by Jan Coffey
“I remembered the reservation,” Janice called after her. “Lauren Wells. I know where she is.”
This brought both of them to a dead stop. Kelly backtracked. “Where is she?”
“I guess my memory is not what it used to be. She tried to make a reservation quite a while ago. But we were already booked, so I put her name on a waiting list. She called later and had her name taken off the list. That’s why I don’t have it written down anywhere.”
“Her niece said she was still coming to Independence. She got off the bus at the village. If she wasn’t coming here, then where was she going?”
“To Josh Sharp’s camp,” Janice said. “When she called to cancel her reservation, that’s where she told me she was going. She was staying across the lake.”
“I was there this morning,” Ian interrupted. “Caleb Smith, who seems to be running much of the show there and who was also on the same bus as Lauren Wells, denied seeing any older woman.”
“Well, I can’t help that,” Janice said. “Mrs. Wells was on that bus yesterday. A van from the camp picked her up.”
“How do you know all of this?” Kelly asked.
“Mrs. Wells called a couple of minutes ago from the camp office herself. You were talking to the Sterns outside, so I didn’t want to interrupt. She did say, though, that the cabins were a little too rustic for her, so she was wondering if we had any rooms where we could put her up.”
“I hope you said yes,” Kelly said excitedly. “Jade and I will double up in the carriage house with you and Bill and give her our apartment.”
“That wasn’t necessary,” Janice replied. “I explained to her about the room Mr. Desposito and his friend are staying in, and how is only half-painted. They’re planning to check out by ten o’clock tomorrow, so I offered to have it ready for her by noon. She was thrilled with the arrangement.”
Lauren Wells’ disappearance was far too neatly packaged and explained. Ian tried to see the eyes behind the pink frames. He waited for Janice to show some sign—no matter how small—that she was fabricating this entire story. But there was nothing to indicate she was lying. Still, he knew she had to be, right through her teeth.
“Maybe I could take Kelly over there to see her,” he suggested, knowing full well that he wasn’t going to take Kelly and Jade anywhere near that camp.
“I can’t see why not, Mr. Campbell. She did say she saw you and the other couple at the camp this morning. But she didn’t know you were looking for her.”
“Did you tell her that her niece is going crazy looking for her,” Kelly asked. “That she’s probably already called the state police?”
“Yes, I did. And she said she’ll call her this afternoon.” Janice waved a comforting hand. “I’m sure that will all work out just fine.”
Kelly visibly relaxed and went ahead of Ian up the stairs.
“So she’s okay. My God, I’m so relieved.”
Ian didn’t think Kelly was prepared to hear what exactly was going through his mind. At least, not at the moment. And he wasn’t about to tell her when he knew for a fact that these walls had ears.
Chapter 15
Stopping her by the door leading to third floor, Ian went ahead of them up the stairs. Kelly saw the tension in his shadowed expression. She closed and latched the old door at the bottom of the steps and followed him up to the landing.
“Was someone here?” she asked.
“I don’t think so,” he said as he pointed to her laptop. The top was closed. Kelly specifically remembered leaving the computer open on the floor beside the rocking chair. As she opened her mouth to say something, he pressed a finger against his lips and motioned to her to follow him. She did.
Inside her apartment, he pointed to the intercom system on the wall. She came closer and looked. The room monitor had been turned on.
Kelly recalled turning the thing off when she and Ian had been talking before. She felt the anger rising within her. She reached over to shut it off, but Ian’s hand closed around hers. He shook his head, motioned for her to wait where she was, and went out to the sitting area in the hall.
“Kelly, can I use your shower?” he called in a normal tone. “Or are you going to make me go downstairs?”
“You can use this one,” she answered.
“You can play with my toys in the shower if you want to,” Jade chirped, diving out of Kelly’s arm and running toward her toy chest to dig out her favorites.
“Barbie dolls?” he asked.
