Blood in the Marsh

by Ciana Stone

  However, for the moment, she allowed herself the luxury of savoring the feeling. “I guess I’m glad it was you,” she whispered. “Embarrassing as it was, at least I know you’re not the kind of man to make me feel worse about it. I still wish I could stop feeling so humiliated though.”

  “Maybe you just need a little more time.”

  She pulled away and looked up at him with her hands on his waist. “Or maybe I just need to grow up a little.”

  He started to respond but she put her fingertips over his lips. “You don’t have to try to make me feel better. I know I have a problem where men are concerned. I have for a long time. I guess that’s why I am the way I am—still untouched, so to speak. I just don’t know how to feel…no, that’s not true. I know how to feel those things, I’m just afraid of moving beyond feeling and into action.”

  He took her hand in his and held it against his chest. “That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you, Lyra. It just means you’re the kind of woman who wants to be sure before she gives herself to a man. When the time’s right you won’t be afraid.”

  “You really believe that?”

  He nodded and she smiled up at him. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a remarkable man, Michael Santera?”

  “Not that I recall.”

  She laughed and backed away, afraid that if she didn’t move away from him then, she would do something foolish. “Then I guess I get to be the first at something with you, too. I think you’re pretty incredible and Chelsey’s really lucky to have you interested in her.”

  Their eyes met for a moment then Michael looked away, not trusting himself to hide his feelings. He did like Chelsey. She was fun, outgoing, and beautiful, but she was also self-centered and spoiled. Lyra was altogether different. More and more he found himself wishing for things not to work out between her and Nick.

  “Come on. We better get back.”

  After driving the tractor back to the shed, they walked to the house and found Chelsey and Michael’s uncle sitting at the kitchen table, smoking cigars, drinking beer and playing poker.

  Chelsey grinned as they walked in. “Hey! Maybe you guys will bring me some luck. Miguel’s wiping me out! I’ve already lost my car, half my trust fund, and a very nice pair of earrings.”

  Miguel looked up and laughed. “Don’t let that poor mouth fool you. She’s just about cleaned me out of house and home. If I keep playing I’m gonna end up working for this girl.”

  Michael laughed and patted his uncle on the back. “Think we can get a couple of sandwiches and something to drink?”

  Miguel stood up and tossed his cards on the table. “Hell yeah! Any excuse to get away from this card shark!”

  Chelsey laughed and started picking up the cards. Michael and Lyra washed up and Michael poured a couple of glasses of tea. “Can I help?” Lyra asked his uncle as he started pulling things from the refrigerator.

  “Sure, you can make the sandwiches.”

  She smiled and took a loaf of bread from him. “Mustard or mayo?” she asked over her shoulder at Michael.

  “Both!” he and his uncle said at the same time. She shook her head and fixed them both a sandwich then fixed her own. “Chels? You want one?”

  “Nope, I think I just want to take a nap. Too many beers.”

  Chelsey wandered into the den and lay down on the couch as everyone else sat down at the table to eat. Lyra asked Miguel all about the farm and about himself. Michael watched and listened, seeing how easily she got his uncle to talk about his past, the things that were important to him and even about his aunt.

  Miguel hadn’t talked much about Cora since she died. It was still too hard for him. But he opened up to Lyra and told her all about how he and Cora had met and fallen in love and about Michael coming to spend the summers with them, being the son they’d never had.

  He even talked about Cora’s death. “I tell you, I didn’t even want to go on without her. She’d been the center of my life for so long it was like waking up one morning to find out there wasn’t a sun up in the sky anymore. Even now sometimes I just want to lie down and close my eyes and be with her.”

  Tears tracked Lyra’s cheeks and she reached over to put her hand on top of Miguel’s. “You and Cora had something so rare, Mr. Santera. You had real love—the kind that doesn’t fade or tarnish but gets brighter and stronger. That’s something people dream about, but few ever get a taste of. I know it must be so hard for you to be without her, but I still think you’re so lucky. I’d settle for just one little moment of that kind of love. I think if I could feel what you found for even just a tiny moment in time, then I could hold onto that for the rest of my life. And besides, you still have someone who loves you an awful lot. You have Michael, and one day you’ll have his children who’ll need you. They’ll need your love and your wisdom and Cora will be happy knowing that you’re here for them.”

  Miguel and Michael looked at one another and exchanged a pained look then Miguel turned to her and squeezed her hand. “I sure hope you find that kind of love, Lyra. Seems to me you’re the kind of person who would appreciate it. I think one day you’re gonna make some man a real lucky rascal.”

  Lyra smiled and wiped her face. “Too bad you’re not looking for a wife.”

  Miguel laughed and stood up. “Yeah, I’m too old and too wore out for a young filly like you.”

  “Do you think they made any more like you?” she asked teasingly as she got up to help him with the dishes. “Cause I’d sure like to find one.”

  Miguel nodded over at Michael. “How bout that big lug?”

  Lyra blushed as she looked at Michael. “I think Poker Polly in there already has her eye on him. Guess I’ll just have to keep looking.”

