She heard her own words as if they were coming through a tunnel, when everything around her was so clear, so crisp, so...real.
She walked the streets of Port Cable in another time. Katie could tell from the look of the buildings, the cars, the clothes that people were wearing that she was decades in the past. About fifty years ago, she would guess.
In front of her, Emily Knox strolled with a much younger Justina Knox, daughter and mother both in dresses on a warm summer’s day.
“I don’t understand,” Katie heard Justina say, “why you can’t just be happy for him. He is your father, after all.”
“I know,” was all Emily would say.
Her mother sighed in frustration. “Fine. I don’t understand why you stopped loving him all of a sudden. He used to be your hero.”
“That was before he started hitting me, mother.”
Justina pressed her lips tightly together for a moment while people passed by. She didn’t like talking about this in public. “He strikes you to discipline you, child. It isn’t like he’s done anything worse to you than a firm slap across your face when needed.”
Emily remained silent to that.
Turning now to look at her daughter, Justina searched the teenager’s face. “Well, has he?”
Emily lowered her head, and placed her hands tightly over her stomach.
“Of course he hasn’t,” Justina continued, convinced in her own mind that her husband was a wonderful man who used physical discipline as a show of love. “Now. We’re going to the library, and we’re going to watch them unveil the painting, and then you can go off and traipse through the park, or whatever it is you do when we’re not around.”
That brought a smile to Emily’s lips. She looked back over her shoulder for just a moment, and her gaze locked with Katie’s.
“Are you watching?”
The scene changed abruptly, and they were standing in the town library. Katie recognized it from when she’d been here before, but it was a much brighter place here in the past. She blinked around at the crowd of people gathered around one wall of the building, toward the back, in a corner that Katie hadn’t seen before.
A long curtain had been draped over something hanging on the wall. A painting, Katie realized, but a huge one. This must be the painting that Justina had told Emily they were coming to see unveiled. The crowd hushed, and the librarian--a man--said a few words before pulling a cord that tugged the curtain off and over the painting. It fell to the floor with a crisply audible whump.
The people in the room all cheered and clapped politely. Katie tried to focus on the picture, tried to see the face, but the dream was already beginning to blur and fade away. It was a tall portrait of a man in a nice black suit, standing proudly in front of shelves full of books...
“You see?” Justina said quietly to Emily. “That’s your father. He’s a great man to have endowed this library. And the school as well. I doubt Port Cable would have survived for even ten more years without our family money.”
“Yes,” Emily said, pressing her hands to her belly again as if she was going to be sick. “He’s a great man.”
The dream began to break apart as dreams will, and try as Katie might the only thing that she could still see on the portrait was the nameplate at the bottom of the frame, flaring with a light all its own.
Emily turned to her again. Looked right at her, and smiled a sad smile. “Are you watching?”
Katie snapped awake in her bed to someone shaking her arm. She sat up slowly, groggily, and the sheet fell away from her. She snatched at it again when she realized she was naked.
Mel stood there, her hand still on Katie’s arm. She looked annoyed. “You left me waiting out there in the car so you could take a nap? Seriously?” Then she seemed to notice the amount of skin that was showing from underneath the bedsheet. “Ooh. Or were you up here getting a quickie? Where’s Bill?”
She flipped the edge of the sheet up and Katie squeaked and pulled it back to cover her bare butt cheeks. “Mel, stop it!”
“I thought maybe you were hiding him under there. Where’d he go?”
Katie didn’t know. She pulled her legs up to her chest and hugged them there, trying to remember the moments she had just spent with Bill. She knew they had fallen into bed together, here in this room, and then... She didn’t remember. Just like the last time she’d been with Bill she only remembered the feelings, the emotions, the sense of pure pleasure he had left her with. Nothing else.
Didn’t he enjoy it, too? He’d loved her and left her and just like that he was gone again. Pushing a hand through her hair she sighed out a long breath. She might just have to face the fact that Bill was using her for some reason. Taking what he wants, and then disappearing like the wind, or something.
She couldn’t keep doing this. She couldn’t keep letting one gorgeous, spellbinding, dominating man keep turning her inside out. This had to be the last time.
At the same time she knew she wouldn’t be able to tell him so to his face. Leaving him a note seemed to be the only way out for her.
“Coward,” she muttered.
“What’s that?” Mel asked.
“Nothing. Um. What time is it?”
“It’s only four o’clock.” Mel picked up Katie’s clothes from around the room and dropped them on the bed for her. “I was going to come up earlier. Glad I didn’t!”
“Will you stop?” Katie left the clothes in their pile and padded over to her suitcases to get out fresh everything. She would have felt dirty putting the clothes back on that she’d been wearing when Bill and her had, um, gotten undressed. “We have to go into town. I want to stop at the police station and see if Officer Clausen is still there.”
“The police? Where did that come from?”
“They have Miguel Sanchez still in custody for trying to attack us, right? He’s still at the station. The police have a murder investigation on their hands and I want to make sure they aren’t going to try pinning this on Miguel.”