“They’re all headless…in keeping with a grand tradition,” she answered. “The male action figures are in much better shape. Jade only maims them by taking off their arms or legs.”
He closed the apartment door and tested the lock. Kelly had changed this one last year, so she knew it was in much better shape than the one to his room. She watched him tuck one of the chairs from the kitchen against it. He also fastened the latch high on the door.
“Okay, you can have five of them.” Jade ran back to him excitedly, carrying two handfuls of dolls. “This one doesn’t like soap in his eyes, so be careful. And this one gets scared when you first turn on the water, so give him a hug. These other three are all fine. But be careful, she’s a bully.”
“What happened to her head?” he asked, holding the naked doll at arm’s length.
“She sent it away to get a haircut,” Jade said with a smile, not missing a beat.
Kelly was glad those two could laugh. The tension from not knowing what was going on was shooting pains from the back of her head to her temples.
She tried to ignore it and turned to her daughter. “How about if we build with blocks and watch one of the Sing-Along tapes?”
“Okay. And Ian can watch it with me when he’s done with his shower,” she announced before running off to get her favorite tape.
“I want you in there with me,” he whispered into Kelly’s ear, motioning toward the shower before she could go and help Jade.
It was totally unexpected, but she felt a shiver run through her in a way that had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with his lips touching her ear and his breath tickling the skin of her neck. She managed a nod and first went to help Jade. By the time she returned to the bathroom door, she could hear the shower running. She paused, not sure if she should go in or not. At the same time, she didn’t want to knock, for fear of someone listening downstairs knowing she was in there with him.
Kelly realized how ridiculous propriety was in the light of everything else that was going on right now. She gave one light tap on the door and stepped in.
He’d taken off his shirt. Kelly’s eyes involuntarily moved down from the broad, muscled chest to his flat stomach and to where Ian had already undone his belt and the button of his wet khakis.
“If you’d taken any longer, I would have jumped in.”
Kelly shook her head and forced herself to concentrate on his face. Her bathroom was too small for the two of them. Other than a window high on the wall, there was no other ventilation. She was thankful that he was only running the cold water. Even at that, a cold mist hung in the air and glistened on his naked skin.
“I think you should pack a bag, put Jade in your car, and drive as far as you can away from here.”
His statement had an immediately sobering effect. Kelly looked into his face. “What is it that you haven’t told me?”
“Ty Somers is planning his Rapture…or moment of truth…or whatever it is for this Monday.”
“The day after tomorrow?”
He nodded.
“Why? What makes you think that? How could he do that? Does he already have these people together? Where is he?”
“It’s all explained in the website…sort of,” Ian replied. “It has to do with the time it takes for Jupiter to travel around the Sun. But it’s more astrological than scientific. It’s been a little more than twenty-two years since the last similar alignment between the Moon and Sun and Jupiter. The Hindus have a big celebration of the ev
ent that they call Khumba Mela or something, and it culminates this Monday. Anyway, the idea is that when the three celestial bodies line up, the portal to immortality opens for the faithful. Somers calls it Khumba Luxor and connects it to both Scripture and some mythic Egyptian priest. It’s supposedly the same secret that Reverend Butler passed on to him before sending him away. The suicide happened on the night of the last alignment.”
“That’s a lie. Butler wasn’t into any astrology stuff. He was into his own interpretations of Scripture, it’s true, but what happened was because he went nuts.”
“You were too young to see it, but he was apparently a big believer in all of that,” Ian told her. “I read his journals and his sermons. It was there, but he always conveyed astrology as being part of Scripture. He wasn’t about to lose his fundamentalist followers.”
There was no room to go anywhere, nowhere for her to pace. Ian opened the bathroom door a crack and looked out at Jade. Kelly could hear her singing with the video.
“Where are they gathering?” she asked, feeling sick to her stomach. She already knew the answer.
He closed the door again. “My guess is, at the camp across the lake.”
