by J A Whiting
“Okay.” Dana nodded and brushed the tears from her cheeks. “That sounds like a good idea.”
“It’s the right thing to do. And Jayne will keep what you tell her in confidence. No one will know you talked to her.”
A look of relief washed over Dana’s face. “Okay. I didn’t know I could be anonymous. That makes me feel better.” Swallowing hard, the young woman looked at Shelly. “Do you think Adam killed Abby?”
Before Shelly could give an answer, someone from the kitchen stepped out of the food barn and glanced around until she noticed Shelly at the picnic table. “Shelly. The oven timer went off a minute ago. You want me to take the pies out?”
“Oh. Thanks.” Shelly stood up and before hurrying off to the barn, she told Dana, “I’ll be here for another two hours today if you need to talk.”
With her head pounding from what Dana had told her, Shelly ran inside to rescue the pies.
13
Jack returned from leading the adventure trip and immediately made plans to meet Shelly and spend the day with her. In the morning, they biked the easier paths around the mountain so Shelly wouldn’t have to deal with too many hills. The injuries from the attack on her from the last murder case had pretty much healed and already she felt like she could tackle more strenuous exercise. Rushing along under the dappled sunlight, past the towering pines, with the warm wind on her face, Shelly’s heart swelled with joy as she and Jack pedaled their bicycles over the trails.
When they finished the twelve-mile ride, the couple stopped at the resort’s Mountain Pub for lunch. The pub was built in post and beam style with a cathedral ceiling and warm, deep golden wood on the walls, floor, and ceiling promoting a rustic, cozy atmosphere. Big windows faced the mountains affording beautiful views of the pines, fields, mountain, and lake.
Sitting by the window, Shelly and Jack ordered drinks and shared an appetizer while she gave him a rundown on all he’d missed during the week.
“Why did Jay want you to sit in on the interview with Adam Wall?” Jack asked, not knowing about Shelly’s meaningful dreams and confused as to how she could be of any help to law enforcement.
Before answering, Shelly took a swallow of her beverage in order to gather her thoughts and consider how to respond. “Jay thinks I have a strong intuition, that I pick up on subtle things about people and situations that most people miss. I don’t know that I agree with her, but she asked and I felt obligated to help, so I went.”
“Interesting.” Jack looked at the young woman across from him, his blue eyes like lasers on her. “There were people in the military like that. They had an uncanny ability to anticipate danger. Some men and women can do that sort of thing naturally, it is part of who they are. For some reason, they’re more skilled at noticing and reading subtle signals that others give off. I found it fascinating.” He leaned forward. “When something’s wrong, is there some tiny scent on the air that more intuitive people can pick up on? Is there a vibration in the air that doesn’t seem normal? Is there a heightened sense of sight or hearing that sets off an alarm in the person’s brain? I talked to some of the men who seemed to have this skill. They told me they had no idea what was alerting them to the danger, somehow they just knew it was coming.”
Shelly listened with focused attention, intrigued by Jack’s experience with the soldiers who could perceive danger and with his questions and speculation about how people were able to sense such things. Did the military have an understanding of these skills? She’d bet there weren’t any soldiers who had dream premonitions … or were there?
When Jack asked Shelly a question, she didn’t hear what he said because she was deep in thought about their conversation, so Jack had to repeat it. “Have you always been so intuitive?”
Shelly shook herself out of her thoughts. “No.” Sadness pulled at her mouth and she answered softly. “It all seemed to start after the accident.”
Jack reached across the table and held Shelly’s hand. “What you’re able to sense about others could be very helpful to people.”
A smile spread over Shelly’s face and she held tighter to Jack’s hand. “You’re a very kind man, Jack Graham.”
The two stared into each other’s eyes for almost a minute.
With a smile, Jack said, “Can your senses pick up on what I’m feeling?”
With a sparkle in her eyes, Shelly tilted her head and leaned closer. “I think they can.”
