Secrets of Redemption Box Set

by Michele Pariza Wacek

  I forced my stiff limbs to move. “When?” I asked, but my voice sounded more like a hiss. The strength drained from my legs and I fell heavily into my seat.

  Daniel stared at me. “Are you okay? Your face is completely white.”

  I reached for my glass of lemonade, wishing I had poured myself wine instead. “I ... I just saw her. Yesterday.”

  He didn’t look surprised. “Yes. I was hoping you could tell me about that visit.”

  I shot him a suspicious look. “How did you know?”

  “We found your tea,” he said, his voice carefully neutral. “And Barbara told us about your voicemail.”

  Ah, yes. Of course. With Mia’s help, I had managed to track down Barbara’s phone number this morning and left her a message. She hadn’t called me back.

  “When did she ...” my voice trailed off. I found I couldn’t say the words. “And how?”

  Daniel picked up his lemonade and took a drink, his face a bland mask. “It’s still early in the investigation but it appears she fell down the basement steps sometime last night.”

  Not you, too.

  I closed my eyes, feeling the icy touch of fear wash over me. “Was it an accident?” I found myself asking.

  “We’re still investigating. Would you have any reason to believe it wasn’t?”

  The devil got him.

  I pressed my fingers against my eyes. “I’m ... not sure. She was so confused. Maybe.”

  “Why don’t we start from the beginning,” Daniel said, his voice sounding far away.

  The beginning. What was the beginning? It felt like I had been trapped in one nightmare or another for years now. I licked my lips and tried to swallow, my mouth feeling as dry as sandpaper, before finally opening my eyes. He was watching me closely, a hint of concern in his otherwise unreadable cop expression.

  “I brought Pat some tea I had made her.”

  Daniel picked up a pen and started to jot down a few notes. “What time was this?”

  I had to think about that. “In the afternoon. Like two-ish? Or maybe it was closer to three? I wasn’t really watching the time. It was while I was running errands.” Why did I feel the need to say that? Why did I feel the need to justify why I was driving around town?

  “Why were you bringing her tea?”

  “She had stopped by a couple of weeks ago. She wanted me to make the tea my aunt used to make her.”

  Daniel nodded as he wrote. “Are you taking over Charlie’s business?”

  “I have no idea what I’m doing,” I said. I almost added that I wasn’t even sure if I was staying in Redemption but managed to shut my mouth before those words fell out. I didn’t really feel like this was the best time to talk about that. “However, I got the distinct impression that Pat wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer, so I made it for her.”

  Daniel’s lips turned up in a slight smile. “That sounds like Pat. Had you seen her any other times before yesterday?”

  “No. Well ...” I paused. The strange phone call popped into my mind. “She did call me earlier this week.”

  He made a note. “How did she sound?”

  “You know, it was strange. On the surface, she sounded like the Pat I first met. But there was this note of ... desperation? Hysteria? Something about it seemed off to me, but I didn’t really know her well enough to know for sure if my perception was right. It wasn’t until I saw her yesterday that I started to think there was something really wrong.”

  “How did she seem yesterday?”

  I paused, considering the best way to share my thoughts. Daniel waited, not rushing me. “Paranoid,” I said at last. “Confused. Sloppy. She looked like she hadn’t bathed in a while or changed her clothes. Although her house was still immaculate. She was also too thin. I don’t know how well she had been eating. Plus, she was ... well, she was convinced she was being haunted.”

  Daniel raised an eyebrow. “Haunted? By what?”

  I sighed. “The devil.”

  Daniel straightened, looked me full in the face. “Seriously. She said that?”

  I nodded. “Yes. She said she could see it in the yard. Some sort of dark shadow. That killed things.”

  “Things? What things?”

  “Chipmunks. Rabbits. Birds. She claimed it took Bear, too.”

  “It killed a bear?”

  I shook my head. “No, not ‘a’ bear. The golden retriever that’s missing. Bear.”

  “Did she actually see Bear being taken?”

  I thought back, trying to recall her precise words. “No. What she said was, ‘The devil got him.’”

  “Did you ask what she meant by that?”

  I shook my head.

  “Okay. What happened after that?”

  “I left,” I said simply.

  Daniel glanced up at me, raising his eyebrow. I shifted uncomfortably, suddenly feeling like I was back at school being reprimanded by the principal. “Look, if I had known something like this was going to happen to her, I would have made different choices. But, I didn’t. The conversation had gotten so freaky, I just wanted to get out of there and figure out how to get in touch with her daughter or someone else who could help.”

  “I wasn’t judging.”

  I made a face and picked up my lemonade glass. Even though his tone was mild, I still felt like he was indeed judging me. Then again, I was also judging myself.

  “Anything else happen?”

  I shook my head again.

  He leaned forward slightly, an intense look in his eyes. “Becca, this is important. Are you sure? Think hard.”

  I was about to tell him “no” again, when the full realization of what he was asking swamped over me. I found myself almost gasping, like I was drowning in the knowledge.

  I may have been the last person to see her alive.

  Was that why Daniel was really here? Nothing to do with the tea after all? Was he just using that as an excuse? Oh God no. This couldn’t be happening again.