“Whoa, Katie, slow down! That is so not our problem. I’m a real estate mogul. You flip houses for a living. Neither of us is Nancy Drew!”
“I know, but Miguel didn’t kill Emily. We both know that. It was her father. I can’t just let an innocent man be sent to prison for something he didn’t do. Not if I can help prevent it.”
“So what are you going to tell them? Hmm? You gonna say hey, me and my friend were using a Ouija board and we’re pretty sure it was telling us that Emily Knox was killed by her father. Geez, Katie, they’ll put you in the cell right next to Miguel and send you to the same nuthouse they ship him off to!”
“I know.” Katie hooked her bra in place and then pulled a heavy blue blouse over her head, tucking it into her drawstring khakis. Not exactly a look that went together but her mind was on other things. “Still, I have to try. I’ll think of something.”
“Whatever. It’s never dull when you’re around, is it?”
Katie hugged her friend. “I’m glad you’re here, Mel. I don’t know what I’d do this time if I was alone.”
“You’re never alone, chickipoo. I’m always there for you. So. To the police station?”
“Yes. Then there’s somewhere else I need to go, too.”
She remembered bits and pieces of the dream Mel had woken her up from. Mostly, she remembered Emily showing her that portrait in the library. Are you watching?
Yes, she was, but what was she supposed to see?
“Fine.” Mel linked arms with Katie and they started out of the room together. “As long as you promise me there’ll be wine tonight then I’ll go wherever you lead!”
Chapter 14
“You know, I was just thinking.” Mel leaned her head against the doorpost on her side to look through the passenger’s window. “None of my other friends take me to the police station.”
“Does that make me special?” Katie asked as she unbuckled herself. “Only the best for you, Mel!”
“Uh-huh. You
mind if I stay here this time? Ever since college me and cops don’t much get along.”
“Sure.” Katie patted her friend’s knee. “I remember that story.”
“All of Nevada remembers that story. The video is still on YouTube. I’ve seen a few memes out there with my face on them.”
Heh. Only Mel could gain that kind of notoriety just for trying to buy a guy a drink. “I’ll be right out. This won’t take long.”
“Sure, unless they think you’re crazy and need to go spend some quality time in a padded cell.”
Katie rolled her eyes and left her there in the car. She wasn’t wrong, though. She could not tell anyone that she’d been consulting Ouija boards or having dreams that might all be true. There had to be some way of proving that Miguel didn’t kill Emily, even if they couldn’t prove her father was the real killer after all these years. Something she could say that the police would believe.
Inside the building she waited at the service window for someone to notice her. She gave it a minute or two before she slapped the little metal bell on her side of the ledge. Then she had to wait another couple of minutes before anyone came out to see who was there.
She’d been hoping to talk to Officer Clausen. Luck wasn’t on her side.
The chief of police himself strolled up to the window. He was still wearing his full uniform, including the stetson. Katie wondered if maybe the man slept with that hat on. He seemed the type.
He stared at her through the plexiglass for a moment as his frown deepened. “Miss Pearson. Haven’t you caused enough trouble for my people for one day?”
“What trouble, Chief Anson?” Katie instantly went on the defensive. It was the tone the man was using with her. Like she was something for him to scrape off his shoes and throw away. “You mean stumbling on a decades old crime for you? You’re welcome. Listen, do you still have Miguel Sanchez here?”
“I don’t see where that’s any of your business. That’s my business, and the business of the people of Port Cable. That’s not you.”
Katie realized now that coming here was foolish. This man wouldn’t listen to anything she had to say even if she did have proof to give him. “I’m still the victim here, right? Miguel tried to attack me? Then I think that makes it very much my business.”
He nodded slowly, but it was obvious he wasn’t happy about it. “You’re the victim, sure. Miguel Sanchez tried to attack you. That’s what’s allowing us to hold him. After talking to Justina Knox, I think maybe Miguel did something a lot worse. The death of a young girl trumps you getting your skirts ruffled, don’t you think?”
Oh yes, she did not like him one bit. “I never said it didn’t.”
“Then why are you here clogging up my lobby?”
Katie ground her teeth together. There was nobody else here besides herself! “I just wanted to see what was happening with Miguel.”
“After stirring him up, you mean.”
“I was just asking him some questions!”
“Uh-huh. Playing private detective or whatever you big city girls do when you’re bored. Should’ve just stayed home and played with your dolls, Miss Pearson. You and your friend wouldn’t have gotten into trouble that way.”
She was suddenly very happy that there was a sheet of heavy plastic between her and them. Getting arrested for punching a cop was not going to make things any easier on her. Even if it might feel really, really good.
“Chief Anson. I didn’t come here to argue with you.”
“Smart woman.”
“Screw you. I just want to be kept advised of what’s happening with Miguel. Since I’m the victim.”
His eyes narrowed. “You want to talk to me like that again, little lady. You and me will have this conversation all over again in one of our comfy jail cells.”
Katie knew she’d gone too far but she also had the feeling that it wouldn’t have mattered what she said. This man was the exact opposite of Bill. Where Bill tried to make decisions for her in a loving sort of way, Chief Anson just wanted to dominate everyone around him. It was an interesting comparison.
