Ripples in the Shadows

by Kathy Dexter

  “She said she simply wanted to make sure I could handle myself, particularly after my illness and memory loss. How did you know?”

  “I, too, have been expected to live life according to other people’s wishes.”

  Icy prickles fluttered along Hunter’s skin. “Uncle Gideon?”

  “He claimed my youth made me vulnerable to those who would use me for their own purposes.” Kat rubbed her nose with the back of her hand, as though a sickening stench wrapped around her. Defiance gleamed in those odd eyes. “Said only he could be trusted with my magic. So I told him my magic disappeared when my parents died. First time he lost his temper with me. But not the last.”

  “What did he do?” Ally whispered.

  “Can’t talk about it.” Kat’s face paled. “I learned fast that I had no one else to depend on except myself.”

  Guilt once more knotted across Hunter’s shoulders.

  “Mind if I join you folks?” Beer in hand, Lou slipped into the empty seat next to Kat. “You must be the sister.”

  Hunter made the introductions.

  “We’ve met before.” Lou’s mouth squirmed sideways. “Only you looked a lot hairier. I remember the eyes.”

  “Lou! What happened to my fellow skeptic?” Ally cried. “First you talk about seeing ghosts. Now you believe in shape shifting?”

  “Ah, Miss Ally, sometimes you have to accept the unexplainable.” Lou’s eyes twinkled. “Particularly in a town like Mystic Lake.”

  “Well, I do have a friend who sends me flying through the air with that dragon pendant of hers. Guess it shouldn’t surprise me she has a sister who can turn into a cat.”

  “Only one of my tricks.” Kat eyed Lou. “Speaking of cats, your Matilda and I have shared some adventures.”

  “That creature’s always off on some odd business. She been helpin’ you keep an eye on your sister?”

  “Matilda prefers to keep her. . .activities. . .confidential.” Kat pressed her forefinger against her lips. “I’m sworn to secrecy.”

  “Sounds like her.” Lou sipped his beer. “I’m curious about Thursday night when I was on guard duty, and you prowled the cottage grounds. How did you manage not to trigger the alarms installed by the Gyld?”

  “I can smell vapors emitted by magic. Particularly when I shapeshift. Easy to navigate past the alarms and not set them off.”

  “Nice trick. Could come in handy. But why roam the town in cat form?”

  “Who pays attention to a cat? I can keep a low profile and not draw attention to myself as I might in human form. I also visit Gran without having to answer questions from her neighbors and friends. Or every busybody ready to spread gossip.”

  “You sure there’s not more to it?”

  Kat caught her lip between her teeth. “I didn’t want Uncle Gideon to know where I was.” She glanced at Hunter and Ally. “He won’t like the idea of contacting dead relatives either.”

  Lou arched one eyebrow. “A séance?”

  “Mumbo jumbo, Lou,” Ally muttered, “even if you did see a ghost at the last one you attended.”

  “Gotta remember, Miss Ally, life’s a little different in Mystic Lake. All that magic mumbo jumbo floatin’ about.”

  Hunter had thought it through and made her decision. “If Twyla Temple can truly connect with the Other Side, I have the opportunity to get some important answers from both my mother and grandmother.”

  “Meredith Sloane and Mary Hawthorne.” Lou nodded. “Can’t hurt to try.”

  “After all these years, what I wouldn’t give for one more glimpse of Mother.” Kat’s eyes glistened. “Twyla’s willing to perform a psychic ritual at nine tomorrow night.”

  Ally stuck out her chin. “I’m going, too.”

  “Wouldn’t think of leaving you out of this little jaunt.” Amusement flashed in Kat’s eyes despite her somber expression.

  Ally sat up straight, and folded her hands in front of her. “Maybe she’ll make a believer out of me.”

  “Yeah, right.” Hunter let the sarcasm drift through her words.

  A smile tickled the corner of Kat’s lips. “Twyla has her ways.”

  “Mind if I put in my two cents?” Lou took a long swallow of his beer before he continued speaking directly to Ally. “When I was on the police force, I dealt with my share of con artists and phony baloney charlatans out to rip off desperate believers. Twyla’s the real deal.”

  Ally wrinkled her nose. “You sure she didn’t put one over on you the last time you attended one of her séances?”

