“Do you mind if I take a look?” I asked Mrs. Martin.
“No, of course not, if you think it will help. I’ll go get it.” She went back into the hallway and up the stairs.
Amy sighed. “I’m going to go help my team search the woods. This isn’t getting us anywhere.” She went out through the back door.
“I hope her father recovers soon,” Felicity said, pulling aside the blinds and watching Amy leave. “It must be terrible for her.”
“Yeah, maybe we should check in with the Blackwell sisters later and see how the sheriff is doing.” I felt helpless because I couldn’t do anything for the sheriff and also responsible, since it had been in my house that he’d come into contact with Excalibur.
Mrs. Martin came into the kitchen, a sheet of paper in her hand. She placed it on the kitchen table. “That’s it,” she said. “That’s what he was drawing last night.”
I looked at the picture. It was a drawing of Dearmont Lake and the spur of rock where I’d found the cave.
“I think I know where Sammy is,” I said. “Mrs. Martin, come with us and we’ll take you to him.” The three of us went out to the Land Rover and Mrs. Martin climbed into the back seat.
As I backed out onto the road, I said, “I have something to tell you. You’ll probably find it disturbing but I think it’s best that I tell you the truth.”
“Okay,” she said, looking afraid of what I was about to tell her. She steeled herself for bad news. “Go ahead, I can take it.”
I told her about Dr. Campbell and the serum. I left out the details regarding the Midnight Cabal but told her everything that pertained to her husband, including the fact that the serum had transformed him into the shellycoat that had taken Sammy.
When I finished, Mrs. Martin was in tears. “My poor Ryan,” she sobbed. “How could this happen to him? What am I going to tell Sammy?”
“I think he may have already figured it out,” I told her. “He has the second sight, after all, the same as you and your husband. I think that’s why he’s gone back to the place where the shellycoat took him.”
She went quiet after that and I guessed she was taking time to process the information she’d just been told. It was a lot to take in.
We arrived at the closest part of the highway to the rock spur, the place where Mrs. Martin had sped off in her Ford and left Felicity and me in the dust. I parked the Land Rover and we all got out.
I could already see a figure sitting on the rocky outcrop. “There’s Sammy,” I told Mrs. Martin.
“Sammy,” she called, clambering over the rocks to get to her son. Felicity and I followed.
Sammy had dressed himself in long sleeves, gloves, jeans, boots, a scarf that he wore over his face and a pair of sunglasses. A wide-brimmed straw hat sat on his head. “Mom,” he said. “I saw him again last night. He was out in the yard, under my bedroom window. I’m not scared of him anymore. We came down here together and I watched him swimming in the water over there. He’s gone now, though.” I couldn’t see his face but I could hear disappointment in his voice.
I noticed that he was referring to the shellycoat as him now and not it.
Mrs. Martin came over and hugged me. “Thank you, Alec. Sammy and I believed Ryan was dead but you brought him back to us, no matter how changed he is. He’s still my husband and Sammy’s father. You hunted a monster but reunited a family. I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
“There’s no need,” I said.
“Just let us know how you’re doing from time to time,” Felicity said. “Most of our cases don’t have a happy ending so it’s nice to have one that does.”
Mrs. Martin grinned and nodded. “Yes, I’m sure we’ll have a happy ending. I’ll be sure to let you know.”
“Do you want me to drive you and Sammy home?” I asked her.
“No, we’ll stay by the lake a little while longer. Sammy obviously likes it here and it’s good that he’s out in the fresh air, even if he has to be cocooned in all that clothing.”
“I’ll tell the police to call off the search,” I said. “Keep in touch. Bye, Sammy.” I waved at him.
He waved back and said, “Bye, Mr. Harbinger and Miss Felicity.”
We walked back to the Land Rover and I said to Felicity, “I really think this is one case that will turn out okay.”
“I hope so. After the hideous events at Butterfly Heights, it’s nice to have some good news for a change.”
“There’s just one thing missing, though,” I said as I got behind the wheel.
“What’s that?”
“Breakfast. We rushed all the way here from the lake and we haven’t eaten yet.”
“As your assistant, I’m sure I can arrange something. How does Darla’s Diner sound?”
“Like music to my ears.” I started the Land Rover. The engine purred to life.
27
A letter from Mrs. Martin arrived at Harbinger P.I. two days later. Felicity brought the small white envelope into my office and put it on my desk. I opened it and unfolded the two pieces of paper that were inside it. One was a drawing made by Sammy and the other was a handwritten note written by Mrs. Martin.
Dear Alec and Felicity,
I hope you are both well and are taking a well-deserved break after working so hard on The Case of the Shellycoat. You asked me to let you know how Sammy and I are doing so I wrote you this letter. But as you read on, you’ll realize that this is the only letter I will ever send to you.