She really should have checked out Port Cable before she bought a house here. This was definitely not her kind of town.
“I think we’re done here, Miss Pearson.” He actually had the gall to tip his hat to her. “Why don’t you finish up your business here in our little town and get yourself gone, before I decide to take a look at whether you have all your permits in order.”
“Don’t threaten me! I own the Knox Estate now. I bought it from the bank.”
“Uh-huh. But, you don’t have your work permits yet, do you?”
“I haven’t had anyone in there doing any work. Well.” She blinked. “Except Bill. But he didn’t even open up the wall, that was Sam and her crew.”
His eyes studied her. “I know Sam. She’s a good contractor. I don’t know any Bill doing house work around here, and I know everyone. You bring someone in from out of town, did you?”
“No, he’s a local.” Well, she thought he was local anyway. Come to think of it, she didn’t even know Bill’s last name! “Don’t worry about my business, Chief. Just worry about yours. Miguel didn’t kill Emily. Her father did. Take your head out of your...stetson, and do your job!”
She turned on her heel before she could see it, but she could pretty much picture what his face must have looked like. It was definitely time for her to be going.
She could have walked to the library from the police station. It would have taken a little longer but the fresh air would have been good for her head. The thing that decided her to drive instead was not wanting to leave her car unguarded in Chief Anson’s front yard.
Mel woke up with a very ungirly-like snork. Katie smiled triumphantly at her friend. “Guess I’m not the only one who needed a nap.”
It was nearly five o’clock when they got to the library. Katie knew from the posted hours she saw on the door last time that it was almost closing time. Bethany the librarian was already locking up out front. They’d caught her just in time.
Looking up at Katie and Mel as they approached, she adjusted her glasses with a smile. “Why, hello again. Back to look for more newspaper articles?”
“Not this time,” Katie said. “Um. Is there a big painting in one of the back corners of the library? A painting of Frank Knox?”
“Oh, sure there is.” Bethany laughed and slid her key back in the doorknob. “I should have shown you that when you were here before! I swear, sometimes I don’t know where my head is. Here you are, looking into the history of the Knox family and I forget to show you the painting!”
Inside, Bethany turned the lights back on. The fluorescent bulbs hummed to life overhead as she led Katie and Mel through the rooms. “The library was funded in large part by the Knox family,” Bethany told them. “Frank Knox gave quite a bit of his money to help the town build several of the buildings that are still around today. This library, the school, the police station, a few others. Oh, some said it was because he wanted to buy the town up and possess it all for himself, but I think those people are just jealous. I think Frank Knox was a great man.”
If you only knew, Katie thought to herself.
“Well, here we go.” Bethany waved a hand up to a painting so big it was nearly floor to ceiling, in a heavy gilded frame. It was the same painting that Emily had shown her in the dream only this time, she could see it clearly. There stood her father, rendered in great detail in oil paint, regally staring down upon everyone.
Are you watching?
Katie was definitely watching now. She stared at the face. Short brown hair swept back over his ears. Ice blue eyes. A strong, muscular body that the painter had managed to capture so well even in dark hues of a black and gray suit. There was a little curl of a smile on one corner of his mouth like he was laughing at her.
Her knees went weak. She wanted to sit down but there weren’t any chairs around. She leaned on Mel instead.
She knew that face.
“Stunning, isn’t it?” Bethany said, looking up into the face of Frank Knox. “Don’t you wish you could have met him in real life?”
“No,” Katie breathed. “I wish I’d never met him at all.”
Mel pointed to the bottom of the frame, where the burnished copper nameplate had lost a lot of its luster over the years. The imprinted writing on it was still clearly legible.
Our Benefactor. William Frank Knox.
William. The W initial in Frank’s name stood for William...
...and the short form for William, was Bill.
Chapter 15
“No,” Mel said. “No, no, no. This has gotten way past the freak factor that this girl can tolerate. Understand? No amount of wine will make this okay!”
They were back in the motel room now, and despite Mel’s insistence that wine wouldn’t make it all right, she was halfway through one of the two bottles that they had purchased at a small liquor store a few streets over. Katie had only taken a sip from her plastic cup. She wasn’t in a drinking mood.
Her stomach was an absolute mess. She’d thrown up twice since they’d gotten back to the room and she was pretty sure that whatever she put in her stomach right now was going to end up coming right back up again. Wine did not feel good on the way back up.
“This can’t be true,” she kept muttering to herself. “It can’t be. There’s no way. Is there?”
Mel just stared back at her. They’d hashed through this dozens of times without finding any actual answers.
Bill was William Frank Knox, the father of Emily Knox. Most likely, her killer as well.
Only he couldn’t be.
“I’ve been in bed with him!” she protested, throwing herself back against her pillow. “I mean, you saw me. I was naked as the day I was born and we did things, oh Mel we did things that would make any woman melt.”
Her face flush from both the wine and wicked thoughts, Mel sat up on her bed. “Oh, really? What sort of things? Tell me every little detail.”
Sight Unseen Complete Series Box Set Page 21