  “You think that’s possible, Miss Ally?” Lou’s puppy dog ears pleaded.

  “Don’t get smart with me,” Ally laughed and shifted closer to him. “Why don’t you join us tomorrow night? Someone with your common sense can assure me everything’s above board.”

  “I’ll talk to Twyla to make sure it’s okay with her.” Lou drank the last of his beer. “After I finish a job for Logan.”

  “A policeman hiring a private detective?” Hunter touched the sapphire dragon sparking heat against her skin. The same voices she’d heard before whispered inside her head. She shook it to clear her thoughts. “You’re looking for Dr. Fleming.”

  “How did you––don’t tell me. Mumbo jumbo. You have that dragon of yours, while Twyla fiddles with a crystal ball.”

  “Not much of a secret, is it?” Kat said. “Everyone’s looking for Fleming. Police knocking on doors, staking out the bus station, checking any possible cronies, friends, acquaintances.”

  “And I have some contacts the police don’t,” Lou added. “Logan’s making sure he doesn’t miss any leads.”

  Hunter pursed her lips. She sensed Lou’s involvement went deeper. Didn’t look like he was going to tell them, though. “What about the doctor’s gaudy sports car? That should be easy to trace.”

  “Smart girl,” Lou murmured.

  Ally leaned toward him. “Spill, Lou. You know about the car. So must others.”

  Lou raised his hands in mock defense. “I know when my back’s against the wall. Walt Standing Bear called the cops when his men noticed the car in the casino’s parking lot.”

  “No sign of Fleming?” asked Kat.

  “According to Standing Bear, the last time the doctor entered the casino was Thursday night.”

  “The car’s been there since then?” Hunter couldn’t believe the doctor had no transportation for the past four days.

  “Nope.” Lou waved his empty glass at the waitress. “The parking lot was empty last night. When his men spotted the car early this morning, Standing Bear notified the police immediately. He was aware the authorities were scouring the town for the doctor.”

  “Maybe he rented a less recognizable car,” Kat suggested.

  “Not likely,” Lou said. “The doc’s credit card was maxed out and his bank account empty. Has been for a coupla weeks.”

  Lucy brought Lou’s refill. After she left, Hunter asked Lou. “That’s what your contacts told you?”

  “Easy to check the doc’s records.” Lou sipped his drink.

  The police could have done that. Yet Logan asked Lou. Hunter wondered why.

  “Fleming’s broke? But he’s a doctor,” Ally said. “And many of his patients are quite wealthy. He must’ve made a bundle.”

  “And gambled it all away,” Lou answered.

  Kat’s eyes gleamed. “Standing Bear tell you that?”

  Lou shook his head. “He refused to give out information on his clients. So I tracked down Fleming’s nurse.”

  “Agnes Whitmore,” Hunter said. “A sweet woman.”

  “My impression as well. Too bad the doctor treated her so poorly.”

  “How?” Ally asked.

  “He closed his practice without any notice, owing her four weeks’ back pay.”

  “How awful!” Hunter remembered the woman with braided gray hair who always wore cardigans in the office and had kind words for each patient. “How is she making ends meet?”

  “Her husband
has a pension, and she does some private duty nursing.” Lou smiled. “She told me she’s much happier now.”

  Ally winked. “Not having to deal with Dr. Fleming and his drama.”

  “Did she know about the doctor’s gambling habit?” Kat asked. “His finances?”

  “She kept the books, saw the credit card statements that listed various casinos, gambling halls, racetracks. Once his bank account came close to being overdrawn, she put two and two together.”

  “Yet he managed to hold on to an expensive car.” Hunter thought about it. “Did he have a secret stash somewhere?”

  Lou grinned. “Agnes found deposits that didn’t correspond to patient visits. She asked Fleming, and he claimed he’d sold some belongings: expensive jewelry, antiques, paintings. One night she forgot her purse and returned to the office to fetch it. A light was on in the back. A man with a tattoo on his neck sat drinking and laughing, his feet up on the desk. She overheard him tell Fleming he’d found a fence for some of the goods. That’s when she decided to hightail it before the men spotted her.”

  Hunter released a held breath. “Did she describe the tattoo?”

