“Oh, my goodness,” said Katy, a hand flying to her mouth. “At you?”
“Negative,” said Tetyana, “there’s someone else on the grounds.”
I rose slowly again and peered through the darkness.
The shadow had disappeared.
It was pitch black near the barn. The structure was placed well away from the grounds, almost at the tree line where the mountain slope turned upward. On one side of the barn was a fenced paddock, and on the other was a pile of lumber, stacked up to almost six feet high.
“Wouldn’t they have seen our light on?”
Tetyana nodded. “Probably.”
“That means they saw us.”
“Not necessarily. They’d know we’re up, but they wouldn’t have noticed us looking. You didn’t stick your head out, did you?”
“You pulled me back, remember?”
“They didn’t look like they were in stealth mode. I’d say they weren’t expecting anyone to be watching at this time.”
I thought I saw a movement near the lumber stack, and half wondered if my eyes were now playing tricks on me.
“At ten o’clock,” said Tetyana urgently.
I focused my eyes to the left of the barn.
“Whoever it is, knows their way around the grounds,” said Tetyana.
As we watched, a light turned on inside the barn and a man’s shape was silhouetted against the open doorway. But only for a second.
The door opened wider, spilling the light onto the ground. As we watched, a second figure followed the first person inside.
Then, just as swiftly, the door closed behind them. In seconds, the light inside the barn turned off and the surrounding area plunged into darkness.
“Wow,” I said, pulling back. “I’d love to know what the heck is going on in there.”
Tetyana turned to me.
“Sounds like our recon exercise will start outside now. You ready?”
Chapter Seventeen
I pulled my weapon out.
“Katy, shut the windows, lock the door and don’t open anything till we return,” said Tetyana as she marched toward the door, her gun drawn.
She put her hand on the ancient doorknob and turned it slowly. I stayed in position behind her, ready for anything, but the passageway was empty.
We stood by the open door for a minute, listening carefully.
A muted, muffled sound was coming from somewhere inside the house.
“There’s someone downstairs,” whispered Tetyana. “Let’s go.”
We stepped out and closed the door. It was a relief to hear the click behind us as Katy locked herself inside.
“Where is it coming from?” I whispered.
“First or second floor,” said Tetyana. “Let’s check the kitchen first.”
We had walked half the length of the corridor when a screeching yell came from downstairs. I sprang back in shock, banging into the wall.
“Mrs. Robinson!” I said, my heart racing. “They got her!”
“That wasn’t her,” said Tetyana, putting a hand out to stop me from rushing down. “I’m sure of it.”
“That was an angry screech,” I said, my heart still pounding. “A pissed-off I’ve-had-enough-screech.”
“Move quietly,” said Tetyana.
She darted toward the stairwell door. Though Tetyana was two years older than me, she was moving with the grace of a young panther stalking her prey.
I scampered after her, mimicking her quiet, fast moves as best as I could. It had been a while since I’d been on a covert mission. While I trained at the dojo with David every night, I hadn’t been prepared for this. I cursed myself for not taking my workouts more seriously.
It took us ten seconds to run down to the first floor. At the bottom, the stairwell opened to a small alcove that led to the fire entrance, which, in turn, led to the grounds. This was the main door everyone would run out of, if there was ever a fire in the kitchen.
We stopped in the alcove and listened in. The side door to the kitchen was jarred open a few inches and a yellow light streamed out.
Someone was inside.
The muffled sound we’d heard earlier came clearly now. It was the sound of somebody crying.
Tetyana glanced through the opening and pulled back immediately. She slipped her weapon in her holster and turned to me with a look I was familiar with by now. It was the you-take-care-of-this look.
She stepped forward and opened the door wide for me.
I peeked inside.
It was Nancy.
She was sobbing on the kitchen counter and beating her fists on the hard surface, like she was ready to break it into pieces.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped inside and walked toward her, hoping I didn’t look or sound too threatening with my all-black gear.
At barely five foot and ninety pounds, I sometimes got mistaken for a teenager, but whenever I donned my mission uniform, I felt like that kitten looking in the mirror and seeing a lion look back. But I knew this situation called for more house cat than lion.
I stopped halfway.
“Hey, Nancy?” I called out in a soft voice. “Are you all right?”
She didn’t hear me. Her sobs got louder.
“Nancy? You okay?”
She raised her tear-stained face my way and blinked rapidly.
“What happened?” I asked, getting closer.
She wiped her face quickly, but her chest was heaving, and she looked incapable of speech.
I felt Tetyana sidle up to me. Dealing with emotional folk wasn’t her bailiwick. I was sure she regretted running down in a mad scamper now.
I tried again. “Was it you who just screamed?”
Without answering, Nancy put her head on the counter and turned her body away from us.
This time, I felt Nancy was not crying as much as trying to evade any more questions from us.
What now?
The side door to the kitchen opened. Tetyana and I jumped forward, training our weapons at the door.
“Put those things away!”
It was Mrs. Robinson walking in, in an old-fashioned nightgown.
We holstered our weapons and stepped back.
“Sorry, thought it was someone else,” I said, feeling my neck going warm. “We heard Nancy crying, so we came down....”
