“Take your time,” my brother said. “Do you want me to sit outside in the car and wait for you?”
I could feel a small smile playing on my face. This was the protective brother I loved, the one who paid attention when I needed help and really wanted to be there for me.
“Are you going to make me a sandwich?” he yelled, then turned back to the phone. “Jesus, Janine told me she was going to make me something to eat. What’s a guy got to do around here to get a little food?”
Well, okay, maybe he was hungry, but his attitude toward his domestic situation had nothing to do with how much he cared about me. Janine, on the other hand, had probably already clocked him upside the head.
“I’m good,” I said. “Go eat your sandwich. I’ll talk to you later.”
Since it was raining, and her house was some distance away, I decided to drive. I got there sooner than I wanted and sat in the car for a moment, taking deep breaths. When Valerie appeared in the doorway, I decided it was time to get out of the car.
She ushered me into her home in silence, and I couldn’t help but wonder again what I was doing there. She might be mad at me, and I might be walking into a trap, but if that was the case I was prepared. I’d loaded up with large amethyst crystals from the store, knowing they turned my purse into a weapon. If I knocked her on the head with the purse, I had a good chance of getting away.
Valerie led me into her kitchen and finally said, “Have a seat. I made some coffee, or I can boil water for tea, if you prefer.” She looked at me, perfectly coiffed, patiently waiting for an answer.
I decided to get straight to the point. I’d known the conversation would be uncomfortable, but I hoped to avoid as much of the awkwardness as possible. “I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about Linwood. I’m sure this isn’t easy for you.”
Valerie sighed and sat at the table. “I’m the one who should be apologizing to you.” She looked up at me, and to my horror big, fat tears started leaking from her eyes. “I love him so much that I didn’t stop to consider the consequences of my actions. I just wanted to protect him.”
I pulled out a chair and sat across from her. “I can relate to that. I do things all the time to help my family, and I’m sure that if I ever get married I’d feel the same way about my husband.” Well, not really, I couldn’t see myself covering up a murder, but I was trying to be polite.
“How long has he been …?” I wasn’t sure how to say the words. How long has he been sick? Ill? Crazy?
“I’ve known for almost a year that something is wrong,” Valerie said. “At first I thought it was just age creeping up on us, that if we worked hard to keep our minds active and our bodies healthy, we would be fine.” She took a deep breath and looked down. “But it was more than that.”
“Did he receive a diagnosis before all this happened?”
Valerie shook her head. Her words were so soft I had to strain to hear what she said. “A wife knows. One day he came home visibly upset, his hands shaking. He told me we were under attack, that pretty soon they were going to start drafting kids and a bunch of stuff that didn’t make any sense. But his hands really told me everything I needed to know.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“His hands didn’t stop shaking.” She finally looked up at me. “I know it sounds too simple, that I knew something was wrong because he had a tremor, but it’s true. I knew in my heart that my Linwood was leaving me, a little at a time.” Her voice broke on the last sentence, and I couldn’t help but feel her pain.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured, not sure what to say. How do you express condolences to someone who has lost their life partner already, lost him to a disease that robbed him of who he was? “Did you try to get him on medication?”
Valerie stared out the window. “I made sure he ate healthy meals all the time. Even before this happened, I was careful about the foods I served him. I’ve been reading about food additives for years now, and I always bought organic.”
Organic. The image that popped into my mind was not one of health, but of filth.
“Did you buy your food from a health food store? I don’t know of any around here,” I said, hoping to sound nonchalant.
Valerie shook her head. “No, I bought it from that woman, Debbee. I liked the idea of buying local and organic, as it supported the community. That’s what all the books I read said to do, buy local.”
Hmmm. Something was off, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. My internal radar was buzzing, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint the problem. “Did you like her food?” I knew my question was lame, but I couldn’t think of anything else to ask.
Valerie sat up straighter. “No, dear, I didn’t eat any of that.”
I stared at her. “But didn’t you want to eat healthy, too?”
“Of course I did, but I have a food allergy. I don’t eat wheat or gluten. I find that it’s easier for me simply to buy wheat and gluten free food for myself so I don’t have to think about what might be in the other stuff. I simply don’t eat her food.”
Chapter Forty-Four
Since my conversation with Valerie had gone so well, I thought about going to see Debbee next.
Am I crazy? What the heck would I say to her?
But the truth was that I didn’t like the way things were between us. For some reason Debbee thought I was a bad person, not deserving of a dog. I knew she wasn’t quite right in the head either, so I should just ignore her.
But there’s more to Debbee, I know there’s something going on. I need to finish this investigation.
Clearly she had nothing to do with Linwood’s attack. If that were the case, other people would be acting just as strange as Linwood.
They have been. That day at the house, the day Linwood attacked me. Everyone was wacky.
But what would I gain by going to see her? Nothing. In fact, I’d probably end up in a fight or, at the very least, getting kicked off her property. But I had my handy purse full of rocks, so what was there to lose?
