I pressed my lips together and pushed my eggs around my plate with my fork. Tony and Samantha were buying into the mystique of the town. I knew better when it came to Todd.
“We’ll talk to him about doing a better job with his stories,” Mom offered, taking control of the conversation. “We don’t want the tourists to be confused.”
“Todd is a ... unique ... soul,” Marnie said. “He doesn’t always stick to the script.”
“We don’t want to get anybody in trouble,” Samantha said hurriedly. “We just found him talking to himself to be weird. He seemed really angry. Everybody else has been very friendly and welcoming.”
“He won’t be in trouble,” Landon reassured her. “We’ll just explain that he should spread the story out over a longer period so people can follow the narrative.”
“That’s smart.” Tony happily slathered a slice of toast with jam. “Everybody should be on the same page with their stories.”
Landon looked at me. “Absolutely. You read my mind.”
24
Twenty-Four
“I think we know where we’re going to spend our morning,” Landon said when we’d retreated to the library after breakfast.
I nodded, my mind already working furiously.
“He could be involved,” Landon continued. “He tried to put everything on the girls the last go-around, but he could’ve been more involved when we wrote him off as a perverted idiot.”
I leaned against the door jamb. I was thinking something entirely different.
“Bay?” Landon finally noticed I wasn’t engaging in the conversation. “What’s wrong?”
“Do you think I did this to them?” I blurted out.
Landon’s eyebrows furrowed. “Do I think you did what to them?”
“I opened them up. I modified their memories. Maybe they’ve all been overtaken by shades ... and it’s because of what I did.”
“Baby, you didn’t do this.”
“You don’t know that.” The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. “They were in control of themselves before. They all had ulterior motives for what they were doing. Every single one of them, including Todd. We modified his memory with the others because we couldn’t figure out a way to take him in and let the girls go. I think I did this.”
“No.” Landon grabbed my shoulders and then released them, opting to rub his hands up and down my arms in a soothing motion. “You didn’t do this.”
He couldn’t know the truth of it. I couldn’t either. “I think it’s possible.”
“I don’t.”
“How can you know?” I asked. “You’re not familiar with shades.”
“I know you. You wouldn’t have done this.”
“Not on purpose,” I agreed. “But I’m not infallible. What if I hollowed them out with the memory spell? I could’ve created room for other creatures to take up refuge.”
“But ... .” He trailed off, reading the serious expression on my face. “If you did, it was an accident,” he insisted.
“That doesn’t mean I’m not responsible.”
“Bay ... .” He looked as if he didn’t know whether he should dote on me or chastise me.
“We have to visit Todd.” There was no way around that. “If he’s been taken over, then it’s my job to fix this.”
“How are you going to do that?”
It was a good question. “I have no idea.”
“Then we’ll play it by ear.” He rested his forehead against mine. “It’s going to be okay.”
He couldn’t say that with any degree of certainty. He would believe it because he likely figured it was necessary for me. He looked as worried as I felt.
“We should head out now.” I opted for stoicism. If I fell apart, he would, too. “We need to check him out. We should’ve been monitoring him more closely the whole time.”
“We didn’t want to be close to him,” Landon pointed out. “We figured if we spent too much time watching him that people would get suspicious. There was a method to our madness.”
“We still have to make sure.”
He nodded. “Okay.” His lips were warm against mine when he offered me a brief kiss. “Please don’t blame yourself for this. It’s not your fault.”
It felt like my fault. Still, there was no reason to assign blame ... at least not yet. “Let’s head to town. We should probably take separate vehicles in case we have to split up.”
He didn’t look keen on the idea. “Bay ... .”
“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m not going to melt down.” I mostly meant it. I could, however, promise nothing.
“I’ll follow you.” He grabbed my hand before I could walk away from him. “No matter what, this isn’t your fault.”
I really hoped that was true.
I PARKED AT THE NEWSPAPER OFFICE AND met Landon at the festival. He’d parked his vehicle in front of the police station, exchanged several words with Chief Terry, and then headed directly for me. I was already leaning against the fence watching Todd when he caught up.
“Do you see anything?” he asked after a few seconds of silence.
“No, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I’m hardly an expert at identifying shades that have taken root in people.”
“Okay.” He stared hard at Todd. “I guess we need to talk to him.”
I could think of at least a hundred things I would’ve preferred to do. “That’s the only thing we can do.”
He linked his fingers with mine and fell into step with me. “If he’s gross, I’m going to pop him one. You’ve been warned.”
I wasn’t opposed to Todd getting a fist to the face. As we closed the distance, I watched him. He seemed normal, smiling and waving at guests, but now that I knew he had a thing for teenagers I found everything he did disgusting.
“There’s my favorite couple.” Todd beamed when he saw us. “You haven’t been by in weeks. Usually I can count on you two sneaking into the booth at least every other festival, but I think it’s been three since you’ve stopped by.”
“We’ve been making out at home,” Landon said with a smile. I knew it
