by H. P. Bayne
“Did you reach her?”
Jax shook his head. “No. She was there, at the entrance to the maze, like I said. I was busy watching her and I missed a step. The backyard was a big mess, all overgrown and everything, so I tripped on something. I caught myself before I fell on my face, but when I looked up again, she was gone.
“Figured she must have gone into the maze, so I built up my nerve and went over there to see if I could see her. I couldn’t. All I saw was maze running in either direction. I wanted to go back and get the hell out of there, but something made me keep going. I wandered around in there for a while, until I came to the centre of it. She was there. Not the woman with the veil but Mildred, I guess. Facedown in the little pool. I went up to her, but she was totally stiff and cold.” Jax shivered again. “I didn’t even turn her over. I knew she was dead.”
His eyes grew shiny, and he turned away, pinching at the corners of his eyes. “I freaked out. I ran.” He fell silent for a few moments, and Sully didn’t interrupt. He suspected Jax wasn’t quite finished, his face revealing yet-unspoken emotion Sully hoped he could help with.
At last, Jax cleared his throat and met Sully’s eye. The shine was still there. “Do you think maybe I could have helped her? What if the woman I saw was leading me to her for a reason, like to save her maybe? Maybe I could have done something.”
Sully shook his head and gave him a kind smile. “You said she felt cold and stiff. She’d been gone awhile, and I’m pretty sure it was her spirit you saw. She was already out of her body, for at least a few hours. You want to know what I think?”
Jax raised his brows. “What?”
“I think she showed herself to you because she knew she could count on you to look for her. She wanted someone to find her body, and she trusted you to do it. You didn’t do anything wrong, Jax. Finding a dead body is pretty unnerving, even for people like me who’ve been around death a lot. There’s no shame in being scared. You left, and you got help so she didn’t have to lie out there for long. I’m sure that’s all she needed from you.”
Jax glanced away, nodded and sniffled. “Thanks, man.” He met Sully’s eye again, a question in his expression. “I still have nightmares about it. How long will those last?”
“I don’t know. It’s different for everyone. Did you go to talk to anyone about it?”
Jax raised a brow. “Like a shrink?”
“A counsellor or a psychologist.”
“My mom wanted me to, but I said I’d get over it on my own. Only I still think about it a lot, even when I don’t expect it.”
Sully knew all about it. “Trauma does that. There’s nothing weak about asking for help when you need it, all right? Trust me. With everything I went through in the past, if it hadn’t been for the counselling I got as a kid, I’d probably be pretty messed up right now. My mom’s a family counsellor, but she’s really good with stuff like this. I’ll give you her number, all right?”
Jax nodded and accepted the name and number Sully jotted onto the back of one of his business cards. “Thanks. I’ll talk to my mom about it.”
Sully was satisfied with that. “Can I ask one more thing?”
“Shoot.”
“Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to hurt Mildred?”
Jax tilted his head as he eyed Sully. “No. Why?”
“Did people generally like her?”
Jax frowned. “I wouldn’t say that. They were scared of her, I think. They called her a witch behind her back, used to say her house was haunted. Some people thought I was crazy for driving out there every week. But no one would have hurt her. Not around here anyway. Why?”
Sully wasn’t prepared to say anything more along those lines yet. “Just asking. Covering my bases. But if you think of anything else, will you call me?”
“Sure thing.”
Sully stood, preparing to take his leave when he thought of something else. “Was there anyone else around here who might have known her, anyone who might have visited with her?”
Jax tilted his head. “Not from around here, but I saw a young guy around there once or twice in the past. Kind of punk-looking—super-black hair, couple of facial piercings, that kind of thing. I never talked to him or anything. I saw him in the porch a couple of times while I was dropping off groceries, but he walked away without talking to me. I remember wondering why he never went and picked stuff up for her instead of making her rely on deliveries.”
Sully raised a brow. This was interesting. “Any idea who he was?”
Jax shook his head. “Nope. I assumed a relative or something, like a grandkid or great-grandkid. Only thing is, people say she never got married or had kids, so I don’t know who it would be.”
Neither did Sully. For now, he added it to the list of things he needed to find out.
“Was he around that day, do you know? I mean, did you notice if he had a vehicle? Or maybe you passed someone on your way to the house?”
Jax shook his head. “Nope on all counts. Place was dead quiet.” He shuddered, his cheeks losing colour. “I didn’t see anyone coming or going or around or anything. That was the worst part, I think. How alone I felt.”
Sully understood alone.
“Thanks for talking to me, Jax. Consider what I said about calling my mom or someone like her.”
Leaving him in the sunroom, Sully pushed through the doors into the kitchen. There, he found Abby Calstead standing with tears in her eyes.
She pushed the door closed again, putting up a barrier between them and Jax. Sully, awaiting what he expected to be the inevitable tongue-lashing for upsetting her son, was surprised when she wrapped her arms around him.
“Thank you,” she said.
Sully returned the hug, albeit awkwardly. “For what?”
