Lauren thanked Derry and dug through her oversized bag.
“Did anybody check my purse for weapons?” she asked, knowing they didn’t.
One deputy looked to the other. “JesusJessie, you didn’t check?”
“You’re the one that brought her in, that was your job.”
Grabbing her wallet, Lauren pulled two twenties and handed them to Derry.
“I’m teasing, there are no weapons in my bag. Is the food good?”
“Best on the mountain, probably best in the county.”
She smiled, not because she felt particularly happy, but because she needed allies. “Well, I’ll trust you to get me the best they have that’s not meat. Right now, I’m primarily plant based.”
“Ma’am, how you g’on be primarily plant based and want to eat BBQ?” Deputy Jessie asked, as if the request was the craziest thing he’d ever heard. Unlike Derry, he was White with blond hair in a buzz cut. He didn’t look much older than Derry, but he held himself with a little more confidence.
“Shut up Jessie.” Derry frowned then looked at Lauren again almost pleadingly. “If it’s the best food you’ve had in Tennessee, will you promise not to call your lawyer on me?”
“I was only messing with you Deputy Derry.” She smiled. “You’re entirely too adorable to sue.”
His light brown skin became flushed. “We’ll be back in about twenty,” he said, taking her purse once she’d taken out her phone.
“You took a sucker’s bet,” Ms. Audrey, the admin, called out from her desk not long after the deputies left.
Lauren stopped typing on her phone and looked over at the other woman. Ms. Audrey was paler, less tanned, than Deputy Jessie; maybe in her sixties. She had a kind of retro look with her dyed blood-red hair in victory rolls and waterfall curls against her neck. She wore an orange blouse and blue pants. She had a flare that Lauren would expect in New York or Paris, not some backwoods town in Tennessee.
“Lou’s daughter, Draya, is a real vegan, not thisprimarilyplant-based stuff. A month ago, her daddy added a whole little vegan menu which Draya manages in her own separate section of the kitchen. Draya’s granny, Mama Kadie, didn’t call it vegan, but the old woman didn’t do meat or dairy. It’s true what Deputy Derry said though, you won’t find better BBQ in these parts. Now,” she asked, making her way toward the cell. “What are you up to over there on that phone?”
“I have to find lodging. That is, if I don’t end up in this cell as an overnight guest.”
“There’s a bed and breakfast about five blocks away. Carolina will give you a bed if you need it.”
Lauren nodded. “What’s the name of this town?”
“Shrouded Lake.”
Lauren googled it.
“Population of thirty-five hundred,” Lauren muttered.
“Oh, I reckon it’s way less than that now. The young ones are leaving left and right, getting jobs, and going to college in thecities. We don’t have a lot here, but we still got good schooling for those who choose it.”
“Mm-hmm,” Lauren muttered, half listening. “There’s a lot of outdoor stuff.”
“These are the Smoky Mountains; no more beautiful place on God’s green earth.”
“Well, it looks like the God’s green earth is gobbling up your little town. We passed a lot of boarded up businesses as Derry brought me here to the station.”
“Yes, well that’s the God’s honest truth,” Audrey said sardonically. “These last years have been hard on Shrouded Lake. With the influx of drugs and the COVID, those businesses that haven’t closed are suffering, and our elected officials can’t seem to turn things around.”
Lauren frowned, magnifying an image. “Do you mind telling me about this place here?”
Audrey made her way over to the cell and pressed close into the bar to get a clearer view of Lauren’s phone.
People out here were way too trusting.
“That’s the town’s namesake. That lake is a dark haunting place with a dark haunting past. The sane folks of this town keep away. The part of the lake that’s in this county is privately owned by three families. But the part of the lake that’s in Olympus County, that’s the tourist side, brings the town of Meadow Glen good money.”
