Ninth Grave

by Kathi Daley

  “I understand that you are planning a trip to Europe,” I said when no one spoke after the waiter left.

  Antonio nodded. “My desire is to take Raquel to visit my homeland. Of course, she wants to do some shopping while we are overseas, so we plan to make a grand tour of it and visit Athens, Milan, and Paris as well. Have you visited Greece?”

  I said that I hadn’t but had always wanted to. Antonio spent the next twenty minutes describing the beauty of his country, while Jack and his mother glared at each other. In my opinion, Antonio was a perfectly lovely man. He was educated and sophisticated and his manners were impeccable. Of course, a thirty-four-year age difference was something to consider despite the fact that Antonio was a very mature twenty-eight and Raquel was a very young sixty-two.

  The food was excellent but the atmosphere tense, so I was happy when Raquel mentioned that she and Antonio had tickets for a late show and would be unable to stay for dessert. Jack hadn’t been rude, and while I’d half expected him to start a fight with the man who could very well be his new stepdaddy, he hadn’t. But he hadn’t been warm or friendly either. Thankfully, Antonio ignored the cold shoulder he’d received and had made the best of a very awkward situation.

  “Antonio seemed nice,” I said after we’d left the restaurant and were walking back to the hotel.

  Jack just grunted.

  “And he is very intelligent. I know he is quite a bit younger than your mother, but Antonio is very sophisticated and your mother is extremely beautiful and young at heart. When you view them as a couple, the age difference doesn’t really jump out at you.”

  “The man is practically young enough to be my son.”

  “Yes, I supposed he is. At least biologically.”

  “That kid is using my mother to stay in the country once his student visa runs out.”

  I supposed that was possible, but I sort of doubted it. If anything, it was more likely that Raquel was using him as a means of recapturing her youth at an age when one began to think about such things. “I understand that the situation is awkward for you, but it seems to me that your mother is going to do what she is going to do whether you like it or not, so maybe you should give the guy a chance. It could definitely be worse. I was picturing worse when you first told me that your mother was dating a man in his twenties. Antonio is really great. Plus, he comes from a wealthy family and he himself seems to have done well, so at least he’s not a gold digger, which was what I was expecting.”

  Jack didn’t answer, but I did notice that his pace quickened quite a bit. When we arrived back at the hotel and he announced that he was taking Kizzy out for a walk, I let him go alone rather than offering to accompany him. I’d known Jack long enough to realize that he’d come around once he’d been given enough time to think about it.

  Chapter 15

  Monday, May 13

  By the next morning Jack seemed to have recovered from last night’s dinner and was fully focused on the mystery we’d spent the past week unearthing. Rick had been unable to find any missing persons cases from June 2014 filed anywhere near Potter’s Bay, so we were operating under the assumption that Sam wanted us to look into the auto accident. Rick had verified that all three of the accident victims were buried in Potter’s Bay, so it wasn’t as if there were any undiscovered gravesites to find.

  “How do you think we should approach this?” I asked as we drove toward our destination.

  “I’m not sure. Our guess that one of the girls who was killed in the accident could have been related to Sam and that the loss of his or her daughter set off the killing spree doesn’t seem to be holding up. Julianna Upton was a popular student who lived with her parents and the three siblings. She was accepted to Minnesota State and was planning to spend the summer abroad before she started school. Her parents own a local realty office and are fairly well off. Rick spoke to the police officer who investigated the accident and reported that while they were obviously devastated, they didn’t seem the sort to go off the deep end. Not that not seeming crazy necessarily means that you aren’t crazy, but after speaking to the officer in charge of the investigation, Rick didn’t seem to think either of Julianna’s parents was our killer. He did add that while Julianna had been popular among other popular students, she’d had a bit of an attitude and had been reprimanded several times for bullying other students.

  “And the others?” I asked.

  “Brittany Boxer was also considered one of the A crowd. She wasn’t the best student and wasn’t planning to attend college. She lived with her mother in Potter’s Bay and planned to work at the local marina over the summer. Brittany’s father passed away when she was six and she was an only child, so it was just Brittany and her mother.”

  I placed my hand on my chest. “That poor woman. I can’t imagine losing my only child after having lost my husband.”

  “Rick found out that Brittany’s mother moved to California after her daughter died to be closer to her sister. All the girls Sam has led us to so far have been found within a couple-hundred-mile radius of Potter’s Bay, so I doubt that she is our killer.”

  “What about the third girl?”

  Jack changed lanes to pass a slow-moving vehicle before he answered. “Tiffany Caldwell graduated with honors. She was accepted to Boston University and was set to start in the fall. Rick mentioned that her aunt, an alumna of BU, was going to pay her tuition, which was the only reason she was able to afford to go to college. She planned to spend the summer working at the general store owned by her parents to save up some of the money she’d need for living expenses. Again, it was not the opinion of the investigating officer that Tiffany’s parents had gone off the deep end after her death.”

