David and I left the restaurant shortly after that. As we headed out, I noticed that Clarissa had returned from speaking with her husband. I tried to pull Clarissa aside to talk to her, but I couldn’t get to her in time. The minute she entered the front door of the restaurant, she made a beeline to the kitchen. Not only did she not stop and talk to anyone as she headed to the back, but she had a disturbed look on her face like she wanted to crawl into a hole and hide away.
My heart went out to her. Unfortunately, if she didn’t want company, there was nothing I could do to change her mind.
***
A few minutes later, David drove me home. I hated to admit it, but on the ride back to my place, I was not very good company. It wasn’t that I wanted to be so quiet. My thoughts were just elsewhere. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t get Clarissa off my mind.
That would soon change.
David turned right onto Treasure Cove Lane and attempted to cheer me up.
“I don’t have to drop you off at home yet. We can stop somewhere for dessert first,” David said.
I shook my head. “That’s okay.”
His eyes widened. “Really? You’re going to turn down a sweet treat?”
“I know. Stop the presses, right? I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I’m just not in the mood.”
“Wow. You must be even more rattled than I thought.”
“Aren’t you rattled?”
He nodded. “It wasn’t the most peaceful dinner I’ve ever had.”
“It’s not like we go out all that often. It’s such a shame for a fight to break out when we do.”
“At least we weren’t the ones doing the fighting.”
“True.”
“Last call for dessert. Going once, going twice.”
“Sorry. No sale here.”
“Well, I guess the bright spot is that by skipping dessert, we just both saved ourselves some time on the treadmill tomorrow.”
I stared out into the distance. “I’m really worried about Clarissa Anderson.”
I could barely get my thought out before my focus shifted. I noticed that David wasn’t paying me the least bit of attention. Normally, that would have really irked me, but when I saw what David was staring at, I realized why his thoughts were so preoccupied.
David’s car was approaching a once-abandoned banquet hall. I said “once abandoned” because a few months ago, we stumbled upon an all-male, invitation-only meeting taking place there.
That evening, it appeared that another meeting had just finished up. There was a line of cars slowly making their way out of the hall’s parking lot.
“You’re not the only one with a bad feeling,” David said.
“Do you think our invites got lost in the mail?” I deadpanned.
He scoffed. “Are you kidding? I’m pretty sure we’re the last two people they want showing up at their door.”
“That’s their loss.” I stared at the cars driving out of the lot. “What kind of secretive stuff do you think they talked about at the meeting?”
“Unfortunately, we’re not going to find out.” He groaned. “It’s a shame that timing wasn’t on our side tonight.”
I wasn’t sure that I agreed. While David and I would have preferred to have stumbled upon this meeting before it had ended, we weren’t completely out of luck.
“That depends how you look at it,” I replied.
“How do you figure?” he asked.
“If we had just turned back to get dessert, we would have missed out on seeing all these cars right now.”
“You’re right. We have an opportunity here. It’s important not to let it pass us by.”
“What are you proposing exactly? We can’t exactly follow twenty different cars.”
“No,” David said. He took a moment to let an idea formulate in his head. “But we can record their license plates.”
David pulled over to the side of the road and grabbed his camera phone. “Try to get as many license plates as possible.”
I grabbed my phone and began snapping pictures. David took a number of shots of his own.
A few minutes later, all of the cars had left the lot.
When the final car had pulled away, David and I turned to each other.
“How many did you get?” I asked.
“I’d say at least half a dozen,” David replied.
“Same here.”
“It looks like I have a number of plates to run in the DMV database.”
“Yeah. You have your work cut out for you.”
“Work like this doesn’t bother me as long as it leads to results.”
“The problem is, even if you find out who all the members of this secret group are, that doesn’t mean you can get them to talk to you,” I said.
“True. But I can try,” David replied.
I had to give David credit. Even in the face of long odds, he had no shortage of confidence. I could not say the same about myself. Then again, I had already talked to two men who I knew were a part of the group. Neither of them had given me anything to work with. The conversations had been akin to slamming my head against a brick wall.
“I have tried,” I said. “And I failed miserably.”
“That’s why I’m glad I have a badge,” David replied.
During my time dating David, I had learned that a badge could open all kinds of doors. But sometimes, even a badge came up short. One time in particular stuck out in my brain.
“As I recall, your badge didn’t make William Bolton flinch when you tried to get answers out of him. He shut you down in a hurry.”
“Look, I know we haven’t had the best luck getting these guys to talk, but spotting these cars tonight is the biggest break we’ve had yet. There’s a chance that it could really lead to something. So what’s with all the negativity?”
“Sorry. I’m just frustrated.”
“And I’m not?” he asked. “By all indications, there is a secret society operating in town whose motivations remain a complete mystery to me. Trust me, I am frustrated beyond belief.”