  “A spider web.”

  Davy Jones. “Goods stolen from Mystic Lake?” Or elsewhere? How wide a net did Fleming and Jones cast for places to rob? “Why are you telling us all this, Lou? Shouldn’t your information be just between you and your client?”

  Something flickered in Lou’s eyes. “Smart girl.”

  “You think I have something to add to Agnes’ story.” So she was just another source.

  “And perhaps I’ve learned a few things which might help you in return.” Lou held her gaze. “I asked Agnes if she had any ideas about the victims. She knew several of Fleming’s wealthy patients had been burgled.”

  “Aunt Miranda?” Tremors ran along Hunter’s skin. Another victim? Or could her aunt be involved in the crimes? As she had been when she was a teenager.

  “Your aunt ever discuss a break-in at her home?” Lou asked.

  Hunter’s stomach flip-flopped. “No.”

  “She’s pretty chummy with Fleming,” Ally said.

  “I noticed at the ball.” Kat touched Hunter’s shoulder. “If she’s still friends with Fleming she might know where he’s hiding.”

  “What if she’s with him right now?”

  CHAPTER 41

  H UNTER JUGGLED THE BOX of leftover lasagna from the pub, twisted the key in the lock, and pushed open the cottage’s front door.

  “Wait.” Kat put a hand on her shoulder. “Someone’s inside.”

  “How do you know?” Ally asked. “There’s no car except ours in the driveway.”

  Kat’s nose twitched. “I can smell her. Lotus and sandalwood.”

  “Aunt Miranda’s scent.” Hunter glanced toward the living area where only one lone lamp partially illuminated the room. So her aunt showed up in person instead of answering any of Hunter’s calls. “Where is she?”

  Kat glided silently toward the mirror. She raised her hands, palms facing the glass surface. As Kat hummed an eerie, haunting melody, similar to the one she sang at Sylvia’s but with slight differences, the purple fairy wings fluttered.

  The reflective surface fogged over. A golden glow backlit grayish-white mounds of clouds and transformed them into a silvery blue. Like a stage curtain opening, the masses of color separated and revealed Miranda upstairs, rummaging through the books on Hunter’s desk. The vision disappeared.

  “How dare she!” Hunter fumed.

  “Just as she used to do when you were a teenager,” Ally muttered.

  “Looks like she’s searching for something specific among the books.” Kat’s eyes glittered. “The grimoire?”

  Hunter clutched both hands to keep them from shaking. Could her aunt be the sinister force behind everything that had happened to her and Kat?

  The stairs creaked.

  Stealthy as a feline, Kat slinked into a dimly lit corner near the windows overlooking the lake.

  “A surprise visit, Aunt Miranda?” Hunter flicked on the kitchen lights. “Something you wanted upstairs?”

  Miranda stumbled a little on the landing, then quickly regained her balance. “I didn’t hear you come in. I had to use the bathroom.” She marched down the rest of the staircase.

  “There’s one on the first floor.” Jaw clenched, Hunter strode forward. “Time to stop lying.”

  “Really, my dear, rudeness does not become you.”

  “Ever seen a magic mirror?” Hunter swiveled her aunt roughly toward the kitchen wall. “This one showed you searching my room. That’s more than impolite. It’s disrespectful of my privacy. Reminds me of you searching my belongings when I was in high school.”

  Despite a flushed face, Miranda brought her head up in defiance. “I’d never dealt with a teenager, only heard stories from my friends about their children getting into drugs. I had to make sure you weren’t mixed up with a bad crowd.”

  When the fairy wings fluttered, Miranda gasped.

  “Even the mirror knows you’re lying.” Maybe. It certainly didn’t hurt to let her aunt think so. A deep, black anger hissed. Hunter buried fists in her pants pockets and glared at her aunt. “You better explain yourself.”

  Miranda wrung her hands. “Where’s my mother’s journal? Do you still have it?”

  “Yes. I plan to translate it.”

  “No!” Miranda moaned. “You mustn’t.”

  “Why not? The grimoire contains answers for me––answers which my so-called loving and ever-vigilant aunt has refused to divulge,” Hunter spat.

  “What are you talking about? All I’ve ever done is kept you from harm, taken care of my sister’s child.”