I dug my cell phone out of my purse and pulled over to the side of the road. Dialing Aunt Claudia’s number, I thought about what to tell her. When she answered, I said, “Hey, it’s me. I just wanted to let you know that everything went fine with Valerie, and I’m leaving her house now.”
“I’m glad to hear that, dear. At least I know that woman didn’t do anything else to hurt you.”
“No, I’m fine. I’m just going to go take care of one more thing before I come home.”
A grim silence traveled through the cell phone airwaves. “Where are you going, dear?” Claudia’s tone was casual, but I could feel her intent.
“I’m going to see Debbee,” I said, cringing as I waited for her reaction.
After a moment she answered, “Are you sure that is wise?”
Maybe Claudia would have some insight into what was bothering me. “Something’s going on there. I don’t know why I feel compelled to go see her, but I do. I think she’s up to something, or something weird is going on. I’m just not sure what it is.”
Claudia’s response was immediate. “Do what you have to, dear. Call me when you leave.”
Okay, that was easy—a little too easy, but maybe Claudia was busy. Wasn’t she going to lecture me or tell me not to go?
“So I’ll see you when I get home,” I said.
“Bye.” And just like that, she hung up. Odd. Usually Claudia took the time to talk with me, to go through everything and figure out the best course of action. She and Estelle both said things like, “Haste makes waste,” and a bunch of other sayings that would stay in my head forever.
Maybe she had a cake in the oven or something.
I remembered how to get to Debbee’s place but drove past her driveway before I realized I was there. I stopped the car, reversed and pulled into the driveway, bouncing my way over the muddy ruts, past the rusty equipment and junk that littered the sides. At least the rain had stopped for the moment.
I sat in the car a
nd stared at the house. I was glad I had Sparky, that he didn’t have to spend any more time living here. Frankly, I was surprised the place hadn’t been condemned. Trying to focus, I thought about what I was going to say. Maybe I’d go for a let’s-all-try-to-get-along approach.
Nobody answered my knock at the door, so I wandered away from the house and started walking back toward the dog runs where I’d first seen Sparky. The silence was heavy, and I felt a strange tingling at the base of my spine.
This place is definitely creepy. My imagination had taken over, understandable after everything that happened to me, but in the stillness of the yard I couldn’t bring myself to call out for Debbee.
The barn door was partially open, so I decided to go in. Debbee was probably working in there, doing whatever it was she did to her food before she sold it.
I put my hand on the door, hoping I didn’t get splinters from the cracked wood. The door gave a loud squeak as I pushed it open wide. The scene in front of me was shocking, to say the least.
Barrels were stacked in the front corner as if they were no longer used. Lined up against the back wall were row after row of clear plastic containers with lids, the kind that were usually in health food stores with bulk food items. The dozens of containers were filled with what looked like different types of grains. On either side of the barn were long, gleaming white tables with a variety of knives laid out along one of the tables. A large sink with a gooseneck-spout faucet jutted from the wall in the back corner. Most surprising of all was the cleanliness of the place. I could see the shine of the knives on the table, glinting from the sunlight pouring through the windows up high.
“Debbee?” My voice sounded hesitant, and I wasn’t sure if I should be walking around in there. I took a couple of steps inside, walking toward the back wall. There were labels on the bins, which was a good thing because some of them looked very similar to each other. I recognized some of the names, but others I had never heard before. Wheat, Teff, Quinoa, Einkorn, Barley, Rye.
The rye bin caught my attention, and I moved closer. Peering in, I could see that the grain was actually very colorful with what looked like little purple flowers.
Wait, I don’t think that’s supposed to be there. I wonder where she gets some of this stuff from.
Thwap. The noise startled me, and I spun around. Debbee stood behind me, hands outstretched. But they weren’t empty. In her right hand she held one of those gleaming knives I’d just seen on her table.
I swallowed and took a step backward. Unfortunately, there was no place to back up to. This scenario felt way too familiar. “Hey, I was looking for you. I knocked at your house, but I couldn’t find you so I came out here to talk.”
To my relief, she walked over to the table and put the knife down.
“Okay,” I said, trying not to sound too relieved. “How about we go outside and, um, we can talk about things?”
Facing me, she reached into her voluminous dress and pulled out a gun, pointing the thing right at me. “I don’t talk to witches,” she said.
Chapter Forty-Five
I had expected our talk to go a little differently. Clearly my purse full of rocks was not going to help. I put my hands out in front of me, as if that would stop a bullet.
“Listen, Debbee, I’m sorry we got off to a bad start.”
“Be quiet,” she said. Her voice was low and soft, sounding only slightly insane, and her hair stood up even more than usual. “I know what you are, and you shall be silenced for your sins. You shall not harm us again, nor will you bring ruin and chaos, as I know is your plan.”
Someone got up on the wrong side of crazy this morning. What the hell is she talking about?
“Debbee, I’m thinking that if we can just talk to each other, you might see we have more in common …”
“I don’t consort with the devil,” she said. “I can see the demon forces at work around you, and I will not succumb to the lure of your siren call.”
Siren call?
“They are here,” she said, looking at an area behind me. “I can see they have begun to gather.”