“I get you. The problem is, despite the suspicions we have, we don’t know that they are even doing anything illegal.”
“Which is why I’m going to investigate these men until I get answers.”
“I understand.”
He gazed deep into my eyes. “Sabrina, I can tell that something else is going on. Do you want to tell me what it is?”
I took a deep breath. “I guess I’m just feeling nostalgic for a time when there weren’t so many mysteries shrouding this town.”
“Hey, I’m with you on that. And I wish that I had better news for you. But just because I want the past to return doesn’t mean it ever will. This is the world we’re living in now, for better or for worse.”
I exhaled. “Maybe we should get dessert.”
Chapter Five
My willpower did not survive the drive home. All it took was passing by Teresa’s Tarts & Treats to make my mouth water to the point where I could no longer say no to dessert. A slice of apple pie later, my taste buds were thanking me profusely.
There was something so wonderfully delicious about warm apple pie with a crumbly crust and a sweet filling. It was almost too scrumptious. To the point where I worried that I wouldn’t be able to stop at just one slice. Luckily, I dragged myself out of the treat shop before I broke down and ordered a second slice.
With our bellies full, David and I got back in his car. He began to drive me back home.
“Feel better now?” David asked.
For the moment, yes. Unfortunately, my pie-based delight didn’t last nearly as long as I thought it would. David and I hit an unusual figurative speed bump on the way home. It came in the form of a strange sight that I caught a glimpse of out the corner of my eyes.
David had been heading back toward the north side of town when he drove by the old Watterson estate. That was when I saw a light on in the upstairs window of the house.
I did
a double take. “Wait. What was that?”
David’s forehead wrinkled. “What are you talking about?”
I swiveled my body to the right and looked behind me. “Stop!”
He reached out to me. “Sabrina, what is it?”
I kept staring at the Watterson estate. “Back up.”
“Will you please tell me what’s going on?”
“Just turn your car around and you’ll see.”
“Or you can just tell me.”
“There’s a light on in the upstairs window of the Watterson estate.”
David’s eyes widened. He slammed on the brakes. When his car had stopped, he spun his steering wheel to the left, made a U-turn, and pulled up in front of the Watterson estate.
I pointed at the upstairs window where a light was still on. “See. I’m not crazy.”
David stared wide-eyed. “No, you aren’t.”
That was especially significant because it was the first time David had seen the light on with his own eyes. He had heard me talk about it a number of times, but nothing beat firsthand experience.
David looked just as baffled as I had the first time I had seen it. There was a simple reason for the befuddlement. A murder-suicide had taken place there twenty years ago. The estate had been vacant ever since.
Given the fact that the estate had no current residents and that the electric company had shut off the power to the estate long ago, I had no explanation for how a light could be on in the upstairs bedroom.
Each of the previous times that I had seen the light on, I had called the police to check it out. Unfortunately, by the time deputies had arrived on the scene, the light had gone off and there was no sign of anyone around.
Being in front of the estate now with David meant that I had a rare chance to get to the bottom of this mystery before the light went off again.
“I told you something suspicious is going on there,” I said.
David reached for his police radio. “I’ll call it in.”
I shook my head. “No. That’s going to take too long.”
“What are you proposing?”
“By the time your deputies get here, the light could be off and whoever is in there could be gone.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
I opened the passenger-side door of the car.
Panic came over David’s face. “Sabrina, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Getting to the bottom of this.”
“Oh, no you don’t.”
“David, we have a chance to figure out what’s really going on here. This opportunity may not come around again. Are you really going to pass it up?”
“No.”
I began to get out of the car. “Good. Let’s go, then.”
David held his hand out. “You’re not understanding me. I’m going to figure out what’s going on here. You’re going to stay in the car.”
I threw my arms out. “Come on. You’re not serious.”
“I’m dead serious.”
“But—”
“Sabrina, I’m not arguing about this. We don’t know who is in there. Or what is in there. There’s just way too many question marks.”
“So what, you just want me to stay here?”
“I know it’s not what you want to hear, but yes. Like I said, I don’t know what’s going on in there. I can’t afford to put you in danger.” He stared deep into my eyes. “Please.”
I groaned. “All right.”
“Promise that you won’t follow me,” he said.
“Fine. I promise.”
David put a call in to police headquarters, notifying the dispatcher to send any available units to this location. He then headed into the estate to investigate what was really going on.
***
It didn’t take long for my patience to wear thin. A mixture of curiosity and fear gnawed at the back of my brain. The problem was, since I didn’t know what was up there, I couldn’t help but worry if David was in over his head. I knew that as a trained detective, throwing himself into danger was part of his job, but that didn’t mean I was okay with him venturing into the unknown all alone.
