to see the police report?"
"I have an idea. Seeing the report will help me decide if I'm on the right track or not."