The Haunted Bones

by PM Weldon

  I was a little surprised at how young he was. I mean, it made sense that he was only thirty-six, since the crime he committed happened a year and a half ago. Dude slung a bullet pretty good.

  Lt. Russ Meehan was doing the interrogation. He was good at questioning suspects. Even when they confess before they're brought in.

  "So…" I pointed to Cahan as Meehan spoke behind the glass. "You guys found him and he confessed to killing his daughter? Just like that?"

  "According to the arresting officers, he simply said, 'I figured you'd find me sooner or later,'" Vale said.

  "He had to have known if he shot at us like that, we were definitely going to come after him." Julie sounded as incredulous as I felt.

  "Honestly," Vale said, "I haven't figured this guy out yet."

  And that was about the time the whole interview went sideways.

  Cahan started getting excited when Meehan brought up the shooting. "Yeah, yeah…that tall, lanky guy. See, the angel told me he was the one wanting to buy the old bar, and I couldn't let that happen."

  Meehan kept a straight face. "Why not?"

  "Because I hadn't found it yet."

  "Found what?"

  Cahan looked from side to side. "The diary. See, that's how I know my daughter was fucking that bitch next door. All those times that bitch was so nice, I thought she liked me. But she…" The guy looked genuinely upset. "She took advantage of my little girl and made her into one of those homos."

  Julie snorted.

  "And you couldn't let that continue?" Meehan asked.

  "No, no…" Cahan kept fidgeting. "And Birch—well, he liked to watch. So he just let it happen again and again. When I found the diary behind the fireplace, I knew I had the evidence I needed to justify what needed to be done. But then the diary disappeared."

  I frowned. "Fireplace?" I looked at Vale. "I don't remember a fireplace. That building doesn't meet the code for one."

  Vale looked over at the uniformed officer by the door. "Yarrow, take McPherson and Hemdale and check out the store next to The Alley Haunt."

  "Here." I reached into my pocket for my keys and handed Vale the right set. "I got those from the bank."

  Vale gave them to Yarrow before he left.

  "…had to dig pretty deep," Cahan was saying. "That's when I found all them bones."

  Bones?

  Meehan stopped writing. "Bones? You found bones in the wall between the two businesses?"

  Cahan nodded. "Yes. Most of that wall is cinder block, except for this one spot where the fireplace was. But see the fireplace never worked because it never had a flue, so I just bricked it up and covered it in wallpaper. But on the other side of the wall is that bar and the damned mirror."

  "That's why I could reach my hand through." Julie said. "There's just a brick wall between the two rooms."

  "Or a double-bricked wall," Vale interjected. "If he found bones in there, we have to find out where he put them."

  "Did you know who the bones belonged to, Randall?" Meehan said in a gentle voice.

  "No…" Cahan shook his head. "They'd been there a long time 'cause they were mostly just dust and bits of hair."

  Meehan paused. "Where did you put these bones, Randall?"

  "They're still there." He looked wild-eyed. "Someone was buried there, so I didn't want to disturb them."

  "Oh fuck, that's creepy—" Julie's eyes widened as she looked up at me. "Wait—you don't think the odd picture of that woman is…?"

  I nodded slowly. "Yeah. I do." I looked down at her. "I think that's where he found the bones."

  The interrogation went pretty much the same to the end, with a few more questions. Cahan said someone called him and told him I was the one stirring up trouble to buy the place. Cahan had canceled his lease to the adjoining place after The Alley Haunt closed down, mainly because he knew the place couldn't continue because he killed everyone.

  What Vale wanted to know was who called Randall. "Because it seems to me they wanted to make trouble for you, Devan."

  "It sounds like that." I told him about sending the image to my friend at the GBI.

  "We solved this murder using your pictures," Vale commented as the three of us walked down the hall. "And if we find the bones, maybe we can solve a murder of a missing woman?" He smiled. "I'd just like to keep the use of your…pictures…out of the media, if you don't mind."

  My shoulder was really starting to throb. Reconsidering painkillers was now back on the agenda. "Got no problem here."