The flirting was interrupted when the waiter came over with the lunch orders and set the plates down in front of the two romantics. After enjoying the food, Shelly and Jack rode their bikes into town and strolled hand in hand along the brick sidewalks window shopping and then they watched the tourists while sitting on a bench in the town common eating ice cream cones.
“This has been the best day,” Jack announced as he and Shelly parked the bikes behind her house and went inside, greeted Justice, poured glasses of lemonade, and headed to the front porch to sit in the rockers. The cat jumped up on Jack’s lap and settled down expecting a few scratches under her cheeks.
Shelly let out a laugh at the feline’s behavior. “I think you have a fan.”
Jack looked down at the sweet little animal. “I’m glad. The feeling is mutual,” he said as he accommodated Justice’s desire to be patted.
“Tell me more about your new job,” Jack said rocking slowly back and forth in the chair being careful not to tip the cat.
After giving him details about the temporary baking position, Shelly brought up the conversation she had with Paul, Dwayne’s nephew. “Paul thinks Dwayne should retire. He says the man is making mistakes and is very forgetful.”
“Dwayne hasn’t had it easy. He lost his wife and son, he had the misfortune to find Abby’s hand, and he’s worked hard on the farm for years. Maybe it’s time for him to relax.”
“I get the impression that Dwayne loves that farm. I think he’d be lost without the work. From listening to him talk, I think it gives him a sense of stability and purpose. It might not be good for him to retire.” Shelly watched the ice cubes floating in her glass. “I can’t help thinking that Paul has an ulterior motive for hoping Dwayne might retire.”
Jack narrowed his eyes. “You think he wants to take over the place?”
“Maybe I’m being suspicious,” Shelly said. “Since Paul’s mother owns half of the farm, wouldn’t Paul eventually inherit her half? And if Dwayne’s only living relatives are Paul and his mother, wouldn’t Paul inherit the whole farm one day? Why would he be so keen on having Dwayne retire?”
Jack said, “Dwayne really might be becoming incapable of handling the operation of the place … or his ideas about how to run the farm might clash with Paul’s more modern views. It’s not easy to keep a big farm like that going, it’s very expensive. It’s often necessary to expand into different things like they’ve done by adding the brewery, the food barn, the animals, the fall activities. It draws in a lot of paying customers. Maybe Dwayne is hindering some of Paul’s plans. Paul may feel Dwayne’s ideas are no longer in the business’s best interests.”
“I didn’t think of it that way. Maybe you’re right.” Shelly steered the conversation to lighter topics. With Jack beside her, she wanted to forget the recent troubles that had happened in town, if only for a few hours.
The two made dinner together and watched a movie, snuggling on the sofa with Justice pushing her way in between them. Jack had to head home when the film finished since he had to be at the mountain at 6am the next day. Shelly walked him to the door, but before descending the steps, he pulled the young woman into a tight hug and they shared a long, passionate kiss under the porch light. Breathless and with her cheeks flushed pink, Shelly waved and watched as Jack pedaled away down the lane.
After locking the front door and putting some glasses into the dishwasher, Shelly yawned and stretched, suddenly feeling exhausted from all the outdoor activities she’d done with Jack. With the cat padding after her, she headed for the bedroom, changed, and slip
ped under the covers to read before falling asleep.
Justice curled up beside her owner and began to purr and every few minutes, Shelly’s head would fall forward and snap up as she drifted into sleep and then woke with a start. Giving up on the book, she set it on the side table, turned out the light, and burrowed under the blanket feeling content and happy.
Falling into a deep sleep, Shelly began to dream.
She ran and ran through the forest, with her heart pounding and panic rushing through her veins. A strong wind blew against her impeding her progress. She had to hurry or it would be too late. Emerging from the woods into an open field, Shelly saw trees down and a building leveled.
Lauren stepped out from behind the rubble and lifted her arms reaching for her sister, and like in the last dream she remembered, Lauren’s hands were missing.
