Beastly Winter — Chapter 32

Nola had been looking out the front door glass at the furious storm. She turned and looked at Jenny, her back to Nola, sitting on a breakfast stool at the front with her head down on the formica countertop, seemingly asleep.

As she thinks about the sheriff saying that Roy’s body is in the snow out back, she shuddered. Killed by animals of some kind? And what did that mean, some kind? Even in the dining room, where obviously the least invasive behavior occurred, it’s obvious that someone or something has made a real mess inside the restaurant. Did animals chase Roy into the storm before ripping into him there? Even from the dining room, through a closed door, she can smell the feral odor back toward Roy’s office. The sheriff had told them not to go there or disturb anything in the back.

She decided to clean up the mess to take her mind off what had happened. At the front sink, she poured some bleach into a plastic tub then ran hot water to kill whatever germs had been left behind. Jenny slowly lifted her head to watch, then stood up to help. They each got rags to wipe everything down.

Afterward, they made coffee and turned on the grill to prepare for the day, in case anyone came in for breakfast. It was unusual, Nola thought, even in the heavy storm that absolutely no one had pulled into the parking lot. Then again, the sheriff would probably…