Alex’s face hardened into a frown. “He killed my four favorite people. I’m definitely not on his side.”
“Can you convince him that you are though?” Bodhi asked. “He’s already going to be looking for ways to get back at me and Bailey. If he realizes that you know about the Winchesters, who knows what he’ll do.”
Alex clenched his fists. “He won’t figure it out. What’s the plan? What’s our end goal? You said we had until Saturday, right? What happens between now and then?”
“We’re trying to figure that out,” I answered. “Patrick? Care to comment?”
Patrick drew the fourth and last chair out from under the card table and plopped down. Alex stared at him, still in awe of his best friend’s appearance.
“Here’s what I want,” said Patrick. He drew invisible instructions on the surface of the card table with the tip of his finger. “First, rebury the bodies. Give us a funeral. Caroline and I need that. Second, find the murder weapon. I need it for when we finally confront Ethan. Third, Caroline and I need energy. A lot of it.”
“I thought you said that had major disadvantages,” I reminded Patrick. “How are you going to do that?”
“Draining humans has disadvantages,” clarified Patrick. “We can charge off of other things. Weather, fire, electricity.”
“Shall we just plug you into the car battery?” Bodhi suggested sarcastically.
“That might actually work,” Patrick replied. “But we need humans to conduct that energy. That’s where you guys come in.”
A nervous jolt rocked my stomach. Ethan had been gone for nearly three days recovering from Patrick’s influence. I wasn’t sure if Bodhi and I were healthy enough to act as human energy outlets. “Is it safe?”
“Totally,” said Patrick.
“So assuming we accomplish all of this in the next four days,” Alex cut in. “What exactly is going to happen to Ethan?”
Calmly, Patrick looked Alex in the eye.
“I’m going to kill him.”
Bailey and Bodhi: Flipping Out
Good morning, all! First off, I wanted to thank everyone for your outpouring of support. I have to admit that it took a lot of courage for me to write that letter, and I certainly wasn’t expecting such an enormous amount of positive feedback. I was also touched by your own stories. Many of you expressed that Flipping Out has helped you all through some tough points in your lives. I’m so glad to hear this, and I’m so glad that we’re on the same page now. It will make us stronger going forward.
Anyway, back to the Winchester house! I have posted updated pictures of the deck for you. Click here to check them out. The backyard is gorgeous. The view off the edge of the deck is breathtaking. Please ignore the weeds in the background. I have to admit we haven’t managed to trim the garden yet. With any luck, we’ll tackle that jungle today. With the kitchen, dining area, and living room finished, we’re moving on to the rest of the first floor. Thankfully, the hardest part is over. No more tearing down walls or hardcore renovation. We’re keeping the floor plan the same for the back half of the house and just updating whatever needs updating.
As for Bodhi and I, we’re working through some personal things. This entire week is going to be one big ball of stress for reasons that I would prefer to keep to myself for now. There’s a big event on Saturday that everything is riding on. If it goes well, it could mean a huge change for not only me and Bodhi but everyone in Black Bay. However, if it goes poorly… I don’t even want to think about it.
Keep you posted!
Bailey
No matter how I tried to occupy my mind on Wednesday, nothing worked to expel the strain and pressure I felt. According to Patrick, Ethan should have fully recovered by now. I was awake the entire night. I kept expecting Ethan to show up and attempt to finish what he started, but morning arrived calm and untouched. Bodhi and I got to work with the crew, preparing the rest of the rooms on the first floor so that we could repaint and install new flooring. For an hour or two, I primed the walls of the massive hall that the Winchesters had used for their extravagant parties, but the fumes were giving me a headache and the filter mask was making it hard to breathe. After wheezing through it for a while longer, I left the last wall for the crew to finish and went outside in search of fresh air. In the backyard, as I gazed out at the overgrown garden, I was overcome with sudden determination. I dug out the Winchesters’ old lawnmower and got to work.
