Craig. “We’ll do it pretty casually, so don’t worry about structuring it like a normal interview.”
“Even the Sheriff here thinks the woods are haunted?” Caitlin asked, arching one eyebrow. “That’s a bit crazy.”
“Well, I talked to him on the phone,” Erin replied. “He actually seemed really level-headed. Said he is sick of hearing all these legends and so on, and he just wants to get a proper explanation for it all so that the townspeople will stop being too scared to enjoy the forest.”
“Right.”
Caitlin smoothed her hair down, applied a coat of mascara and coral-tinted lipgloss, and then gave Erin and Craig the thumbs up.
“Let’s go.”
The group entered the diner, and as the bell on the door sounded, a tall man stood up and greeted them with a firm handshake. He had kind eyes, a bushy salt-and-pepper beard, and the badge and uniform he wore told them that he was the Sheriff.
“Glad you could make it,” he said. “I’m Jim. By the way, this is my Deputy.”
He motioned to another man who was on his way back from the bathroom, and Erin was immediately struck by how attractive he was as he strode over to them. He had longer than average brown hair, but for some reason it suited him and went perfectly with his striking green eyes. Erin had never even seen a man with green eyes before, and she couldn’t help but stare with her mouth slightly open as he grinned and shook Craig’s hand before offering it to her.
“Call me Scott,” he said. “We’re pretty informal around here.”
Erin finally found her tongue and responded, trying to hide how attracted she was to him and failing miserably as her cheeks turned cherry red.
“Um… nice to meet you. I’m Erin,” she said. “This is Caitlin.”
The gorgeous Deputy turned his attention to Caitlin, and as he smiled and shook her hand, Erin’s stomach sank. No matter what she did, she would always pale in comparison to her gorgeous, slim colleague, and Scott was exactly Caitlin’s type of man as well as her own – tall with chiseled features and a muscular frame. Knowing Caitlin, they would probably be in bed with each other by that night.
As they sat down, it suddenly occurred to her that they were meant to be camping in the forest together that night, and her heart fluttered slightly as she realized that Caitlin wouldn’t have a chance to go home with Scott. On the other hand, though, neither would she. Not that I’d have a chance to anyway, she thought, avoiding his piercing green gaze as she sat across from him.
“So,” Craig said to the Sheriff as he held up a camera, “tell us more about the forest. Do you mind if we film you?”
“Go ahead. Well, I’ve lived here my whole life, and legends of those woods have been around as long as I can remember,” the Sheriff replied, stroking his bearded chin as he glanced at the camera lens. ”When I was a boy, even my grandparents told me stories about the place. All kinds of strange happenings. My daughter is a fan of your show, so I figured it might be worth getting in contact. I know there must be a rational explanation for it all, and I’d really like the people here to start enjoying the woods. No one even hikes around here, and it’s such a shame, because it’s such a beautiful area.”
“Could you tell us more about the so-called paranormal events?” Erin asked.
As she spoke, she thought she saw a flash of bright yellow-green out of the corner of her eyes, and she glanced over at Scott, who was staring right at her. It seemed as if the light had simply just reflected strangely against his eyes, so she turned back to the Sheriff and waited for his response.
“Firstly, it’s an oddly silent place. I’ve been out there a lot, and I’ve never experienced a forest like it. Dead silent, all the time. That alone is enough to scare some of the locals. I already told you about the ghost lights, right?”
“Yes,” she replied as Craig and Caitlin nodded