Throwing us a confused look, Mrs. Robinson walked toward the sobbing Nancy.
“What’s going on, my child?” she said, putting an arm around the younger woman’s shoulders.
Nancy lifted her head.
“It was an awful dream.”
“What a terrible thing,” replied Mrs. Robinson.
“A horrible nightmare,” said Nancy, wiping her eyes. “I can’t sleep in this house. Haven’t been sleeping for weeks now.”
“There, there, now,” said Mrs. Robinson, rubbing Nancy’s back. “All that traveling and moving does funny things to your sleep. It can stress anyone out. But you’re here now. You’ll settle in soon.”
I exchanged a quick glance with Tetyana.
I didn’t know any normal adult who’d break into sobs from a mere nightmare. I couldn’t help feeling like Nancy was lying again.
That angry screech and that banging on the counter with her fists told me she had been mad at something. Or someone. What did she see that made her so angry?
“Let me make you a nice cup of tea now,” said Mrs. Robinson, stepping toward the kettle. She glanced at us and smiled genially. “Sounds like she woke you two up too. Tea for everyone then.”
I forced a smile back.
Part of me felt silly for having turned our weapons on her. We’d worked ourselves up to a lather and had overreacted. Then again, there was something wrong with this picture, and Mrs. Robinson was refusing to see it or simply not seeing it.
Nancy was wearing the same clothes she’d worn at dinner. Unless she went to sleep in jeans and T-shirt, she wasn’t telling the truth.
“Is your room on the third floor too, Nancy?” I said
walking up to the counter, keeping my voice friendly. “Did you come down here after you woke up?”
Nancy stared at me.
“I, er, fell asleep in the rocking chair,” she said, pointing to the corner of the kitchen where the fireplace was.
“What about Jim?” I said. “He wasn’t with you?”
She shot me a strange look.
“He’s in our room, I guess. I mean, of course, he’s in our room upstairs.”
Jim must be a pretty sound sleeper for him to not hear his wife’s screeches. She had been loud enough, I was sure we’d have heard it even with our door closed.
As if reading my mind, Nancy turned away with a scowl. She’d stopped crying, but she clearly didn’t want to talk anymore.
“We’ve all had bad nights,” said Mrs. Robinson, taking a couple of mugs from a cupboard. “We’ll have you warmed up with a hot cup of chamomile and you’ll be out till the morning like Sleeping Beauty.”
She glanced at us.
“Take a seat, you two. I think we could all do with a cup of tea.”
I pulled out a stool and sat down. Tetyana stood beside me, strategically positioned with a view to the window.
The rain had stopped, but the windowpanes were still wet, giving us a ghostly view to the driveway out in front.
“Here you go, my girl,” said Mrs. Robinson, handing Nancy a mug. She poured two more mugs of tea, brought them over and set them in front of us.
She settled on a stool next to Nancy with her own cup and looked at Tetyana and me across the counter.
“Are you comfortable in your room, my dears?”
“Very,” I said with a slight bow of the head, “thank you for putting us up.”
“You found everything you need?”
That was a loaded question, if there was one. I hesitated to bring up the photocopied letters and the children’s book in front of Nancy.
“We have, Mrs. Robinson,” I said, picking up my mug. “Katy’s upstairs in bed, reading a good children’s book, the one you left for us.”
I watched her closely for a reaction, but there was no flinching, no recognition, nothing to give her thoughts away.
“Feel free to borrow any of them,” she replied with a nod, “there are some good storybooks on the bookshelf.”
I turned to Nancy and forced another smile.
“So Jim must sleep like a log, eh?”
A red flush crept up her neck. Her eyes flitted to the window and back, and her hand holding the cup trembled slightly.
“Dead to the world,” she said in a low voice.
She appeared more angry than scared.
“I could be yelling in his ear and he’d never hear me.”
Nancy was a liar and a bad one at that.
I looked at Mrs. Robinson, who was sipping her tea, oblivious to what was going on in front of her.
Next to me, Tetyana stirred.
She put her mug down, wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and turned to me.
“I need some fresh air,” she said, “I’m going for a short walk. Wanna join me?”
“Right now?” said Mrs. Robinson in surprise. “It’s dark outside.”
“Just a short stroll around the house,” said Tetyana, stretching. “We’ve been cramped in our car for hours. It will be nice to stretch my legs a bit.”
I nodded and added a yawn.
“Me too. A walk will do me good. Otherwise, I’ll wake up tomorrow all stiff and sore.”
Tetyana rolled her shoulders for effect.
“Be careful,” said Mrs. Robinson.
“Careful?” said Tetyana, turning around. “Out here?”
Mrs. Robinson looked at her, concern in her eyes. Or was it a warning?
“Sure, this isn’t the Big Apple, my dear. No one’s going to jump out from behind a tree and stab you or anything....”
We stared at her.
“Just watch your backs.”
Chapter Eighteen
Watch your backs?
I wondered what she was trying to get at.
I also wondered if she knew about the two people who’d just walked into the barn. I had so many questions, but with Nancy here, sipping her tea, her dour eyes on us, I had to choose my words prudently.
