Besides, right now Rachel was more focused on Brooke and the latest potential threat to her survival.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The following morning Rachel talked to her dad on the phone. He and Virginia were still enjoying themselves in Cancun.
“Wish you were here, honey,” Edwin said.
“So do I,” she lied. Three was definitely a crowd in this case. Of course, if Brooke and Duncan could come too, then it might be a different story.
“I hope you and Brooke aren’t running Nana ragged.”
“We’re not,” she promised. “Nana’s enjoying our company as much as we’re enjoying hers.” Especially since Nana knew the truth about Brooke being her granddaughter.
“That’s good to hear. Anything else going on we should know about?”
Rachel paused. “Not really.”
She didn’t want to tell him about Priscilla’s death or that there may be a serial killer in Lake Melrose. There was no reason to put a damper on their vacation. Not yet anyway.
“Well, I’d better cut this short,” Edwin said. “Virginia’s ready to go shopping, then it’s back to the beach.”
Rachel briefly imagined going swimming in Cancun with Brooke and Duncan. “Have fun.”
She hung up, putting her own fun on hold while dealing with more serious matters like keeping Brooke from being targeted by a killer.
* * *
Rachel found Brooke in the kitchen helping Nana make waffles. Just like old times.
“Morning, child,” Lola said.
“Good morning, Nana.” Rachel received a wet kiss on the cheek. She caught Brooke smiling wickedly, having already gone through the same ritual.
“You can help set the table,” her grandmother ordered.
“Okay,” Rachel obeyed.
As she passed back and forth by Brooke, Rachel couldn’t help but still be totally spellbound that her sister was actually alive again and they were the same age now. While that last part would probably take the most getting used to, if ever, in what once seemed impossible, she wouldn’t question it one bit. Rachel put her trust in the Sisters of Time knowing what they were doing and was happy Octavia and Angelina had chosen to give her the clockwatch to work it mysterious powers.
I’ll be happiest, though, when I know Brooke and I are safe from danger that may have come with the territory of traveling through time.
If nothing else, the entire incredible experience certainly made this a summer to remember for Rachel. And she knew the same applied for Brooke and Duncan.
At the table, Lola asked, “So where are you girls off to so early today, hmm?”
Rachel glanced at Brooke. They had anticipated this question and come up with a reasonable answer, knowing Nana was not ready to hear what they were really going to do.
“Duncan’s picking us up to go to the library,” Rachel responded, sounding eager.
Lola studied her through glasses that barely hung on her nose. “Can’t think of a better place to spend time, which you young folks don’t do often enough these days. There are so many good books to read.”
Brooke agreed, but was more intrigued by using Rachel’s Kindle to catch up on the latest books. She hated to lie to Nana, but embellished the tale a bit. “We’re going to look up some books on antique calendar clockwatches,” she told her. “Rachel found one and we want to learn more about it.”
“Interesting,” Nana said over a mug of steaming coffee. “Sounds like something that could be valuable.”
“I’m hoping that’s the case,” Rachel added, recognizing that the piece’s true value was worth far more than any amount of money.
Nana smiled. “The one thing Catherine wanted more than anything before she left this world was for her girls to be close. I think you both would make her proud.”
Brooke smiled, though she felt sad. She missed her mom and regretted not spending more time together when they had the chance. Maybe the clockwatch could allow their paths to cross again one day.
Rachel wished she had gotten to know her mother better. They had barely begun to form a relationship when she was taken away. Rachel was thankful to have been given some extra time with her, thanks to the Sisters of Time.
* * *
Brooke, Rachel, and Duncan walked through the third floor maze of partitions, metal desks, and computers at the Lake Melrose Police Department. They stopped at the desk of Detective Morgan Sawyer.
She was talking on the phone and looked irritated they had interrupted the conversation, which she ended abruptly.
“Can I help you?”
Duncan took the lead. “We were told you’re the detective on the Priscilla Fletcher case.”