Despite the challenge of taming the garden, I couldn’t stop thinking about Patrick’s declaration from the night before. It had unsettled all of us. Alex looked the most alarmed. I don’t think he expected to hear those words pop out of his dead seventeen-year-old best friend. In hindsight, I think I already knew what Patrick’s plan was from the very start. It made sense. Ethan killed Patrick, so Patrick had to kill Ethan to balance it all out. That was the reason Patrick needed the murder weapon too. There was a greater chance of success if Patrick mimicked Ethan’s homicide. To me, it didn’t make any sense. To find peace, Patrick and Caroline had to create more violence?
It didn’t matter. We had already promised to help Patrick and Caroline however possible. Not to mention, it wasn’t like Ethan didn’t deserve it. Even so, I hoped Bodhi and I didn’t have to stick around for the reckoning. Of course, with our time running out, it was looking more and more like we were going to fail our mission anyway. What would we do if Saturday came and went? What if Ethan never showed? Without him, Patrick and Caroline would never move on. Would they blame their eternal misery on me and Bodhi?
Though Bodhi disguised his stress better than I did, there was no doubt that he too was feeling the effects of last night’s meeting. He barked curt instructions at the construction crew all day long. The guys took it in stride. At this point, they knew Bodhi well enough to understand that he didn’t mean it personally. To make up for his behavior, Bodhi let the crew go home early. We finished the day’s work alone, pruning and painting in silence. I made little headway on the garden. The rest of it would have to wait until I found a hedge trimmer.
In the evening, we arranged a meeting with Alex at the Sanctuary. Apparently, he had taken his assignment to heart. He left Lido’s Restaurant in the capable hands of his wife for the day and took the opportunity to refresh his knowledge of the Winchester boat crash and everything that followed. He wanted to update us on what he’d found out, and we needed a place to talk where Patrick and Caroline wouldn’t overhear. Just in case.
At first, the Sanctuary felt like a bad idea. Who plotted revenge murder in a busy café? But when Bodhi and I arrived, I remembered how loud Ava’s place was in the evenings. We snagged a small table in the corner of the room to wait for Alex. It was set slightly away from everyone else, so it afforded us some privacy. The chatter morphed into a dull hum. It was impossible to eavesdrop on anyone when the conversations overlapped and all of the language sounded foreign.
The bell over the door jangled, just noticeable over the buzz of the cafe. As Alex ducked under the doorway and looked around for us, I waved a hand to get his attention. He waved back, flagged down Ava for a drink, then wove through the crowded tables to join us.
“Here’s what I found out,” he said without preamble, shaking off his light jacket and hanging it on the back of the empty chair at our table. The chair legs screeched against the floor as he drew it out and sat down. “I went to the church today and spoke with the pastor. He’s been there forever. I’m surprised he hasn’t met God yet. Anyway, I went to Pat and Caroline’s graves and got him talking. They’re definitely empty, and no one’s touched the Winchesters’ graves since they were buried.”
“Hang on,” Bodhi said, casually draping an arm across my shoulders and pulling me closer. “You thought Ethan would’ve dared to bury Pat and Caroline in their own graves?”
Alex shrugged. “Hidden in plain sight, right? It didn’t hurt to check. Anyway, here’s the next thing I found out. Pat’s dad had one brother. He was the one who took care of every
thing when the Winchesters died. He was a good guy. I met him a couple times. He left most of Christopher’s money to the town so that we could continue to rebuild. Anyway, I called him up and pretended to be a reporter for the Black Bay Banner. Apparently, he considered moving into the Winchester house to help out Black Bay for a while.”
“So did he?” I asked.
Alex shook his head. “Nope. He had the house inspected and found out that the concrete foundation in the basement was soft, as though it had taken water damage, but that house was practically brand new. There was no way that foundation would have deteriorated so quickly.”
This information jogged my memory. “Caroline was always more active in the basement,” I said. “Like it was easier for her to manipulate things down there. And there’s that patch of concrete that’s lighter than the rest, as though it was laid down later.”
“So what?” Bodhi stirred a packet of sugar into his cup of decaf. “Ethan kills the kids, buries them beneath the house, and pours fresh cement all in one night? Kind of a stretch, isn’t it?”
