A First Love to Die For

Chapter Nineteen- Equally Miserable

(Lincoln's POV)

Monday morning didn't start with the headache of my Sunday wake-up call, but it still wasn't all sunshine and rainbows.

The stress of yesterday sat heavy in my temples. I had tossed and turned all night with the worry stewing around in my brain.

How do I keep my town safe?

When I wasn't thinking about the fact that a monster was successfully using my town as a hunting ground, I was working myself up about my unrequited feelings for Josie. Her expertise yesterday had been very much appreciated but the tension between us was incredibly difficult to navigate.

Then once my brain touched on Josie, I would find myself overthinking whatever the fuck I was feeling for her.

How could I still be hung up on the woman who had shattered my heart?

Needless to say, there was more stress than sleep going on for me.

I had known that walking to work today was a bad idea but after yesterday, I needed fresh air and to show my face around town.

It had been the right thing to do but nothing about interacting with the townspeople of Fenelon was easy right now. I would say that they were being alarmist, except they had every reason to be alarmed.

My words weren't enough. "We're working our hardest to catch the killer." We were but it wasn't enough. Nothing would be till we had our killer behind bars.

Yesterday we had orchestrated multiple meetings based on what information we had. We had mostly used the footage from the bar. Chantelle had always been friendly and had talked to a handful of people the night prior.

She talked to her boss Stephie, her friend Will at the bar, Candy who had come in to meet Stephie, Josie's Dad and Harold. Then she had settled in with Carrie for a few drinks before they had left together.

The only two that we still had to chat with were Stephie and Harold. Sam was meeting with Stephie this morning to go over who had been working when each of our victims had been there. Josie and I were going to talk to Harold.

We had also found a second connection to Harold. Yesterday, Lucy had spent some time combing through Izzy's bank account. She hadn't been overly active on social media, which meant that we had to dive into other avenues to trace her last month.

Yesterday we had discovered that in the month before Izzy died, she had stopped working at Harold's grocery store. We were going to ask about the conversation with Chantelle today when we met with him and his manager to discuss Izzy's employment at the store.

We were trying to retrace both the sisters steps so that we could determine the common denominator. 

We really were working tirelessly but obviously; I couldn't share any specifics and so I knew it appeared to anyone asking, that my reassurance was lip service. The disappointment on every single person's face was a punch to the gut.

By the time I was in my office, my foul mood was downright stormy. I shut the door quietly and dragged myself over to the coffee machine. I needed to do something extra for my assistant, Janet for always making sure that it was ready to go.

I sat down behind my desk and listened to the coffee dripping. I knew there was lots to do but I just needed to take a goddamn minute to try to reset my day.

The coffee hadn't even finished percolating when there was a sharp tap on the door and I looked up and gestured for Hailey to come in.

My sister-in-law was by far one of my favourite people and normally she would cause the day to get a little bit better, but she also wore her heart on her sleeve, and I could tell by her foul expression that this wasn't going to be a pleasant visit.