  “You mean you don’t have a boyfriend? Good gracious, girl! You been hiding in a closet?”

  “She’s seeing Nick,” Michael said quietly.

  Miguel jerked his head around sharply. Lyra frowned in confusion as he gave Michael a strange look. “Oh, that right?” He turned his back to them. “Haven’t seen him in a while. Where’d you run into him?”

  “He’s living with Michael,” Lyra answered, and then paused as Miguel gave Michael another odd look. “Didn’t you know?”

  “Guess I forgot to mention it,” Michael said as he stood. “Listen, we’ve got to get back. There are a couple of things I need to do. Thanks for lunch.”

  Miguel nodded. “Any time. Still your home, you know.”

  Lyra gave him a big hug. “Thank you, Mr. Santera. I really enjoyed being here and meeting you. I hope I see you again.”

  “You come back any time. You don’t have to wait on an invitation or my namesake to bring you.”

  “Thanks. I will.”

  They woke Chelsey up and got in Michael’s car. Chelsey nodded off before they had gone two miles. Neither Lyra nor Michael had anything to say. She was wondering why Miguel acted so strange when he heard Nick’s name..

  Michael stopped at the station and ran in to get the pictures out of his desk then they went back to his house. Chelsey decided to finish her nap so he and Lyra went into the den.

  He sat down on the couch and spread the pictures out on the coffee table. Lyra sat down beside him and studied them. Her eyebrows drew together in a frown as she looked from one to the next.

  “What?” Michael asked anxiously. “You recognize anything?”

  “It doesn’t make sense.” She picked up one picture and studied the symbols inscribed around the circle. “See these? Those are standard satanic symbols. But these—they’re not. They look like the symbols that were used by the Assassins, a sect that existed in about 1090 or so. And this looks like Sufi, but I’m not sure what it means. Also, the star is not really shaped right for a satanic cult and these symbols at the points of the star don’t belong.”

  “So what do you think?”

  “I think you’ve got a mystery on your hands. Nothing here really fits together. It’s as if someone’s trying to put forth
the appearance of this being some devil worship or something—from the pentagram and the symbols to the severed animal head. But they’ve used a mish-mash of symbology from a lot of different sources, like they don’t understand the meaning of the images. Either you’ve got some people who are using this to make you look for the wrong thing or…”

  “Or what?”

  “I’m not sure. But something about this is nagging at me. If I could get to my computer and my reference books I might be able to tell you more about it.”

  Michael gathered up the pictures. “Why don’t you wait on that? Let’s hold off a couple of days, just to make sure no one’s going to make any more attempts on you and Chelsey. I’d feel better if you’re where I can keep an eye on you.”

  “Our own personal knight in shining armor?”

  Michael laughed and stuck the pictures in his pocket. “Something like that, I guess. That bother you?”

  “Not at all. I just don’t understand why you’d go to so much trouble for people you hardly know.”

  Michael stared at her without answering and she walked to look out of the window. “Do you think Nick’ll be back soon?”

  Michael didn’t answer her question as he got up and walked into the kitchen. He wasn’t sure if he was looking forward to Nick getting back or not.

  Chapter Six

  Friday—Brunswick

  Lyra was sitting by the window, staring out over the front yard when Nick pulled up in the driveway. She watched him turn off the Jeep then lean back and run his hands through his hair, staring up at the sky. For a few minutes he didn’t move.

  His face looked harder, as if the angles were somehow more pronounced and there was a tension around his eyes and mouth she hadn’t seen before. As he walked up the sidewalk, she could see his jaw was clenched tightly.

  She got up and walked into the hall. He opened the door and for a moment he looked at her as if he didn’t know her. Then his face softened and he smiled.

  “Hello there, Lyra with a ‘y’. I see you kept your promise. It’s good to see you.”

  “You, too.”

  “What’s Michael’s car doing here so early?” he asked as they walked down the hall to the den.

  Lyra stopped. He took a few steps then turned and looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

  “There was a little trouble while you were gone.”

  “A little trouble?”

  “I’d call it a lot of trouble,” Michael’s voice came from the doorway.

  Nick turned to him and Michael gestured. “Welcome back. Come on in, I think you need to hear this.”

  “Are you coming?”

  Lyra looked up as Nick held out his hand to her. What had changed since he’d left? Before the mere sight of him filled her with an uncomfortable excitement. Now the excitement had transformed into a sense of dread. She didn’t want to touch him.

  A small voice inside whispered the reason behind her reaction but she clamped a mental muffler on it. Sure, she’d spent time with Michael and yes, he was everything she’d wish for in a man, but she wasn’t the kind of person to cut in on a friend’s territory and Chelsea had staked a claim on Michael.

  “Lyra?” Nick prompted.

  “Oh, sorry.” Silently she took his hand and together they walked into the den where Michael and Chelsey were waiting.

  Chelsey’s usually styled hair was pulled back at the nape of her neck and her face was free of makeup. She was dressed in a pair of gym shorts and a loose T-shirt.

  Nick frowned and as he sat on the loveseat, pulling Lyra down beside him. “Let’s hear it.”

