Vanished (ONC 2023)

Chapter 5 - What Remains

I stepped into my boss' cramped office with a tentative smile. It was unlikely, but he could share good news about the Bear Claw Lake campaign.

"Hi, Jeff."

He finished typing and minimized a window on his screen. "Please have a seat. Any luck with your search for new ideas?"

I failed to hide my grimace. "Not yet, but I'll find a great angle."

He nodded and met my gaze. "I'm confident you will." As he realigned papers on his messy desk, he cleared his throat. "Mia, we're very pleased with the work you do here. I want you to know that."

"I love working here." 

Stella and I had a blast during projects, and Jeff was easygoing and willing to take risks on my ideas. The pay wasn't fantastic, but it allowed me to flex my writing muscles and explore the province.

He rubbed the bridge of his bulbous nose and exhaled. "Earlier this year, the government decided on their budget. There will be some cuts. With the rise in crime, tourism isn't a priority and is, as you've just experienced, an uphill battle. People aren't fighting for hotel rooms or flights to our province unless we bring in someone or something famous."

My stomach clenched. I could not lose this job. How would I eat and pay rent?

"But we'll fight for more funding. To do that, we need a flawless ad campaign. That's why we had to kill Bear Claw Lake. Far too risky. I appreciate that you used strong personal connections there and that it's difficult to walk away from promises you made."

"Nor will they be as receptive to a future partnership," I mumbled. Josh would, but the community wouldn't be so forgiving.

"That's part of this game." He turned to his desktop. "I have a list of workable ideas you can lean into for a campaign. Consider working them into a package trip to give visitors a well-rounded winter experience."

"I'll see what I can do." As Jeff typed, I stood but lingered. "Is my job at risk if we don't succeed?"

"Either we succeed or the crime rate has to plummet."

The cost of living kept rising past wages, crime increased to fund drug addictions that formed from a lack of mental health support and the effects of centuries of systemic racism with no end in sight. Even with Jeff's ideas, the campaign would be like previous ones and not unique enough to deliver outstanding success. I'd land back in my childhood bedroom at my parents' place, although I should count myself lucky to have that option.

I had Dustin, who knew about his death. If the police were finding bodies, the killer was active, assuming the Bear Claw Lake death was a murder. Was that Dustin's body out there? Stella had implied a woman had drowned, but no papers confirmed that theory. But why would his ghost haunt the city if he died up there? Still, a connection was possible.

If we created a new headline about an arrest on suspicion of murder, it might reassure the public and potential tourists. It was worth a shot, so another person didn't lose their life.

My first instinct was to run to the bus stop and to find Dustin, but I stopped myself. Could I trust him? What if my stressed-out mind had conjured him up? Sane people didn't spontaneously see ghosts. I hadn't experienced a loss or a tragedy recently, so this connection to a supernatural being was suspicious.

I could ask Stella about it. She was open-minded, but if this was her line, I didn't want to be viewed as that eccentric coworker more focused on paranormal occurrences than her job. That would be another reason to fire me.

Josh, however, lived three hours away, and our work connection had just been severed. I could confide in him without repercussions. We'd known each other for ages and had grown up on spooky campfire stories.