“That’s right,” the detective said tersely. “Who are you?”
“Duncan McClure.”
“Rachel Crane.”
“Brooke...Johansson.” Brooke decided to use her mother’s maiden name to keep from running into obvious problems by saying she was a Crane.
Detective Sawyer eyed each of them. “You know something about the murder?” It sounded more like an accusation.
Rachel stepped forward. “Priscilla was one of my best friends.”
“Oh,” the detective said, softening her tone. “Sorry to hear that.”
“We want to know if you have any leads on a suspect,” Rachel said.
Detective Sawyer ran a hand through short, black hair while surveying them. “Can’t say that we do at this point, but it’s still early in the investigation. Why? Do you have anything relevant to the case?”
Rachel’s eyes dropped with disappointment. It would have been easier if there had been a suspect to possibly point the finger at without arousing suspicion.
Duncan cleared his throat. “We think it’s possible Priscilla’s death could be the work of a serial killer.”
Detective Sawyer regarded them with mild interest. “Is that right? Tell me more about your theory—”
Anticipating her skepticism, Duncan handed the information he’d put together on the victims over the past eleven years. He hardly considered himself a true detective, but even an amateur sleuth could not deny the similarities of the murders.
“Seems to me these killings could easily be the work of one man—” Duncan finished, watching the detective for a reaction.
She studied the computer printouts. “Looks like you’ve gone to a lot of trouble,” she said. “Guess you kids must have plenty of time on your hands these days.”
Rachel considered the issue of time. More than you think, Detective, and in ways you could never possibly imagine.
“I’m familiar with some of these murders,” Detective Sawyer said as she studied the information. “Unfortunately, there’s no hard evidence that we have a serial killer in Lake Melrose.”
Brooke sneered. “Isn’t that how serial killers manage to get away with it so long—because they’re able to fool the police?” She still didn’t want to believe Priscilla’s death could be tied to her attempted abduction and murder. But she couldn’t ignore either the bad vibes she was getting that there was a connection.
The detective nodded. “Good point. Serial killers don’t always use the same M.O. And cops aren’t always right on the money when it comes to connecting the dots in a timely manner. But that still doesn’t change the fact Ms. Fletcher’s murder appears to be an isolated incident.”
Duncan hated the thought of his research going to waste and his theories dismissed simply because they were derived by an out-of-his-league teenager. He didn’t want to give up yet.
“Maybe you could check to see if the names Travis Pickett or Dennis Farrell came up in any of those murders, Detective.”
She raised a brow. “How do you know those names?”
Duncan hoped he hadn’t said too much. He looked to Rachel and Brooke for guidance.
Brooke stepped forward, wanting to take the pressure off Duncan and Rachel. “They just entered my head as the names of people who could possibly be connecte
d to the murders—”
Rachel and Duncan regarded her with surprise.
So did Detective Sawyer. “You’re saying you’re some kind of psychic or something?”
Brooke hadn’t known where she would go with this, but the psychic angle seemed like a perfect cover for what otherwise would be a totally unbelievable story.
“Yeah, something like that,” she said, glancing at Rachel and Duncan.
The detective mulled that over. “Actually, there is someone we call a person of interest we’re looking to talk to concerning the murder of Priscilla Fletcher. We have a sketch that hasn’t even been released to the public yet. Maybe you can take a look at it to see if anything pops up in that psychic head of yours.”
What have I gotten myself into? Brooke imagined Rachel and Duncan were thinking the same thing. I’m a newbie to 2011, so it’s not likely I can identify anyone.
Unless it was a serial killer from ten years ago or more.
Even that was a long shot.
“I can try,” she told the detective, not wanting to come across as a fake, possibly derailing any momentum they may have had.
“Good. Why don’t you kids have a seat?” Detective Sawyer dragged a chair from nearby and put it next to the two in front of her desk. “I won’t be long...”