Trying to reach her, Shelly climbed over the trees and plodded clumsily towards her sister with legs so heavy she could barely move them. She fell and stood up and fell again. Tears streamed down her face. Lauren.
With her handless arms hanging by her sides, Lauren watched with a sad, lonely expression as Shelly fell once more and began to crawl on hands and knees desperate to get to her.
Lauren shook her head slowly from side to side and then turned and stumbled back behind the rubble.
Shelly shrieked for Lauren to wait. Wait for me. I’m coming. But her sister disappeared from view and Shelly collapsed, sobbing, onto the muddy ground.
When she lifted her face, her vision began to spin, faster and faster, and she dug her fingers into the wet soil trying to stop the motion. In a moment, she was high in the air looking down towards the ground.
A dark car twirled crazily in the air, suspended high above the land, rotating and rotating.
It began to fall … down it plummeted … the car tumbled, down, down, deep into the earth … and then it was gone.
Too late.
14
After her workday at the diner was done, Shelly walked along the trails that hugged the lower part of the mountain admiring the pine trees rising all around like sentries there to protect her. Her leg was sore and her limp was more pronounced from all the biking she’d done with Jack the day before, but she wanted to be outside in the quiet of the woods to have a chance to think and clear her head of the disturbing dream she’d had the night before.
Aware that she needed to be careful in the forest alone, Shelly selected the trail she was walking on because of its usual traffic of cyclists, runners, and hikers and she carried a canister of pepper spray in one hand and her phone in the other.
Images from the dream had popped into her head all day while she baked in the kitchen of the diner. If Juliet and Jay hadn’t talked to her about precognition and people whose dreams warned of coming events and gave clues to crimes, she would have brushed the nightmare off and wouldn’t have let it bother her. Knowing now that her nighttime visions, at least the ones with Lauren in them, might be trying to tell her something, the disturbing aspects of last night’s dream got under her skin and stayed there.
Although she knew she would have to speak to Jay about it eventually, the thought of sharing the details with anyone made her feel ill.
Shelly headed down a small gravelly path that led to the lake where she sat on a big rock at the edge and watched kayakers glide easily over the clear, blue water. On the opposite shore, people jumped in from rope swings, others played at the edge with little children, and a few swam with practiced strokes across the middle of the lake.
A rusting noise behind her made Shelly’s heart jump and she turned to see what it was. A man in his early sixties wearing long shorts, a t-shirt, and a baseball hat strolled down towards the water with a black Labrador at his side. The dog spotted Shelly on the rock and trotted over to greet her. The Lab’s friendly demeanor made her chuckle as it pushed its nose against her hand asking for a pat.
“That’s Buddy, the world’s friendliest animal.” The man nodded to her.
“He’s great.” Shelly scratched the dog behind the ears and he gave her a lick on the hand with his long, pink tongue.
The man called to the dog and threw a sick into the water and when the dog saw their game had started, he ran and jumped into the lake and swam for the stick.
“It’s our daily routine,” the man told Shelly. “We take our walk and then come to the lake for a few stick retrievals.”
Shelly asked some questions about the dog and the man was happy to tell her all about his four-legged companion.
“Do you live around here or just visiting?” the man asked.
“I moved to town a few months ago. I work in the diner as a baker supplying the diner and the resort’s bakery with goods.”
The man asked about her background and Shelly told him about living in Boston, being in an accident … but leaving out many of the details … and how she decided to make a change and move to the mountain to accept a new job.
“How do you like it so far?”
“I like it very much. I’ve made some friends and I love all the outdoor activities and being near the lake and the trails.”
“Do you ski?” the man asked.
“I do, although not very well.” Shelly smiled.
“You’ll get better being able to practice all the time. You know you get free skiing as part of your compensation for being a resort employee?”
Shelly nodded. “I remember seeing that in the contract. Do you work for the resort?”
