by ID Johnson
“Well, I did some research, and she does have a Facebook page and a Twitter—though pretty much everything she posts has to do with school. She’s a pretty girl,” Rider said, not caring that he had food in his mouth while he was talking. “I definitely think she could be our gal.”
“But she’s here,” Lyric reminded them. “And she’s been here the whole time, right?”
“The search I did shows her graduating from Tarrytown High School in 2011 and then going to college in Buffalo before buying a house in Reaper’s Hollow four years ago, around the same time she took the job at Thomas, but I couldn’t find any other legal records.”
“That’s about all we knew going into this,” Ivy reminded them. “The information we got from Sky wasn’t that specific and it certainly didn’t have a name, let alone a picture, but how has she not been on our radar?” Sky was Lyric’s sister.
“Her name is spelled, R-U, by the way,” Rider said, eyeing him as if he’d passed on the wrong information on purpose. “She has no public record—no tickets, no fines, no credit other than the house loan,” Rider spoke up, laying his fork aside for a moment. “And then… if she really is who we think she is, there has to be something literally blocking her from us.”
“What could that be?” Lyric asked, shaking her head.
Everyone looked at Cutter, who met each set of blue eyes and raised his own eyebrows, wondering why they wanted him to be the one to answer. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “A cloaking device of some sort. Maybe a spell.”
“A spell?” Ivy repeated, looking at him like he’d gone mad.
“Why not?”
“Who would’ve cast it on her?” she asked, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “We haven’t dealt with anything like that in… centuries.”
“Like I said, I don’t know. But if she is who we think she is, then there’s only one person alive who might know the answer.”
“And… we can’t find her either,” Rider reminded them.
Cutter tried not to grow frustrated. “Look, I know this isn’t what you guys want to hear, but if you want me to do this right, you’ve got to give me time. I can’t just stroll up to the woman between meetings and say, ‘By the way, you’re not who you think you are,’ now can I? Let me get to know her a little bit better, and I’ll figure it out.”
“That sounds great in theory,” Lyric said, setting down her water glass, “but in the meantime, we have another body. And it’s not too far from here.”
Cutter’s fork clattered against his plate. “When? Where?” he asked, leaving out the additional question of, “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”
“I sent you a text,” Lyric replied her eyes sharp. “This morning, just on the other side of Rockefeller State Park.”
“With the three in NYC and the one in Albany over the last three weeks, it seems like this part of the country is becoming a little more popular. For some reason.” Rider was staring into his eyes, and Cutter could see he was just as concerned as he was himself.
Shaking his head for clarity, he said, “It’s confirmed?”
“Yes. Uriah told me this afternoon,” Ivy said.
Once again, Cutter’s eyebrows shot up. If Uriah was contacting Ivy, this had to be important. “So he thinks…”
“He seems to think it has to do with the missing Keeper,” Ivy said, her voice steady. “And I agree. If we know, maybe they know, too.”
“We can’t let them get to her first,” Rider said, his voice punctuated with conviction.
“We can’t let them get to her at all.” Cutter meant that on more levels than he was currently able to understand. “The taking—what are the details?” Was it possible this was just a random Reaper, one passing through? Somehow, Cutter didn’t think so. The details might confirm it.
“Uriah said it appeared to be a heart attack. Jim Carpenter, forty-two, father of two who worked at an insurance office ten minutes from his home in the country, was discovered in his bed by his wife when she awoke in the morning, turned over, and saw he was unresponsive. Seems easy when it’s put that way, doesn’t it?”
Cutter nodded. It sounded simple, but he knew that wouldn’t be what Jim Carpenter remembered if he could tell his side of the story. “And no one else heard or saw anything, I’m sure.”
“Do they ever?” Rider asked, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
While Cutter knew it was possible for there to be a witness in some cases, there was no point in going into that now. “What time was his name inscribed in the Book of the Dead?”
“A little after 7:00 AM Jerusalem time,” Ivy replied.
“So just after midnight here?” Cutter said more to himself.
“Yep,” Lyric agreed. “He doesn’t even make sense as a target. There were three other people in the house. Why just him?”
“The most explainable,” Rider shrugged. “He could easily have had a heart attack. His kids are fourteen and sixteen. They weren’t going to die of natural causes.”
“Aneurism, blood clot, respiratory failure…” Lyric began a list of natural causes of death, grabbing each finger on her left hand with her right as she did so.
“Not as easy!” Rider said, over her.
“It doesn’t matter what it looks like anyway,” Ivy said. “I mean, sure there’s no reason to alarm people, but what would they do if they suspected something supernatural anyhow?”
“Make a bad movie,” Rider suggested. “Cast K-Stew in it.”
Cutter rolled his eyes. “If it is who we think it is, he is always cautious,” he reminded them, standing and gathering up dirty plates, no longer hungry. Half of his spaghetti would end up in the trash.
“So should we split up? While you’re working on finding out if Ru is the missing Keeper, we could investigate and see if there’s anything we can do to find out who took out Jim Carpenter.”
