Scry Me A River: Suspense with a Dash of Humor (Blood Visions Paranormal Mysteries Book 2)

by Donna White Glaser

  "Nobody loves crying," Belinda said.

  "Sure they do. You should know that better than anyone. You made your living off other people's misery. As far as I can tell, there are some folks who set their lives up to be awful on purpose. Gives them a reason to be bitter and nasty."

  A long pause ensued, with people obviously considering the fact of Alan's own bitter and occasionally nasty personality.

  "Viv isn't trying to be miserable," Merilee finally said. "She's a wet mess. She's grieving."

  "For what?" Alan asked. "Bernie broke up with her weeks ago. So what if he died? It's not like he was ever going to take her back once she started running out of money, and she knew it."

  "So, maybe she's fragile over that," Belinda said, an edge of irritation cutting through her usual melodious tone.

  "There's not a fragile bone in that woman's body. She's built like a linebacker. And she's an idiot if she ever believed Bernie would stay with her." Alan lurched to his feet, which took several moments because his arthritis was acting up. He snatched his cane off the back of the chair. "And if all of you ladies felt so bad about poor little Vivian, maybe you shouldn't have been humping her boyfriend behind her back."

  Merilee and Kathy gasped, identifying two of the Bernie-humpers in question. Phyllis's lips thinned, and she turned to stare out the window. Larry made as if to pat her hand but withdrew his own before completing the gesture.

  Another long pause hung in the air as Alan stomped off. Arie checked to see if Connor was listening, but he'd disappeared.

  "Sounds like this Bernie fella was a busy guy," Grumpa said.

  "He liked to have fun," Merilee said in a tight voice. "That's all it was. Besides, he put an end to it with me a couple months ago."

  "Me, too. But it was never just fun for Viv." Kathy sighed. "Alan's right about that."

  "You mean 'Cleopatra'?" At the look her friend gave her, Merilee continued. "You know—the Queen of Denial. She knew what Bernie was. We all did. She just didn't want to admit it, not even to herself. Everyone knew—"

  "Well, how the heck could she miss it?" Grumpa broke in. He seemed to have a knack for that kind of thing. "This place is like livin' in a fishbowl. Everybody seems to know everybody's business here. There's no privacy at all."

  From her visions, Arie already knew that Bernie had somehow sneaked himself and his women into the rec center for their rendezvous. How he'd done it was still a mystery, but if his feud with Carly went as deep as Cindy suggested, then he took special pleasure in using Carly's office.

  Arie noticed Cindy walking back into the social hall. Connor wasn't with her, though. Arie assumed he was still speaking with Jane Clarkson. It has to be about the Reynolds case, doesn't it? That meant he had listened to her...

  Ruth and Karen had returned as well. Karen was bringing her elderly charge a cup of yogurt since she'd missed the snack. Cindy started calling people up for their meds. When Arie turned back to the group, she discovered that Belinda was studying her and she'd missed a portion of the conversation.

  "So, the staff don't mind if you leave at night?" Grumpa was saying.

  Kathy and Merilee shot each other mirthful, conspiratorial glances. Larry snorted, but not in humor.

  "Well, they would if they knew," Kathy said.

  "'If you want something," Merilee's gravelly voice dropped another notch, "you figure out how to get it, and you take it. That's what Bernie used to say. So when he wanted privacy, he figured out how to get it for us."

  "He didn't do it for you. He did it for himself. And he vandalized his window." Larry sneered. "What's so heroic about that?"

  "Oh, Larry. Don't be such a prig," Merilee said. "He didn't vandalize anything. He simply disconnected the alarm on it."

  "And he jimmied the library window one, too," Kathy whispered. "We'd slip over here and have our date night with a little privacy."

  "They treat us like children," Merilee said with a sniff.

  "So then you act like children," Larry said. "Way to prove them right."

  Merilee's face soured, but Kathy just giggled. "More like teenagers sneaking out at night. It was fun. A little hard on the hips, though."

  Merilee barked a laugh.

  Kathy flushed. "I meant climbing through the windows!"

  "Sure you did," Phyllis said.

  Grumpa cleared his throat. "Sounds like a lot of bother. Isn't there some way of getting over to this wing without all the acrobatics?"

