“I’m sorry, you needed to know what...?”
In a flash, she understood. Justina wasn’t just here to talk. She wasn’t here to tell Katie her family history. She was here because a young woman’s body had been found buried in the walls of her own home.
“You think it might be Emily?”
Justina nodded. Her lips were trembling so badly she couldn’t say anything.
Katie reached across and held Justina’s hand. This poor woman had been through so much and now a daughter that she thought had run away so many years ago might actually have been dead all this time, right there under her nose.
“I’m sorry,” she told Justina. It seemed like the right thing to say.
“Is it my daughter, do you think?” Justina asked. “We were so certain that my Emily had run away from us but what if this is her? I never heard from her after she left and I have to wonder, could this girl you found today...could it be her? Did my daughter die in our house, Miss Pearson?”
“I really don’t know.”
“Is that why we could never find her?” Justina continued as if she was lost in her memories. From her purse she took out an old photograph of a teenage girl’s smiling face. “You’d know if it was my daughter, I’m sure of it. She was so pretty. Long flowing hair. Intelligent eyes, green just like her father’s.”
Katie didn’t have the heart to tell the woman what sort of state they’d found the body in. No flowing hair. No pretty eyes. Maybe dental records--
“There was a ring,” Justina said.
“What was that?” Katie was surprised. A ring. Yes, there had been a ring but how would Justina know that?
“My daughter always wore a ring on her right hand. Her father gave it to her. A little gold band, with diamond chips all around it. Was this poor girl you found today wearing a ring like that, by chance?”
Katie remembered that ring. A bright spark in that dark space.
Now she knew the girl was Emily Knox, dead all these years.
Chapter 6
Justina remembered the way to the Port Cable police department. She gave Katie directions as they drove there together. She was quiet the whole way, no doubt thinking of her daughter, and the years that had been stolen from them. Someone had murdered Emily Knox.
But who?
Inside the station they were met by an older man in a crisp blue uniform, wearing a stetson and a stern expression as he greeted them. “Hello, Justina.” He held his arms out to her, and they hugged. “I never thought I’d see you back in town.”
Justina managed a smile for him. “I never wanted to come back like this, Chief Anson.”
“Please, Justina. It was always just Peter to you.”
“All right then, Peter. I’m so upset. What should I do?”
“We won’t make you look at the body,” he told her. “When Katie called us she said you could identify a ring the victim was wearing. Why don’t you come in with me to my office. I’ll show the ring to you, and then you can tell me.”
“Excuse me, Chief?” Katie wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. “Should I stick around for Mrs. Knox? Will she need a ride, I mean?”
“I’ll take care of that, Miss Pearson. Thank you.”
When he said thank you he somehow managed to make it sound like he was telling her to leave, and not in a nice way.
“Sir, I don’t mean to bother you but is there anything you can tell me, maybe? I mean, it is my house now. The...victim was found by people working for me. Maybe I could come in as well and--?”
“No, thank you.” There it was again. Like she was being politely told off. “We don’t need your help.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I don’t care what you meant,” Chief Anson barked. “Justina is an old friend of mine. I’ll take care of her from here. Thank you.”
Screw you, in other words.
Katie folded her arms and leaned on her hip. “Don’t much like outsiders, do you, Chief?”
“Wow, Miss Pearson. You should’ve been a cop.”
With that he led Justina by the hand into an inner part of the office, and closed the door on Katie.
She stood there in the foyer of the police department, seething, wondering what she was supposed to do now. Her beautiful investment was now part of a tragic death. She could take a hundred thousand dollars off what she had planned to set as the asking price, that was for sure. A hundred thousand at least!
Not that she was insensitive to Justina’s pain. It must be terrible to find out your daughter had been murdered. Not to mention the fact that her body had been dumped right in Justina’s house. Perhaps Emily had come back home after running away, years after her parents had split up and moved out. Maybe that’s where her squatter theory came in. Say a homeless person had moved into the Knox Estate after it had been empty for years. Emily had run away. She could have come back after her father’s death, thinking to reclaim her childhood home, only to find someone squatting inside.
She confronted the squatter, and he killed her.
“Makes sense,” she said to herself, “but how am I supposed to know anything if the police keep shutting me out?”
“Excuse me?” a woman’s voice said. “The Chief asked me to escort you out.”
A female officer had come into the foyer. She didn’t have the gold braid on her uniform that the Chief had, and she didn’t have his severe expression either. On the contrary, she actually smiled.
Katie told herself that she had to stop narrating her life. At the very least she had to make sure she was alone before she started jabbering away at herself! “I can find my own way out, Officer. Thank you.”
“It’s all right, Miss Pearson. I don’t mind walking with you.” She leaned in closer to Katie to whisper, “I know the Chief can be a hard man to take. He’s got the town’s best interests at heart though. You can count on that.”
“Whatever. I had a dead girl in my house, from a murder that happened in his town, and he won’t tell me anything. How is that having the best interests of the town at heart?”
“How do you know the girl was murdered?”
