by Linda Ladd
“Sure, go ahead.” My voice didn’t show the enthusiasm required, but I was all tensed up and feeling a little nervous from the oven thing.
“How about lettin’ me take the bracelet out of the bag, so I can feel the real thing?”
“Sure. It’s already been dusted.”
I examined his face closely as he squeezed the bracelet into one closed palm. After a second or two, he passed it into his other hand. He shut his eyes and began rolling one of the blue beads between his thumb and forefinger. I waited, and so did Harve, probably as interested as I was. I have to admit, it is pretty damn awesome knowing a reallive psychic, even if he’s come up with some pretty bad stuff with me right smack-dab in the middle of it. Better safe than sorry, I had begun to believe. Occasionally, he gave me something that I could use, or try to avoid, was the usual scenario.
McKay opened his eyes. “I’m not getting anything, but let me try something else.”
He took my hand and held it, and I thought for a moment that was just another lame come-on, but less than a minute passed before he shook his head. “Nothin’ at all, sorry, detective. It happens sometimes.”
I felt both relief and disappointment. “That’s okay. I know you’re not John Edward.”
“Hey, man, I’m as good as he is. Sometimes even better. He’s just got that show, and all.”
“Yeah. You can make that one of your goals. A real, live TV show where you help solve cold cases. You’d be a big star and make some serious dough.”
Harve said, “C’mon down, Joe, and help me get the boat tied down for the night. I hear a storm’s coming in.”
“Okay, sure. Claire, keep an eye on Lizzie, will you? Won’t be a minute.”
I tensed. I did not want to keep an eye on Elizabeth. I did not want to be left alone with Elizabeth. It was too painful. I had lost my own baby boy when he was about two, not much different in age than Elizabeth was now. He had been killed the same night that bullet had sliced into Harve’s spinal cord and taken away his career. Both tragedies were my fault, but I pressed that sick feeling back down into the dark places. McKay and Harve were just going down to the water, not six feet away. Elizabeth was playing with my dog. How hard can this be?
“Okay. Jules Verne seems to be keeping her happy.”
I lounged down in a green and white padded deck chair, close to where Elizabeth was sitting on the deck. Jules was rubbing up against her, wanting more attention. The child wasn’t smiling, but she didn’t have that terrible glazed look in her eyes, either. Thank God, for that. I’d worn that look a lot in my life, and it wasn’t easy to throw it off. I knew that much.
A short time later, we ate outside on the deck in the blue gray of summer twilight and shrill calls of at least a thousand insects. The lake lapped the pilings, lulling us to a false sense of security under hickory and maple trees that tossed wildly in the tops of the branches and made rustling sounds as if whispering secrets back and forth. Across the lake, I could see heat lightning brightening the dark clouds over the purple hills in the distance. The smell of rain was in the air, that and ozone and the smell of the fish guts Harve had yet to bury.
Harve had a couple of mosquito coils to keep away the biting beasts, and the rising breeze was helping keep the insects at bay and gave us the opportunity to sit outside, rather than inside Harve’s small screened back porch. I watched as Elizabeth fed most of the food on her red-checked paper plate to Jules, who was acting like I hadn’t fed him a single bite in two years. After a while, we moved to a circle of cushioned chairs and just talked and watched the storm roll in over the lake. I was surprised when Elizabeth yawned, then walked over to my chair and crawled up onto my lap. Uncomfortable, I held her awkwardly and tried not to think about Zach as she curled her warm little body against me. She looked up at me, her little brows dented with confusion, and whispered, but as clear as day, “Zach?”
My breath caught and I couldn’t move, so shocked was I, but then she relaxed, her eyes drooped, and she didn’t last long before sleep overtook her. I nearly held my breath, still stunned that she’d said my son’s name, still trembling with reaction. When I looked down at her and she looked so very peaceful for a change, I said a little internal prayer that she wouldn’t have nightmares, just this one night.
