“Angie had problems,” admitted Jenna. “She probably still does.”
Joe looked at Jenna as the gears in her head turned.
“Oh, my God,” said Jenna as her hands dropped from the steering wheel. “It’s been in front of me this entire time.”
***
June 20, 2000
27 Caribou Road
Elkhart, PA
4 P.M.
Misty-Lee slammed the front door shut as she walked in the house with a tired look on her face. Life was hard without Courtney around. She missed her sister and friend, and it was hard moving on in life without her companion by her side. Though there was a fourteen years age difference between them, they were as close as twins. She didn’t feel the same connection, the same closeness with Angie, Ally or Trixie. She felt a bit lost without her.
Misty-Lee climbed the stairs to her room so that she could get changed. She was still wearing her work clothes from her part-time job at the grocery store and she was desperate to change into something more comfortable.
Gwen O’Mara yelled up the stairs to Misty-Lee, “Misty-Lee, is that you?”
“Yeah, Mom!”
“Can you check on Angie? I haven’t heard from her all day…”
Misty-Lee climbed the steps to the third floor to check on her sister. She walked down the long hallway to her bedroom, but it was empty. Confused, Misty-Lee walked back down the hallway. As she passed Tiffany’s bedroom she heard a noise. It was the sound of a music box playing from inside Tiffany’s long unoccupied room. Goosebumps formed on Misty-Lee’s skin as she listened closely to the sound. Misty-Lee pushed open the old door to Tiffany’s room as the hinges squeaked loudly. Much to Misty-Lee’s surprise, there was someone standing in the middle of Tiffany’s room.
“What are you doing in here?” Misty-Lee asked Angie, sounding offended. Angie stood at Tiffany’s bureau listening to her sister’s long-forgotten music box. She watched the ballerina twirl round and round as Swan Lake played from the box. The sound was ghostly and unforgettable.
“It’s so terrible, what is happening,” said Angie in a chilling voice.
Misty-Lee watched her sister somberly. Misty thought that Angie really seemed to be upset over the tragedy that had struck their family once again. It almost seemed like a dark cloud was hanging over their family tree, or the water in which it gained its nutrients was tainted with disease.
“I know…” Misty-Lee agreed, “I’m afraid to go outside.”
Angie remained silent continuing to listen to the hauntingly beautiful melody that the music box was playing.
“We never come in here…” commented Misty-Lee.
“How come?”
“Because losing her and you at the same time… It was very traumatic for everyone.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to leave… I was scared.”
“I probably would have done the same thing. I was still pretty young at the time.”
Angie turned around to look at her sister. Misty-Lee did have some depth to her. She wondered if the shallow exterior was a façade to cover something else up. Angie thought it might be to hide her own pain and self-consciousness. Misty-Lee smiled a half smile at her sister as she tried to bury her pain.
“Come downstairs, Mom is asking for you. There is going to be a vigil tonight for Courtney, and she wants us all to attend.”
Chapter 22
June 20, 2000
Elkhart, PA
4:00 P.M.
“I’ll be back at 8 to pick you up,” Cole said to Tristan out of his driver’s side window as she walked towards the entrance of Monte’s Café.
“Okay, thanks… Have fun with your buddy…,” Tristan said as she winked at Cole with a sly smile on her face.
Cole would be biding his time this afternoon at Morrow Manor and Tristan knew Jack would be more than happy to put Cole to work. At least it was only four hours and not eight.
“Oh, yeah… I can’t wait to clean out stables and detail his car,” Cole said facetiously as he pulled off and headed down Mountain Road towards Cavegat Pass.
***
“Yo, Tony! Is my pizza done yet?!” Salvatore Piedmonte yelled over the counter of Monte’s Café becoming irate.
“Hold yer horses!” Tony Piedmonte yelled from the kitchen.
Joe’s father Sal was waiting impatiently at the counter for his eldest grandson to bring him his pizza that he had ordered only ten minutes ago.
“Y’know, in my day I had pizza’s done in ten minutes flat!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah… In the snow, barefoot and you walked five miles to deliver it, too! Didn’t ya?!”
“Now that you mention it…”
“Yer pizza’s coming out now.”
Tony, who was Joe’s sister Candace’s son, was helping out with the restaurant in Joe’s absence. Tony was a high energy guy who loved to be in the kitchen, but his personality could be felt all the way in the dining room. He was loud and boisterous and always had a joke for whoever was willing to listen. He could make a pretty mean pizza, too. Tristan was thrilled to see Tony. He was always so much fun to work with.
“Hey cuz!” Tony yelled at Tristan. Tony insisted that Cole and Tristan would marry someday and he was adamant upon calling Tristan “cuz” prematurely.
“Hey Tony! How’s it going?” Tristan asked.
“It’s going… Busy as hell in here today. Do me a favor. Take this pie over to table four. The grumpy old guy is hungry.”