  It’s starting again. The pattern. The one that started fifteen years ago.

  “You think I was the last person to see her alive,” I said, my voice sounding strangled. “That’s what this is all about.”

  “It’s still early in the investigation,” he said again, his tone neutral.

  “Nice non-answer. You should be a politician.”

  He sighed. “I’m not going to lie to you. Your story is an important part of the investigation. So, it’s really vital that you tell me everything you remember. And I do mean everything.” His dark-blue eyes bored into mine with an intensity that made me fight the urge to stand up right then and run out of the room.

  He couldn’t possibly think I had anything to do with Pat’s death.

  Could he?

  “You do think someone pushed her,” I said.

  “We don’t know yet. That’s what we’re trying to determine.”

  I sat back in my chair and rubbed my forehead, trying to get my scattered thoughts together. All I could think about was Daniel sitting across from me, all his focus and energy on me.

  “I just don’t know how helpful I can be. I didn’t see anything suspicious. Nobody hanging around or anything like that.”

  “How did her house look?”

  “Like I already said, it was immaculate. From what I could see, not a speck of dust anywhere. The complete opposite of her personal hygiene.”

  “What rooms were you in?”

  “The living room, briefly, and the kitchen.”

  “Did you notice anything out of place in the kitchen?”

  “Well, I had never been in her house before but no, nothing seemed out of place.”

  “What about plants? Like the one by the basement steps. Did you notice if it had been knocked over? Did you see any dirt on the ground?”

&n
bsp; I thought about it. “It definitely wasn’t knocked over. And no, I don’t remember seeing any dirt or anything like that. Why? Was it on its side or something?”

  He pulled out his phone, thumbed through and showed me a picture of the big potted plant next to the basement door. “This is how we found it this morning. Does it look different than what you saw yesterday?”

  I took the phone and peered at it closely. While it was in the same place I remembered, next to the pot was a pile of dirt and a couple of half-dead leaves. I handed the phone back. “No, there was no dirt or leaves next to that plant when I was there.”

  He turned off the phone and pocketed it. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.” I paused, watching him jot down a few notes. I wondered how the dirt and leaves could have ended up next to the plant. Had it been tipped over at some point and then put back?

  The devil got him.

  Aunt Charlie screaming Pat’s name as she backed away from the table, fire everywhere.

  I blinked, my thoughts whirling. “Are you ... are you thinking there was a struggle? That someone threw her down the stairs? And knocked the plant over in the process? And ... “ I couldn’t say the word killer. “And after ... that person picked the plant back up?”

  Daniel looked up, watching me closely. “It could have happened like that. She could have also knocked it over herself and just didn’t get around to cleaning it up. You said she was acting confused and paranoid. Maybe she forgot to clean it up.”

  “Maybe,” I said, sounding skeptical. “Based on what I saw, it seems more likely she would have dropped everything and grabbed the vacuum cleaner.”

  His mouth quirked into a crooked smile. “Not exactly the type of proof that will hold up in court.”

  “Probably not. Doesn’t make it any less true.”

  He laughed. “Is there anything else you remember? Anything at all?”

  I mentally searched through that conversation again, but nothing stood out. I shook my head.

  “Anything else she saw outside? A description of a person?”

  I kept shaking my head.

  “Strange noises? Something not working?”

  Strange noises. I stopped shaking my head. “Oh wait. There was one other thing. The attic.”

  “What about the attic?”

  “She had heard noises up there. Thought it was the devil in her attic.”

  He made more notes before hesitating. “I have to ask this,” he said, and he almost sounded apologetic. “Can you give me a quick rundown of what you did after you left Pat?”

  I went very still. “I am under investigation, aren’t I?” Oh God, first Jessica and now Pat. I was about to be trapped in the middle of yet another nightmare.

  “It’s just a formality. We’re asking everyone who knew Pat.”

  I found that hard to believe. And even if it were true, I was probably at the top of the list. “Not much to tell. I came straight home. Made myself dinner, read a little bit and went to bed.” And had a dream where Aunt Charlie told me Pat had died.

  “Did anyone see you?”

  I closed my eyes. “No.”

  “Did you talk to anyone?”

  “No. Oh, wait.” My eyes flew open. How could I have forgotten? “My lawyer called. And my mother. I talked to both. Although having your mother vouch for you is probably pretty lame.”

  Daniel made a few notes. “’Everything helps. We’ll check it out.” He asked for both of their phone numbers and if I remembered anything else before closing his notebook. “Thanks for this. It’s a good start. And if there’s anything else you remember, call. You have my number, right?”

  I nodded, getting up with him to walk him out, still feeling a little shell-shocked by everything that had just happened.

  Oscar was sitting on the porch, back to the door, the tip of his tail swishing back and forth. Seeing him, I felt a knot I didn’t even know I had in my chest start to dissolve. Thank God, I wouldn’t be alone tonight.

  Daniel paused, hand on the door. “Is that your cat?”

  “He sure seems to be. I call him Oscar.”