  We walked a few feet. "You think if you took pictures of other places, the same thing would turn up?" Julie said.

  I shrugged as a familiar set of legs turned the corner ahead of us. The legs were attached to a statuesque body, wrapped lavishly in a tight-fitting black business suit. Her blond hair was pulled up to reveal a perfect neck.

  Llse Wallace.

  Julie made a rude noise as Llse approached us.

  "Ms. Wallace," Vale said. "Why are you here so late?"

  "Hello, Captain, Detective Brenner." Her eyes didn't linger on me. "McNally."

  I didn't respond.

  "I'm here because I have something for Mr. McNally." She handed me an envelope.

  It was sort of purple and someone had scrawled my full name on the front with a calligraphy pen. Cute. I took the envelope and opened it. It was an invitation to the wedding—the Chief Of Detective's daughter's wedding on Wednesday evening. "So…I'm officially invited?"

  "Yes, but we would like for you to take pictures, just not the standard posed shots. We've hired a professional for that. We want someone to move about the place and take candid photos of the guests, reception, and wedding."

  I ignored the dig about me not being a professional. Actually, that didn't sound like a bad gig. I had been dreading the idea of trying to corral an entire wedding party for pictures. "Can I bring a date?"

  Llse nodded. "Of course."

  Julie bumped me and I grinned down at her. I started to give Llse my answer that second, but my phone rang. "Excuse me," I said and looked at the ID.

  "Hey Danielle, you're not working late are you?" I said when I answered

  "No. I moved to the second shift because it had a higher pay scale." Danielle laughed. "And I'm swamped. But I did get a possible hit on that image you sent me. It was sort of creepy."

  "You got an ID?" I looked at Vale who was looking intently at me. "Already?"

  So was Llse.

  "Yep. Patsy Claudette Granger. Went missing about twenty-five years ago. Reported missing by her husband, George Granger."

  I grinned. "You are a dream come true, Danielle."

  "Uh huh. Buy me dinner."

  "Any time after Wednesday."

  She laughed. Once I hung up, I repeated what she said to Vale. He pulled out his own phone, called someone, and ordered them to pull up a missing person's report. I knew why he was doing it—just in case they did find the bones Cahan spoke of, they could test them for a DNA match.

  "Who are you two talking about?" Llse asked.

  "Missing person," Julie volunteered. "But the rest is police business. So you can run along now."

  Llse bristled, but she didn't move immediately. Instead she put a hand on my arm. "May I talk to you?"

  Vale was still talking on the phone, and Julie glared at me. "Just a sec," I said to Jewels. "Stay with Vale." I followed Llse back around the corner. She walked down another hallway before she stopped and faced me, all smiles gone. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why are you here?"

  It wasn't the worst thing she'd ever said to me. "Why are you asking?"

  "Because when my ex-husband calls me up at night and asks me to hand deliver an invitation to you of all people, I get curious."

  I shrugged. "Then you'll have to ask him. 'Night, Llse." I turned to go.

  She grabbed my wounded shoulder and squeezed. Apparently she knew which one got the bullet. I jerked away and glared at her. "Are you rejoining the squad?" she asked.

  "Why
is this so important to you?" I searched her face. It was a face I didn't like. A face that reminded me of that night in the warehouse.

  "Did you remember something? Is that it?"

  Oh damn. I had remembered something but I hadn't told Vale. I needed to share with him the images of me finding Jim by the door, already dead, when I got to the warehouse. I was so lost in making myself a mental note I hadn't noticed what my face was doing. But apparently Llse had.

  She took a step back. "You have….you remembered."

  Her reaction was odd. "Is that a bad thing? I mean…you said you were tied up in a room."

  She was looking at me like a hungry bear looks at picnic basket. "That's exactly right. The case is closed, Devan. No more poking into dead things."