“I did. I worked as an accountant for over twenty years. I recently took early retirement, only been out for a few weeks … we thought about moving to some place new, but quickly tossed that idea. We like it here.”
“Are you adjusting to retirement well?” Shelly asked.
The man’s face clouded. “I’m growing used to it.”
“Miss your job?”
“It’s not that. I’m happy to be done with going to an office all day, but….” the man let his voice trail off.
Shelly tilted her head in question. “But, you have some reservations?”
The dog galloped out of the water, dropped the stick, and shook the droplets from his fur with a vigorous shake of his body. The man jumped back to avoid getting wet, then leaned forward to pick up the stick and toss it into the lake. He walked over to where Shelly sat on the rock. “Mind if I sit?”
She nodded and scrooted over to make room.
“I was enjoying the freedom of being out of the workplace. Not long ago, Buddy and I were out for a walk.” The man paused. “Buddy made a gruesome discovery.”
Shelly turned with wide eyes and asked with a gentle tone. “Buddy was the dog that found the hand?”
The man gave a nod. “He barked and barked. He ran at me and then rushed to the spot where he found it, back and forth until I went over to see what had grabbed his attention. I almost passed out when I saw what it was.”
Shelly couldn’t suppress a shudder.
“I knew the girl, Abby Jackson. She was a good kid.” The man passed his hand over his face.
“How did you know her?” Shelly asked.
“Our families were friendly,” he said. “We knew each other from the kids’ sports. Our daughter was a year older than Abby. They both ran cross-country, played on the soccer team. I was pretty sure that the discovery Buddy made belonged to Abby. My wife and I were horrified and heartbroken. Our daughter attends college in Boston. We drove down to tell her … tell her that Abby must be dead.”
“I’m so sorry,” Shelly told the man.
“If it wasn’t for the dog, I don’t think I’d ever walk in the woods again. Sometimes when we’re walking and Buddy gets excited over something or starts sniffing something, I experience a panic attack. It passes. I love the mountains and the forest. I’m going to keep walking every day. I’m determined to overcome my stress and anxiety.”
Shelly praised the man and encouraged him to continue his walks. “I’m glad you won’t allow the killer to steal
away your love of your home.”
“How I wish the police would solve this mystery and find Abby.” The dog carried the stick to the man and he threw it.
“Have you talked to Abby’s parents?” Shelly asked.
The man sighed. “Yes. My wife and I visited with them not long ago.”
“Do they have suspicions about who might have done this?” Shelly wondered if the family could even think straight under the circumstances.
“They don’t. Sandra and Ben, Abby’s parents, don’t know what to think. Their guess is that it was random.”
“Do you think it was random?” Shelly asked.
“I know Sandra and Ben don’t want to think that a killer is living here in town with all of us. They prefer to see the evil as an outside force. I hope it was random, but my feeling is that the person who did this walks among us.”
A chill rushed over Shelly’s skin as the possibility raced through her mind that this man might be the one who killed Abby and hid her body. Reaching into her pocket, she gripped the pepper spray she’d slipped there when she sat down on the rock. Swallowing hard to clear her throat, Shelly asked, “You think the killer lives in town?”
“I don’t know, it’s only a feeling I have. It seems to me the attacker must have known Abby.”
Shelly’s momentary flash of panic that she might be sitting next to a killer began to subside. “What makes you think so?”
The dog came out of the water, dropped the stick, and began to sniff around the trees.
“The locations of the terrible finds make me think so. Buddy and I found one of the hands near the trail Abby often trained on. Poor Dwayne Thomas, the guy that owns Glad Hill Farm and the orchard, he found the other one. Abby worked at that farm for years. She loved that farm. It seems like the killer knew her. It couldn’t be random. The two places were important to Abby. The killer seems to be thumbing his nose at all of us.”
What the man had just pointed out had never occurred to Shelly and she hoped the police had made the link that the killer left Abby’s hands at two places that were important to her. “That makes a lot of sense. I bet you’re right. Did you mention this to the police?”
