‘Well, Kaitlin was seeing the first victim, Adam Miller and she found out she was pregnant the same day she found out Adam was dead.’
‘How is that your fault?’ she asked in confusion.
‘Because at the time there were some nasty rumours going around about me, mostly spread by the former Chief of Police. I’d not long moved back to Mercy myself and he’d got it into his head I was the murderer.’
‘Why would he think that?’
‘It’s a bit complicated but the short version is, my dad was arrested and charged with murdering my mom back in the nineties. It was the reason I left Mercy in the first place. But because my dad was a convicted murderer the Chief was convinced I was too. The guy was severely emotionally unhinged, having lost someone he loved deeply in a very violent way.’
‘Oh.’
‘I can assure you I am not, nor have I ever been, nor do I have any intention of becoming, a murderer. If you’re uncomfortable about me in any way you can ask the Mayor and the current Chief of Police and they will assure you I was cleared of all those accusations.’
‘I’m not uncomfortable,’ Veronica replied.
‘Okay,’ Olivia relaxed, taking a sip of the coke Jackson had slid onto the bar in front of her as he collected Shelley’s empties.
‘So anyway,’ Veronica began, ‘Charlotte West.’
‘That’s right; you said you found some more information?’
‘I did,’ she nodded, ‘I think I figured out the connection to Augustus Swilley.’
‘The Mayor?’ Olivia cast her mind back, ‘the one who signed the death certificate as informant?’
‘Yes, well it turns out Charlotte was engaged to his son Clayton Swilley.’
‘Really?’
‘I found the engagement announcement in the archives of the Mercy Chronicle.’
She took out a folded piece of paper and handed it to Olivia to read.
‘Mayor Augustus Swilley would like to announce the engagement of his son Clayton Swilley to Miss Charlotte West of Lakeside Drive. The Wedding will take place on the 19th of July at All Saints Church.’
‘At All Saints Church,’ Olivia murmured, ‘that’s odd.’
‘Why?’
‘Because my family aren’t exactly church goers,’ she shrugged.
She really didn’t think this was the time to tell her it was because she came from a long line of witches. But this also meant that if Charlotte was marrying her fiancé in a church then it was likely he also didn’t know she was a witch. She looked back at the date again.
‘Didn’t her death certificate say she died on the 18th July?’ Olivia frowned.
‘Yes, poor thing,’ Veronica nodded sympathetically, ‘she died the night before her wedding.’
That was like a red flag to Olivia. She was beginning to wonder if Charlotte’s death had been an accident after all. She glanced back at the newspaper copy trying to make out the details of the photograph.
‘Was this a photo of them both?’
‘Yes, that would have been their official engagement photograph but unfortunately the original paper was damaged before it was scanned and uploaded. There’s no way to clean up the image, I’m sorry.’
She could just about make out some of Clayton’s features but the rest of the picture was a blurred mess.
‘I don’t suppose you know what happened to him?’
‘Clayton?’
Olivia nodded.
‘I did look him up, just out of curiosity and he moved to Salem and married in 1926 to a Madeline Rosser. I couldn’t find what happened to her but I have him marrying again in 1933 this time to a Colleen Barton. She gave birth to a daughter a year later in 1934 who she named Catherine. Clayton himself died in 1935 from a self inflicted gunshot wound. It was during the Depression after the Wall Street crash; they moved from an extremely well to do neighbourhood to one of the less fashionable areas so I can only assume the crash hit his business hard. Maybe that’s why he killed himself.’
‘What a coward,’ Olivia frowned, ‘to take the easy way out and leave his wife and child to fend for themselves.’
‘My thoughts exactly, Veronica nodded, ‘but they seemed to do alright for themselves. Colleen remarried a few years later and lived to a ripe old age and her daughter Catherine is still alive. She’s 81 years old now and lives in Salem.’
‘You are just a goldmine of information,’ Olivia shook her head in amazement. ‘No wonder Renata tracked you down and begged you to come work for her. I just may have to start using you for my research projects.’
Veronica glowed with pleasure.
‘I just like figuring stuff out.’
‘You said Catherine lives in Salem?’
Veronica nodded.
‘I wonder if we could visit her.’
‘I have her current address, I could write to her and ask if she would mind speaking with us? That is if you don’t mind me tagging along.’
‘I don’t mind,’ Olivia smiled. ‘I wonder what happened to the other wife?’
‘The other wife?’
