More wild applauding. Even Bianca’s friends, the kids who’d been busted up at Reservoir Point, were clapping. Lara Haas and Maddie Averill were nodding enthusiastically, TJ sending Bianca a thumbs-up signal.
Pescoli realized then that her daughter was a hometown celebrity. Her stomach clenched. This was not good.
Sphinx stood and then, as Carlton Jeffe took command of the event again, the audience was allowed to ask questions. They fired them mainly at Sphinx, thank goodness, though Lucky had made his way onto the stage to sit next to his daughter and hold her hand in between his—ever the doting father.
At his side was Michelle.
When Sphinx asked Bianca if she’d like to star in the first episode of Big Foot Territory: Montana! she seemed to hesitate a minute. Did Luke actually squeeze Bianca’s hand? Oh, for the love of God! And then Bianca, staring straight at Sphinx, started nodding. “Yes,” she said. “Yes. I—I’d love to.”
Luke nodded and grinned.
Michelle was absolutely radiant.
Sphinx seemed pleased with himself.
The crowd let up a cheer of approval.
And Pescoli thought she might be sick.
CHAPTER 16
Alvarez didn’t like the feel of the meeting. Aside from the airlessness of the room, there were too many people packed into too tight a space, all of them riled up, some of them agitated. She felt the tension sizzling through the crowd, and it was more than just the excitement of something new happening in town. This new, electrified buzz wasn’t just because Grizzly Falls might become the center of a “reality” television show. No, there was something else, an uglier current rippling through the crowd that was contentious, almost antagonistic. The people packed into the hall tonight weren’t part of a congenial gathering, not a crowd of like minds.
O’Keefe felt it, too. “Not exactly a unified group,” he observed, leaning close so that he could be heard.
“Nope.”
“Militants and pacifists, all loving up Big Foot.”
“The militants are definitely hating on Big Foot.”
“Held together by belief, but at each other’s throats,” he said dryly.
“Like all of life.” Her gaze traveled over the gathering. Some of the more vociferous members had the mentality of a lynch mob, like the townspeople carrying torches and spears in old monster movies to “take the sumbitch down.” The other faction appeared only interested in proving the myth reality, and that Sasquatch was a shy, almost intellectual beast, smart enough to hide any trace of its existence. But all of the members of the group believed that Sasquatch lived and breathed—that was the uniting factor.
“I have to run. See you this weekend?” he said.
“Okay.” She was a little disappointed. She loved being with him, but he still resided in Helena, where he was a private investigator, and though he talked often of moving to Grizzly Falls, of setting up shop here and living with Alvarez full time, so far it hadn’t happened.
She worried a little about that. If they truly wanted to be together, to take the relationship to another level, then they should try harder to make it happen. Right? There shouldn’t be the convenient excuses of conflicting jobs and career paths. They should want to be together all the time. Wasn’t that the way it was supposed to be?
He planted a kiss on her cheek and said, “I’ll call.”
She wanted to say, “Stay,” or “Let’s make this coming weekend special,” or “I hate it when you leave,” or even, “I love you,” but she didn’t, not here in this crowded, loud room overflowing with people rabidly intent on proving Big Foot existed. Or was that an excuse? It didn’t matter. He was already moving away from her, through the crowd, and she watched him disappear past the cashier table and through the main door.
Her heart twisted a bit.
She’d known him for a long while. They’d been partners in the San Bernardino Police Department years before. He’d saved her life. Nearly lost his own. She swallowed hard, told herself not to be maudlin and to concentrate. She had a homicide to solve.
So what was she doing at a damned Big Foot Believers’ meeting, where it was so hot and stuffy she was actually fanning herself with a brochure she’d picked up on the main table?
The answer was simple: Almost everyone who was associated with Destiny Rose Montclaire, aside from her parents, was in attendance.
Maybe it was just a coincidence.
Maybe not.
As the meeting broke up, some of the attendees swarmed the stage, hoping to get closer to Sphinx, a man who could bring fame to Grizzly Falls and validate the members’ beliefs. Others stopped by the table to buy Big Foot mugs and T-shirts. Another group grabbed refreshments and chatted, while the people she was interested in, the swarm of teens or post-teens who’d been at the party on Saturday night, milled within their own private circles.