Twisted Whispers

by Sheri Lewis Wohl

  Thea was expecting and actually hoping for this exact plan of attack. The shot of adrenaline she experienced when she touched the disturbed gravel at the transfer station had tipped her off. If her connection with her twin was strong enough to affect her, what could it do for someone with true power? Lorna should be able to pick up far more. Best-case scenario: something would lead them to the truth, even if it terrified her to discover what it might be. Worst-case scenario: Lorna got nothing and they were still stuck in the same spot. Either way it was worth the drive.

  Thea took one of Lorna’s hands. “Are you up for the trip now? I know you’ve just driven for hours, and if it wasn’t important I wouldn’t ask.”

  “It’s pretty late and awfully dark out, but yeah, I am if you are. I say the sooner we get started the better. I want to get Alida home.” She squeezed her hand.

  The tears she tried so hard not to spill again pricked at the back of her eyes. “I don’t care about the dark and you’re so right. We need to bring her home. She’s out there somewhere cold and alone, and it’s going to be dark there too. We have to find her.” For days that same thought had haunted her. She couldn’t sleep thinking that somewhere Alida was waiting and wondering why no one came for her.

  “What about the police? Have they sent out search teams?”

  The question stopped her short, and anger chased away the tears. With Lorna she could be brutally honest, and she allowed her fury to sound in her words. “For the most part, they haven’t taken her disappearance seriously.”

  “For the most part?” Lorna’s eyebrows rose.

  She tightened her jaw. “The first day, they did nothing. She’s an adult, they kept saying, and until she’d been gone for more than twenty-four hours, they couldn’t do a whole lot, despite the truck and everything out at the transfer station screaming foul play. The second day, they finally deployed the county’s volunteer search-and-rescue team, including the HRD dogs.”

  “HRD dogs?”

  She blew out a long breath, her jaw trembling. The words were nearly impossible to say out loud. “Human-remains detection.”

  “Shit,” Lorna muttered.

  “They didn’t find her body. They didn’t find her, period. And more than one guy has said she might have engineered this to cover up bailing on her life. They’ve seen it before, blah blah blah.”

  Lorna was shaking her head, her lips pressed together in a thin line. “That’s a crock. Alida isn’t that kind of person. She’s never run away from anything.”

  This is why she’d reached out to Lorna. She was never going to buy into the false theory that Alida ran off. “That’s right. She didn’t bail and wouldn’t do that to Grant. And I guarantee you she would never, in a million years, do that to me. Something bad happened to her out there, Lorna, and I’m scared it may have cost her life. Somebody’s hurt her.”

  “Has law enforcement done any serious investigation?”

  A tiny bubble of excitement rose as she thought about Katie Carlisle. She nodded and said, “One deputy seems to be on the same sheet of music. The two of us went out to the site this afternoon, and Lorna, I have a good feeling about her. I wish she was moving things along a little faster, but by and large, she’s trying to help. That’s more than anyone else from the Sheriff’s Department has done so far.”

  Lorna stood up and grabbed the jacket she’d earlier draped across the suitcase she rolled in. “Come on. I know it’s late, but let’s run out there and see if I can pick up anything. Then we’ll see where it takes us.”

  She didn’t have to ask Thea twice. The relief of Lorna roaring ahead even at this time of night gave her a rush of hope. As they headed out to her car she slipped her arms into the jacket she’d grabbed out of the hall closet. She was so intent on getting to the transfer station as quickly as she could, she didn’t pay much attention to the car that pulled away from the curb down the block and began to follow them as they drove north.

  *

  He didn’t mean to do it, had promised himself the last one was the last one. It really wasn’t his fault though. She made the first move, and all he did was say yes. It wasn’t like he went looking for her or even offered anything himself. No, she offered and he accepted. It was all on her.

  Thankfully, the night was deep and dark again. No rain this time, which made digging a lot easier. It was nice not to have water running down his neck and soaking his shirt, or dripping off his hair and into his eyes. It was clear and cool, perfect for this particular project. The ground was soft and easy to move.