“It’s possible,” Alex said. His leg jiggled up and down beneath the table. “Who knows what you can accomplish on a rush of adrenaline like that.”
“And it’s our only lead,” I added.
“Maybe,” said Bodhi. “But I’m going to need more proof before we go jackhammering the basement floor.”
The doorbell jingled again. We ignored it at first—everyone hung out at the Sanctuary in the evenings—but when the customers by the door cheered merrily for whoever entered, Alex, Bodhi, and I looked up for the source of the commotion.
Ethan Powell had returned, healthy and happy.
30
The Return
The fact that Ethan had the audacity to waltz into the Sanctuary and wave and bow and accept the cafe’s cheers at his safe return bothered me more than anything else. My blood boiled, and my face burned at the sight of him. His kind smile looked sick to me now, and it was downright disturbing that a murderer had hid behind it for so many years. Ethan had convinced the entire town of Black Bay that he was its savior. I blanched each time someone clapped Ethan on the back, or shook his hand, or told him how glad they were that he was all right. Even Ava came out from behind the counter to give Ethan a big, welcoming hug. If the locals knew the truth, Ethan wouldn’t last another day. Couldn’t we all just team up and get rid of him?
Ethan waved his big hands, asking the crowd to settle down. “All right,” he said gruffly. “I’m glad to be back too. What does a man have to do for a coffee around here?”
Ava scurried back to her place behind the counter to oblige. As she bustled around, the rest of the crowd mumbled to one another. Finally, someone asked, “What happened, Ethan? Where have you been since the festival? Are you all right?”
“Good question,” Bodhi muttered to me under his breath.
“I’m just fine!” Ethan boomed as he accepted a steaming mug from Ava. He sat down with a few locals at a table by the door. “Had to take care of a little family emergency out of town.”
“What family emergency?” Alex whispered to us. “His parents died years ago, and as far as I know, Ethan doesn’t have any other family.”
“We already know he wasn’t taking care of family,” I whispered back. “Let him ramble. Maybe he’ll dig himself a nice little hole. Then all we would have to do is push him in.”
“Oh no. Is everyone okay?” another random local asked.
Ethan waved one massive hand in dismissal of this question. “Everyone’s fine! It gave me a scare, that’s all. You know me! Otherwise, I would’ve never left the summer festival so early! How were the fireworks without me, kiddos?”
The café dissolved into conversation again, filling Ethan in on the happenings of the last few days. It was so surreal. The last time I’d seen Ethan, he was trying to choke me to death on the edge of the bluff. Now he appeared no more threatening that an overstuffed teddy bear, tickling babies and wiping frothed milk from his beard. No wonder he had gone so long without being discovered. His benevolent mask was well-crafted.
Bodhi unfurled my clenched fingers. “Are you okay, Bailey?”
“No,” I snarled, unable to rip my eyes away from Ethan’s innocent act. “I want him to bite it. I hate him.”
“Easy,” Bodhi warned. He turned my chin so that I would look at him. “Believe me, I want to see Ethan go down too, but we have to bide our time. Think of Caroline and Patrick.”
“He’s looking this way,” Alex cut in.
My gaze snapped back to Ethan. Sure enough, he was staring straight at us. At first, I stayed frozen, locked in a staring contest with him. Then I smiled and waved as if I had been just as worried about Ethan as the rest of the town. If my reaction put him off, Ethan didn’t show it. He returned a smile of his own, lifting his coffee mug in mock salute. Then he got up from his table and headed our way. My stomach plummeted.
“What now?” Bodhi asked in a strained voice.
Alex bumped my knee under the table. “Follow my lead and don’t say anything stupid.”
“No promises,” I muttered back.
Alex stood up before Ethan reached the table, shaking the other man’s hand with gusto. “Ethan! Welcome back. We were worried about you, sir.”
“It’s good to be back, Alex,” said Ethan. He spread his arms wide as he approached our table as if welcoming us to his turf. “There they are! Nasty bruise you got there, Bodhi. How’d that happen? Did you have another accident at the house?”