Cutter finished scraping food into the trash can and turned on the hot water in the sink to warm it up for the dishwasher. “It wouldn’t hurt,” he decided. “I guess there’s nothing else you can find out about Ru right now, so why not?”
“Any idea where her parents are?” Rider asked. “Maybe tracking them down would help.”
“Yes, sort of,” Cutter muttered, opening the dishwasher. “She said she doesn’t have a dad, and her mom lives in Tarrytown.” He remembered the comment Candice had made about Ru’s mom and wondered if it was important.
“No dad?” Rider repeated. “That could be important.”
“Yeah, and when she mentioned her mom, one of the other teachers said something like, ‘I’m surprised you even call her that,’ or something.”
“That makes it sound like there’s a possibility she could be adopted,” Ivy said, crossing her arms.
“I can look into adoption records in the area dating back to the nineties,” Lyric volunteered.
“And I’ll start working on Carpenter this evening. I should be able to pick up some good contacts in this kind of weather,” Ivy nodded.
Cutter finished loading the dishwasher and dropped a packet of soap in, trying not to make a face at Ivy who was a firm believer that one could contact others mentally more easily in clear weather even though he was certain it didn’t make any difference.
“In the meantime, what are we going to do about you-know-who?” Rider asked, scooting his chair back. “If it’s him, and he knows half as much as we do, he’ll be on her before we know what hit us.”
“If he knows what we know, he wouldn’t be hanging out in the woods collecting middle-aged men,” Cutter reminded him. “We can’t do much about him until we have her. Let’s take this one step at a time, unless anyone has a better idea.” No one seemed to, and even though Cutter didn’t like that answer any better than anyone else did, they’d have to accept it. “Besides, we don’t even know it’s Nat. It could be anyone.”
“How much are you willing to bet?” Rider had his head leaning against the wall, his chair balanced on the back two legs, and t
he new teacher in him wanted to tell his cousin to put all six feet on the floor.
Biting his tongue, Cutter didn’t respond. He was fairly certain this had to be Nat, too. It was clean and cautious, something most Reapers didn’t care about anymore. No, Rider’s bet was not one he was willing to take.
Chapter 5
Ru’s classroom was almost ready to greet students Monday morning. She just needed Candice to come help her with a few things, and she’d be all ready, which was a good thing because that Friday would be full of meetings. She always wondered why administrators thought it was a good idea to plan a day of trainings on the last possible day before students came in, as if teachers wouldn’t be completely distracted, wanting to be in their classrooms.
She’d met her students the night before at Meet the Teacher, and she just knew this was going to be a great year. There were some familiar faces since she’d been teaching here long enough to start having siblings of former students. A few of the parents told her how happy they were that they had another child in her class. That was one of the rewarding parts of being a teacher, getting to interact with families who really appreciated what she was doing. Sometimes, parents didn’t always understand everything that went on at school, and feelings could get hurt, but good communication seemed to go a long way toward mending all that.
Glancing at the clock, Ru saw that she had about twenty minutes before her first meeting. She wanted to get name tags on all of the desks before she left. It was one thing she could do herself. She also had the ladder set up in the corner, but she wasn’t about to climb it, not after last time. Principal Long had already forbidden it.
She sat down behind her desk with a stack of laminated desk name tags, a marker, and her class roster, ready to check one more task off her list when her cell phone rang. Seeing that it was her mother, she let out a sigh and picked it up. If she ignored her, she’d call all day long, and even with her phone on vibrate, that would get annoying. “Hello?”
“Ruin? Where are you?”
“I’m at work, Mom. What’s up?” She tried to ignore the accusatory tone; where else would she be?
“Well, I just wanted to make sure you were going to be here on time today. You know how important it is, don’t you? The other night, you talked like you didn’t get it.”
“I know, Mom. I’ll be there.”
“You’d better be. If you’re not, and this party gets ruined, like pretty much anything else you have your hand in, I’m holding you responsible.”
Ru didn’t appreciate the way she said “ruined,” emphasizing the part that was her name. “It won’t be ruined.” She said the words, but she had no way to know for sure. Earlier in the week, her hair dryer had caught fire, but then she should’ve known not to be using one anyway. Avoidance was key, and she’d gotten lackadaisical. She wouldn’t let that happen with Melissa’s party.
“All right. Don’t forget, four o’clock sharp.”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
Her mother hung up without so much as a goodbye, and Ru groaned as she dropped her phone onto her desk and her head into her hands.
“Everything okay?”
She looked up to see Cutter standing in her doorway and immediately folded her arms, trying to force a smile and change her countenance. She’d gotten to know him a little better over the last few days, and he really was a very nice guy. He was dressed in light brown slacks and a shirt just a shade lighter with a brown tie, and as always, he looked delicious. Of course, Ru was well aware he was far out of her league, and she wasn’t even contemplating the possibility of being anything more than friends, which alleviated any pressure of trying to be more than she was.