When Harve’s phone rang inside the house, he motored his wheelchair inside, and Joe moved to the chair next to me. He smiled down at his daughter. “She likes you, Claire. I haven’t seen her do that with anybody but me. Not even Harve, and she loves him.”
I could only come up with what I always said to him when discussing Elizabeth. “I’m not good with children.” I had to tell him then, had to ask. “Lizzie said something to me, something I can’t explain.”
“What? She never says much.”
“She said, ‘Zach.’ That was my son’s name.”
McKay stared at me a second, then he looked through the big glass window where Harve was sitting at his desk and talking on the telephone. “I know about your son, Claire. Harve told me. I’m real sorry that happened to you.”
Oh, God, let him stop. I did not want to discuss Zach. “Did she hear you talking about him?”
“No.” He hesitated. “I think she’s inherited some of my ability. I’ve seen signs that she might be psychic. She probably felt your pain, if you were thinking about him when you held her. That happens at times with me.” He was very reluctant now. “I saw him a minute ago, too, when I held your hand. Little guy, curly blond hair, blue eyes, real big ones, and he looks a lot like you, and he liked to run around a hundred miles an hour. I thought it would upset you, so I just kept it to myself.”
Swallowing hard, I shifted in my chair and stared out over the dark water. This was a subject I never discussed, not even with Black when he was trying his darnedest to help me deal with it. I wasn’t going to start now, especially with McKay, though I knew he was trying to be considerate. It was painful enough, feeling Elizabeth’s soft little body snuggling up against me. She felt exactly like Zach had the night I held him until his big blue eyes closed the very last time and he was gone out of my life forever. Pain, pure and elemental, erupted; my heart burned with it.
“Sorry, Claire. I can see you’re upset.”
I couldn’t speak. What was there to say, anyway? McKay got the picture, thank God, and changed the subject.
“Maybe you can hang around with us sometimes, Claire? Just so Lizzie will get used to havin’ a woman around? Her mom wasn’t exactly a good role model for her. She needs a female in her life that she can trust.”
“Oh, c’mon, McKay, you’ve got women galore in your life, right? You don’t need me.”
McKay didn’t reply. Thunder rolled like a shaken piece of aluminum, but Elizabeth did not stir. He took a drink of his Bud Light. “I don’t have any women in my life. I’m spending my time tryin’ to get Lizzie through this. Therapy’s helping, but she needs more time. Makin’ up to you tonight like this is showin’ some progress. Thanks for holdin’ her.”
“No problem.” Yeah, right.
Silence reigned. The stars were beginning to come out, one at a time. We watched the rain sheeting the water very far away, past the mouth of the cove, and waited for Harve to come back outside. He was working at his computer system now, probably answering a question for one of his clients. After a time while we silently listened to more crickets and the faint sound of Harve’s voice and the restless tossing of the treetops, McKay got talkative.
“Know what?”
“What?”
“I’m thinking about movin’ down to Springfield and startin’ up my own business.”
“No joke? What kinda business?”
“You’re gonna laugh at this.”
“Probably.”
“I was drivin’ around Springfield last week and I found this vacant Victorian house in the old part of town, on Walnut Street. Big old place. So I got to thinkin’ that it’d make a helluva good place to live, so I’m thinkin’ about putt
ing a bid in on it. It’s in pretty bad shape, yeah, but I’m handy with tools. I could paint it and fix it up to look pretty good.”
“Really? Sounds kind of big for just you and Lizzie.”
“That’s the thing. I’m thinkin’ of turnin’ it into one of those bed-and-breakfast thingamajigs. I can cook well enough to make some breakfast stuff, eggs and bacon, stuff like that, and it’s near a real good early childhood center. Or maybe I can get a live-in nanny. If I can find one that Lizzie takes to.”
“So now I’m gonna have two friends in the hotel business, huh?” I took a swig of my beer and found it warm and unpalatable. Nothing worse than hot beer, in my book. I set the bottle aside.
McKay chuckled a little. He had a nice, genuine laugh. “Mine ain’t gonna be anywhere close to Cedar Bend Lodge’s league. It’s really run-down now and I’ll have to put in a lot of hard work on it, but I like that kinda work. You like to paint?”