Katie thought that was a silly question. “I doubt that Emily Knox stuffed herself in the wall.”
The officer nodded. “That’s a very good point. The Chief is right. Maybe you should’ve been a cop.”
“No, thanks. I’m doing just fine flipping houses.”
“Well. I’m Officer Debbie Clausen. If you need anything, let me know.”
“What I need is answers.” Katie looked at her watch. The day was getting away from her. You couldn’t afford too many wasted days if you expected to make money. Quick turnover was the key. “You guys aren’t willing to give me any information, so I’ll just take myself back to the Knox Estate and see what I can find myself.”
“I don’t recommend that,” Officer Clausen said. “You should leave that to the professionals.”
“I tried that. It seems whatever answers the police have, they aren’t willing to share.”
Officer Clausen shrugged. “If it’s answers you’re looking for you should talk to Emily’s boyfriend, Miguel Sanchez. He’s still in town.”
Katie was shocked. After the Chief’s brush off she expected that the police would stonewall her at every turn. Apparently Debbie Clausen was cut from a different cloth. “Uh, thank you. I just want to find out what might have happened in the house. By law, I have to let any potential buyer know everything I can.”
That wasn’t the only reason. Normal human curiosity was a big part of it, too. Either way, she had another part of the puzzle now. Emily Knox had a boyfriend before she ran away from home. If she came back like Katie suspected, would she have tried to contact an old flame?
Of course she would. Women were like that.
Which reminded her of Bill, and the way he had made her feel last night. Would she see him again?
Well. That wasn’t important. Katie had spent years living without a man to keep he
r bed warm. The breakup with her last boyfriend still stung. No man had been able to lay claim to her double-d’s ever since!
Maybe Bill would be that guy, and maybe he wouldn’t. She would worry about it if he ever showed up again.
For now she wanted to get back to the Knox Estate and take stock of her situation. Thanking Officer Clausen, she walked herself out to her car, and hoped that would be the last she ever saw of Chief Peter Anson’s police department.
The Knox Estate had a sinister look to it now, in Katie’s eyes. That always happened when you knew something bad had happened in a home. What had once been a wonderful construction of brick and wood and mortar now turned into a place built on lies and evil. Or something like that. Not that she was a big believer of God and the Devil, but she knew from experience there was something after this life. Some of it was good.
Some of it was not.
“Well, house. I guess it’s just you and me.”
She put the car in park and got out, and looked over the home and the grounds again with a critical eye. Yellow police tape flapped loosely around the steps, blocking absolutely nothing. Everything else looked just like it had before. It was still just roofing tiles and plaster, windows and doors and eaves. The evil she was seeing here was all in her head, and she needed to remember that.
Late afternoon was quickly becoming early evening. She hadn’t eaten all of her lunch and she was still hungry. She had to decide if she was staying here tonight, too, because if she wasn’t then she needed to book a room for herself. “No more wasting time, Katie. Go do your inspection. Make a decision and stick to it.”
That was sort of her unofficial life motto, and she liked to bring it out every once in a while and remind herself that success came to those who made choices.
Marching up the steps she put her key in the lock only to find that the door was already open, just a little bit. It pushed open wider now, thumping against the wall with a low bang.
Hadn’t she locked up when the police left? Yes. She knew she had. That’s why the keys were in her pocket. It was open now--
“I’m in here.”
Bill’s voice. That was Bill’s voice, coming from the living room.
“Of course he comes back now.” Katie marched inside, and right to the living room. There he was, shirt off, his muscles flexing as he ripped out more of the drywall from where the police had removed Emily Knox’s body. With a crowbar he made the hole wider, exposing more of the studs underneath. “What are you doing! Didn’t you see the police tape?”
He stopped, turning to look over his shoulder and flash a bright smile in her direction. “I saw it. There wasn’t any notice that it was an active crime scene. Did they tell you not to do anymore work on the house?”
“Well, no...”
“Then why should we wait? There’s too much work to do.”
Even so, he put his crowbar down and came over to her, scrubbing dust from his hands on his pants. Still smiling he reached up and stroked a finger along her chin.
Then he leaned in and kissed her.
Katie felt her breath catch in a little gasp, and felt her eyes flutter. This man was amazing. In just a few seconds he’d completely swept her away. Everything was going wrong, but with Bill here it felt like at least one thing in her life was all right.
She didn’t remember wrapping her arms around his sweaty, bare skin but there they were, holding each other in an embrace. His fingers were warm on the slope of her neck. His lips were soft and insistent. She remembered again what they had done last night and it sent heat coursing through her blood.
In the next moment she remembered she was mad at him. She put her hand against his hard chest and pushed her way out of his arms. “Where were you? I woke up this morning and you were gone.”
“I am sorry about that. I really am. I can’t always be around.”
“You can’t just show up when you feel like it.” She didn’t like the way he’d said that. He wasn’t going to get to just use her like this. For work, or for pleasure either! “How did you get in here?”
“Hmm? Oh, the door was open.”