  “Only one of us.” Hunter drew Kat out of the shadows. “What about my sister?”

  “Katelyn?” Miranda’s voice squeaked. Her fingers shook as she reached toward one of Kat’s curls. “You look so much like your mother.”

  “So I’ve been told.” Kat backed away from her aunt’s touch.

  “By your uncle?” Miranda’s gaze darted about the room. “Gideon brought you?”

  “I’m not on a leash,” Kat purred. “I’m a grownup. I go where I please.”

  “Your uncle didn’t follow––” Miranda clutched her throat and wheezed, “Water.”

  Ally rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cupboard. Some of the water from the faucet splashed over her hands, but she managed to fill the glass about half full. She hurried back. “Here you go.”

  A coughing spell consumed Miranda. Ally patted her on the back, perhaps a little harder than necessary. Maybe not.

  Miranda seized the glass and staggered to a chair.

  Kat followed and hovered nearby. “Are you afraid of Uncle Gideon?”

  After swallowing most of the water, Miranda breathed deeply and appeared to regain control. “He’s––difficult to deal with.”

  “You stay in touch?” Hunter asked.

  “Not if I can help it.” Miranda handed the empty glass to Ally. “I could use something stronger if I’m going to be interrogated and treated like a criminal.”

  Hunter’s frigid gaze matched the ice in her words. “You have explaining to do, Aunt Miranda. Keeping my sister from me for ten years is beyond wicked.”

  Ally plunked the newly filled glass on the table next to Miranda. “We only have beer in the fridge, but I found a small bottle of whiskey in the cupboard. Probably forgotten by a previous tenant.”

  Miranda took a long swig. Eyes blazing, she stood and faced Hunter. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. Traveled with the wrong crowd when I was young. Behaved recklessly. Hurt my sister and angered my parents until they wanted nothing to do with me.” Miranda brushed at her eyes. “So when Meredith and Connor died, I tried to atone for my sins by taking care of their children. I managed to screw that up.” She slugged back the rest of the whiskey.

  “Exactly how did you screw up?” Hunter surreptitiously glanced at the fairy wings
on the mirror. If they served as a lie detector, a lack of movement would indicate Miranda spoke the truth.

  “Clarissa volunteered to care for you and your sister. I should have let her do it,” Miranda moaned and sat down. “Instead, I insisted someone younger would be better suited to handle two teenagers. The judge agreed.” Miranda slammed a fist on the table. “Then Gideon’s attorney made the case that the Sloane family should have a role in raising at least one of Connor’s daughters.”

  “You could have given him custody of both of us,” Kat said. “We’d have been together.”

  “My pride wouldn’t let me.” Miranda covered her face with her hands. “I had to prove I could do right by my sister. So I asked to be guardian for the one requiring the most care.”

  “And kicked me out when I tried to be with her in the hospital.” The sizzling fury in Kat’s words heated the room.

  Miranda glared. “You were out of control.”

  “I was protecting my sister, the only close family I still had.” Kat glowered. “Worse, for ten years you left me in limbo, never telling me whether my sister survived or not.”

  Miranda’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t––”

  “Realize how much a twelve-year-old could suffer?” Shoulders back, Kat stood in front of her aunt, confronting her enemy. “Parents dead, sister locked in darkness. Your behavior cruel, Aunt Miranda. Evil.”

  Shaking at the image of pain her sister had endured, Hunter wrapped an arm around Kat’s shoulder and hugged her, then glared at her aunt. “You even discouraged Clarissa from revealing she was my grandmother, telling her I might have a breakdown and never recover.”

  “That’s not true! Clarissa and I discussed your condition long ago. She visited Gideon often after Connor’s death and promised to let Katelyn know how you were doing. But we agreed to separate the two of you after Twyla called. You and Kat were in imminent danger.”

  Stunned, Hunter looked at Kat, whose eyes now glowed strangely. “What did Twyla say?” Hunter asked her aunt.

  “You’d just been released from the hospital.” Miranda’s voice hoarsened. “Twyla spoke of the Cosmos fluctuating with ominous omens. She contacted spirits on the Other Side, who told her dark forces threatened the Sloane daughters if they stayed together.”