  I leaned back in my seat and blew out a breath. I was sure there was something to find in Potter’s Bay, but what we were being sent to find was not at all apparent. “So what do you think? Do we begin by talking to other teens who had been at the graduation party to see if there was anything odd going on that night? Do we start by trying to speak with the parents of the three victims? Do we talk to their teachers and other high school employees?” I closed my eyes and tried to sort things out in my mind. “I’m drawing a blank.”

  “I asked Rick if he thought we should speak to the officer who investigated the accident personally and he informed me that the man works for the Baltimore Police Department now. Rick did say that after reviewing the accident report, there was one teen he recommended we speak to, a young woman who was at the party and was the one to call in the accident. When asked what had occurred, she said she happened to be driving by and saw headlights in the ditch. She pulled over and called 911. When she was asked why she happened to be driving on that particular stretch of deserted highway all alone in the middle of the night, she said she’d needed to clear her head and had been out for a drive.”

  “Okay, that seems somewhat suspicious. Did Rick have her name and contact information?”

  “He texted it to me. I thought we’d check into a motel and then try to get in touch with the woman, whose name is Virginia, after that. If nothing else, she went to the same high school as the girls who died and might know if there was more to the accident than it might seem.”

  In Potter’s Bay, we found a dog-friendly motel and checked in. Jack called the number Rick had given him for Virginia Jensen, who agreed to meet with us during her lunch hour. She suggested a diner not far from our motel and we arranged to meet her at noon. We had an hour before we had to leave to meet Virginia, so Jack and I took Kizzy for a walk along the beach.

  “This is such a quaint little town,” I said after we had walked for a while. “I bet the death of three teenagers hit the community hard.”

  “I’m sure it did. My experience with small towns such as this one is that everyone pretty much knows everyone else in one way or another.”

  I smiled at Kizzy, who was loving the waves that rolled onto the beach. They were tiny compared to the ones at home, but I could tell that she was
enjoying chasing them nonetheless. While I usually enjoyed a good mystery as much as anyone, I was finding this one to be both draining and depressing. I really hoped that Sam would give us what we needed to find the four remaining victims and wrap things up by the end of the week.

  “Have you spoken to Clara in the past couple of days?” Jack asked.

  I nodded. “I’ve talked to her every day. She is continuing to have the dreams. They are all the same in that she is locked in a space where she has a limited view of the world outside and is unable to communicate with anyone. Eventually, everyone she can see leaves and the darkness comes in. It wraps itself around her until she can’t breathe and she dies. The place from which she experiences this is slightly different each time. Last night, she was locked in an air-conditioning vent, looking out from a grate in the ceiling but unable to communicate with anyone she can see below her.”

  “It sounds terrifying.”

  “I think it is, although I think that it is less so now that she knows what to expect. Clara is fairly certain that the dreams are associated with this journey Sam has sent us on and she thinks her dreams will end when our journey does.”

  Jack picked up a stick and tossed it for Kizzy. “I wonder if Sam killed his victims after locking them in a dark space for a period of time. I wonder if that is what Clara is picking up on.”

  “Perhaps. I suppose that would make sense. I doubt the locations Clara is dreaming of are literal in the sense that if Sam did lock his victims in a dark space with a limited view of the world, I sort of doubt that he locked them in an air-conditioning vent or under a set of bleachers. But Clara also dreamed of a storm drain and a root cellar, so maybe something like that.”

  “Looking into the deaths of these young women has been hard enough when you only take the fact that they died into consideration,” Jack said. “If we find out they were tortured first, I think I will be the one freaking out.”

  “I know what you mean. From looking into their deaths and speaking to people who knew them, I feel like I knew these girls in a way. I’m not sure I could handle the knowledge that their deaths were anything other than quick and painless.”

  “Rick received the report on Jessica’s remains. Cause of death has not been determined, but there weren’t any marks on the bones that would have indicated a gunshot wound, a stabbing, or even strangulation. The medical examiner suspects drowning or asphyxiation by a method other than strangulation, such as a plastic bag over the head.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “Let’s change the subject, shall we?”

  Jack glanced into the distance. “We should head back to the motel. We’ll drop Kizzy off and then head over to meet Virginia.”

  ******

  Virginia Jensen was a petite blond who looked a lot like the victims we had identified so far. Her long blond hair looked like a halo around a round face featuring large blue eyes.

  “I understand you want to ask me about the night of the accident.” She jumped right in once we were settled in a booth.

  “That’s right,” Jack answered. “Is it true you were at the same graduation party as the girls who died?”

  Virginia nodded. “Pretty much everyone in our graduating class was at that party.”

  “We are trying to understand what happened that night. I know that you spoke to the police then, but we hoped you wouldn’t mind going over everything again.”

  Virginia took a deep breath before nodding. “Sure. I can do that. It isn’t a pleasant memory, but the details of that night are pretty well etched in my mind.”

  Jack smiled gently. “Just take your time and start wherever you feel comfortable.”

  Virginia took a moment and then began. “After the graduation ceremony everyone headed over to Bobby Baker’s for the party. It was a lively event. Everyone was drinking heavily, like it was some sort of rite of passage to get slammed on the night of your graduation. I’m not a big drinker myself, so I took my time sipping on the one and only drink I had that evening. I was having a good time until Brittany got all emotional and started arguing with Julianna.”