  Michael told him what had happened and Nick turned to Lyra. She stared at him without speaking and finally he turned back to Michael. “You have any leads?”

  Michael shook his head. “Let’s go get a beer.”

  Nick’s eyes narrowed briefly, before he got up and followed Michael into the kitchen. “So?”

  “I think someone has targeted those two and I think it has something to do with some other things that are going on.”

  “Such as?”

  “Such as the pentagrams I found in the woods at old man Black’s place and now in two other places and the fact that in the last two weeks three young women have vanished.”

  Nick stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked to the back door, staring out. “Do you have anything to back up this theory?”

  “There is one thing. Remember the pictures I showed you that I took at Mr. Black’s, the one of the footprint? Well, the guys took pictures out at the marsh where Patty and Lyra were taken and the identical footprint showed up again.”

  “That’s not much to go on.”

  “Yeah, I know. But I showed the pictures to Lyra and she said that they didn’t make any sense. The symbols don’t match and she said it looks like someone’s trying to make it look like some cult is responsible and just using whatever symbol they can find. She said she could check it out on her database and in her reference books but she hasn’t gone back home to…”

  “You showed Lyra the pictures? Why the hell would you do that?”

  “She’s a parapsychologist. It’s her field.”

  “She’s just a scared young woman who has no idea what she could be getting herself into.”

  “Nick, I think you’re wrong. You have this idea that Lyra’s some frightened little mouse who cringes at her own shadow and isn’t equipped to deal with life. But she’s not like that. She’s smart and educated and she has strength. And anyway, I still think these things are connected somehow and that footprint does prove it. Besides, I can feel it. It’s just…”

  Nick turned around swiftly with a cold gleam in his eyes. “I get the picture.” He then took a seat at the table and leaned his head in his hands. “What if you’re right?”

  “Huh?”

  “I said what if you’re right?”

  “Then I’m going to find the bastards responsible and put them away.”

  “And that’ll satisfy you?”

  “It’ll have to.” Michael looked away from him for a moment. When he turned around his face was deadly calm and his voice was steady. “I believe in justice, Nick, but I don’t believe in vigilante justice. I’m a police officer and I swore to uphold the law and that’s what I intend to do.”

  Nick nodded and stood. “Yeah, I know. I just wondered if that’s what you really wanted.”

  “Man, there’s no way I can get what I really want. She’s dead and buried and nothing I do now can bring her back.”

  “But maybe you can help her find a little peace.”

  Michael looked at him seriously. “Maybe, if we’re lucky, we can all find a little.”

  Saturday—Brunswick

  Nick fixed coffee and took a cup out on the back porch. Sitting on the step, he sipped at the thick, hot brew. A noise behind him made him turn. Lyra was standing at the door.

  “What are you doing up so early?”

  She yawned and walked out to sit down beside him. “I was thinking about what Michael said about finding a safe place for us to stay, and I don’t like the idea of hiding away like some criminal. If someone wants to find us, they will no matter where we hide. They found us here.”

  “Then what’re you going to do? Go back home?”

  “No, I’m going to move into my house.”

  “Your house? I didn’t know you had one.”

  “I have Lucius’ house. I’ve been thinking about it and I think it’s the perfect solution. The house is furnished, it’s equipped with an alarm system, and there’s plenty of room.”

  “And how big an army do you plan on hiring to make sure no one gets to you?”

  “I really don’t think I need an army. Like I said, the house has a very good security system. And I’ll be happy to let you and Michael look it over beforehand if that’ll make you feel better. And that’d give you a chance to look through all of hisLuciusLuciusLuciusLuciusLuciusLucius’s old magic things. What do you think?”

 
“Why don’t we run it by Michael and see what he thinks?”

  “Fine. Nick, is everything okay? You’ve seemed a little tense since you got back.”

  “Just a little tired. Nothing serious. How about you? You’ve been through a hell of a lot the past week. How’re you feeling?”

  “Okay for the most part. Sometimes I can go for hours without thinking about it, then all of a sudden it kind of grabs me and I feel like I can hardly breathe. But it’s getting better. I just wish I knew why those people are after Chelsey and me. I mean, what do they want with us? Is this some weird kidnapping thing? And could it be connected with those disappearances and those circles Michael took pictures of?”

  Nick shook his head and wrapped his arm around her. “I don’t know, but we’ll find out. And until we do, I promise I’ll take care of you.”

  For some inexplicable reason the words “I’ll take care of you” made her skin crawl and immediately thereafter rage blossomed. That shocked her. Why should she be angry that he wanted to protect her? Telling herself she was being irrational, she gave him a smile. “That’s really nice of you and I appreciate it. I’ve never had anyone to depend on before—at least no one except Lucius. I just don’t want to be a burden.”

  “You’re no burden.” He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “Listen, how about we go over and check out Lucius’ place then we can talk to Michael about it when we get back?”

  “You don’t want to wait for Michael to go with us?” She hoped he’d say yes. She didn’t really want to be alone with him. Her hope was short-lived.

  “We’ll take him over later. Okay with you?”

  “Sure.” She saw no graceful way to refuse.