By the time Perry came down the stairs, I’d already had three cups of coffee and was no closer to an answer than I had been before I went to bed the night before.
“Morning, Perry. Want a cup of coffee?”
He glanced nervously around the room until he saw we were alone. “Sure, coffee sounds good.”
I poured him a cup, and he gave me a small smile as he took it. “You’re up early. I didn’t expect anyone to be down here this morning.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t sleep. There was another murder last night.”
“Really?” He shook his head. “Who was it?”
“A human contractor named Jim. I don’t know if you know him.”
“He was the one who was remodeling the building up the street, right?”
“Yeah, that’s him. Did you know him?”
“Nah, but he came into The Hearth and Griddle and ate breakfast a lot. Denise said he hadn’t been in much lately because he was having money problems.”
“Yeah, that’s what we’ve been hearing. Are you on your way to work?” He didn’t normally go in this early, and he wasn’t dressed in his normal work clothes.
“No, I’m off today, so I wanted to spend some time in the woods.”
Bigfoot, like other shifters, didn’t do well if they didn’t spend time in their natural element. Even I needed that to keep my wolf happy, whether I could shift or not, so I was glad to hear he was taking care of himself. “Sounds good, but be careful out there. This is festival weekend, so there’ll be a bunch of strangers in town, and some of them could be out hiking.”
“Don’t worry, I’m good at hiding.”
I watched him go and then decided to take a walk of my own. I wasn’t worried about the tourists who’d be in town for the festival, but especially after finding Jim last night, I needed to see for myself that everyone was okay today.
I walked across the street, turned to the left, and walked down in front of the market that wasn’t open yet, then passed by The Witch’s Brew coffee shop. It was open, but no one was inside other than Lily, who was standing behind the counter looking forlorn. I quickened my step, so I’d make it by her before she saw me, because the last thing I wanted today was a cup of her horrible coffee. From there, I passed Leon’s antique store and Mei’s craft store. Everything appeared to be in order along Main Street.
I crossed over to the square where the festival was set up. A young wolf named Lewis saw me and headed my way. I stopped and waited for him to reach me.
“Morning, Lewis.”
He bowed his head slightly before taking a deep breath. “Morning, Alph—Gideon.”
I ignored the slip. I knew my alpha energy was confusing. It was strong enough that no other alpha would consider making Ravenstone their home, but not enough for me to claim the title.
“Everything okay here at the festival grounds?”
“They are. It’s been a fairly peaceful night. I had to run off a couple of teenagers who were trying to sneak onto the rides, but other than that, I haven’t seen a soul until you.”
“Good. I just wanted to check in.”
“Is it true that Jim Walton is dead?”
“It is.” I wasn’t sure how people had already heard about his death, but that was small towns for you.
“That’s a shame. A couple of my cousins worked for him. They’d said he was struggling, but still they liked their job.”
I wasn’t surprised to hear some of his family had worked for Jim. Shifters often worked in jobs like construction. Their supernatural strength made them a real asset in that type of work.
“I think most people liked working for him—at least they did until he couldn’t pay them.” I was fishing here, hoping maybe he’d heard of someone who hadn’t been quite so understanding about not being paid.
“Oh, even then, Trip said the guys all understood. They all hated Winston, and they were glad he was dead, but none of them blamed Jim.”
Oh well, so much for that theory. So far, I hadn’t found anyone who blamed Jim for their troubles.