“Hope I didn’t blow it,” Brooke said nervously once Detective Sawyer left.
Rachel shook her head. “Don’t worry. She can’t read your mind. We’re only trying to help.”
“I think it was a good idea,” Duncan agreed. “Who knows, maybe it will turn out to be Travis Pickett or Dennis Farrell.”
“Or maybe someone I’ve never even seen,” Brooke said.
“If that’s the case, then we’ll know Priscilla’s killer probably has nothing to do with what happened to you in another lifetime,” Rachel said, unsure if that would be satisfying or disheartening.
* * *
Detective Sawyer handed Brooke the sketch. “We believe this is the man who killed Priscilla Fletcher.”
Brooke studied the picture. At first glance, she saw an unrecognizable black and white image of a man with broad features and deep, dark eyes. He was in his late twenties or early thirties. Upon closer inspection, she could visualize a younger version of the man. Someone she once knew. At least the physical similarities were there.
The detective noted her reaction. “What is it?” she asked. “Are you getting a vision or something on this guy?”
Rachel peeked at the sketch of the man who may have murdered her best friend. He didn’t look familiar, but she cringed nevertheless. She could see something was definitely troubling her sister.
“Brooke...” Rachel prompted.
Brooke gazed at Rachel, then the detective. She had to be careful how she put this. “I’m not sure, but the name Grant Palmer comes to mind with this image.”
“Grant Palmer, huh?” Detective Sawyer gave her a curious look. “So what about Dennis Farrell or Travis Pickett who you previously thought might be guilty?”
Brooke sighed. “I don’t see those names anymore right now.”
“But you do see Grant Palmer when you look at the sketch?”
She nodded, trying to hide her nervousness. “Yeah, I think so.”
Detective Sawyer paused. “Anything else...?”
Brooke decided she may as well give her more to go on, using what information she had, including the passing of ten years.
“Well, I’d have to say he’s probably around twenty-eight or twenty-nine and a local high school dropout. Oh, and he’s got a scorpion tattoo on his right shoulder...”
Detective Sawyer peered at her. “You sure you don’t know this man, Ms. Johansson?”
Brooke batted her lashes innocently. “Only in my head, Detective. Do you know him?”
Detective Sawyer dodged the question. “I’ll have to get back to you on that one.”
Brooke knew Grant had been a troublemaker and a real creep back when she knew him ten years ago. Had he been well on his way to becoming a serial killer too?
Or even the one-time murderer of Rachel’s friend, Priscilla, which was nearly as unsettling?
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
On the way home, Brooke filled them in on Grant Palmer. “He was eighteen ten years ago and attended Lake Melrose High School, before dropping out the previous year. Grant could be charming sometimes and a jerk other times. I do remember him trying to hit on me and that he didn’t know how to take no for an answer. I tried to stay away from him.”
Rachel looked over her shoulder at Brooke in the back seat. “You think he could’ve tried to abduct you?”
She shrugged. “I wouldn’t have put it past him, if he thought he could get away with it. Though he’d had some trouble with the law, I still never thought Grant could become a cold-blooded killer.”
“Nobody ever thinks someone they know could be a killer,” Duncan said from behind the wheel. “If he’s the one in the sketch Detective Sawyer showed us, he probably started with either Stacy Fuentes in 2001 or Jackie Cornwell the year before.”
“Or the whole thing could just be a case of mistaken identity,” Brooke said. “Grant might be living in another country for all I know...or even dead.” She couldn’t trust her interpretation of the sketch, considering Grant was now ten years older and could have changed in appearance, unlike her. The last thing Brooke wanted was to get their hopes up for nothing. “We’ll just have to see what the detective comes up with.”
“That’s probably our best bet for now,” Rachel concurred with her sister. But one look at Duncan’s pensive face, and she knew he had something else on his mind. Trusting him, Rachel was sure she’d find out soon enough.