“It was not,” she insisted.
“It was for me.”
This man was so infuriating. Everything he said was so self-centered. It was more than confidence. It almost felt like he was trying to control her. That was crazy, she knew. She was just nervous about starting a new relationship--if she could call it that.
“Listen,” she said to him. “I want to give the house another once-over. Now that we’ve had a murder on the premises I have to look at the place much more critically. I need to know if it’s worth my time and money.”
“Of course it is,” he said, reaching for the shirt he had discarded on top of his work bag. “This house is going to make someone a home very soon. Can’t you just picture raising a family here?”
“A family?” Well now he was definitely getting ahead of himself. “I mean, sure, it’s big enough for a family. You can do a lot with three stories and a basement but if it’s going to cost me too much money to fix up, then it’s going to have to be someone else’s problem.”
He put his hand on her shoulder, rubbing little circles with his fingers. It felt nice. Really nice. “Don’t give up on this house yet. Come on. Let me show you this place the way I see it.”
Katie felt herself being pulled along by his enthusiasm. He brought her out into the kitchen and the dining room and showed her how the light from the window fell just perfectly on the table. He showed her how carefully laid out the working space was, with the cabinets and the island and the drawers all within easy reach.
He brought her into the huge gathering area around the fireplace and painted a picture with his words, how the right furniture would fill the room and make it a central focus for family and friends, and how the fireplace had been situated just so to give just the right amount of heat even in the dead of winter. He had her stand very close to him, and look up at the vaulted ceilings, and imagine giving a party for twenty here. Fifty. Maybe even a hundred...
The way he described it, Katie could envision the possibilities. This was what she had seen that first time she’d stepped foot through the front door of the Knox Estate. The real soul of the place. She’d lost sight of all that, but now it was back--thanks to Bill.
It occurred to her that she didn’t even know his last name.
“You’re right,” she told him at last. “The way you lay it all out for me...this is a wonderful place.”
He held her hand in his. “Come on. Let me show you upstairs.”
“We’ve been upstairs,” she laughed softly.
“Sure, but you need to really see it.”
They went room to room, starting at the far end of the second floor hall and working back toward the stairs. Bill showed her everything. Original molding, careful use of space, the way the tiles in the bathroom had been laid by hand. They skipped the master bedroom. They’d seen plenty of that yesterday.
The hallway creaked under her feet with every step as they went. It was an ever-present background music.
Bill was about to bring her up the steps to the third floor, but they hadn’t been in that last bedroom yet. The one that was always cold. “Hold on. Tell me what you see in here. There’s some kind of weird draft--"
“No, I want to show you upstairs. The sunroom on the third floor is amazing. I was up here earlier while you were gone.”
“Sure, sure, just let me show you this.”
She tugged her hand free of his and pushed open the door of the bedroom. The handle was cold to the touch.
“Katie, hold on--”
“Brr. Can you feel that? I mean it’s seriously cold, right? What would cause something like this?”
She stepped into the room, hugging her arms against herself, and turning around in a slow circle.
Bill stayed out in the hall rather than follow Katie in. “Okay. We’ve seen the room. Let’s go upstairs now. Come on.”
&nb
sp; “Not yet. I want to show you this stain over here on the wall.” It reminded her that no matter how nice Bill was making the house sound, she had to take the good with the bad. “I mean, look at this.”
“Katie, come on.”
“I’m going to need this whole wall replaced.” She laughed, although it left a sour taste in her mouth. Her breath plumed in the air. “Guess I better hope there’s no dead bodies behind this wall too.”
“I don’t think we should spend any more time on this.”
“No, just look at this.”
She put her hand flat against the wall, right at the edge of the stain.
“Stop it!” Bill screamed at her, and then he stepped through the doorway of the bedroom in a rush.
Instantly, the temperature in the room rose. The cold lifted so quickly that it left goosebumps behind on Katie’s arms and condensation forming on the windows.
She shrank back from Bill as he continued to yell. “How dare you! There’s no reason to be in here! This girl died and you’re making jokes and poking around in here when you have no right! Leave it alone! Just leave it alone!”
Katie didn’t understand why he was so upset. He was out of control and angry and she didn’t know why. “I’m...I’m sorry.”
“You either need to make this house your own, Katie, or you need to leave it alone. Do you hear me? Well, do you!”
“I’m sorry!” It was all Katie could think to say. In that moment, she was terrified of Bill. The cords in his neck were bulging. His face was red. His hands were clenched in fists. She was certain if she stayed here that he was going to hurt her.
So she ran.
Pushing past him she ran to the stairs and down to the first floor. She couldn’t stay here. Not with him in the same house.
“Katie!” he called after her. “Get back here! Katie...!”
She was in her car and driving away before she realized she didn’t have anywhere to go. She needed a friend, and she knew just who to call.
Chapter 7
“Hey, chickipoo!” Mel’s voice greeted her once the line connected. “How’s the cold, cold state of Oregon?”
Sight Unseen Complete Series Box Set Page 16
