She glanced at him. “I think that profession suits you. You’ll...for my mother?”
“Yes,” he said solemnly. “I will conduct the service.”
For a moment they were silent. “You like this guy, huh?” he asked.
“I do.”
“Save it for later.”
“What?”
“The ‘I do.’ Save it for the ceremony that I’ll perform for you two.”
She gave a little laugh.
“So tell me what’s going on. Are we playing detective?”
“Maybe.” As quickly as she could, she told him about Nate’s call and the missing silver bowl.
“With the FBI here, it could be that they discovered an unrelated robbery.”
Her expression told him what she thought of that idea.
“Yeah, I don’t believe it either.”
Terri pulled into the parking lot by the clubhouse. “I want to know what Anna’s heard, then you and I are going to check cabins.” She drained the last of her lemonade.
Billy stopped her as she started to open the door. “Terri, I want to tell you that I’m sorry for what happened. I’ve been talking to people and I’ve heard what you’ve been through because of me. I should have contacted you but I was wallowing in self-pity. I was a kid and about to be a father.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s over now.”
“But it isn’t really. This town seems to think I’m a...a...”
“A saint?” she said. “The Great Billy Thorndyke.”
He was looking at her as though he was understanding something. “It wouldn’t have worked with us, would it?”
“No. I saw that when you were here the other day. We’ve become different people. But then, I guess we always were. Youth and hormones kept us together.”
“You were a challenge to me.”
“I was the only girl who didn’t run after you.”
Billy was silent for a moment. “I hear Nate and you save lives every day.”
“Not quite, but Nate reacts well to emergencies. He thinks quickly. He can fix anything. Boat motors and kids’ bikes and roofs. And he can cook. And people really like him. And he—” She broke off, her face turning red.
“I’m glad for you. Very happy that you found each other.” Billy kissed her cheek, then got out of the car.
“Stacy’s not,” she said over her shoulder as they went to the clubhouse.
With a laugh, Billy opened the door into the office.
Anna didn’t look up. “I don’t know anything. Go ask Nate.”
“We can’t find him,” Terri said.
Anna looked up at them in relief.
“Been bad here?” Billy asked.
“Worse than you can imagine. I don’t know why people think the FBI reports directly to me. I would close up the office but...” She shrugged.
“I know. People who live here need looking after.” Billy sounded reassuring.
“The minute after they found the car it was in the news.” Anna pushed aside a stack of papers. “So far, we’ve had eight people pack up and leave. They said they wouldn’t stay where there was a serial killer on the loose.”
“This happened years ago!” Terri said.
“I told them that but they wouldn’t listen.”
Terri was frowning. “Has anything unusual happened? Other than morons being themselves, that is.”
“Nothing. I just listen and act like I understand their fear. We had six people call and cancel their reservations. What’s this about Nate? I heard he’s now the sheriff. Bet Frank loves that!”
“Can you print out a list of who is still here?” Terri asked.
“Sure.” Anna turned to her computer. Minutes later, she held out a list. They had a rule that even people who owned a cabin needed to tell the office when they arrived and left. If nothing else, it was for fire safety. “Oh wait. This couple left this morning.” She crossed off names.
“That’s a lot of empty cabins.”
“And all out of fear that a killer might be on the loose,” Billy muttered, and they turned to leave.
“Except for the rats,” Anna said, and they looked at her. “The tenants in Mr. Owens’s cabin said they’d had an invasion of rats during the night. Tore up things and left a mess.”
“Sure it wasn’t raccoons?” Terri asked.
“Who knows? Whatever it was, the renters were angry and said they wanted their money back. I called Mr. Owens and asked him what he wanted to do. I suggested he double the rent for the cabin and I’d put a reporter on an expense account in there.”
“You did what?” Terri asked.
Billy put his hand on her shoulder. “What did Mr. Owens say?”
Anna looked at Billy. “He was very nice, but then he always is. Spends every August here. He said he couldn’t stand to hear what was happening at dear Lake Kissel and he