by J A Whiting
Violet gave Angie an encouraging look.
“And Amy didn’t really have anything to tell us except about Jessica’s boyfriend being a jerk. He was in a rage over being dumped, but would that make him kill Jessica? And if he did, why would he kill Rachel?”
Angie maneuvered the car off the highway and onto a quiet road.
“Maybe there are really two killers and the women’s murders aren’t connected at all. It could be a terrible coincidence that they were killed within days of one another.”
Getting the urge to drive by Rachel’s house, Angie turned onto a smaller road that led into Sweet Cove the back way.
“Let’s stop by Rachel’s. I’d like to stand in the yard for a few minutes.”
When they pulled into Rachel’s long driveway and approached the house to park near the garage, Angie’s heart dropped. A pickup truck was parked in front of the house and it was the same make and model of the vehicle that had left a tire print near the garage.
Not wanting to get out of the car, Angie clutched the steering wheel. “Maybe we should get out of here,” she told Violet.
The dog stared at the house.
A man walked around the side of the house heading for his truck. It was Jason Field, Rachel’s sort-of boyfriend. He looked surprised that someone else’s car was parked in the driveway.
Angie and Violet got out of the car.
“Hey,” Jason said when he recognized her.
Angie nodded. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”
“Yeah, well, I let Rachel borrow a lawn seed spreader a while back. I came by to see if it was in the shed.”
“It isn’t?”
Jason shook his head. “Maybe it’s in the basement.”
“You can call Chief Martin. He’ll probably let you in.”
“Maybe I will.”
Angie noticed a for sale sign in the window of Jason’s truck. Something pricked at her skin. Why was he selling it? Could there be evidence from Rachel’s murder inside? “You’re getting rid of your truck?”
“I want a new one.”
“It looks new to me.”
“It has some issues. It’s off warranty. I want to unload it.”
“My husband and I would like to get a truck,” she fibbed. She wanted to see what he’d say if she showed interest in the vehicle. “Maybe we can come and look at it someday.”
“Nah. You don’t want it. I don’t want to sell it to someone I know. It might be trouble down the line, and then I’d feel bad about selling it to you.”
“Really? We’d have it checked out with a mechanic. We wouldn’t blame you if something went wrong. Can I look at it?”
“Another time. I have to get going.” Jason sure seemed like he didn’t want Angie near the truck.
“Maybe I’ll give you a call about it,” Angie told him.
“Yeah, okay. Do that.” Jason turned and hurried to his truck, got in, and drove away.
“Did that seem a little odd to you?” Angie asked Violet.
The dog wagged her tail.
“Or maybe I’m being too suspicious. Come on, Violet, let’s go home.”
Back at the house, Angie texted the chief to tell him Jason Field was at Rachel’s house and that he was selling his truck. She went to the kitchen to find Mr. Finch, Gigi, Libby, Euclid, and Circe playing with toys on the floor.
“Miss Angie,” Finch greeted her warmly. “We are having a wonderful game of roll the ball. The girls roll the ball and one of the cats runs to it and bats it back to us. It is most entertaining.”
Angie kissed both little girls and sat with them on the blanket while Violet ran over to join the felines. “What a fun game.” She rolled one of the balls and Euclid darted after it, stopped it, and gave it a bop with his paw to send it back to where it came from.
With one hand, Finch held onto a chair and with the other clutching his cane, he pushed himself off the floor. “Not as young as I used to be,” he grinned.
“But young in spirit,” Angie smiled at him.
“Indeed,” the man winked. “And this family keeps me so. How was the trip to New Hampshire?
Angie gave Finch the highlights of the interviews and told him about running into Jason Field at Rachel’s house. “I’m suspicious of everyone and everything, but my senses don’t point to anyone in particular.”
“Maybe that’s because you have yet to meet the killer,” Finch suggested.
“Then who is it? And what was the motivation?” Angie knew the man couldn’t answer her questions, she just had to ask them aloud.
“If you discover the motivation, you will most likely discover the killer.” Finch headed for the stove. “Cup of tea?”
“I would love that.” Angie handed a ball to each little girl and, giggling, they rolled them for the cats to chase.
“Ball!” they each shouted.
“How are you managing with the kids, Mr. Finch? Is taking care of them too much with your leg?”
“I’m fine, Miss Angie. I pick the girls up one at a time and I put them in the double stroller when we move from room to room. It’s good for me to be active. It actually helps my leg to feel more nimble. I’m not often alone. Miss Ellie is usually here all day and Miss Jenna is right down the hall in her workshop if I need her.”
“The benefits of a large family.” Angie smiled.
“The day I found all of you was the luckiest day of my life.” Finch handed the young woman a mug of tea. “I’ve been working on the painting. Would you like to see it?”
Angie, carrying Gigi, Finch, holding Libby, the cats, and Violet walked into the man’s sunroom where he’d been doing his painting. The canvas was perched on the easel.
Finch had added more orange and red foliage to the picture, and there was now a white cat sitting on a stone wall. Angie also noticed that the ell off the main building looked dilapidated and ready to keel over.