  Llse Wallace didn't like me because I rejected her. I never told anyone and I never admitted she came on to me. But while I was in that coma, she made damn sure people believed we'd been having an affair, and that meddling cost me my relationship with Susan. "Ms. Wallace, I am a detective. I investigate. And you might call this case dead, but I don't." My shoulder hurt, but I schooled my features into something akin to a poker face. Or, at least I hoped that's what I was doing as I took a step closer to her. "Let's just say I remember that Jim was already dead when I got there. He was at the entrance to that warehouse. And when I walked further in, that's when I saw Ferrell. Dead." I locked my eyes with hers. "You said you heard us arguing. Not true. There was no one to argue with because that's when someone else shot me in the head."

  She blinked and her jaw tightened. "You're calling me a liar."

  "Yes, I am."

  "You can't prove anything. You were shot."

  I thought about the pictures I'd taken in The Alley Haunt. The images of the crimes committed there. And I thought about the woman I first saw, a face with a name now: Patsy Granger. I'd taken those pictures and proven a case. They weren't admissible, but Cahan had confessed. I wondered…if I took pictures of the warehouse where I was shot, would I see what really happened?

  I refocused on her. "I wonder what that poor boy did to you that was so bad you felt the need to frame him for two murders." I left it at that, watched her jaw move for a bit, turned, and walked away from her.

  But I couldn't help thinking I'd signed my own death warrant.

  Fifteen

  After pissing Llse off, I ran by a CVS and grabbed a first aid kit before taking Julie to a hotel (finally!) and we both slept hard. No one knew where we were and I'd used one of the department's unmarked cars to get us there, leaving mine parked at the station. After much-needed showers, a change of bandages and a fast food brunch, we received a call from Vale.

  Once we were in his office he announced Cahan had been right: They'd found remains in the wall. "It looked as if someone had knocked down the cinder block on both sides and then walled this woman up inside. The Alley Haunt had a bar installed over the bricked area and the opposing side had a faux fireplace made to match the bricks."

  Vale looked at each of us. "I suspect whoever called Cahan to let him know you were looking to buy the property is somehow involved in the mystery woman's death and internment."

  "So you think they were using Cahan to stop the sale?" Julie held a coffee cup in her non-bandaged hand. She seemed to like the stuff they had in the precinct. Lots of things changed when I woke up, especially my intolerance to bad coffee. "By shooting Devan?"

  "As stupid as it sounds, yes." He leaned back. His chair creaked. "Cahan's been very cooperative. I think the guilt of his daughter's death was slowly getting to him. It didn't take much for the caller to push him over the edge. We've downloaded his phone LUDs (local usage details) and Meehan's going through them to see if we can track the call. I've arranged for the discovery of the body in the wall to hit the six o'clock news."

  I smiled at him. "You hope to smoke them out. If they see the body's been unearthed…" Wait a minute. "Hey, doesn't that make me a bigger target?"

  "I don't think so." Vale sat forward and placed his elbows on the table. He clasped his hands together. "If we've already found the body—and the write-up for the media does not release the name—I don't think you'll be a target in the same sense."

  Julie looked at me then Vale. "What are you planning, Captain?"

  "I'm convinced whoever hacked into McNally's computer is the same person who broke into your house, and is the same person who called Cahan. They first attempted to destroy your evidence, then they tried to have you silenced, then they tried to steal the computers." He tilted his head toward his right shoulder. "Do you see the mistakes in this?"

  "I do." They were glaring. "First, how did this person even know I had those pictures? The only people who knew I took the shots were the bank and—"

  Holy hell.

  Julie clued in on my thoughts at the same time as she sat forward and put her cup on Vale's desk. "Mary Smith."

  "The visitor looking for the bar?" Vale asked. "The one you said wasn't suspicious."

  I slapped a hand to my head. "I thought she was being nostalgic. She knew I was taking those pictures. She asked me if I saved them to the tablet and I told her I uploaded them into a cloud."

  "Can you describe this woman?"

  "Medium height, blond hair, large blue eyes, and dressed well. She drove a Mercedes. It was almost fenced but I threw rocks at the kids. Then she drove off."

  "And her name was Mary Smith?"