I flashed back to the moment at Ethel’s house, when everyone was wandering around the place talking like this. They all sounded slightly off, and I thought I knew why.
“Debbee? What’s in these grains?” I gestured to the bins behind me. “Is everything in here safe for human consumption?” I must really like living on the edge. I need to figure out a plan to get out of here, not worry about whether her grains are good or not.
“That is my life’s work to feed the people properly with food not tainted by chemicals.”
“Yeah, I don’t like the chemical thing either,” I said, hoping to show her that I was an ally. The sound of sirens started up in the distance. I wondered if there was some way I could get my cell phone out of my purse and call 911 without Debbee noticing.
“Then why have you not eaten of the pure food? Why do you put impurities in your body, food like pizza?”
“I didn’t know pizza was impure,” I said, trying to play along, hoping that was what she needed to hear.
“When I saw you eating with him, I knew you had him in your sights. You are doing the devil’s work, acting as his whore, and you must be stopped.”
Whoa. Had she been watching me and Oliver? Besides, crazy or not, nobody called me names like that. “Who do you think you are, calling me a whore when you are clearly out of your mind?”
She waved the gun at me. “You need to come with me now so I can do this right.”
I crossed my hands over my chest. “No.” She might be the one with the gun, but I wasn’t going to do what she asked. She’d have to shoot me first. The sound of sirens was growing closer, and I could only hope they were headed our way.
“I can see this isn’t a good time for us to have a talk, so I’m going to leave now,” I said, starting to inch my way to the left. I had no last minute plan, no way of knowing if I could outsmart her. She was clearly a few bulbs short of a chandelier, but I figured I was better off just trying to walk away than trick her. Plus, I’d read somewhere that eighty-seven percent of people survive gunshot wounds. Just don’t think about the other thirteen percent.
As I started to skirt around her, she waved the gun in my face again. “You’re not going anywhere, witch.”
“I need to go home. Really, let’s set up a time when we can have lunch or something and talk about this more.” Maybe if I acted as if nothing was wrong, she’d take the cue and let me go. “How about if you bring some of your food over to my place, and we can sit down and talk about it?”
Her face twisted, and she looked at me with sheer hatred, the force of which made me step back a little. I couldn’t let her get away with this. I wasn’t going to be pushed around by some aging hippie with poor hygiene.
She walked closer to me and raised her gun, pointing at my chest. “You cannot consort with …” I jumped forward, shoving the gun toward the ground.
Crack.
Debbee looked at me for a moment, our eyes connecting before she dropped to the ground.
Chapter Forty-Six
“Werewolves are fine,” I said. “Maybe even a vampire.”
“I think she’s delirious,” Giuseppe whispered to my mother. “She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”
“She’s not delirious, she’s just had a rough time lately,” my mother said, laying her hand on my forehead.
I was in a hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling. After rescuing me, the police had insisted on loading me into an ambulance to get checked out. The sound of beeping machines in other rooms and the bustle of nurses’ activity went on around me.
I cleared my throat. “As I was saying, werewolves and vampires might be fine, but I am not—I repeat, not—having anything to do with ghost hunters again.”
Both my mother and brother were silent, probably knowing better than to say anything. I looked up at the doorway to see Stanley hovering, a weary-looking Oliver behind him.
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“Come in,” I said. “I think it’s safe here.” I wasn’t sure anyplace was safe anymore, but what the heck.
The men came and stood beside me, Stanley taking hold of my hand. “Are you hurt?” he asked, pushing his glasses up.
“The doctor said I’m fine, no injuries. I should be able to go home soon.”
“I know your aunts are waiting for you in the reception area,” Stanley said. “They wouldn’t let everyone in at the same time to see you.”
I half-smiled. “I’m sure they had something to say about that.”
Oliver shook his head while Stanley grinned at me. “I believe Estelle said something nasty in Italian to the lady behind the desk,” Stanley confirmed, “and I’m pretty sure I know what that word means.”
“Never mind what Estelle said,” my mother interjected. “We’re just thankful that woman didn’t kill you.”
“Plus we’re thankful for Claudia,” Oliver said.
“Claudia?” I couldn’t imagine why he had said that.
“Yes, she’s the one who called the police,” Oliver said. “She called 911 right after she spoke with you and told them your life was in danger, and they needed to get out to Debbee’s farm immediately. I believe it took her a few minutes to get them to believe her, but Claudia can be quite persuasive when she needs to be.”
I exchanged a look with my brother. Persuasive was a good word for Claudia. Normally soft-spoken, with more good manners than Emily Post herself, Aunt Claudia was not someone to mess with, especially when someone in her family was in danger.
“I got cupcakes,” my father said, striding into the room.
“Rourke, I don’t know if she can eat cupcakes,” my mother said.
“Lillian, I don’t care. My baby almost got herself killed twice this week. She’s always liked chocolate cupcakes, so I’m giving her chocolate cupcakes.”
I smiled and blinked my tears away. “Thanks, Daddy.”
Madness in Brewster Square Page 21
