Page 3 of The Huntress and the Blood Moon (The Huntress #1)
F our hours later, Carmen parks her Impala in front of Sweet Scoops, a pastel pink building with yellow trim that sits on a corner next to Renbury’s movie theater.
She has no idea what time Cody might be here for his shift—the kid at the park had only mentioned that he’d probably be here tonight—but she figures the least she can do is wait him out if he’s not already here.
Inside, a young girl with blue and green streaks in her hair bounces around behind the counter, scooping mounds of colorful ice cream into waffle cones for eager customers.
Carmen looks around for other employees, but when she doesn’t see anyone else wearing the same bright blue polo with a yellow embroidered logo, she decides to get in the back of the line to order something.
As she waits, she continues to look around the space.
The shop is cramped, but based on the number of customers here before dinnertime, it must be popular.
It seems unlikely the girl behind the counter would be the only one scheduled to work tonight, so Carmen will hang around for a while and see who else shows up.
When she gets to the front of the line, she orders a scoop of caramel swirl—her favorite since she was a little girl—from the girl whose nametag reads Brittany, and then finds an empty table in the back corner of the parlor where she can take advantage of the visibility it provides.
She can’t help but close her eyes after stuffing the first spoonful of ice cream in her mouth; it’s sweet and creamy, obviously homemade, and Carmen already knows she’ll be back for more before her time in Renbury is over.
It doesn’t take long before another employee appears behind the counter, having slipped in through some back door.
He’s tall and gangly, his chestnut hair cropped short with a flare of volume in the front.
Carmen guesses he looks to be about fifteen.
His blue polo is ironed and his jeans are pressed, but despite his clean appearance there’s an obvious haunted look in his eyes that she recognizes immediately: a mix of despair and anger, fear and grief.
She knows without having to read his nametag that it’s Cody.
Only someone who has seen the real and catastrophic destruction of those beasts would wear an expression like that.
Carmen decides to wait until things slow down and the line disappears, eating her ice cream slowly from her perch in the corner. But when Brittany vanishes into the back after taking care of the line, Carmen makes her move.
“Hello,” she says at the counter as Cody washes out a blender he just used to make a smoothie.
He turns around to face her, forcing a polite smile to his lips. Up close, she can see the purple bruising under his eyes, the proof of his lack of sleep. “How can I help you?”
Carmen’s eyes flick down to the counter between them as she works to hold back her own emotions—she didn’t anticipate feeling anything during this meeting, but Cody’s eyes are so empty it feels like looking in a mirror.
It’s one thing to face her demons at night in the privacy of her motel room, but it’s quite another when they rear their ugly heads while she’s trying to work.
She takes a deep breath and forces her eyes back up.
“My name is Carmen, and I’m here in Renbury investigating some recent animal attacks.
” Cody’s face blanches in an instant. Carmen lowers her voice so as not to spook the family seated behind her.
“I’ve been told you might know something about them. ”
He shakes his head, turning back to the sink on the opposite wall.
He pushes up the sleeves of a shirt he wears beneath his polo and dips his hands into the stream of water.
“I don’t know who you’ve been talking to, but I can’t help you with any of that.
” His voice is firm, but it’s clear by the way it shakes that he’s nervous.
“You were there,” Carmen says simply.
Cody stills. After a long moment, he speaks again. “I can’t help you.”
“What if I told you I’m here to stop them?”
Cody spins around to look at her, wiping his wet hands along the denim of his jeans. His eyes shine with emotion as his mouth twists around the word. “How?”
Carmen stares at him with gentle but unyielding pressure. “I can’t explain here, but . . . can you help me? Show me where it happened? I’ll explain everything then, I promise.”
Cody looks wholly unconvinced, and Carmen readies herself for another dismissal. She’s already thinking through new ways to somehow get him to agree to this when he interrupts her thoughts with an unsteady and quiet, “Okay.” He wipes his eyes and asks, “When?”
“Tomorrow morning?”
He nods. “Okay.”
“Where should I meet you?”
Cody considers. “Do you know where the old bowling alley is?”
“I’ll find it,” Carmen assures.
“I can be there at nine.”
Carmen smiles, encouraging. “Thank you, Cody,” she says. “I know this isn’t easy.”
His eyes drop to her clothes, trailing down her body and back up again. “Wear those.” He nods toward her feet.
She looks down at the combat boots she’s wearing and remembers Bea telling her Cody and his friend Elijah had been camping. The attack probably happened somewhere in the dense woodlands surrounding the town. She turns back up to him and nods. “I will. See you tomorrow.”
Cody doesn’t respond. He simply turns his back to her, facing the sink and still-running faucet. Carmen understands it for what it is and takes her leave, shoving another spoonful of her cold and creamy treat into her mouth as she pushes through the door.
Despite the pounding that still torments inside her head, her chest swells with pride at her ability to make such significant progress, even with a raging hangover.
She makes the trek back toward her motel, deciding to celebrate her victory with just one shot of whiskey at the dive bar on the corner.
Hair of the dog, and all that.