And yet guilt gnawed at my insides.
This wasn’t fair.
Worse, it was my own doing, and there wasn’t much I could to do ease Dubey’s suffering.
“Cleo.” Augusta walked over. “He will be back soon. They will know that he didn’t have anything to do with those dreadful murders, and they will let him go.”
It was hard for me to talk. I couldn’t…couldn’t think. Rather than answer her, I merely nodded and then walked off. With no idea as to where I was going, I walked past the barn, past the farmhouse, and then through the orchard. The smell of oranges permeated the air. Maya was doing very well with the fruits and vegetables. Sometimes I wished I had her love for it. Of course, she was an earth mage and naturally attuned towards such projects. And yet, it would be easier to take care of gardens and orchards then to look for murderers, cutthroats, and wayward mages.
It was hard to do this job at times, especially when I betrayed my friends.
After walking out of the orchard, I crossed through a field of vegetables. Climbing the hill, I headed for the top. Halfway there, I sat on the rock. It was smooth and flat. As a teenager, I used to come here often. The hill gave me the solitude I desired during those years. It took me a long while to get used to the life on the farm, and during those tumultuous days, this rock was my favorite spot.
Funny. I hadn’t come here for at least a year, maybe more.
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there. The air was cold. The jacket I wore wasn’t meant to ward it off. The chill permeated into my bones, and yet I was reluctant to move. Guilt, yes. But I also feared for Dubey. The FBI would certainly not hurt him, but they would make him uncomfortable. They would point their fingers at him, and they would ask him awkward questions, and he would have to go through all that because of me.
I was to blame for this mess.
Dusk began to claim the land. There were many things I could be doing, but I didn’t feel like going back to the chaos that was formed through my own stupidity. When I didn’t know who the killer was, I shouldn’t have made injudicious guesses.
My haste got Dubey in that trouble.
Leaves crunched under shoes. Branches broke. I glanced up to see Bryan as he slogged his way up. Seeing me, he halted, but when I didn’t say anything, he climbed up the rock and sat beside me. He passed me my coat. I wanted to throw it off, but damn it, it was cold.
I wore it. The warmth that crept through me did little to alleviate the guilt.
“Augusta is worried about you,” he said.
“She should be worried about Dubey. The FBI doesn’t torture, but they have ways…of making a man regret that he came under their radar.”
“Dubey isn’t a man.” I snarled, and he raised a hand. “I mean, he is a resourceful man. Augusta spent an hour telling me stories of his heroic tales during the last world war. He has seen much, been through a lot. I doubt that a FBI questioning would scar him for life.”
“He shouldn’t have come under their radar. The only reason why he did so was because I said things I shouldn’t have.”
He sighed. For a while, we were quiet. He was the last man I expected to talk to, but now that he was here, it felt just right. We sat together. The sun turned into a bright shade of orange as it sunk lower and lower into the distant horizon. The shadows lengthened. “You didn’t make a mistake. There is no need to beat yourself about it.”
Resting my head on my arms, I looked down at the steep curve. “I did. And I do.”
“Dubey knows that you didn’t intend to mark him as the killer,” he said. “You were doing your job.”
“We have made no progress in the case. They are clutching at straws.”
“You’ll find something soon.”
His confidence was encouraging, but honestly I didn’t have anything to go on. We were no close to finding the identity of the real killer, and now I had another worry: Dubey.
When would he come home?
And would he be able to forgive me for my role in this fiasco?
I shook my head. It wasn’t like me to admit defeat so soon, but this incident shook me more than I realized. “I think maybe I should resign from this case.”
Perhaps it was a good idea.
As Graham said, it was too close to home, and I wasn’t capable of looking at it objectively. Maybe I needed to step back and let someone who was better qualified to take a look at this. Maybe I was missing something crucial that could lead to a breakthrough. I wasn’t invincible. There were times when I thought I was so, but this incident taught me that I wasn’t.
“I didn’t know you gave up so soon.”
“Shut up.” I stood. He didn’t know what I was going through. He couldn’t ever have an idea. “This is for the best.”
“Dubey is your family, but he isn’t dead.” I stopped. My first instinct was to turn back and hit him with a spell that would shut his mouth. How dare he bring this up right now? He’d no right. Just because he knew about my past didn’t mean that he had the right to throw it back on my face. I stepped over a pile of leaves and walked away. “You’re not going to lose him.”
“Shut up.”
He grabbed my hand. I spun fast and my hand rested on his shoulder. One big push and he would fly right off the hill. After all, I commanded the air. He should have been terrified, but the look in his eyes sobered me up. The understanding I could see swallowed my temper and brought a fountain of tears to my eyes. “He will come back, safe and sound, because you won’t let anything happen to him. You’re not the child who lost her family. This time around, you’re capable and skilled enough to find the real killer, and once you do so, Dubey will be above any suspicion.”
I lost my family many, many years ago. People who possessed magic killed them, and I couldn’t do anything, as I was merely an awkward, unsure teenager. But he was right; I wasn’t a child anymore. Dubey was my family, and I had every intention of making sure that he came back to us.
