It looked serene from where she stood.
Shaking her head she grabbed her purse and headed out the front door. She locked it and went to her car. She slid into the driver’s seat and contemplated driving back into town to get a hotel for the night.
It was a short distance, but she could barely hold her eyes open.
Resting her head back on the seat she closed her eyes and prayed tomorrow would be better.
Chapter 6
Aknock on her window had her bolting upright in her seat.
“Ouch.” She winced at the sharp pain in her neck reminding her she was no spring chicken and clearly had no business sleeping in a car.
It was early dawn and light was just starting to break.
“Hello?”
She turned to the person standing outside her car window.
She reached for the button but remembered the windows were manual. Slowly cranking the handle she let the window down enough to speak to the stranger on the other side wearing a hooded coat.
“You can’t sleep here. This is private property.” Stern eyes stared at her from the hood.
“Oh, I’m not trespassing. I’m the owner.” She smiled bleakly, hoping for a dab of friendliness.
The figure shoved their hood down and, for the first time, Carolina realized the person outside her window was a woman.
The lady stepped back and Carolina scrambled out of the car. The cold wind cut through her like a knife. She wrapped her arms around herself.
“If you’re the owner why are you sleeping out here?” She cocked her head like she didn’t believe her.
“Well, I got in late last night. And realized…” She swallowed. How much should she be telling this woman?
“I’m sorry. I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Carolina Johnson.” She stuck out her hand.
“I’m Bernice Stacks. I live three houses down.” She didn’t take her hand but pointed in the direction of her home.
Carolina forced a bright smile. “Nice to meet you.”
Bernice narrowed her eyes. “I’ve never actually met the owner of this house.”
“Yeah, when we bought it we intended to spend weekends here. Unfortunately, my husband was on call a lot…” She swallowed hard. “I mean my ex-husband.”
“So, you’re divorced?” Her eyebrows shot up.
“As of yesterday, yes.” She wrapped her arms tighter around herself.
“I see. Mrs. Johnson, did your ex-husband keep you apprised of the goings on here on the lake?”
“No.” She frowned. “He said it would be a better option to rent it out since we couldn’t make it out here every weekend. Why? Is there a problem?” Her stomach dropped.
“You bet there’s a problem.” Bernice glared. “The last few monthsyourhouse was rented to a bunch of troublemakers. There were parties every night. One of the neighbor’s mailboxes was knocked down by one of them while they were driving drunk, and their dog attacked Mrs. Phillips’ weiner dog and it had to have surgery.”
Carolina gasped. “Oh my gosh. I had no idea…”
“And the police were called multiple times.” Bernice crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.
Nausea rolled in Carolina’s stomach. White stars flashed before her eyes.