  Daniel pushed the door open and Oscar got up and sauntered inside like he owned the place. Daniel watched him. “You know,” he mused, almost to himself. “For years, Charlie had a cat like that. After she died, it disappeared. No one could find it. A couple of people spent weeks leaving food out hoping he would show up, but he never did.”

  A surprisingly cold breeze blew through the door and I shivered. “I’m sure it’s not the same cat.”

  Daniel straightened. “I’m sure it’s not either. That cat had to be pretty old. That’s why people tried so hard to find it.” His face was thoughtful.

  He took a step out the door, then turned back to me. “You know, if it turns out you were the last person to see Pat alive, it’s interesting that this is the second time.”

  The knot in my chest tightened back up. It’s all happening again. I crossed my arms across my chest. “I thought you said this was all routine. ‘Just a formality’ I think were your exact words.”

  His eyes never left mine, but one shoulder lifted. “Just making an observation.”

  “Does this observation require my getting an attorney?”

  “Do you need an attorney?”

  “I have no idea. You’re the one making ‘observations’ here.”

  “I’m just thinking out loud. Don’t you find it a little coincidental that fifteen years ago, a girl disappears after you’re the last person to see her, and now an old woman dies after you were the last to see her? There are people who live their entire lives in Redemption and never have anything like this happen to them. But you, who’ve barely spent any time here, have had it happen twice.”

  I pressed my arms closer to my chest, trying to keep myself from shivering as the cold seeped through me. I wondered if I would ever be warm again. “Maybe it’s just bad luck,” I said, through cold and numb lips.

  He bent his head to put his hat on, finally breaking his gaze. “Maybe. That’s some pretty bad luck.”

  “Well, we can’t all be as lucky as you, Officer,” I said, through clenched teeth.

  He half-smiled and turned to head out. “Don’t forget to call me if you remember anything else,” he said over his shoulder as he headed for his car.

  “What, so I can be accused of this, too? Fat chance of that,” I muttered, fighting the urge to slam the door after him.

  I took off to the kitchen. I so needed wine.

  Was I under investigation now? Was that what this was all about?

  I grabbed the bottle off the counter and filled my glass, gulping down half of it as I stood leaning against the counter.

  Why did this keep happening? Was it me? Was I cursed? Even my marriage track record seemed to indicate that truth.

  Or, was something else going on?

  I slammed the wine down on the counter, harder than I intended, as I tried to convince my deep inner knowing that I was just the victim of a horrible string of bad luck.

  Chapter 10

  Meow.

  The noise jerked me awake. I was tangled up in the sheet. The full moon, pregnant with secrets, shined through the bedroom window, turning the room a misty silver.

  Oscar wasn’t next to me. Was that him meowing?

  As soon as that thought entered my mind, I heard it again. Meow.

  It was coming from outside. I untangled myself and went to the window.

  There, standing in the middle of the backyard, was Oscar. He stared at me, swishing his tail, before turning to disappear into the woods.

  I grabbed my robe and ran out of the room. What on earth was he doing outside? I was sure I remembered him coming to bed with me. He had curled up on the pillow next to me, just like he always does.

  I flew down the sta
irs and into the kitchen, my brain barely registering the two dark shapes that sat at the kitchen table.

  “You better hurry,” Aunt Charlie said, blowing on her cup of tea. “It’s starting again.”

  “She can’t go out there,” Pat said, reaching for the cream to doctor her cup of tea. “The devil is out there.”

  I ignored both of them and headed to the back door. From behind me, Aunt Charlie called out, “The devil you know is better than the one you don’t.”

  I unlocked the back door, flinging it open and ran outside. The cold, wet grass slapped against my feet.

  The moon was huge in the sky, so huge it dwarfed everything else, including the roaring fire in the fire pit. Why was there a fire? Did I light it last night and forget to put it out?

  Mia sat slumped in a chair next to the fire, her eyes barely open. “I feel sick,” she mumbled. Her face was smooth and pale under the silvery moonlight, her hair pulled back in a long, messy ponytail. Sixteen again. I could see the faint pink stain on the front of her cream shirt. Like blood.

  On the table next to her were three lit candles—black, red and white. One of Mia’s bloodshot eyes opened and stared at me. “Don’t drink the water. Only beer. In a can.”

  Confused, I asked, “Where’s Oscar? Have you seen him?”

  Her eye closed. “I feel sick.”

  “What about Daphne? Isn’t she supposed to be watching you?”

  Mia slowly shook her head. “I think she’s supposed to be watching you.”

  Meow.

  I left Mia and hurried out toward the woods, passing Maude pushing her shopping cart as it banged against the rocks. I caught a whiff of her unwashed body and nearly gagged. Her face slowly turned to me, her eyes black, empty sockets. Her mouth opened, as dark and bottomless as her eyes. “You know,” she hissed, a snake-like tongue darting out.

  I ignored her as I ran past, Oscar my only concern. I could feel the pressure growing inside my chest. I had to find my cat before it was too late.

  The trees seemed to close in on me as soon as I stepped onto the path. Branches and twigs snagged my clothes and hair as I thrashed my way through, all the while hearing Oscar’s plaintive meows.