  His trusty tarp spread on the ground behind him, he moved shovel after shovel of dark, rich earth onto the wide blue surface. He was getting pretty skilled at this, and the hole was ready in no time. As he did before, he moved the other tarp, wrapped and tied with rope, into the hole. It hit with a thud, loud in the quiet night. That was okay; he was the only one for miles around. Everyone else was tucked up nice and warm in their little houses, sleeping away the best part of the night. Nobody was going to hear a thing.

  He returned the dirt to the hole, then carefully replaced the sod. Shining his flashlight on the finished project, he nodded. It was good. No, it was really good. Again, no one would be the wiser. He refolded the blue tarp and returned it, along with the shovel, to the toolbox in the back of his truck. Smiling and humming, he got into the cab, turned the key in the ignition, and drove away slowly. The stars were shining and the moon was golden, a beautiful night for a drive.

  As he drove along, he couldn’t help but notice a familiar vehicle as it headed north. Easy to pick it out, considering they were the only two vehicles on the road for miles. He knew what had brought him out here, but it was kind of late for a scenic drive. No reason for that pretty flower to be out and about in the middle of the night. Dangers were all around, and women like her didn’t have a clue. He drove to the shoulder, made a U-turn, and followed a discreet distance behind. He just intended to keep an eye on her and make sure she was safe. That was the gentlemanly thing to do, and he did consider himself a gentleman.

  Chapter Six

  Katie sat straight up and blinked. The beer bottle was tipped over on the floor, and what was left inside now soaked the rug. Great, just flipping great. When she sat down with the beer earlier, she didn’t realize she was so tired she’d drift off before she took more than a couple swigs. She fell asleep on the sofa, and now a slightly yeasty smell permeated the whole room.

  In the kitchen she grabbed the towel hanging on the oven door. As she sopped up the brew from the rug, the towel turned brown. What a waste. Hard to see a tasty amber turned into carpet shampoo. She should really pull out the carpet cleaner and do this right, except she didn’t feel like it. Blotting it up with the towel was going to have to do for tonight.

  Now that she was wide-awake, she actually felt pretty good. The weariness of earlier seemed to have fled. Maybe all she needed was a little nap. Mom always said to listen to the body. Of course, she was bound to play hell sleeping the rest of the night. Not that it was all that unusual. Normal hours weren’t in the job description. Such was the life of a deputy sheriff, and she accepted it when she took her oath.

  Despite the energizing nap, an uneasy feeling lingered. Sleep hadn’t dulled any of the intense disquiet that had settled over her the moment she took on this case. Yes, the guys thought it was a shit assignment, but not her. Whatever this was, it was going to rock some worlds when all was said and done. She just didn’t know exactly whose worlds it was going to rock.

  Already it’d accomplished a bit of rocking to hers. Not just because she was drawn to Thea in a way she hadn’t been to any other woman, even Lucy, which was saying a lot. Back then she was deeply in love with Lucy, but then again who didn’t fall head over heels for the first one. With her curly black hair, dark eyes, and infectious laugh, Lucy was the kind of girlfriend a woman dreamed of. Pretty good deal, too, for the better part of a year. As far as Katie was concerned, she would have stayed with Lucy forever.
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br />   It was a one-sided fantasy, as she was to discover. Lucy’s ideas weren’t the forever kind.

  Oh, she loved Katie too, in her own way. But Lucy’s way included loving men too. So much so that in the end, she left Katie to marry a man. And maybe, if Katie was being honest, that was one more reason she was so drawn to Lucy. She could love her unconditionally while knowing there were no conditions. Perhaps she sensed all along that ultimately it would end the way it did. They were still friends, she still loved her, but she was able to walk away without a tinge of guilt.

  Until now, however, she’d kept dating totally casual. A lot of like, no love, which suited Katie just fine. Besides, her career was keeping her too busy to even consider a serious relationship, even if she met someone who intrigued her as much as Thea.