Like a March wind, cold dread pierced her body, chilling her to her very core. She leaned back against the sink and hugged her arms around her queasy stomach.
Ian was standing by the door, his powerful arms crossed over his chest. “You’ve found all this on your own.”
“Pretty much.”
“Do the authorities know this, too?” she asked hopefully. “You told me Somers is on the FBI’s Most Wanted List. Why can’t we just call them and tell them what’s going on…let them nail him now.”
“They know what’s going on too. I think they’re handling it in their own way, whatever that might be.”
“How do they know?”
“I called them last night, after I found this.” He reached into his pocket and took out a soggy credit slip. “It was in the van that came over to pick up the stuff that was stored in your cottage.”
The water had dissolved most of the writing, but Kelly could still make out the name ‘Wells.’
“This had the name ‘Lauren Wells’ on it. Knowing about Sydney and William’s deaths, I was afraid she might be the third victim. So I called a friend I have at the Bureau—someone who I know was working on the Butler Mission suicide, way back when. I gave him the info. He didn’t commit himself one way or the other, but he led me to believe they’re on top of it.”
“Lauren went over there of her own volition. Maybe she’s been won over somehow.”
“After what she went through, do you think that’s possible?”
Kelly frowned and shook her head.
“You were told that Lauren was over there,” Ian reminded her. “The truth remains to be seen about that.”
“Janice?” She rubbed the pain on her temples. “And Bill?”
Kelly recalled the older woman’s fascination with astrology. Even the names of the rooms. She’d always insisted on placing people in the “appropriate” rooms if she could. All of it had been right under her nose, but Kelly hadn’t seen it. And this thing with the intercom being turned back on—and all the interruptions to get them downstairs.
“Are they part of the new Mission cult, too?” she asked. “They’ve been part of my life for…”
“Almost ten years.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “I wish I had all the answers, but I don’t. Not yet. But my inclination is to say that you should suspect everyone around you to be a possible cult member. That’s why I think it’s important for you to take Jade and get out.”
“How far could I go? Where could I hide?” she asked. “If they’ve worked so hard even to get people that I thought were like family to me involved, don’t you think they’ll come after me or try to stop me?”
“I still think you have a much better chance of running then trying to stay and face them.” He cupped her chin, raised her face, and looked grimly into her eyes. “Jade makes you more vulnerable than you think.”
Kelly knew he was right. Everybody that worked at the inn, any person who’d ever met or talked to her knew how she felt about her daughter. “Would you come with us?”
His jaw clenched, and she saw the decade’s old pain in his eyes. “I’ll help you. I’ll find you a place to stay. I’ll even get you a police escort when the time comes for you to go. But I can’t go myself.”
Kelly knew what it was. She knew he was still trying to bury his dead.
“Anne died twenty-two years ago,” she said quietly.
“I know that.” He turned away and shut off the shower. He ran a frustrated hand across his neck. “But I have to do this, Kelly. I have to understand why she did it.”
~~~~
“I think once she gets over her complaining about where she’s going to put all this stuff, Ellie’s going to be very happy with the pieces we got,” Victor said, looking up from the auction catalogue covered with his boss’s notes as well as his own. “Wow, look at that baby move.”
Brian slowed down a little as a passing sports car cut in front of them in a no-passing zone. “Nice car,” he commented.
The road from Guildhall, where the auction had been held, had taken them into the mountains along the northern edge of the White Mountain National Forest. Climbing from the Connecticut River valley between New Hampshire and Vermont, they’d traveled along a mountain road that provided spectacular views, rendering both speechless at the sight of the sun reflecting off the highest peaks. With the bright blue sky as a backdrop, the mountains looked like a picture postcard. From there, the road they took led north, winding along the Androscoggin River. At Errol, they turned toward Independence.
“Do you realize we successfully bid on twelve of the fifteen pieces Ellie was very interested in, as well as…” Victor paused to count off the items in the catalogue. “Six, seven, eight…nine of the maybe-if-the-price-is-right pieces she wanted?”