‘You said Clayton married in ‘26 to a Madeline?’
‘Rosser, yes I couldn’t find her. That is going to take a little more digging, there has to be either a death certificate for her or divorce papers. I’ll keep looking.’
‘Here we go ladies,’ Shelley swung through the doors from the kitchen and dropped two steaming plates of stew in front of them, ‘enjoy.’
‘Thanks Shelley,’ Olivia handed Veronica a set of cutlery and they both settled down into a companionable silence as they ate.
‘So I have an Ace, King, Queen, Jack and ten, that’s a…what did you call it? A straight flush?’ Theo leaned back in his chair and took a deep swig of his beer.
Tommy stared at the five diamonds laid out so innocently in front of him and shook his head in defeat as he threw his three Jacks down.
‘That’s a royal flush man, the most unbeatable hand.’ His eyes narrowed as he looked at Theo, ‘are you sure you haven’t played before?’
‘Beginners luck,’ Theo grinned.
He didn’t have the heart to tell Tommy that after the first hour of playing he’d started to see a pattern emerging. By the end of the second hour he’d figured out he could count the number of cards. By the time they hit hour three they’d managed to plough their way through a six pack each and he could predict which cards were being dealt, fairly accurately considering he was pretty impaired.
It wasn’t about the money though, he’d enjoyed the challenge and he’d enjoyed Tommy’s company. Jake had barely drunk half of his beer when he’d been called out on an emergency, which had left Tommy and Theo on their own. Tommy had patiently explained the rules of the game and Theo found that he genuinely liked the quietly spoken young marine.
‘Man, Louisa’s gonna kick my ass,’ he chuckled as he pushed the pile of money towards Theo.
‘How long have you two been married?’
‘Must be…’ he leaned back in his chair and gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully, ‘six no wait seven years now.’
‘No children yet?’
Tommy shook his head.
‘There wasn’t a good time,’ he absently began to peel the label off his bottle. ‘Lou was training to be a doctor and I was posted overseas. It wouldn’t have been fair to the kid with us not being around. When we do decide to have a kid we’re gonna be a family.’
‘Tommy can I ask you a personal question?’
‘Sure,’ he tipped his beer back and took a sip.
‘Did you always know with Louisa?’
‘What, that she was the one?’
He nodded.
‘Yeah, I did,’ his mouth curved fondly in remembrance, ‘right back in grade school, she was so pretty. Blonde pigtails and baby blues, I was a goner the second I laid eyes on her.’
‘How did she feel about you?’
‘I don’t think she kne
w I existed,’ he laughed. ‘I was a short nerdy kid with dimples and glasses who used to get shoved into lockers fairly frequently.’
‘The other children caused you injury?’ he frowned.
‘You’re a weird guy Theo,’ Tommy shook his head in amusement. ‘They never caused me any real harm especially not after the ninth grade when I seemed to grow six inches overnight and lost the glasses. After that they pretty much left me alone.’
Theo fell quiet as he stared contemplatively into his almost empty bottle.
‘I take it Olivia’s ‘the one’’ Tommy said after a moment.
‘Yes,’ he sighed, ‘yes she is.’
‘So what’s the problem?’ he shrugged. ‘I saw you two earlier, you looked pretty solid.’
‘I love her,’ Theo slurred slightly; ‘I love her so much it’s making me crazy. I’d walk through fire for her and I did, sort of.’
He turned his hand over and stared at the tattoo which began at his palm and wound around his hand and up his arm.
‘That’s some wicked ink you’ve got there Theo.’
‘Yeah,’ he muttered as the light caught the lines and it shimmered. Only he and Olivia knew that it was no ordinary tattoo, that it was in fact the melted metal of a supernatural blade deeply embedded in his skin. It had become a part of him that night at Boothe’s Hollow and now, to many, it simply looked like a tattoo but he could call forth the blade anytime he wanted. The metal would flow down his arm to pool in his hand, reforming the weapon, separate yet still a part of him.
‘What is it Theo?’ Tommy asked him, ‘doesn’t she feel the same?’
‘That’s the problem, she won’t say,’ he frowned. ‘She shows me all the time how she feels about me, the way she talks to me, the way she touches me but she won’t tell me how she feels. It’s like she’s holding a part of herself back and sometimes it feels like she’s just waiting.’
‘For what?’
‘For me to disappoint her,’ he shook his head. ‘For me to walk out, it’s almost like she’s expecting me to.’
