Page 27 of Property of Anchor

I leaned forward, lips pressed tight.

She was headed out of camera range.

There weren’t any feeds by the lake, it was too far off the main walkways.No reason for guests to be out there.Nothing to watch… unless you were me.

I should’ve left it alone.Should’ve gone back to watching the dock or the boat tour or the haunted house entrance.But something about seeing her disappear into the dark made my gut twist.

I stood and grabbed my jacket from the hook.Maybe I was restless.Or maybe I just wasn’t ready to stop watching her.

Outside, the air was cool and damp, the lake’s scent carried on the breeze.Fog curled low to the ground, and somewhere behind me, the haunted house let out a fresh round of screams.

I made sure to crunch a few twigs underfoot as I came up behind her.Last thing I wanted was to spook her enough that she’d scream and punch me.

She turned her head slowly when she heard me, and that thick curtain of dark hair shifted over her shoulder.

“Are you watching me?”she asked in a cautious tone.

I strolled up beside her and looked out over the still water.“We keep an eye on everything going on around the island,” I said.No point in lying.

“Even inside my cabin?”

I shook my head.“Nah, doll.You’re safe from the cameras in there.”

She nodded slowly, then glanced back toward the lake.The moon was bright tonight, spilling silver across the surface of the water and turning the fog into something ghostly.

“It’s so peaceful here,” she said, “even with the noise from the haunted house.”

I smiled a little.“You get used to it after a while.The screams kind of blend in.”

She laughed softly, and it struck me how much I liked the sound.

“The club’s been running that place for over thirty years,” I added.“I’ve been here fifteen of those.Took over ten years ago.”

She turned her head slightly.“What happened before that?”

“Old Prez, Razor, got into it with one of our members.Big blow-up.Fucked the whole thing sideways.Half the club split.Razor left for California.The other guy, Venom, disappeared.We get whispers now and then that he’s doing dumb shit somewhere in Alabama or Georgia, but nothing concrete.Club was fractured.I stepped up.”

“And pulled it all back together?”she asked, a note of admiration in her voice.

I shrugged.“Mostly.Took time.Lost some, kept others.Piney’s one of the newer guys, eight years in.The rest?Lifers.”

She looked like she was going to say something else, but then her attention drifted.She leaned forward a little, squinting down the shoreline.

“You good, doll?”I asked.

She stepped forward.“What is that?”

My stomach knotted.

“Probably just some weeds,” I offered, keeping my voice even.

She looked back at me and pulled something from her pocket.“I found this on the way here tonight.Doesn’t look like much, but...I don’t know.”

She handed it over.A small scrap of cloth.Torn.Dried, dark red streaks across it.

My chest tightened.It wasn’t prop blood.I’d seen enough of that to know it.This was real.

“Where?”I asked, my voice sharper than I meant.