  Julie pursed her lips. "She said she recently lost her husband. I'll go do a search on the recent deaths of well-off Smiths." She stood, grabbed her coffee, and patted my shoulder as she left Vale's office.

  "She wants you as her partner."

  I hadn't expected Vale to say that. "I'm not sure that would be a good idea. And besides, I'm not allowed back on the squad."

  "You know that wasn't my idea." Vale stood, walked around his desk, and started closing the blinds. "After your recovery, and after it was obvious the doctors were right—that you wouldn't remember what happened—I got a call from the chief of detectives."

  I sort of already knew that.

  He finished closing the blinds and made sure the door was shut before he moved back to his desk. He didn't walk back to his chair. Instead, he leaned against the desk and looked down at me. "He suggested you couldn't be trusted. That you were hiding something—and he believed you knew more than what you were saying. He also alluded to you and Llse having an affair."

  I looked up at him. "I heard the rumors, too. They cost me my marriage."

  "Were you having an affair?"

  "No." I kept my return stare unwavering. "But I think Llse is an intelligent woman. And I think though she and the chef of detectives are divorced, she still has a lot of sway over him. He still loves her."

  "So why would she insinuate something that wasn't true?"

  "To discredit me."

  "Why?"

  I licked my lips. "Because I knew she was sleeping with Jim. And recently…" It was now or never. I had to put it out there or I would never know if finally remembering something would put my life back together. "I remembered something."

  Vale's usually stoic expression slipped for a second. He licked his lips and swallowed. "Oh?"

  I told him what I'd told Julie. What I'd told Llse. And I watched his face. It was unreadable again. The man would be killer at poker. Finally he stood and went back to his chair. He grabbed a yellow pad and pen and set them on the desk. "Write that out, in as much detail as you can, and sign it."

  I did as he asked, very glad Julie had already had me write it out once. When I was finished, he took it and put it in his desk and locked the drawer. That…wasn't what I thought he'd do. "So, do you believe me?"

  "We need corroborating evidence for me to even bring this case back up, Devan. Llse testified she heard you and Ferrell and Jim arguing. She heard three shots. And she wasn't shot in the head."

  "So my injury makes me suspect?"

  "It makes you an unlikely witness. It's not you,
Devan. It's that we don't know that much about the mind. And brain injuries give people the wrong idea. So what I need from you is proof of opportunity, and motive. Especially motive. As far as I can see, Llse didn't gain much from coming forward and testifying that Senator Padeaus's son was gay and meeting another boy in Piedmont Park. Why lie and say Ferrell shot him? And if Ferrell didn't shoot Chad Padeaus, who did?" He held out his hands. "Do you see the holes the case faces if I re-open it? I have to have evidence that's airtight, because I do not plan on going to the DA or anyone else and calling the COD's ex-wife a liar if I don't have proof."

  He was right. I didn't have proof. But I had a hunch, and while I was a detective, hunches never let me down. I stood. "Thanks for at least believing me, sir. Or pretending to. Are you still planning on releasing information about the pictures?"

  He arched an eyebrow and the grin that pulled at the corner of his mouth sort of frightened me. "Should I?"

  "I would. You don't have to say who they're from. But I would release the one photo of the woman." I returned his smile. "And see what turns up."

  Sixteen

  Panic pressed on her shoulders like weights as she stood in front of the wall-mounted flat screen. Newsbreaks between commercials alluded to remains found in Buckhead, and she stood riveted to the screen, her tablet in her hand as she searched online for something about the remains. But there had been nothing.

  Nothing!

  Until the news came on at six, and the story broke on all stations.

  The remains of a woman were found inside the firewall of The Alley Haunt, a Buckhead bar that mysteriously shut down over a year ago. They were crediting the find to a picture taken by a local photographer. The pictures were snapped to produce a selling brochure for the property and the ghostly woman showed up.

  And to her horror, they showed the very picture she'd tried so hard to destroy on the television. Her nightmare was there for everyone to see.

  She dropped the tablet on the floor and walked to the screen.