“Aha. Now the truth comes out. You’re pulling a Tom Sawyer on me.”
“Hey, I need some help, that’s all. I’m gonna beg for it everywhere I can.”
McKay was being serious now, so I said, “Sure, I’ll help you out when I can. Where you getting all the money for this stuff?”
“I have my military retirement and some investments I made while I was in. My parents left me a little.”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out. Good for you.”
“Now all I need is a good woman to share it with.”
Crap. Everything was going just fine, friendship all warm and platonic, and now he was looking at me, the way he did from time to time, all serious, sappy, and romantic, and that’s the last thing I wanted to think about. “That shouldn’t be a problem for a Romeo like you. How about Black and I fix you up with one of his drop-dead-gorgeous employees? He’s got a whole pack of them.”
“I want to share it with you, Claire.”
Damn. This guy just couldn’t see the light. “I think we’ve been down this road before, McKay. Maybe not this far, but it’s still the same road.”
“I don’t happen to think you fit with Black and his lifestyle and don’t think he’ll make you happy in the long run. Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy. He’s cool. He’s just not cool enough for you.”
I had to laugh at his arrogance. “And you are, I take it?”
“Damn right.”
I laughed again, and so did he. We did get along for the most part. I did like this guy. We could’ve gone out, had a few beers, raised some hell, if Black wasn’t in the picture. But Black was in the picture, big-time and in CAPITAL LETTERS. I changed the subject.
“I gotta idea for you, McKay, why don’t you give your B and B guests some of your hocus pocus, seance acts down in the drawing room before dinner. You know, hold on to their hand and read their minds. That oughta get you a no vacancy sign up real fast.”
McKay didn’t take my bait, just smiled. “That’s exactly what I was gonna do. You must be a mind reader.”
I ignored his humor. “No way.
“Oh, yeah. I heard about this other guy who’s doing something like that out East, in Rhode Island, or somewhere like that, and is making a mint off it. No reason I can’t do it, too.”
“You’ll have to score a little better than you did with my bracelet a minute ago.”
“Give me another chance on that a few days from now. You were just too close and smelled way too good for me to keep my psychic edge goin’.”
“That’s Irish Spring soap and gun oil.”
“Two of my favorite things, especially on a hot woman.”
Our smiles met for a rather warm instant, and it was a heck of a good thing my phone rang. Elizabeth bolted upright and rubbed her eyes as I pulled the phone off my belt and read caller ID. “It’s Bud. I gotta take this.”
Lowering Elizabeth to the floor, I stood up and moved off the porch, I said, “Yeah, Bud, you got something?”
“There’s a female student of Asian extraction that’s gone missing over at Missouri State in Springfield. You up to checking out her dorm room tonight? I got permission from Springfield PD after I told them about our possible double homicide and unidentified vic.”
“Where are you? I’ll pick you up.”
“Black won’t mind?”
I frowned. Everybody was always digging into my love life. It was getting a bit old. “Black’s still in New York. Where are you?”
“I just got home. Let me grab something to eat and we’re good to go.”
“I’ll be right there. Harve’s got a ton of fried crappie and hush puppies left over. I’ll bring you a doggie bag, just sit tight.”
“Hey, Claire, you know why they call them hush puppies?”
“Is this out of that book I got you?”
“Yeah. They call them that because back in the Civil War if rebels got wind of Yankees comin’ too close, they’d throw hush puppies at their dogs to keep ’em from barkin’.”
“That sounds made up.”
“Huh uh. It’s straight outta that book. And that book knows.”
“Thanks for sharing. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
We hung up, and I walked back to the porch. McKay was rocking Elizabeth back to sleep in Harve’s oversize wooden rocker. He said, “Gotta go, right? Duty calls?”
“You got it. Tell Harve that Bud and I had something come up. Think he’d mind if I take all those leftovers to Bud?”
“Nope. And don’t forget that pie I made you.”
“You did not make that pie.”
