Earthbound Bones

by ReGina Welling

  “Nor do I.” Adriel said. “That scenario is usually reserved for people who know exactly who killed them and who is keeping the secret. Ben has no idea. I’m leaning toward his killer still being alive.”

  “A drunk driver makes the most sense given the lengths taken to hide the body. There’s a good chance it was a habitual offender. I’ll pull driving records for DUI violations over the past thirty years. It’s a place to start.

  Chapter 16

  “Are you doing anything tonight?” Turning to avoid slamming into Hamlin while the three of them unloaded the food truck, Adriel tossed the question at Pam.

  “Let’s see, there’s my dinner with the queen, I can’t put that off again. Then later I was thinking of rearranging my video collection. They’ve been in alphabetical order for so long, I’m thinking I might change it up and create a complex rating system based on seven points of likability to sort them by.”

  “Is that supposed to be humor? We don’t do corny where I come from.”

  “Ouch, burn,” Hamlin teased Pam.

  “Burn? That was barely even warm.” Her smile was, though. After only seeing the occasional glimpse of this side of Pam over the years, Hamlin enjoyed her lighthearted laughter.

  “I’d like you to meet some friends of mine.”

  Pam wanted to ask a bajillion questions, but with Hamlin in close proximity, settled for saying yes. Even worse, there was no chance over the rest of the day to get Adriel alone and grill her for information.

  So, when she arrived at the cabin after work, Pam had no idea what she was walking into. The mid-sized SUV in the yard suggested Adriel probably wasn’t entertaining angels. Or ghosts. Too bad. That might have been fun.

  The sound of female voices raised in laughter intimidated Pam enough to halt her forward progress. All through her teenage years, when other girls grouped into cliques, none included the awkward subject of speculation who wouldn’t have put herself forward in any case. Experience insisted this would be no different. She had turned to leave when Adriel stepped onto the porch.

  “Pam? Were you leaving? Come inside and meet my friends. Please?” Adriel’s tone soothed away doubt, but not the hesitation making Pam stay a few steps behind. She had no idea what to expect, outside of being the weird one in the group.

  “Ladies, I’d like you to meet Pam. She’s my boss and landlord. More importantly, she’s my friend.” Too dumbfounded to speak coherently, Pam stammered out a perfunctory greeting. She tried not to stare, she really did, but Gustavia in full regalia was a sight worth a good, long look. And it wasn’t even one of her crazier getups. She’d taken a page out of Amethyst’s book and gone for a monochromatic color palette. She wore gladiator sandals laced almost to the knee in a deep blue shading toward green. An A-line skirt, a Gustavia original, swung just below the knee—much shorter than her typical ankle dusters. Pam thought the material had been constructed from patchwork strips of old shirts—all different patterns in shades of tropical blues. A closer look revealed both pockets and buttons scattered at random intervals. A teal colored tank in shiny material topped by only five or six strings of beads completed the outfit. Into her hair, Gustavia had braided a collection of feathers and a handful miniature plastic flamingos.

  Next to her, Amethyst’s floaty fairy dress with yards of diaphanous chiffon in a deep purple that exactly matched her lipstick, came off as rather tame. At least the other two women looked normal. Maybe, for once, Pam wouldn’t be considered the oddball.

  “Pam, this is Julie Hayward-Kingsley. She’s an up-and-coming photographer. And then we have Gustavia, who is an author of children’s books. That vision in purple next to her is Amethyst Grayson. You’ll have to ask her to read your aura.” Amethyst gave Adriel a nod. “And last but not least, this is Kat Canton. Incidentally, Gustavia is Zack Roman’s sister, and Kat is his girlfriend.”

  Before Adriel could provide Kat’s occupation, Pam pointed a finger at her. “I’ve heard of you. You’re the medium who works with Zack sometimes. I had no idea Adriel traveled in such illustrious circles.” Smiles and warm greetings proved a perfect remedy for Pam’s remaining shyness.

  “Come, eat dinner with us, and we’ll tell you how we came to be friends. It’s a story worth writing a book about. We’re having…what did you call it, Julie? Potluck? I’m not sure what that is exactly.”

