“Uh...no.”

She picked up a pen from her desktop and tapped it against the desk calendar beneath her elbows. “Ma'am, why don't you tell me why you're here and I'll see if I can help?”

I took a deep breath. “My name is Daisy Savage and I'm a guest over at Windy Vista and...”

“Oh, you're the one who found Harvey,” she said, both eyebrows lifting up in unison.

“Um, yes,” I said, feeling the heat rise in my cheeks. It wasn't something I wanted to be known for. “Actually, my husband was there, too.”

“But you were the one who found his body, correct?” she asked. “I read the report.”

“Yes,” I answered. “Unfortunately, I was.”

“I liked Harvey,” she said. Her eyes studied me, as if she somehow thought it as my fault that he'd died. “Known him and Kat for a long time.”

“I've only heard good things.”

“I'm sure,” she said. She tapped the pen again. “I'm sorry. I interrupted. You're staying at Windy Vista.”

“Yes,” I said, relieved to move on to a different subject than Harvey. “And there's been some other trouble up there.”

“I've heard.”

“I'm sure. And this afternoon, two men were caught breaking into the camper my husband and I are staying in.”

“Yes.”

Her short answers were disconcerting to me. I didn't know if there was a reason for them or if that was just the way she talked.

“They were apparently stealing a router,” I said. “That you use for the Internet.”

“I'm familiar with routers and what they do.”

“Right.” More heat flooded my cheeks. “Anyway, I'm assuming they were brought here after they were picked up.”

“Correct.”

“And I was hoping I might be able to...speak to them.”

She studied me again, the pen bouncing on the desktop. “May I ask why, ma'am?”

It was a fair question. I just wasn't sure I had a good enough answer for her.

“Because...I just want to know why they did it,” I said, truthfully. “A lot of strange stuff has happened up there and this was the second time they'd been at our camper and I just want to know what exactly they were doing.”

“They were stealing your router, from what I understand,” she said.

“Yes, I'm aware, but...”

“And they are well known to us around here, ma'am,” she said with a sigh. “This isn't unusual for them to be here.”

“I understand, but if I could just speak with them...”

She shook her head. “I couldn't allow that even if they were still here,” she explained.

I started to argue, then stopped. “If they were still here?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“They're gone?”

“Yes, ma'am.”

“How is that possible? They were just brought in not too long ago.”

“They bonded out immediately,” she said.

“Really?”

She nodded. “I was surprised, too. Usually they're here for a night before someone comes and picks them up. I think they get fed better here than they do at home.”

“Who came to pick them up?” I asked.

“No one,” she said. She must have noticed the look of confusion on my face because she added, “They actually had the money to bond themselves out.”

That was odd. It wasn't like they'd stolen the router and then turned around and sold it. Neither of them seemed like the type to keep cash on hand.

“First time for everything, I guess,” she said. “Probably not their own money, but nothing we could do to prove it.” She shrugged. “Who knows?”

I thanked her for her time and walked back outside.

I was sure that someone had to know.

TWENTY NINE

I got back to Windy Vista to find Jake and Wayne Hackerman in conversation.

I drove back from town and used the temporary pass card to lift the gate at the entrance of the campground. I obeyed the speed limit and crawled up the hill past the clubhouse and toward our cabin. I did a double take when I drove by Hackerman's massive black RV and saw him talking with Jake. No punches were being thrown, so I drove past, parked the car at the cabin and then walked back toward Hackerman's lot.

“I have no idea,” Hackerman was saying. “But I'm tired of this crap.”

“What crap?” I asked, coming up behind them, my feet crunching on the gravel in his drive.

Jake turned, surprised. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

Hackerman just frowned at me.

“How was your trip into town?” Jake asked.

“Fine.” I wasn't ready to share the details of my visit at the county jail. I looked at Hackerman. “What crap?”

He waved a hand in the air. “All the crap that's been going on around here. And it started when you two showed up.”

Jake rolled his eyes. “I was going for a walk after I woke and found your note. I was walking by and he asked if my wife found any more thieves. I didn't know what he was talking about, so I stopped to ask.” He forced a smile. “Here we are.”

“Look, I'm sorry,” Hackerman said. He lifted the cap sitting on his head, repositioning it. “I'm just a little on edge. I know you two aren't really responsible for all this, but I don't wanna lose this place, okay?”

“I understand,” I said. “I don't blame you.”

“And when I hear Delilah talking about selling and what-not, then I get a little worried about not having a place to go,” he said, frowning again. “Me and Rhonda and the kids have been coming here for years and I don't wanna go nowhere else, okay? This is our second home and I wanna keep it that way. No place else offers what we have here.” He sighed. “So with all of this crap going on, I'm just tired of it.”

“Maybe you can buy it then,” Jake offered.

Hackerman looked at him like he'd gone insane. “You know what this land will fetch if she sells it? A lot. Way more than I got in my bank account.” He shook his head. “There ain't no way. Rhonda and I, we do alright, but not that kind of alright.”

On cue, the door to the RV opened and Rhonda sauntered out in cut off denim shorts and a yellow bikini top, both of which were too small for her. Initially, her mouth was tightened into an irritated little knot. But then she saw Jake and the knot morphed into a blinding smile.

“Guests!” she said, stepping down from the steps of the RV. “How lovely!”

Hackerman and I rolled our eyes in unison.

“He told me what happened,” Jake said to me, ignoring her. “About those two kooks taking the router and chasing them down. You're alright?”

“I'm fine,” I said. “And Wayne was the one that caught them. Otherwise, they would've gotten away.”

Hackerman shrugged off my giving him credit.

“Yes,” Rhonda said, batting her fake eyelashes at Jake. “Wayne told me about helping out your wife.” She paused and a corner of her mouth turned upward. “Maybe you'll be able to return the favor.”

“Jesus Christ, Rhonda,” Hackerman said. “Put a cork in it.”

I tried to ignore her for a moment. “You said everything started when we got here. So there haven't been any other problems this summer?”

Hackerman thought for a moment. “Well, I can't say that. Ned Bailey had the windshield on his golf cart smashed a couple weeks back. Big old crack that ran right down the middle of it and he had to have it replaced. And Bruce Hanstad told me he had a busted window in his camper. Came back one night from dinner at The Landing and saw it. Nothing taken, though, that he found.” Hackerman rolled his thick shoulders. “So I guess there's been some stuff before you all arrived.”

“What about before this summer?” I asked. “Like last year?”

Hackerman thought for a moment, then shook his head. “Not that I recall, no. Everyone kinda watches out for one another and there ain't been no trouble. Those boneheads I clotheslined have always been around, but its been more like them hanging out because they had nothing to do instead of them stealing stuff.”

“People skinnydip,” Rhonda said, eyeing Jake. “Occasionally.”

Hackerman made a face. “Yeah, but that ain't the same as breaking into people's places and doing harm to their property. That's a whole different game.”