  Also, maybe she was so hooked because she was mistaking fascination with a mysterious set of circumstances for attraction to a beautiful woman. Could be, except she didn’t really believe that was the case. It wasn’t her mode of operation.

  Once she cleaned up the spilled beer, she grabbed a fresh bottle, pulled her feet up beneath her on the sofa, and opened her tablet. Tapping the screen to bring up her notes, she scanned everything she’d put down earlier. Once she read through it all, she opened the folder containing the pictures she’d taken out at the transfer station. Two words kept rolling through her mind: all wrong. Women did not go off and leave their bags, even if they were running away, and she didn’t believe for a minute that Alida Canwell ran away. That bag on the seat of the truck was screaming foul play loud and clear.

  And what about the deep grooves in the gravel? They were too consistent with a person being grabbed from behind and dragged. True, she could have faked the marks, but Katie’s intuition told her these were real. Something happened out there at the transfer station, and it was something bad.

  From another folder she clicked on pictures of the missing woman, her husband, and the rest of her family. The guys wanted to point fingers at Grant Canwell, and statistically the odds were on their side. All of Katie’s training and mentoring pushed her in that direction as well. But she still wasn’t buying it. Grant didn’t come across as a man who would knock off his wife and proceed to stage an elaborate scene. From everything she’d gathered so far he was a relatively nice guy who loved his wife, even if he did cheat on her. Lots of guys wanted their cake and to eat it too, but that didn’t make them killers.

  Everything about Alida said the same for her. She loved her husband, was willing to work on her marriage, and pretty much enjoyed her life despites its ups and down. Like Grant, she strayed only to come back to the man she married. Not a bit of evidence anywhere indicated she would orchestrate her own disappearance.

  No, everything pointed to the commission of a crime, and Katie intended to find out who and why. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be too late to help Alida. Unfortunately, she and every other law-enforcement officer understood the clock had already ticked way past the point of hope. Those damned statistics again, and this time they said Alida Canwell was already dead.

  *

  Thea had to concentrate to find the turnoff for the power station. When they left the house, it was already pretty dark. Now it was pitch black and the gravel road wasn’t that easy to spot. Having Lorna here gave her a sense of hope though. It was probably an unrealistic feeling, but she didn’t care. This was the most positive she’d felt since Alida went missing.

  Not that she was faulting Deputy Carlisle and her attempt to locate Alida. Something about her instilled trust in Thea. She really believed Katie Carlisle planned to try to find her sister even if the rest of her squad thought something different. All she needed was one person on her side to give her hope.

  At the same time, Thea wasn’t stupid. Time was flying and her heart was growing heavier. Even a layperson could understand the longer Alida was missing, the less chance she was going to be found alive. The thought chilled her soul. She didn’t know how to live without her other half. She’d never been alone.

  Even in the blackness, she spied the turnoff when the headlights of her car swept across the tiny sign. Relief poured through her. She turned the car onto the drive and guided it toward the transfer station. The gravel road was rutted from the winter freeze and spring thaws that damaged all the roads in the area, and they bumped their way to the widened parking area. Though she was anxious to get Lorna to the spot where Alida last stood, she didn’t want to shake her teeth out either.

  It seemed like hours before she finally stopped and put the car in park. In reality it was less than five minutes. A single vapor light cast a dim yellow glow down on the gravel lot, and the tracks so clear in the light of day were difficult to make out.

  Even without the visual cue, she could feel Alida’s essence here and hoped to hell Lorna would too. She silently prayed that what Lorna had experienced in her house by the ocean wasn’t a fluke. She’d never really gone in for hocus-pocus and claims of seeing into the world beyond. She was far too grounded in the here and now. But that was before Alida disappeared.

  When she really thought about it, the bond between her and Alida could be called supernatural because of its intensity. If something like that could exist between sisters, why should someone like Lorna be any different? Why couldn’t she possess psychic ability? Why couldn’t she see beyond the everyday world? She was more than willing to open her mind and her soul if it would bring her sister home.