“Oh, yes, I did. Secret’s to cook it in one of those Kroger brown paper bags. It makes it brown real evenly and takes care of the juices dripping all over your oven. My mom had all kinda tricks like that.”
“Thanks. I’ll let you know what I think.” I picked up the leftovers and the pie and headed for the door. I turned back when McKay called after me.
“Hey, Claire, tell Bud I said hi.” He stopped rocking and gave me a serious look. “And by the way, detective, you take good care, okay? I’ve got a paintbrush just waitin’ at my house with your name on it.”
His cheesy grin was a challenge, but I just said so long and pushed open the screen. I headed for my Explorer, just as the rain hit with a vengeance. Yep, Joe McKay was quite a guy. He was just courting the wrong gal.
Here Comes Trouble
Tee awoke with a start. Initially he wasn’t sure where he was or what was going on. Then he recognized the shrill sounds for what they were. Screams, high and horrible. He jumped out of bed, shaken and still groggy. Buddy was on his feet, too, and they stared at each other for a second or two, then raced each other out into the hallway. The commotion was going on down to their left, where the corridor turned at the girls’ restroom.
Night nurses were sprinting toward the yelling, and kids were opening their doors all up and down the corridor. Other patients were already outside and standing around in their pajamas and underwear. Tee took off toward the excitement with Buddy dead on his heels. To his surprise, nobody tried to stop him or even slow him down.
Everything was going down inside the girls’ bathroom, and he eased himself past a couple of others and moved inside the big community restroom. There were about eight lavatories with a long mirror stretching above them, and ten or twelve toilet stalls, but there were also three private rooms with bathtubs for the girls to take bubble baths in.
Edging around a young white-coated orderly, who was standing against the wall, his mouth hanging open as he stared horrified at something, Tee realized the screams were not coming from a girl at all, but from his new buddy, Yang Wei. When Tee finally got to where he could peer inside the private bathtub room, he gasped, shocked to see so much blood. Man, it was everywhere, turning the bathwater scarlet where it was washing over the edge of the white tub and streaming down the sides and all over the black-and-white tiled floor. It was sickening.
More stunning, it was Lotus in that tub, in all that red water. Yang Wei was g
oing nuts, holding her head out of the water and trying to push together the gaping wounds on her wrists, so deep her hands were flopping down. But it was way too late for that to stop the bleeding. Yang Wei’s little sister was stone-cold dead. Her face was white as the wall behind her, and her eyes were open and staring at Yang Wei. Tee wouldn’t have thought a girl so small could pump out that much blood. Holy shit.
One of the doctors arrived and pushed past Tee. He took one look at the blood-drenched room and yelled at the nurses, “Get an ambulance out here, now!” Then he said, “Yang Wei, get back now, let me see what I can do.”
Yang Wei obeyed, white dress shirt wet and stained crimson, the glazed look of disbelief in his eyes terrible to behold. When a nurse took hold of Tee’s arm and pulled him out the door, he went quietly, because he’d seen enough. She said, “You don’t need to be here watching this. Go back to your room. The doctor’s with her now. He’ll take care of everything.”
Not so, Tee thought, the doctor was way, way too late to take care of anything, but reluctantly he did as he was told. Truthfully, however, he was more than perplexed. Why in the world had she slit her wrists, the dumb little bitch? What they’d done together in the shed hadn’t been all that bad. For God’s sake, talk about an overreaction. In fact, he knew she had enjoyed it as much as he had. He hoped to hell she hadn’t left a suicide note incriminating him. That brought on a wave of fear, and he decided that it was in his best interest to find out, and find out fast.
Tee knew where Lotus’s room was, because he had scoped it out the first day he met her. She had a private room now because her last roommate had recently been released, and he had originally planned to make love to her there. That idea had been discarded quick enough. Just look what a scream had done when the nurse had found the body. As he moved toward her room, trying to look inconspicuous, everybody else was being pushed back into their rooms and told to stay there. In the distance, he could already hear the shrill blare of a siren heading their way.