Tristan laughed, “Be nice to your Grandpa.”
Tristan took the pizza over to Cole’s grandfather who was sitting at table number four. Sal greeted her with a smile.
“Hey cutie! Join me for a slice.”
“I wish I could, Monte. This place is packed today!”
“Tell my grandson to speed it up!”
Tristan laughed at Cole’s spunky grandfather as she went to wait on the next table.
***
“What the hell is going on up here?” asked Liam as he and Adam barged through the front door of Morrow Manor.
Frank gave his nephews a death glare from the doorway of the dining room. The two officers walked straight past him into the dining room as they tried to understand what the issue was. Bridgette sat at the sprawling dining room table across from Jack who had a desperately worried look on his face. He was trying to convince her to stay home from work due to her traumatic experience this morning on the porch.
“No, Jack! I’d like to see anyone try to pull anything on me. They’ll be dead before they could try.”
“And what about Tristan and Natalie?” Jack asked in worry. Bridgette glared at Jack.
“Oh, here we go again! Tristan knows how to defend herself for the umpteenth time!”
“That doesn’t mean that Frank and I don’t worry!” Jack explained.
“I’m worried too, Jack, but it doesn’t mean that we jump to conclusions. I refuse to live scared. We prepare. We take precautions, but we go about our lives. You and Joe have poor Cole chauffeuring Tristan and Natalie everywhere. I will be at the hospital working. All I have to say is God help anyone who tries to go after DiNolfo. Seriously. Let them try. We’re not damsels in distress.”
“We know, wild woman!” said Frank with a perturbed look on his face. “But you need to listen and listen good!”
“I’m listening.”
“Cole is picking Natalie up at 11 P.M. tonight. You get done at 11. Wait in the lobby for him. Do not wait out on the corner.”
“Oh, Francis…”
“I’m dead serious, Bridgette!” Frank barked with a serious look on his face.
“Fine. I will wait for Cole in the lobby.”
“Liam and Adam are here.”
“Tell them to come in.”
***
Cole walked into the dining room of Morrow Manor where he found Jack, Frank, Liam, Adam and Bridgette huddled together around the dining room table. Their conversation had heated up since Adam and Liam’s arrival a
nd now they were trying to figure out how to handle the latest turn of events.
“What’s going on?” Cole asked as he laid his car keys down on the table.
Jack sighed deeply and said, “Take a seat.”
Cole became nervous at Jack’s request but did as he was told.
“This was left on the porch this morning,” Jack said as he passed the box to Cole.
“Don’t touch it,” warned Liam as he lifted the jewelry box out of the cardboard box with a pair of rubber gloves sheathing his fingerprints from the surface. He displayed it on the table for Cole to see. Cole eyed the box precariously.
“Who sent it?”
“We don’t know. But it was hand delivered. The intruder ran off before I could catch him,” explained Frank.
A troubled look grew in Cole’s eyes.
“Ready?” asked Liam as he pressed the release with his gloved index finger. Cole nodded. The lid of the jewelry box lifted gently and revealed a stack of photographs inside.
Liam pulled the photos out of the box and explained each photograph to Cole. He slowed as he got to the picture of Natalie.
“Now these photographs are a bit different. They all have today’s date on the back of them, which leads us to believe that the killer is planning an attack.”
Cole looked at the picture with a murderous glare.
“I’ll kill ‘em. Whoever it is, if they hurt my sister…”
“Hold tight, kid… It gets worse,” warned Adam.
Liam showed Cole the picture of Jenna, and Cole’s anger intensified even further. Finally, in a gentle movement, Liam put the picture of Tristan and Bridgette on the table in front of Cole. His eyes took in the photo and he seemed fixated on Tristan’s face. Jack watched Cole very carefully. The quiet, mild mannered boy had quickly come into his own as a man. In Jack’s opinion, there are few times when you could read the contents of a man’s heart more easily than when his significant other was in danger. The contents of Cole’s heart were splayed out for all to see. Cole’s face seethed with anger. His eyes had a dangerous quality to them as all of the warmth quickly vanished.
Suddenly, Cole’s fist came slamming down on the dining room table.
“Not a fucking chance.”
For the first time in his life, Jack realized that there was one person on this earth that loved Tristan more than himself, and he was sitting right in front of him.
***
A crowd gathered at dusk outside of Monte’s Café. Elkhart citizens carrying flowers, signs and stuffed animals arrived at the site where Courtney O’Mara was found dead. They laid their gifts next to Joe’s bouquet of flowers. Soon, the simple memorial grew into a mountain. More people came, some carried candles, but all gathered around the place where Joe had found Courtney lying dead just days before. Tristan and Tony stepped out to listen to the vigil. Roger O’Mara stood next to the spot where his daughter was found. Tears pooled in his eyes as he spoke.
