Chilled by Death by Dale Mayer Read Free Book Online Page A

filled the room. Stacy wanted to laugh. She didn’t know if the name was bringing that reaction or the fact that they didn’t know the name.
    It was no big deal. She’d been doing photography since she was in her teens. She stopped for a long while after losing her friends – she’d been lost herself back then. After her weekend with Royce, she’d picked it up again. That was when she’d started working on her new project – Faces of Nature.
    “Really?” Stevie asked in shock. “And you didn’t tell us? We’ve ranted and raved over so many of those photographs to you over the years. And you never said anything.”
    “I thought Eternal was dead,” Kathleen said with surprise.
    Geoffrey walked to stand in front of Stacy. “Seriously?”
    She shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”
    “It’s a very big deal.” He snorted. Then he stopped as if considering her words. “You know, in hindsight, that makes a lot of sense. You went through a lot of phases. I remember that series of ice climbing photos you took. The images in the ice that you managed to capture that even those of us who’d been there with you couldn’t see.”
    “Well, I for one haven’t ever seen your work,” Yvonne said in a tight voice to go with her tight smile. She tossed her long red hair.
    “I didn’t expect anyone to. I haven’t done much work lately.” That was actually a lie. She’d done a lot recently, but under a different name. Another pseudonym. She looked at her work as an artist looked at his. Some of it she hated and some of it she loved. And some of it she loved but was unsure how anyone else could.
    So she’d started a new name. It’s not that she’d been a different person, but this new work was different for her. She hadn’t shared that name with anyone.
    Yvonne popped up and said, “I really like Rebirth’s work.”
    Managing to keep her face bland, inside Stacy jolted at hearing her second name mentioned.
    “I don’t know that one.” Royce made an odd sound. “And what’s with the artists putting up their work under these abstract names?”
    “I can’t answer for everyone,” Stacy said, “but for me it was about the photos in that series.”
    Everyone looked at her, confused. She laughed.
    Her brother said, “I hadn’t thought of that. You’re signing by the series.”
    “On the back is my real signature,” she added with a smile. “In your case, you don’t own your photographs. You work for the company who gets the rights to all your work, so it’s not an issue.”
    He nodded thoughtfully. “At the moment. Who knows where I’ll be down the road? I hadn’t thought about the individualism with my work.”
    She didn’t add that she’d been in a strange space when she’d started doing her professional signature series that way. In truth, they weren’t signatures. They were titles. But as there was more than one in the series, the name had stuck. The world loved different. It added mystery to her work.
    Considering this was the first time Stevie and the rest were hearing about her work and the slightly injured look on their faces, she realized that their relationship would be changing again, too. Maybe it was time. And maybe that was the real reason for coming on this week-long adventure. She needed fresh inspiration.
    It would center on letting go.
    She needed to open up the narrow scope of her world. Her girlfriends were gone. She wasn’t responsible for what happened to them. She couldn’t hide away on the off chance that something might happen to her. And if fate intervened, making it her time, then she needed to come to terms with that. Still, it was time to move forward. Time to move on. Time to say goodbye. Somehow.
    She’d been looking for months for new inspiration. She’d been working on a massive urban portfolio of her local area for months now. She hadn’t shown anyone but the gallery owner. He’d immediately booked her for a showing under her Rebirth name. She knew that at