  “And why did Brittany get emotional?” Jack asked.

  Virginia hesitated. She looked frightened, and then a look of determination crossed her face. “I’m not sure I should tell you this, but I guess I don’t see what it can hurt at this point.” She took another breath. She lowered her voice. “Not only did Julianna, Tiffany, and Brittany die in the same horrible accident, they shared a horrible secret.”

  I glanced at Jack, who hadn’t taken his eyes off Virginia. “Do you know what the secret was?”

  Virginia took a sip of water. “Three months before that night, a group of us gathered at a cabin north of here for a birthday party for one of our friends. The party was by invitation only, but a girl in our class who hadn’t been invited showed up anyway. Serena was an awkward girl. She had this really odd way about her that seemed to prevent her from making friends even though she tried really hard to do it. Looking back, I feel bad that everyone was so mean to her, but she really was weird.”

  “So, this socially awkward teenager showed up at this invitation-only party at a cabin…”

  Virginia nodded. “It was a summer cabin that belonged to Tommy’s parents. They locked it up from October through May, but Tommy had a key and the snow had been light that year, so we all headed there for the weekend. I’m not sure how Serena found out about the party or why she would have bothered to drive all the way to the cabin without an invitation, but that is what she did. When she tried to come in, four of the girls there decided to have some fun with the party crasher, so they locked her in a storm drain that emptied into a ditch on the side of the cabin. It was one of those large pipes you can almost stand up in, and it had a gate that locked on the outside to keep people and animals out of it. One of the girls cut the chain that held the door closed and shoved Serena in. Then she relocked it so Serena couldn’t get out. I know it was mean, and I should have said something when Julianna taunted Serena, telling her that if she wanted to be part of the party she was welcome to, but she would have to sit in the cheap seats.”

  “So Serena could see what was going on at the party from where she was in the storm drain?” Jack asked.

  Virginia nodded. “It was off to the side, just beyond the cabin’s front steps. One of the guys had built a fire and everyone was outside partying, so it wasn’t like Julianna and the others left Serena outside alone. At least not at first.”

  “Not at first?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure exactly what happened next because I didn’t plan to stay all night and went home, but apparently, the girls forgot about Serena and no one remembered to let her out when they left. A huge storm blew in that night and the storm drain filled with water. Julianna and the others had locked the gate on the outside of the storm drain, so Serena was trapped.”

  “She drowned?” I gasped.

  Virginia nodded. “I felt so bad when I found out. I wasn’t the one who locked her in, but I didn’t help her either. Everyone at the party knew that it was Julianna, Tiffany, Brittany, and Athena who locked her in, but when Serena’s body was found, everyone was too scared to tell what they knew. We all played dumb and went about our own lives.”

  “So what happened at the graduation party?” Jack asked.

  “Brittany must have been feeling bad about what they had done because she made a comment that Serena should have been there, and she would have been if they hadn’t played such a mean trick on her. Julianna told her to shut up. Both girls had been drinking and emotions were running high, so the argument escalated pretty quickly. Tiffany grabbed both her friends and pulled them outside to cool off. It was late by then and some of the kids were starting to leave. After a while, I saw Brittany and Tiffany with Julianna in her car. I assumed they were heading home. I left an hour or so later, but I was really wound up. After Brittany brought up Serena, I couldn’t get her out of my mind, so I took the long way home, and that is when I saw Julian
na’s car at the bottom of the cliff. Everyone figured Julianna had just missed the curve, and I suppose that might be what happened, but when I drove to where the accident occurred, I passed another car coming from the opposite direction.”

  “Did you tell the police that?” Jack asked.

  Virginia shook her head. “No. I should have, but I didn’t. You see, the car I saw belonged to Serena’s dad. I figured if he had run the girls who were responsible for his daughter’s death off the road, maybe he was justified. Later, after that night, I wished I had handled things differently, but once I had lied to the officer at the scene, I figured I couldn’t change my story or it would look bad for me.”

  “Do you know Serena’s last name?” I asked.

  “Miller. Her name was Serena Ann Miller.”

  Chapter 16

  “So what are we thinking?” I asked Jack when we had returned to the motel. “Do we think Sam is an acronym for Serena Ann Miller? And if so, who is the killer? Her father?”

  Jack paced around the room. “I don’t know, but I think we need to find out more about Serena.”

  “Where do we start?”

  “I’m going to call Rick. He has access to records we don’t. We’ll see what he can find out and take it from there.”

  I took Kizzy out for a quick walk while Jack called Rick. When I returned, Jack was looking at his computer.

  “According to Serena’s obituary,” Jack began, “Serena was the only child of Lori and Henry Miller. She was buried in the local cemetery, following a small family ceremony. According to a corresponding news article, her body was found in a storm drain after her parents received an anonymous tip. By the time her body was found, she’d been missing three days. The gate on the exterior of the storm drain was locked, so Serena could not get out. Heavy rain in the mountains caused flooding, which led to the drain filling with water, and Serena drowned.”