“I’ve been trying to get him to talk to me about how he feels or to at least agree to speak with a professional. I think maybe he will now. What you said to him, he needed to hear that from someone other than me. So thank you.” She reddened slightly. “And, yes, I was eavesdropping. I’m sorry.”
Sully smiled. “He’s your son. I get it.”
He followed Abby as she led him toward the front door. “I hope you find the answers you’re looking for,” she said as he stepped outside.
Sully glanced at her from the front step.
“Yeah,” he said. “Me too.”
6
On his drive back to the Wynne house, Sully put in a call to Hank.
“A young man, you say? Well, that’s a new one. The Mildred Wynne I dealt with was a very private person. I can’t imagine her taking anyone in.”
“Jax told me he saw the guy not long before Mildred’s death. I’d really like to track him down. As far as the will went, was anyone else named as beneficiaries?”
“No one,” Hank said. “Just the great-nephew and his family.”
“Any idea why they were named? Are they the only surviving relatives?”
“No idea. As I said, Mildred was very private. I knew only her wishes, and except for the burial issue, I followed them to the letter.”
Sully gave it a few more seconds’ thought. “Any chance I could get a copy of the will?”
“Perhaps, if the Wynnes agree. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure they have a copy. As both executor and her legal counsel, I read it out and ensured everything was taken care of. The family didn’t ask for a copy, and I didn’t think to provide one.”
“Maybe I could pick it up now if I can reach the Wynnes.”
“No good,” Hank said. “My afternoon’s stacked full. And no offence intended, but I’d like to call the Wynnes to confirm they’re fine with my providing you with a copy. I’m sure you understand.”
“I get it. Maybe tomorrow, then.”
“I’ll try to reach them.”
Sully disconnected and continued the drive to the Wynnes’ house.
Neil and Drea were eagerly awaiting Sully’s report by the time he arrived a few minutes later. He
filled them in on what he’d learned, which admittedly didn’t feel to him like a whole lot.
“It does leave me with some questions, though,” he said while sitting across from them at the kitchen table. “Most importantly, I want to figure out who this young man was who Jax saw at the house those couple of times. Maybe he knows something.”
Neil’s eyes widened. “Or maybe he did it.”
The same thought had crossed Sully’s mind, but he’d intended to leave it unspoken. “Yeah, maybe. No way to know until I can identify him and speak with him.”
Drea leaned in closer to Neil and clutched his arm, peering from him to Sully. “You know, I just had a thought. We’re not in any danger, are we?”
Sully wasn’t sure. Until he could figure out who killed Mildred and why, he wouldn’t truly be able to answer Drea. Not in any definitive way, anyway.
Even so, he needed to say something.
“Most homicides are committed with a definite purpose in mind,” he said. “Once the targeted victim is out of the way, the killer’s purpose is fulfilled. The problem is, we don’t know what the purpose was here. I’d love to be able to promise you you’ll be safe, but I don’t have the answers I need yet. I’ll keep digging though.”
He’d had another thought on the way back—a stretch, no doubt, but still worth checking into. “Your son—Callum, you said his name was?”
Neil nodded. “That’s right.”
“Any chance he was the young man Jax Calstead saw?”
“Callum?” Neil said. “I can’t imagine it could be. He knows less about his family than I do. And he’s certainly never shown any interest.”
Drea wasn’t as quick to dismiss the idea. “This man the delivery boy saw—what did he look like?”
“‘Punk’ was how Jax put it. Black hair, facial piercings. That’s all he saw, unfortunately.”
Neil smiled. “Well, no worries, then. Callum has light brown hair and no piercings.”
Drea faced Neil and spoke quietly. “We haven’t seen him in a while, though, have we?”
Given Neil’s lack of response, the words seemed to have an impact.
“I know you and Callum are more or less estranged,” Sully said. “But I would like to find him, to satisfy myself it’s not him. If it was, maybe he knows something.”
“It isn’t him,” Neil said. “Can’t be. You’ve just said the man Jax saw might be the person who killed Mildred. I can’t believe he’d be capable of that.”
Drea rubbed Neil’s hand. “He’s not really the same kid we used to know, though, is he?”
Neil spun on her. “It isn’t him.” The way he’d snapped the words left no room for argument—and an argument was exactly what it would be.
Sully decided he’d figure out a way to track Callum Wynne down without his parents’ involvement. “It’s okay. You’re probably right. Forget I asked.”
Neil took a breath, then rubbed Drea’s hand. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bite your heads off. It’s a hard thing, is all.”
It seemed a good time to take his leave, so Sully made for an exit, Neil and Drea following. He stopped at the front door.
“Just a forewarning: given the way my gift works, I’ll need to come back. If I can get Mildred to communicate with me, it might help me solve what happened to her without needing to search further—which would mean I could probably get her to cross over a lot sooner.”
“We’d be able to open our drapes,” Drea said. A smile played on her lips and Sully met the grin.
“If you can reach Hank tomorrow and get a copy of the will, that would be great,” he added.
Neil nodded. “We will. Thanks again for everything. And my apologies again. My emotions are all over the place, quite frankly. I don’t know why.”
Sully suspected living in a haunted house had something to do with it—ghosts often influenced the way the living felt and thought, even without knowing—but said nothing. They had enough to worry about already.