When my anxiety finally got the best of me, I got out of the car. It took all the willpower I had not to just follow David inside the estate. As I inched my body toward the front gate of the property, I mustered just enough restraint to stop myself from continuing.
I had made David a promise and I would stick to it—for now.
I didn’t know how much longer I could wait around.
Grr.
What was taking him so long?
My panic grew as I saw the light in the upstairs window of the estate turn off.
Oh no.
Had something happened to him? I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if that was the case. After all, he had only gone in there because I had noticed the light on. If David had been in the car alone, he would have just kept on driving, none the wiser.
My whole body began to shake. I had succeeded in working myself up. But was it over nothing?
A few minutes later, I got my answer.
I heard a rustling coming from the thick patch of weeds that lined the front yard of the estate. Instinctively, I reached into my purse, where I always kept a can of pepper spray. Unfortunately, in a panic, I instead pulled out a whistle that I also kept in my purse.
That was when I heard another rustle.
A shiver went down my spine.
I immediately put my hand back in my purse and grabbed the can of pepper spray.
“Who is it?” I asked. “David, is that you?”
Now that the light was off in the upstairs window of the estate, the entire property was shrouded in darkness. I couldn’t see a thing. With my free hand, I pulled out my phone and loaded the flashlight app.
Just as I pointed my phone at the front yard of the estate, I spotted David emerging from the darkness. He wasn’t alone. David escorted a handcuffed teenage boy toward the car.
I noticed that David was holding a flashlight in his spare hand.
He held it up. “This is the mysterious light we were seeing.”
Chapter Six
A few minutes later, two squad cars arrived. David immediately sent the deputies inside the gates of the estate with orders to search the place from top to bottom. While the deputies began combing the estate for signs of anyone else on the property, David loaded the teenager, Craig Coburn, into the back of one of the squad cars for questioning. Before getting to his questions, David rifled through a large hiking backpack that he had confiscated from Craig.
David was surprised by what he found inside the pack, but only because the contents were so unremarkable. No illegal goods were discovered. As a matter of fact, the only things he found inside the pack were a sleeping bag, some trail mix, a bottle of water, and a camera phone.
Now those were all pretty standard items—for a camping trip. The question became, had Craig planned on camping inside the estate? If he had, I didn’t know why. Craig didn’t look homeless.
As a matter of fact, as I got a closer glance at Craig, he just looked like an ordinary teenager. The long-haired, eighteen-year-old had hazel eyes, an angular face, and a tall, gangly body. He wore a retro concert T-shirt, jeans, and running shoes.
The more I looked at him, the more confused I became. Before that evening, I had entertained a number of different theories that could explain why the light had been on in the upstairs window of the estate. They had ranged from the simple explanation of the light turning on as a result of an electrical malfunction all the way to the chilling possibility that the estate was legitimately haunted.
The idea that some punk teenager was behind this hadn’t really entered my mind. Mostly because I couldn’t figure out what he was doing at the estate in the first place.
David didn’t hesitate to get straight to the point with him. “Do you want to explain to me what you were doing there?”
<
br /> There was a look of intense fear in Craig’s eyes. “Am I being arrested?”
“Craig, I’m the one asking the questions here. Now what were you doing in there?”
“Trying to complete the challenge.”
David’s forehead wrinkled. “What challenge?”
“The haunted house challenge.”
“What’s that?”
“Come on, you haven’t heard of it?”
David narrowed his eyes. “Not yet. But if you’re smart, you’ll clue me in.”
“It’s really simple, man,” Craig said. “Everyone knows the Watterson estate is haunted, right? Well, the challenge is all about seeing who is brave enough to spend a whole night in the bedroom where the Watterson murder-suicide took place.”
A look of disgust came to David’s face. “That’s one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.”
“Says you. Complete a challenge like this and you become a legend at Treasure Cove High School.”
“So that’s why you were up there? To become a legend?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“Of course,” Craig said. “Why else do you think I was there?”
“A drug deal. A party. Or maybe you ran away from home. There are a number of reasons that teenagers are drawn to vacant properties.”
Craig shook his head. “No. You’ve got it all wrong. I just wanted to be the first to complete the challenge.”
David scrunched his nose. “How many other people have tried this challenge?”
Craig tensed up.
When a few seconds went by without him answering, David spoke up. “Answer the question.”
Craig groaned. “A few.”
“How many?”
Craig averted his eyes. “Three.”
“What are their names?”
Craig shook his head. “I’m not ratting on them.”
“So you’re going to take the fall for this yourself?”
Craig grimaced.
David raised his voice. “I want names.”
“I already told you, I’m not snitching.”
Apple Pie With A Side Of Murder Page 2
