Buried Innocence - A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery - Book Thirteen (Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery Series)

by Reid, Terri

  “Well, that ought to be fun,” Mike said. “And I suppose I should stay outside?”

  “Well, you can come in,” Mary agreed, putting the key in the car and turning on the engine. “But if she starts coughing, you need to leave.”

  “That’s weird that her response to the paranormal is to get choked up,” he said as they pulled out of their parking spot.

  Mary shrugged. “Makes you kind of wonder how many other people have the same response but don’t realize it’s because of a ghost.”

  Mike grinned and then coughed. “Allergies,” he said with another mock cough. “Strangest thing, they just show up every so often.”

  Mary raised her eyebrows and grinned. “Perhaps you’re allergic to ghosts,” she said in a quietly spooky voice.

  “Yeah, I can just hear a doctor give that as a diagnosis,” Mike said.

  “Dr. Frankenstein, maybe,” Mary teased.

  The turned onto Highway 20 and headed west toward Galena. The rain had stopped, but a beautiful rainbow glittered in the sky. Mary glanced up at it and smiled. “I’ve always felt that rainbows were reminders from God,” she said.

  “Really? Reminders of what?” Mike asked.

  “Reminders that no matter how bad the storm is, there is always something beautiful and wondrous on the other side,” she said. “You just have to look for it.”

  “Why, Mary Alden, you’re a poet,” Mike teased.

  “No, I’m just someone who’s been through a lot of storms,” she said. “And I have always found a rainbow on the other side.”

  “Do you think everyone gets a rainbow?” he asked.

  She nodded slowly as she thought about her answer. “Yes, actually I do,” she said. “But if you’re looking down, you’ll miss it.”

  “What’s Liza’s rainbow?” he asked quietly.

  “She’ll never be hurt again,” Mary replied sadly, and then she smiled softly. “And she found Donna and Ryan.”

  “Have you found out anything about her yet?” he asked.

  “Bradley is trying to get her adoption records open,” Mary said. “He’s making some calls to Dubuque. That’s why I decided to concentrate on Steve. I can’t do anything more for Liza right now.”

  Mike nodded and looked out the window for a moment. “What was my rainbow, Mary?” he finally asked.

  Mary glanced over to her friend, saw the sadness in his eyes and wished she had the words to take the sadness away. “I don’t know,” she replied. “Nothing you did caused your death. It was caused by the actions of someone with a clearly unhinged mind. You were a victim, and your life ended far sooner than it should have.”

  She slowed the car as they entered one of the small towns on Highway 20 and they passed a schoolyard filled with children. “You would have been a great dad,” she said quietly.

  He didn’t respond at first but watched the children running after each other, laughing with simple pleasure. “You know, all of my life, especially after Timmy died, all I wanted to do was protect people,” he said. “That’s why I became a firefighter. And even though my life ended too soon, I’m still doing what I wanted to do. I’m protecting the people I love. I guess I did get a rainbow.”

  She smiled at him. “Well, I know that you’re one of my rainbows,” she said.

  “Yeah, your most charming, sexy and irresistible rainbow,” he said with a grin.

  “Don’t forget modest,” Mary added. “You always forget that one.”

  He laughed out loud. “Yeah, and you always remind me.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Mary counted her blessings when she found a parking spot right in front of Amelia’s shop. The bells above the door jingled as she walked in, and Amelia hurried out of the backroom.

  “Oh, Mary. Hi,” she said. “It’s great to see you back so soon.”

  “Hi Amelia,” Mary said, returning Amelia’s smile. “I have another case here in Galena, and I was looking for some information.”

  “Pull up a chair,” Amelia said, “and I’ll be happy to give you any information I can.”

  “Okay, well, this is a weird one,” Mary began.

  “What’s not weird when you and my wife are involved together,” Andy, Amelia’s husband, said as he walked in from the back room.