I rustled up a smile.
“But Mrs. Robinson, what on earth would we bump into at this time?”
She blinked and looked down at her mug.
“Moose.”
“Moose?”
“You gals haven’t seen one up close,” she said to her cup. “Just be careful.”
Tetyana put her hand on the doorknob.
“Don’t you worry. I can handle a moose or two.” She pulled the door open. “Don’t lock us out,” she said before stepping out.
“Thanks for the warning,” I said with a wave at Mrs. Robinson. “We won’t be out for long.”
I walked out into the cool night air after my friend and closed the door behind me.
“Watch your backs?” I said as we walked away from the house. “She was warning us.”
“I would too, if I’d been getting death threat letters.”
“She’s hiding things. Why would she do that if she wants us to help?”
“Beats me,” said Tetyana with a shrug. “One thing I know is this place is stifling. I’d kill myself if I had to live here.”
“Whoa,” I said as I stumbled over a dead branch. “What happened here?”
“Storm was worse than I thought,” said Tetyana.
That was when I noticed the tree debris scattered all across the grounds.
“We’ll need to clean up the driveway before we can get our car out of this mess,” said Tetyana, marching down the driveway like she had to be some place important.
This wasn’t a late evening stroll.
“You saw something, didn’t you?” I said, hurrying to keep up with her long strides.
“The barn. Thought I caught a silhouette near the window. Let’s check it out.”
Keeping to the shadows, we hurried along the driveway. The only light illuminating our path was the line of old lampposts and the pale moon peeking from behind a dark cloud up above.
“Hey,” said Tetyana, halting just as we passed our car. She took a few steps backward, her eyes on our vehicle.
“What is it?”
Our rental car was in the same place I’d parked it earlier. I glanced at the tires anxiously, half-wondering if someone had slashed the remaining tires. But, other than the grime and dust from our long drive, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
“You don’t see it?”
“What are you talking about?”
Tetyana walked to the back of the car and pointed at something. I stepped up and peered at what she was looking at.
A chill went down my back.
Someone had carved two words into the back panel of the car.
“Go home,” I read out aloud.
“I’m a hundred percent sure that wasn’t there when we rented it,” said Tetyana.
I shook my head mutely, shocked anyone would so brazenly damage our vehicle like this.
“They used a sharp knife,” said Tetyana, examining the slashes. “Nicely done, neat cuts.”
“But the alarm never went off.”
“They were careful to not rock the car. Whoever did it was precise and patient.”
I glanced at the house. If the person who did this was watching us now, they’d know we’d got their message.
Our bedroom light was on. Katy was still up, possibly combing through the girl’s possessions to find more clues. I felt bad for leaving her alone, but I was glad our door and windows were all locked.
The light in the kitchen was on too. I imagined Mrs. Robinson and Nancy having a heart-to-heart, though I wasn’t sure if Nancy was capable of soul-searching conversations. She seemed like an angry young woman who thought the world hated her, the type to find any excuse to get furious.
It was a bizarre house. I couldn’t
wait for the morning, so I could see this entire place and the people here in daylight.
Tetyana took my keys and opened the passenger door. She fished out a torchlight from the cubbyhole, then crouching on the front seats, examined the inside of the car.
I paced up and down next to our vehicle, trying to think.
Barry had been too drunk to find his way to the dining room in time, let alone deface a vehicle with precision like this.
Mrs. Robinson had invited us here. If she hadn’t wanted us around, her invitation made little sense. It couldn’t have been her.
Pastor Graham had shown his true colors when he touched Katy inappropriately. He was a pervert all right, but that didn’t mean he’d vandalized our car or left threatening messages.
The most welcoming person so far had been Jim, but I knew not to take him at face value. I’d been around the world and back and knew that sometimes it was the friendliest people we had to be wary about.
“Nancy,” I said out loud, more to my myself.
Tetyana pulled her head out of the car and walked over to the front.
“She’s the most likely one,” I said. “She doesn’t want us here.”
Tetyana shook her head.
“She’d have smashed the windows and gone bat crazy. I can’t see her standing patiently here, making fine knife art on our paint.”
She pulled up the hood and shone her torch inside.
“Could have been Jim,” I said, “he was the last to arrive at dinner and was outside just before that.”
Tetyana turned to me and nodded.
“I’d keep an open mind on him. He’s all show. There’s something going on there.” She paused. “He’s a druggie, if I’m guessing right.”
“Jim?” I said in shock. “But he looks so healthy and solid—”
“I’ve seen druggies in better shape than him,” said Tetyana. “He’s not a regular, but I’d bet my Glock the man gets high once in a while.”
“What about Lisa?” I asked. “She snuck in pretty quietly to the dining room, didn’t she?”
“Crept alongside the wall like a stealthy cat, like she didn’t want anyone to notice her. She was in her seat long before you saw her.”
I stared at Tetyana, as I recalled the peculiar conversation I’d had with Lisa.
“Do you know what she said to me at dinner?” I pointed at the car. “These exact same words.”
Merciless Legacy: Merciless Murder - A Thrilling Closed Circle Mystery Series Page 9
