First Impressions
Maya's POV
Blood dripped onto my keyboard as I typed.
I touched my forehead where the glass had cut me last night and winced. The patch was soaked through already. I needed materials, but more than that, I needed answers. Someone in this town knew why my sister Lisa had really died. Someone knew why I was being threatened.
I grabbed my purse and went downstairs. Time to meet my new neighbors.
The bell above the shop door jingled as I walked in. Mrs. Patterson looked up from behind the bar, and her face went white when she saw me.
"Oh my goodness, dear! What happened to your head?"
"Someone shot at me last night. Didn't you hear the sirens?"
She dropped the tray of muffins she was holding. They scattered across the floor, but she didn't seem to notice.
"Shot at you? Here? In Millbrook Bay?" Her voice was shaking.
"Yes. Right outside your house. Sheriff Morrison said he'd look, but I have a feeling he knows more than he's telling me."
Mrs. Patterson bent down to pick up the muffins, but I could see her hands shaking. "I'm sure it was just... maybe teens playing pranks. Nothing like that happens here."
"Mrs. Patterson, someone called me yesterday and mentioned my sister. They said she tried to warn people about something. Do you know what that means?"
The older woman froze. A muffin rolled away from her, but she didn't move to get it.
"I don't know anything about any sister," she whispered.
But her eyes told a different story. She knew something.
"Her name was Lisa Chen. She died in a car accident two years ago in San Francisco. But the person on the phone made it sound like she'd been here. To Millbrook Bay."
Mrs. Patterson stood up slowly. Her face had gone from white to gray.
"I think you should leave, dear. Today. Pack your things and go back to wherever you came from."
"Why? What are you so afraid of?"
She looked toward the window, then back at me. "Some questions are dangerous to ask in small places. Your sister learned that the hard way."
My heart started pounding. "So you did know her! What happened to Lisa? What did she find out?"
But Mrs. Patterson was already backing toward the door behind the counter. "I can't talk about this. I have a family to protect. Please, just leave town. Before it's too late."
She disappeared into the back room, leaving me alone with the scattered muffins and more questions than answers.
I left the shop and walked down Main Street. Every person I passed stared at me with a mixture of fear and interest. An old man walking his dog moved to the other side of the street when he saw me coming. A woman pushing a baby stroller sped past without making eye contact.
What had my sister done here that made everyone so scared?
I chose to try the hardware store. Maybe I could buy some materials to fix my broken window and ask a few casual questions.
The store owner was a big man with calloused hands and suspicious eyes. He watched me browse the aisles like I might steal something.
"You the new detective?" he asked.
"Yes. Maya Chen. I just moved here yesterday."
His expression changed instantly. "Chen? You related to that other Chen woman who came through here a while back?"
Finally! Someone ready to talk.
"That was my sister, Lisa. She died in a car crash, but I'm starting to think there's more to the story. Do you remember her?"
The man's face went hard. "She asked too many questions. Stirred up trouble. Got people upset."
"What kind of questions?"
"The kind that get you dead," he said simply. "Just like her."
A chill ran down my spine. "What do you mean, just like her?"
But the man had already turned away. "Store's closing early today. You need to leave."
"It's only ten in the morning!"
"Leave. Now."
I bought some tape for my window and left, feeling more confused than ever. Three people now had basically confirmed that Lisa had been here. That she'd asked questions. That something bad happened to her because of it.
I chose to try the diner for lunch. Maybe someone there would be more helpful.
The moment I walked into Sally's Diner, every conversation stopped. Twenty people turned to stare at me like I was a ghost. The quiet was so complete I could hear the coffee pot bubbling.
I sat at the bar and picked up a menu. The waitress, a woman about my age with tired eyes, approached slowly.
"What can I get you?" she asked quietly.
"Coffee and a burger, please. And maybe some information."
Her hand froze while pouring my coffee. "Information about what?"
"My sister was here two years ago. Lisa Chen. I'm trying to figure out what happened to her."
The waitress glanced around nervously. Other customers were trying not to listen, but I could feel them hanging on every word.
"I don't remember anyone by that name," she lied.
"Please. I just want to know what she was studying. Why people are so afraid to talk about her."
The waitress leaned closer and whispered, "Drop it. Whatever your sister was looking into, it got her killed. You want to end up the same way?"
Before I could answer, the bell above the diner door rang. Everyone in the restaurant suddenly found their food very interesting. No one looked toward the door.
I turned to see who had caused this response.
A woman in an expensive suit walked in. She was older, maybe sixty-five, with gray hair and cold blue eyes. She moved like someone who owned everything she saw.
The server practically ran away from me.
The woman walked straight to my table and sat down across from me without being asked.
"You must be Maya Chen," she said in a voice smooth as silk but sharp as a knife.
"Do I know you?"
"I'm Eleanor Blackwood. I own most of this town. We need to talk."
My detective instincts started yelling. This was the woman Sheriff Morrison had been afraid to face last night. The one who sent him running when her name came over the radio.
"What about?"
Eleanor smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "About your sister. About the things she asked. About the words that got her killed."
My blood turned cold, but I tried to stay calm. "I thought she died in a car accident."
"Car accidents can be arranged," Eleanor said casually, like she was talking about the weather. "Just like other kinds of accidents. Shooting crashes. Drowning accidents. Accidents that happen to people who don't know when to stop asking questions."
She was threatening me. Right here in front of twenty witnesses, and no one was going to help me. They were all too scared of her.
"What do you want?" I asked.
"I want you to pack your things and leave Millbrook Bay. Today. Right now. Go back to Los Angeles and forget you ever had a sister named Lisa."
"And if I don't?"
Eleanor's smile got bigger and scarier. "Then you'll join her sooner than you think."
She stood up and walked toward the door, then stopped and turned back.
"Oh, and that little girl your sister was so desperate to find? The one she died trying to protect?" Eleanor's eyes sparkled with evil satisfaction. "She's mine now. And if you don't leave town, she'll have another terrible accident. Just like her birth mother."
The door slammed behind her, leaving me sitting in stunned quiet.
Little girl? Birth mother? What was she talking about?
But deep in my heart, I already knew.
Lisa had given up a baby for adoption years ago. A baby I never got to meet because Lisa was too ashamed to tell the family.
That baby was here. In Millbrook Bay. And Eleanor Blackwood was threatening to hurt her.
I pulled out my phone with shaking hands and called Sheriff Morrison.
"Sheriff, I need to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the truth. Does the name Riley Chen mean anything to you?"
The quiet on the other end told me everything I needed to know.
My sister hadn't just come here asking random questions.
She'd come looking for her daughter.
And now I had to find her too, before Eleanor Blackwood made good on her threat.