  "What's the fun in that?" Merilee said.

  "Besides, the door between the two wings locks from the nursing-home side," Kathy said. "Bernie tried stealing the key because he didn't much like climbing in and out, either, but hey... You do what you gotta do."

  "You can say that again!" Merilee said with a laugh.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  When Arie and Grumpa reached the parking lot, she glanced around, expecting to see Connor waiting for her. He wasn't there, but when she turned the corner on their street, she saw a gray four-door sedan parked in their driveway. Her palms slicked with sweat.

  As she pulled in, she spotted Connor leaning his hip against the front fender, a pair of sunglasses hiding his gorgeous delft-blue eyes. His arms were crossed, his expression inscrutable.

  Damn, he looks good.

  "Uh-oh," Grumpa said. "You're in trouble now."

  "So are you, old man."

  "Nope. I'm just a confused, dependent old guy. Can't blame me for any of this."

  The Caddy rolled to a stop. Grumpa jumped out and made tracks for the house.

  "Coward!" Arie yelled at his rapidly retreating skinny butt.

  Connor's lips twitched, but without being able to see his eyes, Arie wasn't confident about interpreting his mood. Like Belinda, she recognized “cop mode” when she saw it.

  "Hi," Arie said as she approached.

  Connor sighed. "Do you want to tell me what the two of you think you're doing?"

  "Uh, well. Grumpa needs an appropriate social outlet." Arie shifted from foot to foot. "So, uh..."

  "So you decided it would be smart to take him to the place where you, yourself, suspect a man was recently murdered."

  "You've met Grumpa, right? There didn't seem to be a downside." Arie chuckled. Her reflection in Connor's mirrored glasses chuckled with her.

  Connor didn't.

  Instead, he pulled the glasses off and stuck them in his shirt pocket then rubbed his forehead as if staving off a headache. He tended to do that a lot, Arie had noticed. She hoped that gesture wasn't unique to his interactions with her, but she suspected it was. No wonder he hadn't called.

  "Listen," she said. "I'm glad you're looking into it. I didn't think you were going to."

  "It was an unattended death. It would have been investigated no matter what."

  "Oh. So it's not that you believe me. It's because—"

  "Believing you isn't the issue. Look, I saw what happened with Marissa Mason, okay? That's why I asked for this case. Like I said, an unattended is going to require an autopsy regardless, but this way..." He shrugged, but his eyes met hers.

  Arie blushed and smiled. He did believe her.

  Connor held his index finger up to her face. "Arie, this isn't some weird dating ritual we're doing. You and 'Grandpa Joe' in there aren't visiting some fantastic candy factory. What you're doing is dangerous. And more importantly, I can't have you getting in the way of a police investigation."

  Arie tried willing her blush away, which accomplished precisely nothing. She cleared her throat and said, "We're not in the way. We're just there so Grumpa can make birdhouses and eat healthy snacks."

  Connor's lips thinned. "Look, I'm trying to help here. You could at least do me the courtesy of not treating me like an idiot. You two are in there playing Nancy Drew and Ned What's-His-Face. You're in it up to your eyeballs. And I want you out. I can't risk losing my focus because I'm worried about you going up against some psycho geezer killer."

  Arie stayed silent. Making the deci
sion to get involved had chased the majority of the Bernie visions away. Heck, even staring into Connor's mirrored sunglasses had only revealed her own image. If she distanced herself from the case, she was certain the visions would flood back, taking over her life—her mind. If not for those visions and the distraction they caused, Sheila Becket would still be alive. Arie knew it.

  "Arie—"

  Unable to bear the discouragement in his voice, she broke in. "You don't understand. It's not that easy."

  "It is that easy. It's exactly that easy."

  "I'll... try."

  Connor threw his hands in the air as if beseeching the heavens. "That's not good enough. I'm sorry, but it's just not. You and Harlan have to stop going to River Rest until this case is settled. You need to stop poking your nose into this hornet's nest, and you need to—"

  "I said I'll try. I will. But, see, sometimes the visions won't let me. They won't stop, and if I don't... I don't know... do something, then I get the most horrendous headaches. They're really distracting. If I don't—"

  "Then take some ibuprofen," Connor snapped. "Look, I can't stop you from going to the center, but I'm asking you to. Please." His eyes captured hers, and every cell in her body clamored to say yes. To anything.

