CHAPTER 1
Twenty-five-year-old Macy Hodgkin, murdered in the Smoky Mountains on the edge of Misty Peak.
Murdered…Macy wasmurderedright here in the mountains surrounding the Misty Peak Visitors Center.
Tilly Taylor read the news report again and again. A week had passed since the woman’s stabbing and it still didn’t feel real. Macy had worked in the café here at the visitors center. She was nice. Friendly. What on earth could have led to someone wanting to kill her?
Tilly scrubbed her hands over her eyes as she switched her gaze back to the second screen. A million emails sat unopened in her inbox, but she knew what each of them said…or the gist of them, at least. They were from worried tourists wanting to know if the mountains were safe.
Were they? Well, the sheriff’s office hadn’t found the murderer. What theyhadfound was an open safe in the room right beside her office, which was completely empty. A safe no one had any idea about. Hell, they’d even contacted Linda, the former office manager, who had already been on her cruise halfway across the world. She’d sounded just as shocked as them, claiming she’d never heard of or seen the safe, and she’dbeen the office manager for over twenty years.Andthe office manager before her was deceased.
So how had this robber known about the safe, and how had that ended with the murder of Macy?
Tilly massaged her temple. This was not how she’d pictured her first month working at the Misty Peak Visitors Center. She was supposed to be scheduling tours through the mountains. Transferring Linda’s old-school paper trail filing system to a streamlined online system. And she was doing all that, just not fast enough because this devastating murder was taking up a lot of her time…and energy.
Five years. She’d left Misty Peak five years ago, but before that, this small town had been her home since birth, and there’dneverbeen a murder here in all that time.
God, the move back here had been hard enough. So much harder than she’d expected. She missed her simpler life back in Cleveland. She missed her cute corner office. The coworkers with whom she’d built good relationships.
Yet here she was…back in a town where no one wanted her.
It was strange how this place had once felt like home, but now…now it only felt like home when she was in the mountains. But then, Cleveland had stopped feeling like home when she’d lost her mother.
The quiet of her office slipped over her as she looked at the framed photo on one of the shelves. Her and her mother stood in front of their Christmas tree. It had been their last Christmas together…only they hadn’t known it then.
An ache throbbed in her chest.
This town was not only where she’d grown up, it was where her mother had grown up. Where her mother had birthed and raised her. Itwouldbe her home again. It had to be.
Taking a deep breath, she clicked into the first email just as her phone rang. She straightened at the sight of Roy Pierce’s name, a local carpenter.
She answered on the second ring. “Tilly speaking.”
“Hi, Tilly, sorry it’s taken me a few days to return your call. We’ve been backed up here. You left a message about some windows?”
“Yes. I have two that need replacing, both at the front of the house, one in the living room and one in the bedroom. The glass has completely shattered. For the moment, I’ve just boarded them up with wooden planks, but I wouldn’t say I’ve done a good job.” And boy had that been an ordeal. She was not “handy,” something she’d learned the hard way. “It’s pretty cold in my house, so I would be grateful if you could come as soon as possible.”
“Yeah, I can imagine. How did it happen?”
She cringed. “The house was vacant for a few years.” Five. Five years. That was a few, right? “And I guess some people broke in by shattering the windows during that time. There are quite a few other things that need fixing, but the windows are the priority.”
A few other things. That was the understatement of the century. The house had been a mess when she’d returned. So much worse than she’d expected. It had been the first of many disappointments upon returning to Misty Peak. She’d cleaned up as much as she could, but it was slow going, especially when she was struggling to get contractors to help her. To getanyoneto help her.
“Yeah, after what happened to Macy, the entire town’s on high alert. Good security’s important.” He cleared his throat. “I may have some availability in the coming week, but I need to come by and measure up first. What’s your address?”
She wrinkled her nose, almost not wanting to tell him. “Two Turner Court.”
A heavy silence fell across the line, and Tilly’s heart sank because she knew what was coming next. The same thing that had come with countless other contractors she’d called.
“Two Turner Court?” he repeated. “That’s the old Taylor house. What did you say your name was?”
Her fingers tightened on the phone. “Tilly.”
“Tilly…Matilda Taylor. As in, Martin’s daughter?”
She scrubbed a hand over her face, knowing just by the tone of his voice she wasn’t going to get this man’s help. “Uh, yeah. I’m his daughter, but—”
“You know what, I’m gonna need to check with my boys. They may have already scheduled something in that free spot. I’ll get back to you.”