As if he understood what I was going through, Bryan drew me forward until I rested against him. The strength of him, the scent of him, firmed my resolve. For a while, I allowed myself to breath in and out. My anger grew dim, and my confidence took a boost. Perhaps he was right and I was letting this issue become too big in my head. Dubey was my family but I was capable of saving him.
All was not lost.
No, it wasn’t.
Taking a step back, I looked into his eyes. Whatever happened between us was in the past; he was here to help me and I would be stupid to not allow him to do so.
“Thanks, Bryan. I guess I needed to hear this from someone.”
“You’re welcome. Anyone time you need a kick in the butt, you can count on me to do the job.”
Laughter spluttered out of me. “Don’t take it too seriously. I might not take too kindly to kicks in the butt.”
I raised my hand. For a moment, he looked at my outstretched hand, and then he shook it. “Friends, right?”
Yeah, we were in a way.
There was a connection between us; it wasn’t love. It wasn’t lust. It might have been, but we both realized that we weren’t ready for something to happen. He was different than me, in more ways than I could count…but yes, friendship was something I could understand.
“Yeah, friends.”
And just like that, all seemed right with the world, at least a little right. Dubey was still with the FBI but I would get him out.
“I’m glad. Look…I know that we had a thing going on for a while, but it was crazy. I’m not in your league. You’ve got magic shit going on, and I don’t have that.”
“You have talents.”
He smiled. “Of course I do. But…what I want is an equal relationship and we could never have that. You would always try to protect me and I would always hate that. But…we can be good friends. Maybe.”
Enough of the mush.
“Good. We’re on the same page then. Come on, then. We’ve got work to do.”
He followed m
e down. The sun was a bight ball of orange in the distant sky but before night fell, we could do some useful work.
“So what’s the next step”?
I didn’t have any. But that little pity party was over.
“Jeremy’s on it. He is searching the database for anyone who has committed any such act in the past. He will find something. Mark will join us tomorrow so we will have one more person looking at this. The murders were too smooth. Whoever has done it must have practiced on others before. We will find something. But what I want to do right now is different. We’re going to look for the woman who trapped Colonel Sanders.”
“What? Why?”
Oh yes, I didn’t forget about that. As we strode back towards the farmhouse, I filled him on whatever little information I had about Colonel Sander’s entrapment. This wasn’t related to the case, but Colonel Sanders was also part of my family, and he deserved my help just as much as Dubey. The only good thing that came out of this terrible incident with Dubey was that Bryan and I were on talking terms once more.
In times like these, one needed to count blessings, and I was willing to do that as long as it got me the desired results.
Chapter Five
The night air was freezing cold. It would snow tonight. Not that I minded snow in March, but the weather wasn’t doing much to help our cause. The team that covered the clearing didn’t find anything. Neither did we. But if there were any small evidence, it would be buried under snow now.
Now what?
“Mind if you tell me what we are doing here?”
I glanced at him. We were sitting in my car, out on the street, on a stakeout. Bringing Bryan with me might not have been the best idea. Overcome by my recent feelings of friendship, I’d asked him to accompany him, but this was a wild goose chase, and he shouldn’t have been a part of it. “We’re checking out the woman who entrapped Colonel Sanders.”
“Why?”
It was a hunch. “I don’t know.”
“Good reason.” He nodded with a sage attitude. “That’s what I like about it. You not only have solid reasons for undertaking a mission but also you’re extremely forthcoming with information.”
“Sarcasm doesn’t suit you.”
“I tell you…” He raised a hand but my attention was diverted to the woman who walked out of the house in a midnight black coat that had seen better days. Behind her, a boy, no more than eight, followed. They both carried plastic bags which they put in the big dumpster. “This woman entrapped Colonel Sanders?”
Not that she wasn’t pretty, but she looked like a simple, hardworking mother. After her son put in the garbage, she gave him a high five. She wasn’t a prostitute or a con artist.
No way.
What was going on?
“Jeremy gave me her name.”
“How did he get it?”
“Office Morris might not have shared that information but there are other ways of acquiring it.”
“Jeez.” He frowned. “Don’t you guys have any respect for rules?”
“That’s rich coming from the guy who went against direct orders of his superior to apprehend a mage with me last time.”
“That was…different. I don’t hack into police files.”
It was pointless to get into this argument. My antenna for trouble was vibrating on the double. Rather than wait and see more, I got out of the car and strode over. Bryan hurried to catch up. “Hi,” I said before he could stop me. “How are you doing?”
Instinctively, she moved in front of her son. “Fine. Who are you?”
“Mom, I…”
“Honey, you go in now. Please, go in.” It was a testament of her superior parenting skill that her son walked inside without hesitation. Hmm. I wish I could learn that. Whenever Augusta forced me into taking over some responsibilities at the school, the children made me sweat. “Who are you? And what do you want?”
I could come up with some elaborate story or perhaps put the fear of God in her. And yet, honesty felt like the best policy. “I am a friend of Colonel Sanders.”
“Who is he?”
The look of confusion on her face was so real that I almost believed her. “The guy who was taken to the police station along with you on charges of prostitution.” Her face paled, but she didn’t move. “He has been very upset since he was forced to spend a few hours in jail.”