  She couldn't answer. After several long moments of silence, his gaze dropped away. Pulling his glasses back out, he slid them on and took a step away from the car… and from Arie.

  Nearly broke her heart.

  "All right," he said. "Looks like we're at an impasse here."

  "Connor—"

  He pulled the car door open and slid in. "I'll be in touch."

  Arie stepped back and watched as he backed out of the driveway then took off with a slight chirp of the tires. Pulling her cell phone from her purse, she thumbed Chandra a text. Just saw Connor.

  The response was immediate. Well????

  Ice cream. NOW.

  Whelan's. After work. Hang on.

  The next day, Arie and Grumpa got to the center just after the midmorning snack, pumpkin apple muffins made with avocado replacing the butter. Seeing them made Arie almost regret the turtle sundae she'd consumed the night before. Almost.

  As soon as they sat down, Arie's cell phone rang. She checked the number: Guts. Hoping for a job, she took the call outside.

  A domestic situation mixed with a late-night party had produced a shooting. A sixty-year-old man had waited until his cantankerous wife of thirty-plus years had fallen asleep before removing a shotgun from the closet and settling their latest argument once and for all. Guts estimated the job would take half a day. The grown children weren't interested in saving any of the bedroom furniture or other items—a quick strip-and-clean, as Guts called it. Arie noted the address and told her boss she would meet Grady at the site.

  She felt more than a little relief. If Connor were to stop back into the center, at least he wouldn't see her there.

  When she got back to the table, Grumpa was settled in, putting the finishing touches on his birdhouse. He'd done an amazing job—Viv, Merilee, and Kathy were oohing and aahing over his design. In addition to the lilac blossom, Grumpa had added other flowers and several delicate butterflies. As Arie approached, Viv was trying to talk Grumpa into adding a robin to the side.

  "Yeah, I don't think so," Grumpa said. "If I put anything more on, it'll be lopsided. Maybe on the next one, though."

  Viv brightened, folding her hands under her chin. "Really? I just love robins. I'd love to see your work." She giggled then smoothed a lock of her hair back. "I could let you borrow one of my bird books to give you a picture to work from."

  "Grumpa? I'm sorry, but we're going to have to take off. I got called in."

  "No way, Jose. I've got plans. Al, here, is gonna sneak me into the therapy pool. He says no one will ever know. They got a sauna, too."

  Arie's eyes darted between Grumpa and Alan. She didn't mind her grandfather having a... play date, but she wondered if he understood Alan's interest might be something more than platonic. He had to know Alan was gay, didn't he?

  "Uh, Grumpa, could I talk to you for a minute? In private?"

  "For Pete's sake, would you stop fussing? You silly women can never make up your minds. First, you want me to get socialized, and now you want me to go home by myself. Well, I'm staying here. Al's got a spare set of trunks, and it's all set."

  It was the word "silly" that did it—that and "Al" sniggering at Arie's set down.

  "Fine. Whatever. I'll be back at lunch to take you home, so be ready." She spun on her heel and made for the door before Grumpa could say another word.

  Honestly...

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Grady didn't mind that Arie had to run Grumpa home at lunch. It gave him time to run a few errands of his own.

  Arie found her grandfather sitting in one of the armchairs by the window. Board games—Scrabble, Yahtzee, and several others Arie recognized from childhood—were spread out around the tables. The center members were gathered around them in groups of three and four. As Arie took in the scene, she noted the not-so-secretly amused looks that Viv, Kathy, and Merilee were aiming at Grumpa. Belinda, on the other hand, looked concerned. Grumpa remained perfectly motionless, his gaze frozen in front of him and a bright-pink piece of paper clutched in his hand.

  Alan was likewise sitting by himself several feet away, pretending to read a magazine. Every other page flip, he shot a glance at Grumpa's rigid face. If Grumpa was aware of his scrutiny, he didn't react.

  "Are you ready?" Arie called from the foyer.