In the meantime, her thoughts centered on how a decade long killer could possibly figure into Angelina and Octavia’s plans that allowed Rachel and Brooke to cross time barriers. Was this a mistake? Or were the Sisters of Time somehow engineering this entire thing, with two sisters caught squarely in the middle of a violent criminal investigation ten years in the making?
* * *
Duncan dropped Rachel and Brooke off and went home. All the while he was thinking about the possibility that Brooke may have fingered not only Priscilla’s killer, but her own killer from the past. He wondered if Brooke traveling through time changed anything, aside from saving her life. Maybe Stacy Fuentes’s killer would have killed her anyway. Same could be true with Priscilla being slated to die as she had no matter what.
He dodged his mom and knew his dad had already gone to work. Once in his room, Duncan went to the computer and set about finding out what he could learn, if anything, about Grant Palmer.
* * *
“How was the library?” Lola asked when Rachel and Brooke walked in the door.
“It was great, Nana!” Rachel grinned.
“Yeah,” Brooke concurred with a forced smile.
“So what did you learn about this antique watch?”
Rachel mused. “Only that it’s very old and probably changed hands a lot over the years.” That seemed a safe bet to her.
“I once had such a watch,” Lola remarked, surprising them. “My grandmother gave it to me.”
“What happened to it?” Brooke was curious. Could Rachel’s clockwatch be one and the same?
Lola scratched her head. “It fell into a well,” she said sadly. “I think I cried the whole day after it happened.”
Brooke met Rachel’s gaze and wondered if she was thinking the same thing. Maybe the watch passed through the generations and found its way to Rachel. “I’m sorry you lost your watch, Nana.”
“It was such a long time ago.” She waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll bet you girls are hungry. I made lunch. Go wash up and I’ll set the table.”
In the bathroom, Brooke asked her sister, “Could Nana’s antique watch have somehow ended up in the attic?”
Rachel dried her hands. “I’d never say never, but it doesn’t seem very likely. Nana hasn’t given us any in
dication she’s ever traveled through time.”
Brooke dried her hands. “She does recognize me, though. Maybe Nana has the gift through the Sisters of Time and the clockwatch she lost in the well.”
“Maybe,” Rachel said thoughtfully. “Except Duncan also knows who you are and remembers that you first died in the car accident and everything afterward—even when I saw him my second trip back in time. I think time travel just causes weird things to occur without rhyme or reason, including Nana’s ability to see what dad can’t.”
Brooke sighed. “It’s hard to know what to think anymore about all that’s happened.”
“Could be we aren’t supposed to think too hard about what it all means,” Rachel suggested, admittedly feeling a bit overwhelmed at times.
“Why shouldn’t we?” questioned Brooke. “After all, it involves us. If our moving back and forth through time is affecting other lives, we shouldn’t be kept in the dark. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I guess.” Rachel hadn’t considered beforehand that death could follow Brooke to the future, if in fact it had. “I do feel if Octavia and Angelina altered history by sending me back in time, it must have been for an important reason.”
“You mean other than saving my life?”
“That too.” Rachel eyed her. “Maybe Grant Palmer connects the past to the present and it took you to recognize it and stop the killings.”
Brooke frowned. “And what if the man in the sketch isn’t Grant?”
Rachel paused. “Then someone else killed Priscilla and is still out there...probably waiting to murder another girl.”
While we’re left to wonder if any of it is related to the clockwatch and everything that’s happened to us since I discovered it.
* * *
Detective Sawyer was shuffling papers when a male detective stepped up to her desk. “What have you got for me?”
“Maybe just what you’ve been looking for.” He opened a folder and took out two sketches. “See for yourself—”
She studied the sketches side by side.
“The one on the right is the suspect in the Priscilla Fletcher murder,” he said. “The other one is a suspect in the murder of seventeen-year-old Annette Zachary. It was drawn nine years ago.”
Danger in Time Page 15
