“Woof.”

Boomer skidded to a stop, stared up at the fast-food menu, and proceeded to call his order in to the mesh grille where some unseen person lurked. “Eight soft tacos with the works, two fries, one chocolate milk shake, and one bottle of water with a plastic cup.”

He was on his third taco when a car pulled alongside the Range Rover. One quick glance told him he should recognize the occupants of the car, but he didn’t. Other than the fact that they looked vaguely familiar, he had nothing else to go on. He’d met a lot of people in the last two weeks. Normally he was pretty good about putting a face to a name, but not that night.

“Boomer?”

“Yeah. And you are?”

“Do I look that different? Amy Hollister. It’s Chambers now. This is Andy. My kids are at choir practice, and Arnie’s working late tonight, so Andy and I thought we’d do dinner the easy way. I’ve been meaning to call you. I guess you heard Cady Jordan is back in town.”

“Actually, I just came from her grandmother’s house. Cady and I were supposed to go to dinner this evening, but things went awry. Have you gotten together yet?”

“She stopped by earlier today, but didn’t stay more than a minute. Andy met her just as she was leaving. We need to talk, Boomer. All of us.”

“About what, Amy?” Why the hell wasn’t Andy saying something.

“You know what. That day,” Amy said emphatically.

Boomer could feel the fine hairs on the back of his neck start to move. “I, for one, don’t want to talk about that day or even remember what went on.”

“Is that because you’re the new police chief? All kinds of rumors are starting to float around this town. They’re making a movie, and one of the scenes they’re going to film is out at the pond. Everyone is talking about it. Cyrus King is calling for a special town council meeting. That movie star grandmother of Cady’s tried to buy the property this morning, but Mr. King stopped it. Someone went out there and took down all the signs and the fencing. They cut down all the weeds, too. Who do you think would do something like that?”

He suddenly realized that he had forgotten what living in a small town was like. News spread like wildfire, and gossip moved at the speed of light.

Boomer summoned up a nonchalant laugh, though he was far from feeling nonchalant. “Probably a bunch of kids with a couple of six-packs out for some fun,” he said, repeating Pete’s assessment of what had gone down at the pond. “That and the gossip is just a coincidence would be my opinion.”

“Are you saying you’re excluding yourself from the past? We need to get together and talk. What we really need to do is get our stories straight. You were there like the rest of us were there. Don’t pretend you weren’t.”