  “It just means we all brought food with us. I made my famous eggplant lasagna. Gustavia raided her vegetable garden for salad fixings. Kat brought marinated chicken, and we talked Amethyst into making a batch of those cookies we all love. They’re full of nuts and seeds and hunks of white chocolate.”

  Pam’s eyes lit up. This was another way she could fit in. “Hang on one sec. I need to go out to my car.” She returned with Adriel’s favorite: a loaf of Hamlin’s delicious French bread—fully two feet long, and full of crusty goodness. “This should go nicely with the meal.”

  By the end of dinner, Pam felt like one of the group. She’d made them recount parts of the story twice. “If I wasn’t in the middle of my own fantastic tale, I’d be calling around to see if there was a rubber room missing its occupants.”

  “I think this is the first time we’ve been able to tell the whole story straight out to anyone. Even my folks don’t know parts of what happened. Speaking of family, Adriel filled us in about your brother. I hope you won’t think we’re butting in, but we want to help.” Kat glanced at Adriel for confirmation and waited for Pam’s response, which came in the form of tears.

  “You’re all so nice. I’m sorry I’m being so emotional. It’s just everything happened so quickly. But, for the first time in a long time, I don’t feel like I’m all alone.”

  “Then I think I should tell you I’ve already had the pleasure of meeting Ben.” Kat’s smile widened at the memory of his sweet face. She went on to help Adriel describe the visit. “From the information he provided, Zack thinks we’re looking for a drunk driver.”

  “Oh.” A pause then, “Oh, Adriel. Do you remember me telling you about Bill and the fishing trip? Do you think it could have been him or one of his friends? Kat, tell Zack to look at William Dooley, Damien Oliver, and Graham Brier. Although, if Adriel’s right and Lydia’s death has anything to do with Ben’s, that would eliminate Graham since he’s been living on the other side of the country for years, and I would have heard if he had come back for a visit.”

  “Assuming the killer also sabotaged the ditch digging equipment, it probably wasn’t Damien. Remember he mentioned how adding sand to the fuel tank wasn’t the best way to put a vehicle out of commission for an extended period.”

  Pam frowned. “I can’t picture Bill being cold-hearted enough to leave my brother in an unmarked grave all these years, but he’s the only one left. Unless it was some stranger passing through, and everything else was just a series of coincidences.”

  Chapter 17

  “I’m telling you, it wasn’t me. I may be a washed up loser, but I’m no killer.” Bill looked Pam right in the eye.

  “Then why all the fuss about the ditch? What do you care?”

  Bill lowered his voice. “A friend called in a favor.”

  “Who?”

  “Doesn’t matter. I just did what I was told.”

  “It matters. Lydia Keough may have died to stop anyone finding those bones. I see you hadn’t thought of that.” Adriel said to a shocked Bill.

  “It was Edward, okay? Edward wanted the protest.”

  It was the last name Adriel expected to hear. Edward could have stopped the construction before it started.

  “But you do have a secret.” Adriel made it a statement, not a question. She took a shot in the dark. “Does it have something to do with dancing pants?” His might have been one of the voices from the parking garage.

  Pam’s elbow jabbed Adriel hard in the ribs. Based on the color draining from Bill’s face, though, she’d hit pay dirt.

  “How did you find out about that?” Panic put him on the hairy ed
ge of the fight or flight response. With his bum hip, he wasn’t going to get far. A look at Adriel and he knew she could take him in a fight. There was nothing for it but to give in and reveal what he had kept hidden for thirty years.

  “I cheated on Rosa the weekend Ben was killed. It was a stupid thing to do and I felt horrible about it after. An older girl took an interest in me and my brains fell into my pants. When I sobered up, I realized I couldn’t face Rosa, so I did what any idiot would do. Got drunk again and took off to join the rodeo.” Unsaid words hung in the air. “Damien and Graham got into a fight over nothing, and the fishing trip broke up early, so I left when the others did. One look at my sweet Rosa’s face and I couldn’t live with myself. I was up in the stands at the fairgrounds with a six pack, trying to drink myself to death when the rodeo started. The rest is history, or town gossip. Whichever. When I came back a year later, Rosa forgave me and we got married.”