  Mary smiled at him. “Well, okay, you have an excellent point there,” she admitted. “But this one is really different.”

  Andy pulled up a chair and sat down with them. “Okay, spill it,” he said.

  “Earlier in the week, when I was here, I saw another ghost,” she said. “But when I first saw him, I only saw half of his body.”

  “Half his body?” Amelia repeated, wrinkling her nose is distaste. “That’s disgusting.”

  “Well, it’s not like I saw him chopped in half,” Mary amended. “It’s like the other half of his body was stuck in the ground, and I could only see him from the waist up. Like he was underground.”

  Andy shrugged. “Well, that’s not too hard to believe considering Galena is filled with old mine shafts and crevices,” he said.

  “Old mine shafts?” Mary asked.

  Nodding, Andy sat forward in his chair. “Yeah, there were a lot of miners who just had small, one-person mines,” he said. “They were deep and narrow, just big enough for one person and their equipment. They’re all over the place.”

  “But he’s not old enough to be a miner,” Mary said. “He’s wearing pretty contemporary clothing.”

  “What’s his name?” Amelia asked.

  “Steve,” Mary said. “But he can’t remember his last name.”

  “What else is significant about him?” Andy asked.

  Mary paused. “Well, okay, but this is going to sound really gross,” she said.

  “Cool,” Andy replied.

  Laughing, Mary shook her head. “Okay, you asked for it,” she said. “It seems to me that a portion of his body was actually decomposing before he died. I don’t know how that could happen.”

  Andy sat back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other. “Well, this might add to the grossness of this conversation,” he said. “But because of how hard it was to run city sewer lines to a lot of the houses on the tops of the bluffs or the hills, especially the big houses on streets like Prospect, many of the houses just emptied their sewer lines into the old mine shafts or the crevices in the rock.”

  “That’s really disgusting,” Amelia said. “That can’t be true.”

  Shaking his head, Andy looked at his wife. “Disgusting and true,” he said. “When I did some construction work, we often ran into some of the old houses that still had their lines just dumping straight down. And occasionally, we’d run into an old mine that had just been covered over with wood boards and sod.”

  “Boards and sod?” Mary asked, surprised. “But when the wood rots…”

  “Yeah, it can be a nasty surprise,” Andy agreed.

  “How deep were the mines?” Mary asked.

  “Sometimes the shafts were forty or fifty feet deep,” he said. “They would often have offshoot tunnels where the actual mining went on every twenty feet or so.”

  “That’s really dangerous,” Amelia said.

  “Well, most of them are filled in now,” Andy reassured her. “But since there was no record of where all the mines were located, every so often a new one is located.”

  “If Steve had fallen down one of the shafts, what are the chances that his remains could be located?” Mary asked.

  Andy shrugged. “I guess it depends on how far he fell,” he said. “And what he fell into.”

  “I really didn’t want that mental picture,” Amelia said.

  “Sorry,” he apologized.

  “Well, this explains a lot,” Mary said. “Why his body was in the condition it was in, why he’s half in and half out of the ground. Now all I have to do is find out his last name and where he might have lived before he died.”

  “Missing persons?” Amelia suggested.

  Mary nodded.
“Yes, I’ll try there first,” she said, standing up. “Thanks for your help. I’m really glad you were here, Andy.”

  “Hey, no problem,” he replied. “Any friend of Amelia’s is a friend of mine.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The drive from East Dubuque to Clinton Iowa took a little over an hour along the scenic Mississippi River. But the occupants of the car were not interested in the view; they were more concerned with perfecting their story before they met with the adoptive parents of their next transaction. Joey and Gigi Amoretti had found their own private treasure trove in the naïve and desperate parents on an Internet list who had adopted children they could no longer handle. Many of the children had been international adoptions and were older children who had a hard time adapting to their new parents and their new surroundings. Posing as a well-meaning pastor and his compassionate wife, Joey and Gigi sympathized with the overwhelmed parents and offered their home as one of refuge for the struggling youth.