Bodhi glared at him, his lips pressed together in a thin, tight line. “Yup. Accident. That’s it.”
“I keep telling you to be careful,” Ethan replied with a wink. He found an unoccupied chair, turned it around, and straddled it. His attention shifted to me. “Great to see you, Bailey. How’ve you been?”
Were if not for the fact that Ethan’s giant face had been looming over mine just a few days ago as he attempted to kill me, I never would’ve taken him for a murderer. Even now, he spoke calmly and kindly. It was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Did Ethan have two personalities? Or did he just hide his true intentions that well?
To make matters more interesting, Ethan didn’t look as though he’d spent the last three days recovering from having his life source sucked out of him by a ghost. However, his left arm was secured in a sling, and the skin on his forearm was scabbed over. In addition, four long scratches marred his cheek from where I’d dug my nails into his face. It was satisfying to know he hadn’t escaped our scuffle on the rocks completely unscathed.
“I’m great,” I told him, flashing him the biggest smile I could muster. “Better than ever actually.”
“Glad to hear it,” Ethan said. “How’s that ankle?”
“It itches,” I answered truthfully as I brandished the walking boot in his direction, burying the desire to kick Ethan squarely between the legs. “What happened to your arm?”
Ethan tucked his injury closer to his chest. “Ah, you know kids. My nephew left his skateboard out. I tripped over it.”
“Aren’t you an only child?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, this is my cousin’s kid,” Ethan corrected without hesitation. “We were close cousins, so I’m basically the kid’s uncle.”
Bodhi made a scoffing sound but then quickly covered it by faking a coughing fit. Ethan thumped him on the back.
“You all right, Bodhi?” he asked as Bodhi sputtered into his coffee. “Don’t sip too fast now.”
“I’m fine,” Bodhi said.
Ethan took a long gulp from his mug, sighed, and wiped his beard with one of my napkins. “I feel like I’ve missed so much. How’s the house coming along? I’d love to come up and see it.”
“It looks great,” Alex chipped in, saving me and Bodhi from having to make such casual conversation. “I was really impressed. I can’t wait until it’s finished.”
“When did you have time to make it up there, Alex?” Ethan asked. “Aren’t you a bit busy with
the restaurant?”
Alex shrugged, reclining in his chair. “It’s slow during the day. I got time.”
“Uh-huh. I’m just a bit surprised. You never went up to the Winchester house before. I thought you said it gave you the heebie-jeebies.”
Alex never broke eye contact with Ethan. “I guess all this talk of Patrick and Caroline made me nostalgic. And you know what?”
Ethan rested his good elbow on the small round table, far too close to me for comfort. “What’s that?”
“I think it really helped me out,” Alex said earnestly. “I was never able to visit that house before. Every single time I looked up at that bluff, I was reminded of everything I lost. A set of parents that cared about me more than my own, my best friend, and—”
“Your future wife,” Ethan finished.
Alex looked taken aback. “What do you mean?”
“Oh, come on, Alex,” Ethan said with a chuckle. “Everyone in town knows you would’ve eventually married Caroline. Talk about a power couple. I remember when there was a line out the door waiting for you, Alex, and the only girl you ever wanted was Caroline.”
Alex turned a darker shade of red the longer Ethan spoke. The nervous jiggling of his leg had stopped, but his hands had formed fists so tight that his skin was stretched white over his knuckles.
“Of course, your current wife is no slouch either,” Ethan added as an afterthought.
Alex now looked as though his head might pop clean off his body, but Ethan rambled on, either unaware of Alex’s discomfort or intentionally poking the bear with a stick. I assumed it was the latter.
“She’s an out-of-towner, right?” Ethan asked, as if he didn’t already know. Everyone in Black Bay knew about everyone else. “Did you tell her about Caroline?”
“There was nothing to tell.”
“Could have fooled me,” Ethan replied with a wink. Across the cafe, someone called Ethan’s name. He looked over his shoulder, waved, and then stood up from our table. “I have to make the rounds. Enjoy your evening.”
The Haunting of Winchester Mansion Omnibus Page 33