  “And you’re sure you never saw anyone driving erratically that night? How did you get back from the lake?”

  “No one but me, but I stayed off the main roads. Dirt bike. I took the old logging trail down past Hamm Bog. Had a near miss with a moose.”

  “Can you remember what Damien and Graham were fighting about?” Damien was the other name on their suspect list.”

  Bill took a minute to think about it. “Probably nothing. Just a group of stupid kids thinking we were big shots up there on our own with a case of beer we paid for ourselves. Graham used to get mean when he drank.”

  “None of you were over eighteen. Who bought the beer for you.”

  A shutter dropped over Bill’s face. “He can’t tell you anything, so there’s no sense digging in that manure pile. Besides, your family has been through enough. Pam, you’ve known me all our lives. Do you really think I could stand by and watch you suffer if I knew something that would ease your pain?”

  “Please, Bill. I need to know.” Pam rested her hand on his. The name he spoke came as a complete shock.

  “Craig.”

  “My uncle? He couldn’t have had anything to do with Ben’s death.”

  “I should hope not.” Bill pulled out his wallet to pay for the coffee and donuts.

  “Put your wallet away. This one’s on me.” Probably the last food he’ll ever eat here, she thought.

  ***

  Three times Adriel circled back to the beginning of the maze in Craig’s mind. All of the signposts she put there last time had been moved. Wily rascal. Well, he wasn’t the only fox in the woods. The second she closed her eyes to run through the gauntlet mentally, it clicked. On vastly different scales, Craig’s mind and his house were laid out in a similar pattern. That was the key to the whole thing. She had the how; it was time to figure out the what. The secret lay in one of the countless boxes of seemingly random items. Presumably the dirty socks and plastic cutlery could be ruled out. Also hats, cookbooks, empty cans, labels and lids. What items had he taken the most care with? The well-wrapped acorns? Worth a shot.

  “Are you sure this isn’t a total waste of time?” Estelle’s patience was shorter than an eyelash these days. With Julius missing and the only hope of finding him resting on the return of Adriel to full angel-level powers, Adriel took the brunt of Estelle’s ire.

  “Back off, trainee. I’m doing the best I can.”

  “I’m sorry. You know it’s the situation, not you. This feels off.”

  “If you have a better idea, I’m open to it. Bill implicated Craig. We already know Craig has something hidden in here, we just need to find it.”

  Adriel closed her eyes to get a better mental image of the cabin. A right then two lefts and another right should do it. Turning the corner to find Craig standing there looking sad clinched her hunch, and proved she was on the right track. “You’re here to drag my secret shame out into the light where I have to look at it.”

  “No, Craig. You don’t have to look.” After talking to Bill, she and Pam agreed Craig couldn’t face his part in the events leading up to his nephew’s hit-and-run death. In his grief, he had locked away the memory and created this complicated mental structure to protect it. A maze of living walls designed to contain the thing he needed to not see. He held a piece of the puzzle and Adriel needed to see how it fit. “I can shield you if that’s what you need me to do, and you never have to know what I found.”

  Thirty years of hiding the truth had led him to this point; facing it now might set him free, or it might take what sanity he had left. Adriel tugged on the silver cord that bound her to Estelle. Who knew what might happen once she poked this hornet’s nest. Craig could freak out and change the pathways, leaving her stranded.

  Adriel took Craig’s silence to mean she should move on by herself. Brushing past him where he stood, she missed his stricken expression and the subtle but steady drop in temperature. She reached for the door handle, which felt odd under her hand. Bone. The door handle was made from bone. Creepy. A shiver raised the hair on her arms, but she twisted it open anyway to reveal a vast and empty cavern. Adriel refused to accept defeat.

  A single step into the room caused the silver rope to tug painfully against her middle. Adriel might have tried to push the issue, but a rapidly thickening mist rose to bar her way.

