Weekends Are For Reading!

10/9/2025

Tyler laughed and spread his arms wide. “No. Sorry. Just a teacher turned inn worker who really hates the cold. I can shoot that gun, however.”

“Fuck me, that’s it!”

“What? That I can aim a shotgun and squeeze a trigger?”

“No.” Linden set the shotgun on the counter and motioned for Tyler to follow him. “Come here.” He pulled his laptop case up and set it on the table, took out a pad of paper and a pen. “Let’s go over what we know.” As he spoke, he wrote names on the paper. “There is a group that consists of Dimas, you, Julius, Jeremy, and an unnamed girl. You’re all connected through a school and a role-playing-game contest.” Linden drew a line through Julius and Jeremy. “These two people are now dead, and from what we know, died fairly closely together in the timeline. People here can vouch for your whereabouts for the last month?” He really wanted Tyler to be off that suspect list.

Tyler nodded. “Yes. Absolutely. And the delivery truck has a GPS monitor in case of it being robbed, so everywhere I went in it is recorded.”

“Good. I think I can safely say you might’ve been able to commit one murder, but not two and get back here before you were missed.” He stopped and watched Tyler intently. “I’ll need a list of those names.”

Tyler nodded. “What are the odds of their killers being two different people?” he asked.

“I think low. Even though both these men died in a different way, there is now a pattern,” Linden explained.

“A pattern?”

“Yeah. Julius was afraid of drowning. Bet you Jeremy had some fear of burning. Both these murders were set up to appear as if they were suicides, and there is now an established link between the victims when they were juveniles. That sort of information is hard to get unless someone specifically looks for it.” He turned and faced Tyler, looking him directly in the eye. “What’s your fear?”

“Freezing. Which is laughable because that’s a pretty painless way to die. You get cold, then warm, then fall asleep. I might live here, but during the colder months, I don’t go hiking or do much in the way of outdoor activities. I do love it here during three of the seasons, though.”

Linden tapped the yearbook. “Would playing these mystery-solving games give someone that sort of information about someone else?”

“Yes, it’s very possible.” Tyler shrugged. “But in my case I don’t think it’s ever been a secret I’m not fond of the cold.”

Linden snorted. “Sort of ironic you wanted to live here.”

“Not really. I was only thinking of when it was nice and sunny, with flowers blooming and leaves on the trees. My coming here was more of an emotional decision because I needed to get away than anything else. Wyoming is a good place to get away to.” Tyler glanced down at the floor again, then turned to look out the window. Linden followed his gaze and sucked in a breath at the sight of Devils Tower rising up in the distance, white against the gray sky. Tyler turned back to Linden. “Whoever is here is probably after me.” He took another deep breath. “So let’s trap that person. I’ll be the bait.”

“No.” Linden held up one finger. “That’s a bad, bad idea.”

“But you did that when you were here before—set a trap.”

“With a half-dozen other FBI agents hanging around for backup and one of the two men helping to set that trap a trained park ranger, also a federal agent. They were wearing wires too. That was a completely different situation.”

“So, we, uh, improvise.”

“Improvise?”

“Do you have any of that listening equipment?”