  At first neither of them moved, just stared silently ahead absorbed in their thoughts. Lorna was squinting and gazing out into the night barely broken by the weak illumination of the vapor light and the headlights of her car. Hope threaded through Thea’s heart when she turned and studied her. Thea could almost hear the wheels spinning in her head. Lorna seemed to be concentrating so hard, she didn’t want to say anything to break it. Instead, she continued to wait in silence.

  Lorna finally turned and met her gaze. Dashboard lights danced across her face. “I don’t know,” she said slowly. “When you turned off the highway, the air seemed to change, yet now that we’re here, I don’t really feel or see anything unusual. It’s weird. I should at least feel Alida’s spirit.”

  Thea’s heart sank, but she was damned if she’d give in to despair. “Let’s get out and I’ll show you where her truck was parked and where it appears she was dragged away. Maybe more will come to you outside.”

  Lorna nodded and swung open her car door. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

  Thea came around the car holding the big just-in-case flashlight she always traveled with. The drag marks were more pronounced in the directed beam of the flashlight than in daylight, and the sight sent chills up her back.

  “Wow,” Lorna said as she slowly walked toward them, her head bent as she studied the ground. “My first impression is pure terror.” She wrapped her arms around herself as if she was suddenly very chilled.

  Thea understood. She’d felt it too when she first stepped out here. “She didn’t go willingly.” Nobody would ever be able to convince her otherwise.

  Lorna didn’t look up. “No, she didn’t. This is good though.”

  Good? How on God’s green earth could this possibly be good? “I don’t understand.”

  This time Lorna looked up and met her gaze. “It’s like she left us a message. Think about it, Thea. Alida isn’t that big. Somebody could have dragged her all the way to the highway and she wouldn’t have left a track this distinct. She isn’t that heavy.”

  It took a beat, and then Thea nodded as the truth of what Lorna said dawned on her. “She dug her heels in on purpose.”

  Lorna was nodding “That’s what I’m thinking.”

  “She wanted to leave something behind that we could follow.” Thea said a silent prayer of thanks for her sister’s resourcefulness.

  “She always was a quick thinker.”

  “Why didn’t I notice that before?” If she’d thought of it days ago, maybe they’d be closer to finding Alida instead of s
earching out here alone in the middle of the night. Maybe law enforcement would be taking her disappearance a little more seriously.

  Lorna put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “Don’t beat yourself up. I don’t think I’d have noticed either, except for the light and shadows created by the flashlight. It really seems to pop under the light.”

  It helped to think of it that way, but only a little. She should have realized it before. Not that it mattered at this point. Lorna was right. Beating herself up now wouldn’t do a damn thing. Forward movement was the only thing that counted at present. “Can you do anything?”

  Lorna’s gaze left Thea’s face and returned to the gravel. “I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’ll trying touching the tracks. What happened at the house just happened whenever. I’ve never tried to actually kick this psychic thing into motion, so don’t be disappointed if nothing happens.”

  She believed it would work. “Would you at least try?” Thea didn’t want to sound desperate even though she was. Or maybe she did. What could it hurt? Desperation might very well spur others to action.

  Lorna gave her another squeeze before stepping away. “I’ll do anything I can. I just don’t want you to get your hopes up. This thing I have, whatever it is, didn’t come with instructions. I’m working blind here.”

  “I understand, Lorna, I really do, but I have nowhere else to turn and no one else to help me. I’m grasping at any straw I can find.”

  Lorna gave her a tiny nod. “Well, then let’s try this straw.” Sinking to her knees, Lorna put both hands on the drag marks. Her body stiffened and her eyes closed. A throaty “oh” passed through her lips.

  *

  “Carlisle,” Katie said into her phone.

  Vince’s smooth voice made her grimace. “Thought you might like to know your girlfriend is back out at the transfer station.”