  Between one breath and the next, chaos erupted. A shriek tore the air, the sound powerful enough to push Adriel back a step, then another, until she stood right next to Craig. A whimper escaped his lips, pierced through the inhuman scream. Whipping her head around, Adriel saw the terror on Craig’s face and the notebook clutched in his hand.

  She’d been wrong this whole time. It wasn’t a memory trapping Craig in his head. The stench of brimstone slammed into her like a wall.

  “Galmadriel, look out.” Estelle’s shout came a second too late.

  Darkness fell over Adriel like a wave, sucked her under, rolled her as though she weighed nothing. The cord binding Adriel snapped; the force of it breaking catapulted Estelle out of Craig’s mind, which snapped shut behind her and would not reopen.

  Adriel was trapped, Julius was missing. Estelle could only think of one thing to do.

  ***

  “It just makes sense. Ammie’s booked solid these days, which leaves Reid stuck in the bedroom if he’s home. If we turn this place into a storefront of sorts, we could offer package deals. More than half of my regular clients are hers already. Unless you’ve changed your mind about living together?” Kat speared a shrimp off Zack’s plate and popped it in her mouth.

  “Never. We could make it official if you’d just say yes.”

  She waved her fork at him. “Not until you’ve had a chance to see what being married to me would be like. It’s more of a commitment than you think.”

  Zack rolled his eyes like he did every time she tried to make the point. “You sleep at my place four nights a week as it is. What’s going to be different on the other three?”

  “I have my…” Kat’s eyes rolled back in her head.

  Heart hammering, Zack lunged to her side.

  “Adriel is in trouble. Come. Now.” Estelle’s voice boomed from Kat’s lips, giving Zack an involuntary shiver. That kind of thing didn’t happen often, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to it. When her eyes snapped open, she was just Kat again.

  “We have to go. Hurry. Estelle showed me where they are. No lights or sirens, though. I’ll call Ammie on the way. Julie and Gustavia, too.”

  By the time all four women and Zack assembled in Craig’s room, twenty minutes had passed.

  “They’re both caught in his mind and I can’t get in.”

  “That’s because they’re not in there alone.” Amethyst turned her reading ability up to full force. “There’s darkness in him. Why didn’t you call me before she went in there? I could have kept this from happening.”

  “We didn’t know. Adriel thought it was just one of Craig’s memories haunting him. She wasn’t expecting this. We have to help her, but I’m not sure how. I’m the worst guardian an
gel ever.”

  Gesturing for quiet, Amethyst turned to Kat. “What do you see?”

  “The darkness is seeping into her. It’s evil, but it doesn’t feel like Billy did. Probably not an Earthwalker. If I use you as a…”

  “Shield.” Amethyst finished for her. “That’s what I was thinking. We’ll go in through Adriel and I’ll heal her aura as we go. I can cast it out ahead like a shield while you watch for them. Estelle, can you bind us to you like you did Adriel?”

  “I can, but that thing snapped my cord like it was rotten thread.”

  “What about this?” Gustavia cut in, “Have Estelle add Julie and me to the mix. She can anchor the cord around us like mountain climbers do when they need a second safety. Wrap it double and we’ll help her pay it out as you go.”

  Estelle was already shaking her head, “I can’t put you all at risk. There has to be another way.”

  “I want to help. Adriel is my friend, too. Do it. We’re wasting time here,” Julie squared off against her grandmother the angel. “Do it,” she repeated. Estelle wasted no more time.

  “Go. Go. We’ve got you,” Gustavia reached for Julie’s hand, and for Estelle’s, thinking physical proximity would strengthen the bond. Light flowed along the silver binding to strengthen Amethyst’s power.

  Before the force of their combined will, the thing of darkness slowly fell back. Amethyst could feel it tasting her power just as surely as she measured the force mounted against her. Thinking it wise to keep a measure of her ability in reserve, she toned it down several notches. Just enough to meet strength with strength. With Kat directing her, she pushed slowly ahead, ignoring everything but her shield and the evil beyond.

  “Do you hear it?” Kat whispered to Amethyst.

  “No, what?”

  “It’s talking to me. Telling me to give up, that we can never defeat it. It’s showing me images of Adriel and Julius being pulled screaming into the black.”