“Oh, hi. Good morning. Yeah, it was just my mom. My sister’s birthday party is tonight, and she wants me to be there by 4:00 to decorate. I’m not exactly sure how I’ll pull that off since I have to be here until 3:45 and Tarrytown is more than a fifteen minute drive, but I guess I’ll figure it out.” She knew she was oversharing, but the frustration had mounted, and apparently, she needed to vent to someone.
“Yeah, that might be a challenge. Your room looks good. You all done?”
“Thanks,” Ru replied, looking around. It did look nice, if she did say so herself. She had been going for fun and inviting, and she thought the pastels she’d chosen would be calming. Most of her décor consisted of borders for student work that would start to appear in a few weeks. “I still have some posters to hang up there, but I’ve got to wait for Candice for that.” She eyed the ladder; they were not friends.
“Why is that?” Cutter asked, crossing his arms as he walked into her room and stopped by her desk. “She’s not taller than you.”
Ru giggled. Candice was about six inches shorter than she was. “No, it’s just….” She hesitated, not sure if she should tell him. If they were going to be friends, she may as well. Besides, he’d probably already seen a bit of her chaos earlier in the week. While she’d only broken the copier and no other appliances, she’d managed to knock a stack of papers over and had a pen explode in her hands, spraying ink all over the empty chair next to her. Thank goodness no one was sitting there. “I’m not supposed to climb the ladder. Anymore.” She looked up at him through the ends of her bangs before brushing them out of her face.
“Anymore?” Cutter repeated, looking at her suspiciously.
“Yeah. There may have been an incident last year.”
He chuckled. “But it looks like you survived.”
“Yes, but let’s just say there used to be a houseplant over there on top of that filing cabinet, and there isn’t one now.”
His chuckle turned into a full blown laugh. Taking a step toward the ladder, he said, “Well, I’m taller than you, I think. What do you need done?”
“Oh, Cutter, you don’t have to do that,” she protested, standing up and banging her knee on the side of her desk. She winced but tried to hide the pain.
“I might not have to, but I want to.” He placed his hand on the ladder and turned to smile at her. “I don’t mind, Ru.”
Despite her decision that they would make lovely friends, looking directly into his eyes still made her a little breathless. Something about the electricity within them stirred a reaction she couldn’t explain. “Well, I just need these four posters hung up there, above the cursive alphabet. I already put ticky-tack on the backs.” She had them laid out on a table underneath the row of windows.
“No problem. Let’s get it done.”
It would be better if it was finished before the meeting so she didn’t have to worry about it all day, and she could finish the name tags after lunch. That way, if the last meeting got out early, she could sprint to her car and go without worrying about her classroom not being completed. Not that she expected the meeting to get out early, but she could dream. Glancing up at Cutter standing on the ladder next to the wall also inspired fantasies of a totally different kind. She rushed off to grab the first poster.
“So, maybe right here?” he asked as she handed it up to him.
“Yes, that looks good,” she agreed. They were inspirational posters, meant to keep her kids positive. All pleasant thoughts left her mind as the sound of a new voice echoed through her room.
“Well, looky here. Ru’s already got you doing her bidding.” The tone was an attempt to be light and playful, but it still grated on her nerves.
“She is quite the taskmaster,” Cutter teased, pressing the final corner against the wall before descending so he could move the ladder. “Good morning, Jane. How are you?”
“Just peachy.” Ms. Owen was wearing a black pencil skirt with a mostly black top, though the piping was white. It seemed everyone was dressed up today. Ru had worn a floral print dress in pinks and whites because that’s what she’d planned to wear to the party tonight, assuming she didn’t get anything on it. She had a backup dress in her car. She assumed Jane’s look had more to do with the gentleman climbing back up the ladder. The week had been a bit of a
tug-of-war as Candice and Jane fought for control of Cutter’s alliance. Ru had left all that up to them and attempted just to get to know the man, though she was fairly certain he’d side with her and Candice should a decision need to be made. She handed up the second poster.
“Did you need something?” Ru asked, forcing a smile as she faced her nemesis.
“Actually, I did. I spoke to the custodian after school yesterday. Rosie—you know her?”
Ru nodded. Of course she did.
“She mentioned that you’ve been leaving your light on and your door open. You know that’s against policy. You’ll need to stop doing that.”
Her eyebrows went up. She’d spoken to Rosie about it not long after she’d started working there, and she assured her both matters were fine. The motion sensors were there for a reason. “She’s never said anything to me.”
Cutter was ready for the third poster, and Ru picked it up off of the table and walked it over to him as Jane replied, “I think she was afraid to.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, catching Cutter’s eyes. He looked as confused as she felt, but he seemed to be trying to stay out of it.
“She is a little afraid of you. You can be intimidating, you know?”
Ru giggled—she couldn’t help it, but then she saw that Jane was serious. “Me? Intimidating?”
With a shrug, the team leader replied, “That’s what she said. Anyway, it doesn’t matter what agreement you thought you had with her. You’ll have to start turning off the lights and shutting your door.”
The thought of having to flip the light switch and unlock her door every morning was almost enough to give Ru a panic attack. She knew she’d be blowing through bulbs at an unbelievable rate. But what could she say? “Fine,” she muttered.