Starting at the tips of her toes, a tingling sensation moved through her legs, into her torso, to her neck, and into her head, buzzing as it went.
“This picture … this farmhouse,” Angie said softly. “It’s a clue. It will lead us to the killer. I know it.”
21
It was a warm sunny afternoon when Angie and Ellie, Euclid, Circe, and Violet walked in the open pasture heading to the tree line. Ellie was showing them the land she and Jack wanted to buy for the new neighborhood they hoped to build.
“Back there is where the road would come in.” Ellie pointed. “It will loop around in a figure eight. We want to leave as much of the trees and underbrush as possible. That will give people nice backyards with nature right behind them. Walking trails will loop around behind the houses and some of them will link into the state park trails.”
“It’s beautiful,” Angie admired the acreage. “It sounds like a wonderful neighborhood.”
“I hope we can beat out the other bidders.” Ellie looked worried. “The other two people who are interested want to build huge houses with small lots all crammed in together. They’ll cut down all the trees. It will be ugly. Jack and I are looking into setting something up on one of those crowd-sourced fundraising sites to help pay for the land. We’re going to the bank tomorrow with our ideas and hope we can at least get a loan to buy the land.”
“You’re both doing a great job with this.”
“Do you think I’m being foolish? Am I biting off more than I can chew? Is it dumb to want to make a nice place for people to live that’s affordable? Even if we do it, it will only help a small number of people out of the many who need a hand. Am I being too idealistic?”
Angie smiled. “No, you’re not being too idealistic. Are you taking on an enormous project? Yup, but so what? You’ll have a team of people behind you. You’re a natural organizer. Look how well you handle the B and B, from managing the rooms, to working with the guests, to hiring and supervising the cleaning staff. And it isn’t possible to help everyone, but you’ll be helping some, and that’s what matters.�
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Ellie hugged Angie. “Thanks. You’re the best sister.”
“Courtney and Jenna might not like to hear that,” Angie kidded.
“They’re the best sisters, too.” Ellie pointed to the far end of the field. “Want to walk along the trails? There’s an overlook that gives a really nice view of the whole property.”
“Let’s go. I’d love to see that.”
Euclid, Circe, and Violet ran ahead of the sisters having fun taking turns chasing each other.
“Do you think Violet will stay with us?” Ellie asked as they started to walk the trails. “She’s such a nice dog.”
“I don’t know. I’d be happy if she stayed. I really love her.”
“But does she have to cross over?”
“I have no idea how ghosts and spirits work. I wouldn’t even know what to ask anyone who did know about them. She came to us because she wants us to help find the person who hurt Rachel. If we find the killer, she’ll probably leave.”
“Don’t say if, say when we find the killer.”
They reached the top of the hill and emerged through some trees to see a grand view stretching out below them of the trees, bushes, and meadows.
Angie looked out at the vista. “It’s lovely. It will be a beautiful neighborhood when it’s done.”
The cats trilled and Violet wagged her tail.
Angie’s phone buzzed in her pocket. “It’s Chief Martin. He wants to know if we’re at home.”
“Maybe he has some good news.” Ellie’s voice was hopeful.
“I texted him and told him we’re looking at the land.”
A reply text came right away.
“He’s nearby. He’ll meet us at the car when we’re done.”
“We’re done. That’s all I wanted to show you. Want to head back?”
After a fifteen-minute walk back to where they left the car at the side of the road, they saw the chief standing by his vehicle waiting for them. The cats and Violet darted over to greet the man.
“I thought I’d give you an update. I got in touch with Jason Field after you told me he was at Rachel’s house yesterday. I told him I’d let him into the basement if he wanted to look for the grass seed spreader. We met there this morning. We found the spreader in the cellar. I talked to him about his truck. He let me see inside.”
Angie grunted. “Why did he let you look at it, but not me?”
“I’m a cop,” the chief deadpanned. “There’s more. Some of the officers found a couple who were in the state park on the afternoon Rachel went missing. They reported that they spoke with Jason Field about where to find some trails they were looking for. The timing would place him in the park at the time of the disappearance. He wouldn’t have had time to get to Rachel’s house within the window the crime took place.”
“Well then, I guess we can cross him off the list,” Angie said. “One less person to think about.”
“We’re also looking into Jessica’s former boyfriend, Andrew Nystrom. He’s the one who called Jessica when he was drunk and called her some pretty bad names. We’ll be talking to him tomorrow and find out if he threatened her. That’s all I’ve got right now.”
“At least you’ve eliminated someone from the suspect list,” Ellie said. “You’re narrowing it down.”
“It feels like we’ll never get to the end of this,” the chief said. “Gotta keep digging.”
Angie put her hand on the man’s arm. “We’ll get there. I can feel it.”
The chief smiled. “Good to know.”
When Ellie and Angie returned to the house and went inside, they spotted Finch, Josh, Tom, Jack, and Rufus sitting in the yard together.
“What’s going on?” Angie asked as she gazed out of the kitchen window.
“It’s the first training session with Mr. Finch,” Ellie chuckled. “He’s teaching them to be more open to their paranormal abilities.”
Courtney came up behind them. “Ha. This should be good.”
