Chapter 3

Dai woke up the next morning and said goodbye to her brother and sister. She couldn't get the voice out of her head. Where was it coming from and why was she the only one hearing it? She sat down at her computer thinking about what she was going to do when her doorbell rang. She looked out of the window and there stood a very handsome man. Dai opened the door and thought he looked even better close up.
"Are you Dai Sakaue?"
"Um...oh...yes. Yes I am. And you are?"
"Craig" he said simply.
"Oh. Okay...Craig. What can you do for me? Erm...what can I do for you?"

Craig looked at her curiously and laughed to himself.
"Hmm...I like your first question much better Miss Sakaue."
"It's Dai. And what makes you think I'm not a Mrs."
"Well if I were your husband you wouldn't be living here."
"Is there something you wanted?" Dai asked. She was getting tired of the lame come-ons.
"Lunch. A picnic in the park perhaps?"
"Why would I have a picnic with you? I don't know you."
"I have some information you might like to hear."
"So tell me here and skip the picnic. I don't lunch with strange men."
"Strange men? Are you saying I'm strange?" Craig chuckled.
"Yes I am" said Dai matter of factly.
"Okay no picnic then. How about a nice restaurant? There will be plenty of people around to protect you."
"I don't need protecting, and I'm not hungry. How did you find me anyway?"
""Not too hard to find a beautiful blonde in this town."
Dai blushed a little. "Well thank you Craig. I guess I can make you something to eat and we can talk."
"Sounds good."
Craig walked in and Dai shut the door.

     Meanwhile...
"Scot what are you doing?"
"Kei I am trying to protect Dai. I don't know. I have a feeling there's going to be trouble ahead for her. Something's not right."
"How are you going to explain this to mom and dad? Or Dai? She will be angry."
"Well I'll tell them I fell in love with the quaintness of the town. I'll be far enough away from Dai where she won't know for a while."
"Well maybe I should stay too. You know, to keep an eye on you."

"Stay if you want, but I will be the one keeping an eye out."
"Fine. We will stay here together. I just hope that Dai doesn't run into us and mom and dad believe your lies."
"Let me worry about that stuff Kei. I will tell them that you found a new job here too as a stylist. It will be fine. Don't worry."
"What if mom and dad ask Dai what she thinks about us living here in the same town?"
"Oh...I didn't think about that. I can't tell them not to mention it to her."
"See? Flawed plan."
"I'll just tell them we decided to stay a little while longer then."
"Sounds good. Make the call" Kei said.

    Back at Dai's...
She couldn't help but stare at this handsome stranger. He seemed oddly familiar to her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"So you said you had some information for me Craig?"
"Oh yes. I heard you were asking around about the Hunter place."
"Yes as a matter of fact I was. Do you know something?"
"Maybe. This is a great salad by the way."

"Thank you. Now quit stalling."
"Oh fine then. I'm sure you've heard the stories about the place?"
"Mmm...yes. Family murdered. Son never found. People say the son did it."
"Really? Do you believe that?"
"I don't know yet. I'm planning on reading the old police reports on the crime scene this week."
"Why are you so interested in this? I think you should leave well enough alone."
"Why would I do that? I'm going to write a book about it. Fiction of course. It will be based on that story line though."
"Hmmm...still...I think you should write about something else less...dangerous."
"Dangerous? Why is it dangerous?"

"Look at the time. I have to be going. Thanks for the food. Maybe I'll see you again?"
"Yeah. Maybe you will at that."

Craig walked out the door and Dai immediately wondered who exactly this Craig was and why he was so interested in her story.
"Maybe I need to poke around, follow him maybe. See what's up with him."
Dai went to the window and looked out at the house across the swamp.
"Something weird is going on there and I'm going to find out what it is."
She turned back around and went to her computer.
"I think I'll just call my friends and have them tell me if he shows up anywhere."

As Craig was walking away from Dai's house he started thinks about things. He knew she would keep asking questions. He also knew that everyone that did that ended up dead. He didn't know any other way to warn her without telling her the truth, but that was something he just wasn't ready to do at the moment. He would keep her attention on him and then it would give him time to get his nerve up and tell her the truth about the Hunter family and himself.