Chapter Two: The Body in the Creek
“You hear they found another one?”
The waitress whispered it like a secret as she refilled Elijah’s coffee cup.
He looked up from the menu. “Another what?”
She leaned in. “A boy. Down by the creek. Stabbed.”
Elijah’s eyes narrowed. “When?”
She glanced around the diner. “This morning. Jogger found him. Cops been crawling all over since sunrise.”
“Name?”
“Landon Cresthaven.”
Elijah froze.
Not possible.
She noticed his silence. “You knew him?”
“I knew the family.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Then you know this town’s gonna rip in two.”
Before he could respond, Sheriff Tom walked in. People shifted. Some nodded. Others stared at their plates.
Tom sat across from Elijah without asking.
“I was gonna call you,” Tom said.
“I already heard.”
Tom sighed. “Word spreads fast here.”
Elijah studied his brother’s face. “Cresthaven. The mayor’s nephew.”
“Yeah.”
“Stabbed?”
“Multiple times. Looks personal. He bled out before anyone found him.”
“Same night as the fire.”
“Same hour, probably.”
Elijah leaned back. “Coincidence?”
“I don’t believe in those.”
The waitress returned, dropping a plate in front of Tom. “Hash and eggs. You want me to add that to Mr. Ward’s tab?”
Tom grunted. Elijah didn’t answer.
After she left, Elijah asked quietly, “You think the cases are connected?”
Tom didn’t blink. “If they are, we got a storm coming. If they’re not... it’s two tragedies in twelve hours. Either way, this town’s about to lose its mind.”
Down by the creek
The crime scene had yellow tape and muddy footprints. Two deputies stood by the trees, smoking.
Tom led the way down the path. “Jogger’s name is Missy Hall. Same one who found the Reynolds baby back in ’07.”
“She’s got a knack.”
“Yeah,” Tom muttered. “Too bad she always runs late.”
The body had already been removed, but the blood was still there—a dark smear on the rocks, stained into the earth.
Elijah crouched near the water’s edge.
“Where’s the weapon?”
Tom crossed his arms. “We haven’t found it.”
“No signs of struggle?”
“None. Which is weird. Landon was athletic. Would’ve fought back.”
“Unless he knew the person.”
“Or trusted them.”
Elijah’s fingers brushed the damp grass. “You think it’s a kid?”
“Who else stabs someone and dumps them like a broken toy?”
He stood. “Anyone see anything?”
Tom shook his head. “Nobody hears a thing in Briar Ridge unless it’s gossip.”
Later, at the mayor’s house
Mayor Hank Cresthaven answered the door in a gray robe, eyes swollen.
Elijah didn’t speak first.
“You here to poke around?” Hank asked.
“I heard.”
“My boy’s dead,” the mayor said bluntly. “My sister’s losing her mind. We don’t need vultures.”
Tom stepped forward. “Hank, this is official.”
“Then do it officially,” he snapped. “Not with your brother tagging along like a bloodhound.”
Elijah raised a hand. “I’m not here for politics. I want to know what kind of boy Landon was.”
Hank’s jaw tightened. “He was smart. Kind. Too damn curious. He had questions about things he shouldn’t have. People he shouldn’t talk to.”
Tom frowned. “Like who?”
The mayor hesitated.
“He was asking about the fire,” he said finally. “Last week, he told me something didn’t add up. Said he saw a blueprint for a property deal that looked... off.”
“What kind of deal?” Elijah asked.
“A development. On the edge of town. Low-income housing buyout.”
Elijah’s brow furrowed. “That’s near where the fire happened.”
Hank nodded slowly. “He said he thought someone was trying to scare the residents. Push them out.”
“And now he’s dead,” Elijah said.
“And now he’s dead,” the mayor echoed.
Outside
Tom leaned on his truck. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking Landon found something dirty,” Elijah said. “And he told the wrong person.”
“You think this is about land?”
“I think this town’s full of ghosts—and someone just turned on the lights.”
Tom exhaled smoke. “You really back for good?”
“I’m back for Eden.”
Tom looked at him. “You stay out of this, Eli. This town doesn’t forgive. It remembers.”
Elijah opened the car door. “Then I’ll remind it what justice looks like.”
That evening
Eden sat on the porch swing, sketchbook in her lap.
“You heard, didn’t you?” Elijah asked, sitting beside her.
She didn’t look up. “They killed someone.”
“Yes.”
“A kid?”
“Yes.”
She flipped the page. “You’re going to get involved, aren’t you?”
“I said we were here to keep things quiet.”
“You lied.”
Elijah sighed. “I don’t want trouble.”
Eden looked him in the eye. “But trouble wants you.”
He smiled faintly. “You sound like your mother.”
Eden didn’t smile back. “Then maybe you should listen.”
Across town, in the dark
A girl in a hoodie walked alone, hands deep in her pockets. Her phone buzzed. She ignored it.
She reached the edge of the burned-out house. Ash still lingered in the air.
She crouched by a tree, pulled something from under a root—a flash drive wrapped in cloth.
She whispered to herself.
“He told me to keep it safe. So I did.”
Then she stood, and vanished into the night.