“I like the pair of Francis Trumble Windsors.”
“Tomorrow morning, we just have to go to Rumford to pick up that Goddard-Townsend bureau and the Peter Stretch tall clock,” Victor said. “I hope we have enough room back there.”
“We’ve got room.”
“It’s pretty here, but I hate leaving the city.”
“I wouldn’t mind coming back,” Brian said.
Victor looked out the window as they rode along in silence. His mind drifted back to the auction. “That Benjamin Randolph highboy will make her happy. She might even keep it.”
“It shows some beautiful workmanship.” Brian said.
Victor nodded. “It’s always amazing to me that pieces of furniture—like that highboy and the tall clock—can be built by a Philadelphia craftsman over two hundred years ago and then end up somewhere like northern New England.”
“Here’s our turn,” Brian said, nodding to the inn’s sign up ahead.
As they turned off the state highway onto the gravel side road, Brian steered around a pothole.
“What’s this all about,” Victor said, peering ahead.
The sun was behind them, reflecting golden rays off a new Cadillac that was sitting on the edge of the road. They were still a mile from the inn, and Shawn Hobart stepped out of the car as the truck came into sight.
“Don’t stop, Brian,” Victor said. “He’s such a creep.”
“That’s okay with me. I’ll just go around—”
“No, you’ve got to stop. What if he needs help?”
“Looks like we don’t have much choice,” Brian said. Hobart was stepping out in front of them and waving them down.
“Well, that’s pretty nervy!”
“I wonder what he really does for a living,” Brian mused as they slowed down.
“Whatever it is, at least we know he’s no antique dealer,” Victor replied. “No one at that auction ever heard of him”
As the truck stopped, Hobart moved to the driver’s side. Brian roll
ed down his window.
“Thanks for stopping.”
“No problem,” Brian said. “Need help?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
Victor frowned at the alleged dealer. “Well, we’d like to help, Mr. Hobart, but Brian’s a carpenter, not a mechanic. And we’ve had a full day at the auction. So why don’t you hop in and we’ll take you to the inn and you can get help there.”
“I just need help positioning the jack.”
“You have a flat?” Brian asked.
“The tires look fine to me,” Victor put in.
“The front tire on the other side. The thing is totally flat,” Hobart replied. “These new cars have specific places to put the jack.”
Victor yanked on the door handle and got out, muttering to himself, “I can tell you exactly where you can put the jack.”
As he hopped down, Brian and Hobart came around from the other side of the truck.
“Did you look in the manual?” Victor asked.
“As a matter of fact, I was just doing that when you two came up the road.”
Hobart followed Victor and Brian around the front of the car. The two of them looked down at the tire in surprise. It was not flat.
“What’s the big idea?” Victor said, turning around.
The silver-plated pistol in Shawn Hobart’s hand was an even bigger surprise than the tire. Behind him, two younger men holding assault rifles emerged from the woods, and Victor felt a sense of dread wash through him. Hobart stepped forward, raising the muzzle of the gun until Victor was looking down the barrel.
“I told you not to stop,” he said to Brian.
~~~~
Ian would be turning forty-six at the end of the summer. “Grandpa” was what he was called by the kindergarteners the department was hiring these days and putting out on the street as cops. He was five years older than the captain of his detective unit. He didn’t care. This is what he had to do.
If you believed the bullshit put out by the department brass, he was too valuable to work the streets anymore. They wanted him behind a desk, running special operations, serving as a liaison between the narcotics, vice, and homicide units, so they’d offered him a promotion again. They were moving him into management. But Ian didn’t want the extra money. He wasn’t interested in a better retirement pension or more vacations. He didn’t care about any paper pusher job. His only interest was to be put on the front line, on the street, where his blood would be pumping and his mind would be clear of everything except the suspect that he was about to apprehend.