  Had any of the parents taken the time to do a background check on the two, they would have found a history of criminal activity from petty theft to embezzlement. They would have learned that the good minister Joseph Amoretti was in reality Little Joey Amoretti with connections to the mob. But, much to the dismay of his parents, Little Joey had been a failure in the organized crime community. Gigi’s father saw a way to unload his daughter before she brought too much public notoriety to the family. He made a deal with Joey. Joey took care of Gigi and found her an outlet for her “unique” hobbies, and Daddy made sure they were both taken care of.

  Joey moved Gigi out of the city and bought her a farm where he thought she’d be happy. They were working with the family in Chicago moving stolen goods through an Internet site when they happened upon the adoption thread and found, to their amazement, people who were willing to turn over their adopted daughters to strangers.

  “Now remember, Joey,” Gigi repeated. “We just got back from a mission trip to Haiti, and we discovered how much we loved the people there.”

  “Don’t we need to speak the language?” Joey asked. “What is it Haitianese?”

  “No, you idiot,” she snapped. “The people of Haiti speak French and Creole. So, we just tell them that we had an interpreter work with us, but we are trying to learn French.”

  “What if they know French?” he asked. “What do we do then?”

  “We tell them we just started the lessons,” she said.

  “But shouldn’t we know something?” he asked. “Like a phrase?”

  Rolling her eyes, she sighed loudly. “Yes, we should,” she said. “Which is why I gave you that list of French phrases to study last week.”

  Joey nodded slowly. “Oh, yeah, I remember,” he said. “Parsley view Francine.”

  “That’s parlez vous francais?” she huffed and then shook her head. “Maybe we should just say that I’m trying to learn French.”

  Joey nodded eagerly. “Yeah, because I’m too busy helping folks because I’m a minister and everything,” he said.

  “Yes, I think that will work,” she replied. “Besides, this couple seems so desperate I don’t think they are going to question much. Do you have the paper from the social worker?”

  “You mean the one you wrote?” he asked.

  “Of course I mean the one I wrote,” she replied. “Did you print it off using the stolen Illinois State stationery?”

  “Yeah, it looks real. Just like a social worker actually came to our house,” he laughed. “Damn, this is such a great scam. We take kids off the hands of parents who don’t want them, and we put them in the hands of people who really want them.”

  Gigi nodded. “And the fact most of them can’t speak English is genius,” she said. “We should really try and adopt only foreign ones from now on. American ones get lippy, like that little know-it-all Liza.”

  Joey shuddered inwardly. He didn’t mind the sex or even the violence. It made him feel powerful. But the things Gigi had him do to that little girl while she watched went further than he’d ever gone before. Every time he closed his eyes he could see the look on Gigi’s face as he choked the life out of the five-year-old. She had relished every moment of it.

  “Yeah, she was a know-it-all,” he agreed. “But we took care of her.”

  Her sudden, uncharacteristic, childlike giggle caused a chill to run down Joey’s spine.

  “Yes, we did take care of her,” she laughed. “We showed her. But next time, Joey…”

  He glanced over at her from the driver’s seat. “Yes?”

  “Next time, I want to help.”

  They arrived in Clinton and found the local restaurant where the young couple arranged to meet them. Exiting the car, Joey straightened his shirt, adjusting the white collar underneath, and slipped his suit jacket over it. Gigi patted her hair and sent a tender smile in Joey’s direction, just in case the couple was watching them. They walked, arm in arm, through the doorway of the restaurant and paused to locate the couple.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The Galena Police Department was located a few blocks up Main Street from Amelia’s storefront. Since the day was lovely and good parking spots were hard to come by, Mary decided to walk up the few blocks to the station. Over 40 years ago, the original town limits, primarily the downtown area, were placed on the National Register of Historic Districts. This meant that those buildings within the boundaries had to look as they did in the mining boomtown days of the 1850s. So any exterior work to a building needed to comply with the Historic Preservation Ordinance. This kept the downtown area of the City of Galena, in Mary’s opinion, quaint and cozy. And even though shop windows might advertise the newest offerings in technology or gourmet foods, the ambiance was friendly and welcoming.

