Murder Near Saxon's Lake

At the beginning of Chapter seven, Cory decided to sign up for the city writing contest. After a few hours of thinking, he decided to write about the murder near Saxon’s Lake. When Cory was done with the story, he asked his dad to read it. Tom was surprised when he read the story because he knew that Cory did not usually write about real experiences. Tom then expressed regret for trying to save the murdered man at the bottom of the Saxon’s Lake and explained that every night he was being haunted by nightmares. He explained to Cory that he could never understand why brutality existed in the world. Cory said he could see the child in his father as he described his hope for a better world. On the next day, Cory turned in his short story and mustered
As dawn approached, Cory walked through the forest desperately searching for refuge, when he came across a young woman bathing a pond. He stood behind a bush spellbound as he watched the naked girl swimming in the pond. Just as she was exiting the pond, he caught her attention and told her that he needed to get home. At first, Chile was suspicious of him, but she decided to help him. She took him to a small cottage and bandaged his bruises. When her husband came, she persuaded him to drop Cory back in Zephyr, but he was not willing to do so. Instead he dropped Cory at a gas station, leaving him to use a phone to call for help. Tom came to pick up Cory and he was anxious to hear what his son had gone through. A few weeks after that event, Mayor Swope invited Cory to his office. The mayor congratulated Cory on winning third place in the writing contest and offered to correct his misspelled name on the plaque, but Cory was not worried about it. While in the office, Cory noticed a hat with a green feather on it and immediately concluded that Mayor Swope was the murderer. Just then the lights went out due to the heavy rainstorm, and Cory ran out of the office with the feather at