After learning what happened to Ryan, I took a long hard look at the life Sammy and I lead. We are prisoners in this house with no money, no freedom, and not even any sunlight. For a long time now, we haven’t been living at all but have only been existing.
Sammy understands that the shellycoat is his father. We had a long talk about it but I think he already knew anyway. He dreams things that his young mind might not be able to process otherwise. He dreamed that the shellycoat was Ryan.
Since the day we found Sammy at the lake, we have been going back there a lot, usually at night and visiting Ryan. Sammy said he would rather be a shellycoat than be trapped in a body that can’t go out in the sun. I just want the three of us to be a family again.
So I have taken steps to ensure that both Sammy and I can get our wish. It isn’t often in life that someone can have a wish come true. You provided the means for ours to become reality, even if you don’t realize it yet.
I wish both of you all the best for the future. I will never forget you or what you have done for my family.
Best wishes
Joanna Martin
I handed the letter to Felicity and looked at the drawing Sammy had made. When I saw what he’d drawn, I pushed my chair back and grabbed the Land Rover keys. Outside, I went to the rear of the building where the vehicle was parked and opened it, reaching for the box on the back seat. I opened it as Felicity caught up with me.
Inside the box, there was one syringe. The other two were missing.
“Well, she was sitting in there when you told her about Ryan and the serum,” Felicity said. “She must have formulated her plan then, and ensured she could carry it out at a later date if she wanted to go through with it.”
“She stole them,” I said.
“There’s still one left to send to the Society. At least the other two were put to good use.”
“Don’t tell me you approve of this.”
She shrugged. “As I said before, it’s nice to have a happy ending.” She held up Sammy’s picture. “So, are we going to put this on the office refrigerator?”
I looked at the drawing and let out a resigned sigh. It was like any family portrait a ten-year-old might draw except that instead of showing stick figures representing mom, dad, and the artist, it showed three shellycoats swimming in a lake.
28
Amy skidded to a halt outside the witches’ house and rushed inside. Victoria had called her and told her to get here quick. Amy hadn’t been doing anything other than sitti
ng at her desk worrying about her dad so she’d jumped into her patrol car and put her foot down all the way here.
She was hoping against all hope that the Blackwell sisters were somehow mistaken and that her father was going to wake up exactly the same man he’d been before the ice had frozen him.
“Down here,” Victoria called as Amy burst through the front door of the house.
Amy took the steps two at a time in her hurry to get to the basement. She was anxious to see her dad again but scared of what he might have become.
She entered the room with the runes on the walls and the cot in its center. The ice was totally gone. A shallow puddle of water on the floor was the only evidence it had ever existed at all.
Amy rushed toward the cot but the witches held her back. “We need to stay here,” Victoria said. “At a safe distance.”
The sheriff stirred slightly and then his eyes opened slowly.
“Dad,” Amy said.
He sat up slowly and looked around the room. When he saw the three women, his eyes came to rest on Amy. “Amy,” he said. “How are you?”
His voice wasn’t altered in any way. She’d seen movies about people who were possessed and they always spoke in a sinister, deep growl. But her father was talking just like he always talked.
“Dad, is that you?”
He swung his feet over the edge of the bed and stood up slowly, stretching his back and neck and shoulders. “Sheriff Cantrell is in here,” he said, still talking in his normal voice, “At least a part of him is. But I’ll be using his body for a while.”
Amy felt her heart drop. The witches had been right after all; there was another being inside her father.
“Let him go,” she said. “Let my dad come back to me. All of him. Get out of his body.”
“I can’t do that just yet so you might as well work with me rather than against me. I need the answers to a couple of questions, the most important being where is the sword-wielder?”
“What?”
“Alec Harbinger. Where is he?”
“I have no idea. Probably at his office.”
“My other question is this: has he used Excalibur yet?”
“How should I know?”
He looked from one witch to the other. “Do either of you know?”
“No,” Victoria said.
“Why are you so interested in Alec Harbinger?” Amy asked.
Her dad finished stretching and walked toward the door. “Because he is the sword-wielder and I am the sword’s guardian. I’m here to make sure he doesn’t screw up.”
He began ascending the steps.
“Wait, Dad.”
He stopped and looked down at her from the steps. “As I told you, your father is in here but I am not him. You should probably address me by my own name.”
She was starting to get pissed off with his attitude. “Oh really? And what’s that?”
He smiled thinly. “I have a number of names but you can address by the one you have probably heard before.” He performed a short bow and said, “My name is Merlin.”
COMING SOON!
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