  Hot summer sun reflected off concrete sidewalks and cobblestoned streets, and Mary felt drops of perspiration on her forehead by the time she’d climbed the three uphill blocks.

  “Well, at least the way back will be downhill,” she murmured as she crossed the final side street.

  “Funny, I haven’t had a problem with the walk at all,” Mike said, floating next to her.

  “Mike,” she said. “Shut up.”

  The offices of the police department were housed in a stately, brick building that Mary thought might have been one of the original city banks. The thick stone and brick façade certainly looked like they were protecting something of value. She stepped up into the doorway and pulled open the heavy, oak door. Immediate relief in the form of very modern air conditioning greeted her, and she made her way to the offices housing the police department. She and Bradley had met Galena’s chief of police, a very capable police woman, at a law enforcement function, but Mary decided against asking for personal favors. She’d just as soon ask the clerk for help.

  She pushed open the door to the department and waited on the other side of the counter for help. Mike floated through the door and waited next to her. Within moments, a young police officer greeted her.

  “Hello, can I help you?” he asked.

  Mary nodded. “Yes, thank you. I’m interested in missing persons’ files from Galena in the past twenty years,” she said. “All I have is a first name and an approximate description to go by.”

  “Are you related to this person?” the officer asked.

  Shaking her head, Mary smiled at the officer. “No, I’m not,” she explained. “I’ve just recently been asked to look into his disappearance, and I really don’t have a whole lot to go on.”

  She pulled out her private investigator’s license and showed it to him. He studied it for a moment and then met her eyes. “Aren’t you the P.I. who helped with the murder case connected with the former mayor of Freeport last year?” he asked.

  “See, he knows you,” Mike said. “Obviously he’s impressed.”

  “Yes, that was me,” she replied, praying that he hadn’t heard about her literal run-in with the fort in Elizabeth.

  “There were some pretty crazy rumors circulating ab
out that case,” he said, still watching her eyes.

  Mike snorted, “Crazy rumors? You? How strange.”

  “Well, yes, there were, weren’t there,” she replied easily, steadily returning his gaze and ignoring Mike. “Was there anything you’d like to ask me about those rumors?”

  A slow smile spread across his face, and he shook his head. “No, ma’am,” he said. “It was damn good investigating no matter how it got done.”

  Her smile widened. “Why, thank you,” she replied.

  He turned to his computer and typed on his keyboard, then looked up at her. “The first name?” he asked.

  “Steve,” she replied with a grateful smile.

  “How old do you think he was at the time of his disappearance?”

  Mary closed her eyes for a moment, picturing the ghost. “I’d say early to mid-thirties,” she finally replied. “And he had a family with small children.”

  The officer typed the information into the search form. “How tall would you say he was?”

  “Close to six feet tall,” she said, “with dark blonde hair and hazel eyes.”

  The officer nodded, keeping his eyes on the screen. “And when did you say he went missing?”

  “Well, now, that’s the tricky part,” she replied, nervously biting her lower lip. “It could have been anytime from the sixties until today.”

  His fingers stilled on the keyboard, and he looked at her. “Ma’am, that’s more than a fifty year time period,” he said slowly.

  “I think he’s getting a little worried,” Mike whispered.

  She shrugged apologetically. “Yeah, I know,” she said. “Sorry I can’t be more specific.”

  He studied her for a moment longer and then turned and entered the information. “Is he deceased?” he asked.

  “Yes, but you wouldn’t know that,” she blurted without thinking.

  “Uh oh, bad answer, Mary,” Mike said.

  Looking up again, he lifted his hands from the keyboard. “Would you like to explain that comment, ma’am?” he asked.