Laura stopped into the bookstore after leaving Thomas's to grab a few research books from her office in the back.
Gerald was helping customers so she didn't get a chance to talk to him but it looked like everything was going good today and he waived as she went by. She finished up at the store and headed home to work on a pile of information she had gathered for her investigation.
At home Laura sat on her couch while her cats engaged her in a never ending game of play and pet me time and she of course obliged them. The research would still be there when they finally meandered off to sit in front of the fire and fall asleep.
With one cat taking up each hand she thought about Thomas's statements. True,Thomas drank quite a bit but he always appeared to be in control of himself, it was just putting together the things he said in a logical way and making some use of them. This was a problem and she couldn't quite make sense of it, or his odd questions to her but she knew they had some meaning that she wasn't seeing.
when she commented how tame the wildlife was here he chuckled and agreed with her and then asked if she had pets. She told him she had cats and he smiled big and asked if she was one of those cat lady's that talked to her cats and waited for an answer. She laughed and admitted that she did. He went on to talk about the abundant wildlife even in town, especially BrookStone Square and asked if she ever talked to the critters running around the Square when going about her business. She laughed again and said "oh yea I do that too and sometimes they seem to look at me like they want to say something.
Thomas said " next time your in the square and you see one of the local critters hanging out ask em a question"
"Like what?" she asked laughing again.
He just winked at her and told her that if she were actually hyper aware-almost to the point of paranoia she may pick up on something useful. Perplexed Laura just agreed with a smile and moved on. She thought when she did he seemed to be giving her a hard knowing look before letting that subject go.
Laura the asked him about the local legends of Whisper Lake. She had heard a few but wanted his take on them, like did he think there was a logical explanation or did he buy into the more supernatural ideas. Thomas said the he didn't really think there was anything so supernatural about it but that depended on what she defined as supernatural. He then told her that out here at the lake it was usually quiet and people were spread out more so it stands to reason that people hear more clearly than when they were in a group of people talking and cars going by and whatnot. She nodded in agreement. As they walked down to the lake Thomas told her there was not enough ice yet to walk on it just to be safe but that they could get down on the shore. They stopped and looked out at the lake and he told her to be a still and relaxed as she could and to just listen, listen with all your senses.
Laura observed several small animals out on the ice, they all stopped to watch the couple and Laura relaxed and listened. She heard no whispers or anything but the wind blowing through the pines. She watched closely as the animals meandered away back to whatever they were doing and the a soft whisper that seemed to be right by her ear said "I old you!" then another in answer "just give it time, you have no patience." then louder the first voice said we are running out of time, we have been patient long enough!" Laura looked around her and saw nothing but critters skittering around the area. With no small amount of shock on her face she looked to Thomas who just smiled winked and nodded his head. When she asked him where the voices came from he just handed her a worn leather bound book from his coat. He told her to keep it.
Thomas want on to explain that in his opinion, there is a reason for everything and he could only tell her for sure what the whispers were Not.In his humble opinion.
Laura back on her couch now,cats content in front of the fireplace having had their fill of belly rubs and head scritches. She picked up some papers and looked at some of the theories she had written down.
She just couldn't get on board with any of these:
ghosts of those lost to the lake
radio frequencies picked up from past residents
cell phone picking up chatter from other conversations
Sasquatch type character
other monster
drug or alcohol induced auditory hallucinations
None of these fit all the instances and some were just unreasonable yet imaginative. She put this stack of papers aside to file in the trash later and moved on to the book Thomas gave her. It was old and worn and thick with pages. This was going to be really difficult to read.