“Does everyone really have paranormal abilities?” Angie questioned.
“I doubt it,” Courtney said, “but I bet there’s a whole bunch of people who could sense things if they got some instruction.”
Ellie agreed. “There must be different levels of ability across the population.”
“Maybe one of the guys will actually have some skills,” Angie said.
Jenna came into the kitchen with Gigi and Libby.
“We just got back.” Angie took her daughter in her arms and hugged her causing the little girl to giggle.
“Did you see what’s going on in the backyard?” Jenna smiled.
“We saw them through the window,” Ellie told her. “If we go outside, will we disturb them?”
“Mr. Finch asked me to come out there in twenty minutes. That was twenty minutes ago,” Courtney said. “I’ll head out. Why don’t you come? If they don’t want us watching, they’ll let us know.”
When the women, the girls, the cats, and Violet went into the garden, Courtney asked, “How are things going?”
Rufus looked over at them with a wide smile. “It’s all fascinating.”
“We’ve just talked about a few of the skills some people have,” Finch explained. “And I explained some history of abilities going back thousands of years. We were just going to start practicing the card exercise.” He looked at the men sitting in lawn chairs in front of him. “Miss Courtney has recently mastered this so she will demonstrate.”
Courtney took the pack of playing cards from Finch, shuffled them, and handed them back to him. Finch spread the cards on the table and when Courtney pointed to one, the man lifted it from the deck and looked at it.
“Now, Miss Courtney will try to determine the card I’m holding.” Finch closed his eyes and concentrated.
Courtney did the same. In three minutes, she opened her eyes. “Okay. I think I have it.” She took a deep breath. “You’re holding the three of spades.”
Without expression, Finch turned the card to face the small audience.
“No way!” Rufus jumped up. “You’re kidding us.”
Courtney beamed.
“This is a trick to tease us,” Tom accused them.
“I assure you, it is no trick,” Finch assured the men.
Rufus stared at his girlfriend in awe. “Who knew? This is amazing.”
“Can you teach us?” Josh asked.
“We can certainly try. Through practice, if nothing else, you will all become more sensitive to the unseen,” Finch said.
“Cool.” Rufus sat down again.
The women took the girls and the animals to sit under the pergola away from the teaching session to allow the men to concentrate. Ellie’s garden beds were still spilling over with beautiful colorful blooms and the sky was turning pink and blue and lavender as the sun neared the horizon.
They could hear Rufus ask Mr. Finch to teach them about telekinesis and when Finch began his explanation, Ellie looked her sisters in the eye and winked.
After fifteen minutes of instruction about physics, atoms, energy, and forces, Finch asked if one of the men would go inside the house and bring out a teaspoon.
Josh hurried in, returned with the spoon, and handed it to Mr. Finch. Finch placed the object on the table and gave additional explanations about energy and matter.
Rufus stepped up to the table and the older man instructed him on thought, waves, and pressure using the example of sound waves. “Sound waves exist as pressure in air. They are created by an object vibrating which makes the air vibrate. Energy produced by thought will do the same thing.” Finch told Rufus to close his eyes and concentrate on creating sound waves.
Rufus scrunched up his eyes and focused.
In a few moments, Tom, Josh, and Jack nearly jumped out of their chairs.
The spoon on the table began to bend, slowly at first, then a little faster as the end of the spoon folded over.
“Look!” Tom shouted to Rufus to open his eyes.
Rufus
gasped and stepped backwards, shocked to see what he’d done. “What the…? I did that?” The blood drained out of the young man’s face leaving him looking ashen.
Finch couldn’t keep from smiling. “I’m afraid you had some help. Quite a lot of help.” The man knew that it was Ellie who had bent the spoon. He gestured to the women under the pergola.
Ellie smiled and waved, and the tension in Rufus’s body released.
“Oh, my gosh.” Rufus clutched at his chest and laughed. “I almost passed out. Don’t ever do that to me again.”
22
The sun’s afternoon rays felt good against Angie’s and Jenna’s faces as they stood high on Robin’s Point looking out over the ocean. It was a place dear to the sisters’ hearts. When they were kids, the Roselands spent many happy summers at the Point with their nana at her cottage until a problem with the land resulted in her losing her cozy, little house. Whenever Angie and her sisters were on the Point, they felt their grandmother was near to them, and they drew strength and resilience from that closeness.
Many years after the residents of the Point lost their houses and before Angie and Josh had met, Josh and his brother purchased the land from the town and had the lovely Sweet Cove resort built on it. When Josh fell in love with Angie, he bought out his brother’s ownership share in the resort and had a lawyer draw up papers that returned most of Robin’s Point to the Roseland sisters. None of them had built on it, and they weren’t sure if they ever would.
“We need Nana’s guidance and strength to help solve these murder cases.” When the wind blew some strands of hair into Angie’s eyes, she pushed them away from her face and then bent to pat Violet.
“We sure do.” Jenna had made a chart of suspects, details, and clues and the family had spent the prior evening together going over the information in a careful, methodical way. Some suspects were eliminated and others had either a star or a question mark placed next to their names, with the star indicating high suspicion and the question mark meaning maybe.