“Thank you all for your tremendous support and generosity during this very trying time. Gwen and I cannot thank you enough.”
Roger pulled his wife closer to him. Her tears fell from her face onto her candle threatening to douse the flame, but the fire shot up angry and red instead.
“Courtney was a sweet girl who had many friends. I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would want to hurt her. Please continue to keep Courtney and us in your prayers. Her sisters are suffering. Misty-Lee, Angie, Trixie and Ally all mourn the loss of their sister. Please remember Courtney as she was, not for how she was taken.”
Tristan watched the crowd as Roger spoke. Angie and Misty-Lee held each other as tears streamed from their eyes. Ally stood sullen and stoic against her father. Even Trixie looked sad and shook up. Other members of the crowd cried for the memory of Courtney. Audrey Henning wiped tears from her eyes as she listened to Roger speak. When the crowd was done talking, praying and consoling each other, they moved in unison down Mountain Road. Their candles led the way to Healer’s Park where they planned to say a similar blessing for April Dearing.
***
“We want everyone to finish their night out, and we will take it from there,” explained Frank. “We do not live in fear.”
“Natalie is upstairs, and Tristan is safe at work with Tony.”
“Oh, Tony’s on tonight?” asked Jack.
“Yes. He’ll keep her safe til I return at 8. Then Natalie has to close up with Tony and I’ll pick up Natalie and Bridgette up at 11.”
“Does Jenna know yet?”
“I tried calling her but her cell phone is dead.”
***
Tristan opened the back door of Monte’s Café as she lugged a heavy bag of trash out to the dumpster. She lifted the bag but before she could toss it, something stopped her dead in her tracks. Someone was standing in the forest just twenty feet from her. Tristan could feel the intensity of the watcher’s stare from under their hood. As the beams of the bright moon cast down upon the watcher’s frame, Tristan could barely make out the person’s face. But she definitely recognized them. Suddenly, the person turned quickly on their heel, discarded something in the cavity of the Bone Tree, and ran off into the woods.
The back door opened behind Tristan and Tony called out, “Tristan, leave the trash. I’ll get it. I need you back inside.”
Tristan did as she was told. Tony peered out the back door for a moment making sure that there was no one lingering out back. A moment later he slammed the back door shut and locked it tight as a strange feeling crept over him.
Chapter 23
June 20, 2000
Morrow Manor
Elkhart, PA
9 P.M.
Liam and Adam Morrow slumped down at their father’s dining room table feeling exhausted as the pressure of the investigation came crashing down upon them. It was a tremendous weight bearing down on their shoulders: A murderer was on the loose and another young woman was dead. Now there was a box with leads for the murderer’s next victims. The thought alone caused Adam’s stomach to twist and tighten into a pretzel.
Tristan had just returned from her evening shift at Monte’s Café, and she was worn out. She hung her apron on a hook in the foyer, along with her keys and moseyed down the long hallway towards the dining room. As she entered the room, she found her older brothers sitting at the massive cherry wood table which had scattered papers, photographs, official police records, and handwritten notes strewn all over the surface. When Liam saw his sister enter the room he grabbed a handful of the photographs that were on the table, and quickly turned them over. Tristan only saw a flash of red, before the image was removed from her sight. Adam and Liam appeared to be combing through every single piece of documentation they had in an effort to find anything of relevance that they might have missed; any possible connection, but alas, they had come up empty handed. It pained Tristan to see the effect that this investigation was having on her brothers. They both appeared significantly older; their usual charm was removed from their eyes and replaced with a cold seriousness. They both looked as if they could use a good meal and a long sleep. She waved at her brothers with a smile and they nodded in return. They have to be starving, Tristan thought as she walked into the kitchen and reached for a large pot that hung over the range. She filled the pot with water and placed it gently on the stovetop. As she was turned on the front burner, Jack walked in. He sighed heavily as he approached her.
“Oh, good. You’re home” Jack said sounding relieved.
“Yeah, Cole drove me. He’s turning a movie on in the living room if you want to join us.”
Jack nodded, “Okay, what movie?” Jack asked as a smile formed on his tired face.
“Knowing him, probably Rocky again,” Tristan added.
“I could go for that,” adding Jack as he gave Tristan a smile.
Tristan stirred the spaghetti that was now swimming in the boiling water.
“What are you making?” asked Jack nosily as he peeked into the pot.
“Spaghetti. They look like they are starving. Didn’t anyone make dinner?”
“Who would have eaten it? Frank took Tommy, Shane and Blake to the movies. Your aunt is at work. Gus and Moira went to see a show… Adam and Liam said they weren’t hungry and I sure as hell wasn’t just cooking for me. I ate the last piece of cheesecake from last night.”
“And you listened to them? Look at them…” Tristan said, scolding her father.
Stolen Innocents (The Shadow Series Book 2) Page 21