  Grumpa stood stiffly and began making his way to her. As he neared Alan's chair, Alan rose and brushed past Grumpa in the narrow space between two tables. He blew Grumpa an exaggerated kiss as he passed. Grumpa grimaced and lurched forward, his foot catching on Alan's cane. Both men stumbled, but Grumpa caught himself by grabbing the table's edge. Alan, not so lucky, fell between Viv’s and Larry's chairs, banging his forehead. People shrieked in surprise and concern.

  Arie was there in a moment, Carly a close second. Alan was struggling to rise, heedless of Carly's admonishments to stay still. Blood dripped from a tiny cut over his eyebrow. As Arie helped him up, a splot landed on Arie's tennis shoe. It shimmered...

  Flash.

  A large tiled room filled wall-to-wall with pale-green lockers. Shouts and laughter of young boys' voices ring in my ears. Steam pours from the communal shower. Next to me, Ben strips his white underwear off and kicks them in the general vicinity of his open locker. His butt looks like two bobbing softballs as he walks to the shower.

  "C'mon, Al!" he calls over his shoulder. "Get the lead out."

  I don't want to go. What if... What if it happens again? I hid it last time, but it's so gosh-darn random. And if they see me get a woody, they'll know. They'll all know.

  Flash.

  Bernie putting his arm around Viv and giving her butt a pinch. She squeals and slaps his hand, but he's not paying any attention to her. He's staring at me. He's... he's laughing at me.

  That bastard. He knows it's killing me even if he doesn't really understand why. He's clever, but he doesn't have enough imagination to really get it, to understand the loneliness. All my life, alone—except for brief moments, too few and never long enough to finally feel real. Moments when I could be me, just me. When I could love and savor the passion of another man. The sweetness of being with someone who wants me as much as I want him. The relief of not hiding.

  No, the bastard doesn't really understand, but he senses enough to rub my face in his conquests. He thinks it's just the sex. But it's not. Not really. It's his... his freedom to simply be himself, his real self with no guards or walls or fences to hide behind.

  The bastard—

  Someone tugged at Arie's shoulder, and she stood up, backing out of the way as Cindy guided Alan to the staff break room. Carly was standing to the side, lip curled and arms crossed.

  "My dear, are you all right?"

  Arie turned to find Belinda staring in
to her face with concern. She was the one who had pulled Arie out of the way. Her hand still rested on Arie's shoulder, her eyes darting back and forth, peering into Arie's.

  "I'm fine," Arie said, her voice thin and reedy.

  "You're clearly not fine. Come sit down." The older woman spoke with a resurrected tone of authority. She guided Arie to the armchair previously occupied by Grumpa. "Larry, please get me a glass of water."

  "I'm fine," Arie said. "Really. I just... I was just startled."

  "Do you have a history of epilepsy, dear?"

  "Epilepsy? No, of course not."

  "Well, I don't think there's any 'of course' about it," Belinda replied. "Something just happened here. Something more than simply being startled. It looked to me like a seizure of some kind."

  "Are you a doctor? I mean, were you?"

  Belinda smiled. "Not quite. I was a psychologist."

  Well, that explained a lot. Belinda was so focused on Arie it made her nervous. Luckily, loud voices diverted her attention.

  Kathy and Merilee, both with hands on hips, bookended Carly. The activity director was flushed with anger, lips pinched tight.

  "I don't have to explain myself to you," Carly said. "Besides, I'm not here as a nurse. It's not my job."

  "Well, so what?" Kathy said. "You still are one. Are you afraid of a little blood?"

  "She's not afraid of a little blood," Merilee said. "She's afraid of Alan's blood even though we've all been tested out the wazoo for everything under the sun. It's not like he's got the AIDS, and you know it."

  "You act like you're such a great Christian," Kathy spat, "but a real Christian is about love and... and respect!" She turned and stalked away.

  Merilee followed, shaking her head and continuing to glare at Carly.

  "Here's your water," Belinda said quietly.

  Larry hustled over, carrying a plastic glass of water. Most of it had sloshed out in his hurry. Arie accepted it and took a sip. Over the rim, she caught Grumpa's eye as he stood a few feet away.

  Her heart almost broke. He was standing alone, his face contorted with remorse and his hands clasped in front of his chest. Arie pulled herself together and went to him.