He headed for his SUV and started back toward Kimotan Rapids.
Just the other side of Willow Valley, his phone rang through his Bluetooth system. He tapped the screen to answer and heard Drea’s voice.
“I’m calling from the bathroom,” she said. “I don’t want Neil to know. He has such a hard time with Callum. He tried so hard to be a good dad to him, but Cal was just so heartbroken after his mom, no one could reach him. When he dropped out of school in the eleventh grade, Neil put his foot down about it, and Cal left home. He honestly thought Cal would come back to us, but he never did. He got involved with a bad group of people, and he’s been using drugs. We tried to get him into a treatment program when he came to us once for help, but he ran from the facility. We finally gave up. It’s a hard thing, to have to give up on a child. But we have Casey to raise, and she’s got her own set of problems. We just don’t have the energy to handle both. Does that make us bad parents?”
She’d started to cry quietly, and Sully wished he were there rather than sitting in a vehicle, miles away, without the ability to look her in the eye.
“You’re not bad parents. I can tell you’re good people, and you’re trying your best. Hopefully, Callum will come around and see it one day.”
“Thank you,” Drea said. A pause after suggested she wasn’t done, the length of it pointing to a change in topic—likely one she wasn’t sure she should broach. “You wondered whether Callum might be capable of killing Mildred.”
“If I suggested it, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. There’s no way to know anything right now.”
“It’s okay. Honestly—and I hate myself for saying this—I don’t know. Maybe he … oh God, what am I saying? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it. Please, don’t tell Neil.”
“I won’t. Don’t worry. And you’re not a bad person for wondering. Addictions change people, make them do things they wouldn’t otherwise. I’ve spent time around people with addictions. I get where you’re coming from.”
She released a heavy breath, relief in the sound. “If I don’t remember to say it later, I’m glad Neil called you. Even if you don’t solve our ghost problem, having someone to say these things to, it really helps. Thank you.”
Sully smiled. “You’re welcome.”
“You asked if we know where to find Callum. We don’t, but I can send you a newspaper article that might help you find some people he knows. Cal was arrested two years ago on a drug offence, him and a group of other people. It was a pretty big deal at the time, loads of cocaine and crystal meth. I understand they had guns, too, when the police searched them. Even if you can’t find an address for Cal, you might have better luck with one of the others.”
“Thanks,” Sully said. “It should give me a good place to start.”
“One other thing,” she said. “I hate to bring it up, but I don’t know what arrangements Neil made with you regarding payment. We’ll pay, of course, but we’re not doing quite as well financially these days. One of the reasons we sold our house in the city and moved here was to save money. Cal’s cost us quite a lot. Neil wanted him to have a good lawyer for his court matter, and even though he didn’t take it to trial, it still cost more than we expected.”
“Don’t worry,” Sully said. “We can work something out. Whatever happens, I’ll help you out.”
“Really?” The relief was clear in the way Drea breathed the word. “But how?”
“Honestly, I was doing this type of work for years for free. Getting paid for it is still a novelty.”
If they were jerks, he might have viewed the situation differently. But he liked the Wynnes. Liked them and wanted to help them.
The vision he’d had in the centre of the maze lingered in his brain even now, even as he put an increasing number of miles between himself and that place. He couldn’t shake the bad feeling settling inside him.
Mildred had met a bad end at someone else’s hands. Until Sully could put a face to the threat, he couldn’t be sure it had passed. Mo
ney forthcoming or not, he’d make sure the Wynne family was safe.
He called Lachlan en route to Kimotan Rapids.
“Did you work something out with Neil in terms of payment?” Sully asked.
“Not yet. Offered him a free consultation. Figured if you went out there and found nothing untoward, no harm done. Now we’ll have to figure something out. You find out anything else?”
“The ghost thing’s a little complicated. The woman I saw was dressed head to toe in black, including a veil. I couldn’t get a look at her face. According to the lawyer who handled her will, she asked to be buried that way. But when I got to the spot where she died, I had a vision of a second woman. Maybe it’s her too, but I don’t know. I had the feeling the second woman was something else.”
“What, exactly?”
“I don’t know. Not really human. And what’s weirder is Neil described seeing a similar ghost. Not a woman in the veil, but the one with the grey hair and black teeth.”
“Maybe Mildred Wynne had a case of tooth decay.”
“You wouldn’t be laughing if you’d seen her. She’s up there on my list of creepiest ghosts I’ve ever seen, and that’s a tall order.”
“Okay, I was being a smart ass, but I kind of meant it. You don’t know what this Mildred looked like, right? Could be the same person, just appearing differently.”
“Maybe. I’ll need to check into it further. Speaking of, am I clear to keep digging into this if the Wynnes can’t afford much? Sounds like they blasted through their savings when their son got into legal trouble. Drug problems.”
Lachlan grunted his understanding. “Tell ya what. If they’re not paying, I’m not working. But you’re certainly free to pursue it if you want.”
Sully frowned. “You won’t work it at all?”
Lachlan sighed. “Okay. What do you need from me?”
