Castle Rock by Carolyn Hart

quickly.
    Serena smiled gratefully. “I’d like that, Millie.”
    Millie wrapped a fried chicken breast in foil, added a dill pickle, chips, crisp carrots, and two oatmeal cookies. “It’s good for you to get out for a while, Serena.”
    â€œDo you think it’s all right if I miss lunch here, Millie?”
    â€œSure. I’ll tell Julie. It won’t do her any harm to help out.”
    When Serena and Hurricane cantered out of sight of the hacienda, she felt a sweep of joy at getting away.
    Getting away. She had never felt that way before on Castle Rock. Why did she want to get away? Impatiently, she urged Hurricane to go faster.
    As they climbed, the path threaded beneath huge pines. The spicy aromatic scent and deep cool shadows delighted Serena. The path forked at Lightning Ridge. To the left, it continued to climb, a rugged sharp ascent, leading ultimately to the Anasazi cliff dwellings. The path to the right angled up, then down to Lynx Lake, where trout glided in deep, clear pools and the icy water tasted as sweet and sharp as champagne.
    Sunlight dappled the ground. The high, still air rang with a quail’s call and the sharp squawk of a raven. Hurricane, warm and strong, moved restlessly beneath her. She reached down, gently ruffled his mane and he made a soft sound in his throat. Hurricane loved to step carefully on the stony shore of Lynx Lake and dip his muzzle into the icy water.
    Serena smiled and turned to the path on the right. She hummed as Hurricane carefully managed a steep descent. This was Castle Rock, this communion with nature. Soon the lake water glittered through the trees. She dismounted at the east end of the lake. Hurricane dropped his head and began to drink.
    Serena settled on a sun-splashed rock to enjoy her lunch. Full and content, she stretched out and stared at the pale blue sky arching over the lake and the slender spruce crowding down to water’s edge. This was what Castle Rock should be, infinite peace and beauty. Not a voice or footstep marred the silence. No alien presence disturbed the woods. But even this perfect Eden could not still the stirrings in Serena’s mind. Sighing, she sat up and curved her arms about her knees and looked somberly at the still blue water.
    Something was wrong at Castle Rock and she couldn’t rest until she knew where the serpent lay.
    Perhaps, she thought hopefully, her unease grew out of some unimportant imbalance. If she could trace the source of her fear, it might prove to be nothing that mattered.
    What had been wrong at Castle Rock this summer?
    Will, of course.
    But who knew what tortured fancies drove Will? Even so, even allowing for an artist’s burdened mind, Will’s behavior had been extraordinary. There was his odd reaction when Uncle Dan mentioned the telephone calls from New York. Then Will’s distress when he learned Julie and Peter were coming to Castle Rock. Will had always been close to Julie. Julie was the stronger of the two, making the decisions, but, if there had been any break between them, Serena didn’t know about it. So Will’s unhappiness at Julie’s arrival was strange.
    Strangest of all, of course, was Will’s drunkenness the night before Uncle Dan died. That didn’t make any sense. If Will often drank too much, that would be one thing. But he didn’t. Some new, overwhelming, almost catastrophic pressure must be pushing on Will.
    All right. Her job was clear enough. She must talk to Will as soon as possible and try to discover whether his unhappiness was partly responsible for her uncomfortable sense of something wrong at Castle Rock.
    Serena took a loose rock, threw the stone high into the air, watched as it plummeted into the lake with scarcely any splash or sound. That was as much effect as the summer visitors usually had on Castle Rock. But this summer, perhaps they contributed to her sense of unease.
    Take the Minters. Howard and Lou