The man’s smile was as potent as his blue eyes.
His poor eyes. They’d looked awful after his unplanned dip in the pool. It was good they had almost a month before the pool was scheduled to open because, based on the current chemical situation, they were going to need it.
When her phone chimed, she realized she’d left it on the counter. Sighing, she crawled out of her nest and retrieved it. It was for the best, she told herself. There was still stuff on her to-do list for the day, and she wouldn’t check anything off while snuggled in a mountain of pillows.
The text message was from Jenn, and it had come right after a missed FaceTime notification. Her sister must have tried it first, though Hannah hadn’t heard the ring.
Your dot stopped moving and it says Birch Brook Campground, so you’re parked? Call wouldn’t go through.
The guilt for not telling Jenn she’d arrived as soon as she pulled in had her tempted to walk down into the stronger signal to call her back, but she settled for typing in a response.
I’m parked and all hooked up. Gorgeous spot. Will send pics soon. But in this part of the campground, signal’s not great. Will have to schedule video calls in advance. Texts go through, though.
I’ll tell Mom & Dad but you should call them later. Also, call Erika. She’s messaged me three times today.
Hannah winced. She’d silenced all notifications from Erika—her best friendandbusiness partner—on the morning of her second day on the road because the woman didn’t seem to understand Hannah was driving and couldn’t read or respond, so she just kept piling them on. And then she’d realized how nice it was to have a short break from Erika’s energy and the stress of making a decision about the future ofImprobable Causes—their podcast about historical true crimes.
I’ll text Erika now, and I’ll call the parents later. Kiss my nieces for me.
Since she had her phone open, she went in and skimmed all of the increasingly strident text messages from Erika, and then listened to the voicemails. If she moved to a spot with a stronger signal, she’d probably find Instagram DMs and Facebook messages, too. Her friend was high-maintenance—she had boundless energy and a capacity for drama that was exhausting—but they’d been close for years and Hannah regretted having silenced her. She should have at least touched base with her each evening.
Now she had to text her, but her thumb hovered over the phone’s keyboard without actually touching it. Once she made contact, Hannah was also going to have to reiterate that one of the reasons she’d gone camping was to give herself the space and time to figure out if she was comfortable with Erika’s plans for revamping their podcast. And if Erika wouldn’t give her that time and space, they were going to have a problem.
Sorry about the silence. I arrived at the campground this morning. All’s well and I’m looking forward to some time off.
She wasn’t sure if the message was pointed enough to remind Erika about the boundaries she’d tried to set before leaving, but she hoped so. She’d hate to have to silence her again. Plus, it didn’t do much good if it led to Erika trying to reach her through Jenn. Her sister would only put up with that so long.
You scared me! I’m glad you’re safe! You know how many women get murdered while traveling? It’s a LOT! So no pressure, but there are a few emails for you with some thoughts I’ve had. I know you want time off, but since they’re emails, they can just sit until you want to read them. Have fun! And be safe!
Hannah sent back a heart emoji and considered the conversation over. She’d known even when she set the boundaries that Erika would struggle with them, so emails sitting in her inbox were more than she’d hoped for. When she was in the mood, she could skim them, but she already knew her friend’s thoughts.
When they’d started theImprobable Causespodcast, it had been a passion project. Their focus had always been crimes throughout history, with Hannah bringing the research and facts, and Erika bringing the entertaining color commentary. A few years ago, a sustained level of moderate success allowed them to become full-time podcasters.
Then, by fan request, they’d done a deep dive on an unsolved murder from the 1970s. Hannah had balked at first, not wanting to focus on a crime that left loved ones for whom the victim was a living memory. But Erika had been excited to test the waters with a more current story. Hannah knew the victim had no siblings or children, and her parents had passed, so she caved.
The episode had gone viral, spreading beyond their corner of the true crime community and landing them in the national spotlight, thanks to Hannah’s research into one of the lesser-studied theories. There had even been television interviews after talk of reopening the case surfaced.
Their subscriber numbers had skyrocketed. Sponsors had lined up to throw money at them. They had the opportunity to grow their joint business venture into a joint empire.
Then came the first of many emails and social media comments from the victim’s best friend. She’d called them vultures and accused them of profiting from her friend’s tragic murder, and others had piled on. It reached the point of having to hire a social media manager because Hannah couldn’t stomach it and Erika had a hard time not engaging. Then the victim’s uncle had broken down during an interview with a prime-time news program because the renewed interest in his niece’s case had reopened old wounds, and people wouldn’t leave him alone.
Erika wanted to keep pushing into general crime—telling the stories was important, even if it was painful. Negativity and pushback were an unavoidable result of visibility, but they could continue to outsource the social media management, so Hannah wouldn’t have to see it.
It felt wrong to Hannah, even though she knew it would be good for their business, because Erika wasn’t wrong about the potential to grow the audience forImprobable Causes.She didn’t know what to do because there was a good chance that choosing not to move in that direction meant ending her business relationship with Erika. And that would almost certainly affect their personal relationship.
So she was here at the Birch Brook Campground for three months to figure out her future steps. And her choice of this place hadn’t been random. A crime over one hundred and fifty years in the past had brought her here—the crime that had set her on a path to a satisfying and potentially lucrative career—and it was here that she was going to figure out the rest of her life before going home to California.
Chapter Four
Rob met his brothers in the house for a late lunch. The meal was thrown together sandwiches and some chips of questionable freshness, but they’d take the quick break when they could. They had several more campers arriving over the course of the afternoon, and they wanted to get everybody in place and settled before dark.
Plus Joey and Danny would be heading home in the morning, so Brian and Rob wanted to get as much work out of them as possible before they left.
“Why would a woman pull a camper all the way across the country alone?” Rob mused aloud because the question had been on his mind since he left Hannah’s site. “And then spend three months at a campground, also alone?”
“Maybe she’s on the run from the law,” Joey said, and Rob snorted.
Danny chuckled, but then he paused for a moment before frowning. “Wait. Should we be doing background checks on people? Are we even allowed to do that?”