“There was no case.”
Guilt swam through her eyes. She was damn near drowning in it. Really, I was helping her by letting her get rid of it. “He is such a nice man. So humble. So sweet.” I sighed. Beside me, Bryan stiffened. “He is the very soul of amicability. I tell you, I have been his friend for a long, long time, and I have never seen him so desolate. He is almost in depression, but we’re trying to get help. It’s so hard to get appointments with the right doctors, you know. Do you know a good psychologist?” She opened her mouth, but before she could say something, I rambled on. “Never mind. We’ll figure it out. He will get over it. I just hope he doesn’t do something drastic.”
“But…”
I waved a hand. “I know that people say it’s not a big deal. I mean, the police didn’t even file charges, but for a man of his age, and for someone who lived such a quiet life up until now, this has brought on an avalanche of shame cascading down on him.”
“Stop it. Stop it.” She put her hands on her ears. “I can’t hear anymore.”
“Oh, I understand that you were just making a living, but if you could…”
She straightened and drew herself to her full height. “I’m not a prostitute. I work at the supermarket as an assistant manager. It’s…a well-paid job. I don’t need to sell my body to…to raise my son.” Her gaze darted to her house where her son stood at the door, looking at us. “Listen, please…he can never know. My son. He is most important to me.”
The innocent were the easiest to crack.
“I would never tell a child such a thing.”
“It’s…I just…” She wiped a hand on her cheek. “He didn’t solicit me, ok. We dated a couple of times.”
If she’d hit me over the head with a log, I would have been less shocked. What new drama was this? “You dated Colonel Sanders?”
She frowned. “No, I dated Jasper. He seemed like an interesting man. We met at a bar.”
Understanding dawned. “Ah! Jasper.”
No wonder she didn’t know Colonel Sanders; Jasper was the one she dated.
Bryan shifted on his feet. “But I thought…”
A quick glare shut him up. Not many people knew that Colonel Sanders and Jasper were two opposite personalities locked in one body, and no one knew which one would come out at what time.
“It didn’t work out. I don’t know why. I met him once at a mall again, and he just ignored me. It was as if he didn’t even know me.”
Ah! She met Colonel Sanders instead of Jasper, and he of course didn’t know her. She didn’t know that Colonel Sanders was a split personality. When he turned into his counterpart Jasper, he was a different man.
But did his rejection hurt her so much that she cooked up an elaborate scheme to get him into jail?
Hell had no fury like a woman scorned.
And while I could appreciate the brutality and keenness of thought behind such an action, I didn’t think this woman was capable of conniving such a scheme.
“What’s your name?”
She gulped. “Grace.”
“Grace, could you please really tell me what happened? This is important. I don’t want any harm to come to you or to your son, but I am afraid you’re way over your head in this one.”
She glanced back at her son. Her tongue swiped out to lick her bottom lip. “The guilt has been eating me alive. He wasn't hurt. He wasn’t sent to jail, but he…is a nice guy, and I didn’t want to do that really. It’s…my son has gotten admission in this great school, but I couldn’t afford it, and now I can…I just need…”
“I won’t let anyone know how I found out the truth,”
I assured her. “It’s a promise.”
“Not that he can do anything. I’ve already gotten the admission and paid a full year’s tuition in advance” she muttered. “I’ll get a raise at the end of this year, and I think…I think I’ll be able to manage his tuition from next year. He is a bright kid, and they assured me they will consider him for a scholarship.” I waited patiently as she talked to herself. “Ok. Alright. There is a man. He is a rich guy, or at least I thought so. I met him at a mall where I took my son to buy new shoes. He found me. He already knew that I dated Jasper, and he told me that it was a trick. A joke. And the money was so good. Fifteen thousand dollars. That’s not a petty sum.”
It certainly wasn’t for such a small trick. Colonel Sanders wasn’t arrested because the police knew us, and they were aware that we never did anything to bring harm to the community, but it could have been worse.
“What was his name?”
“Aaron Fine.”
Rage, hot and bring, burst through my veins.
I knew him. Of course, I knew that bastard. Some of my anger must have shown on my face because she took a step back. “I didn’t…I didn’t want to hurt him, but I was desperate for the money, and he assured me that Jasper wouldn’t go to jail.”
Greed and desperation could make people do shameful things.
“It’s alright. Thank you for telling us. We won’t tell him where we got this information. If he questions you, deny this meeting.”
“Thanks,” she muttered.
“How did you…get Jasper into the car?”
She actually got Colonel Sanders into the car, but she didn’t know it, and I wasn’t about to confuse her by telling her about his multiple personality.
“It was easy. I just pretended my car broke down when I saw him come. Aaron Fine told me that Jasper went for a walk every day and I could wait for him on a deserted road. I called him…” Some confusion swirled in her eyes. “He pretended he didn’t know me, and I didn’t push the point…I was just eager to get it over with.”
Aaron Fine not only manipulated her like a puppet but he also managed to do so to Colonel Sanders. The man was a menace, and someone needed to do something about him. “What happened?”
01 Serial Killer (FBI Paranormal Casefiles) Page 4