‘Theo, I’m not surprised she acts that way, after what happened with her parents. Her dad killed her mom, right in front of her from what I hear. After that kind of betrayal, I’d worry if the girl didn’t have trust issues.’
Theo didn’t bother to correct him about Olivia’s parents, after all it still wasn’t common knowledge that her mother was still alive.
‘You my friend need another drink.’ Tommy stood abruptly, swaying slightly on his feet.
‘Probably shouldn’t,’ Theo murmured.
‘Why?’ he shrugged, ‘it’s not like you gotta drive anywhere.’
‘Can’t anyway.’
‘What?’
‘I don’t know how to drive.’
‘What?’ Tommy repeated.
‘Amnesia.’
‘Oh right got ya,’ he nodded.
Jake had decided that as Tommy wasn’t aware of Olivia’s powers or the fact that Theo not only had visions but that he’d been pulled forward in time to the present day from seventeenth century Salem, that the best way to explain any lack of knowledge was just to plead amnesia, especially as Theo had briefly been hospitalised and it was listed in his medical records.
‘So as you can’t drive,’ he grinned, ‘let’s have another beer.’
‘There aren’t any left.’
‘Oh,’ he frowned, ‘well where does Olivia keep her booze?’
‘In there somewhere,’ he gestured absently.
‘'Kay,’ Tommy headed for the nearest cupboard in a somewhat less than straight line.
‘You know,’ Theo spoke up loud enough for Tommy to hear as his head was stuck in the cupboard, ‘Olivia might be right to worry about me.’
‘What do you mean?’ his muffled voice replied.
‘I mean what if I do disappoint her?’
‘Ah ha! Now we’re talking,’ he came up grinning and holding onto a bottle. ‘Don Julio.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Tequila my friend,’ he scooped up two glasses and set them down on the table pouring them both a generous glass. ‘So why do you think you’ll let her down?’
He slumped back in his chair and knocked his drink back in one go as Theo, following his example, did the same.
Theo coughed slightly and held his glass out for a refill.
‘Have you ever done something so bad,’ he replied quietly, ‘that you’ve never been able to forgive yourself and knowing that if anyone ever knew the truth they’d never be able to forgive you either.’
‘Yeah I do actually,’ Tommy swirled the liquid around in his glass before knocking it back. ‘Can you keep a secret?’
‘Yes,’ Theo nodded.
‘I’m not going back to Afghanistan; the doc’s think I might have PTSD. Louisa doesn’t know yet but she will soon enough as I won’t be able to hide it from her.’
‘What’s PTSD?’
‘It’s post traumatic stress disorder,’ he shook his head sighing bitterly. ‘You know, all I ever wanted to do was serve my country but the things I saw…the things I did…’he sucked in a shaky breath and his hand trembled on his glass. ‘I have so much blood on my hands Theo, sometimes I think they’ll never wash clean.’
They sat quietly for a moment both lost in a drunken state of contemplation, realising how much they actually had in common, until Theo’s quiet voice suddenly broke the stillness.
‘I had a brother once, he was older than me. I looked up to him. I wanted to be just like him.’
Tommy reached out and filled his glass.
‘What happened?’
‘Our younger sister died unexpectedly. He changed, he was so angry. He was,’ Theo shrugged helplessly, ‘looking for answers, looking for someone to blame. He’d joined this…group,’ Theo decided that was a safe enough word to use.
‘What like a gang?’ Tommy frowned.
‘Sort of I guess,’ he replied, ‘they hurt so many innocent people. I could see my brother changing, disappearing. I was so desperate to save him before he became as lost to me as my sister was, I joined them too. I thought I could exercise some sort of restraint, maybe convince him to come home but somehow I ended up doing terrible things too. They just had this way about them, especially their leader Nathaniel. He had a way of making you do things without even realising it. People died because of me Tommy, my hands are no cleaner than yours but at least you were serving your country, you were fighting for honour and freedom. I on the other hand was too stupid to know when I was being manipulated.’
‘Does Olivia know?’
‘She knows some of it,’ he shook his head, ‘but not the worst of it. There was someone I cared for, someone I was supposed to protect and she ended up dead because of me.’
‘It seems to me you need to find a way to forgive yourself.’
‘Will you ever forgive yourself?’ Theo asked him seriously.
‘Touché,’ Tommy smiled bitterly as he refilled their glasses.
Taking a deep remorseful breath, he held his glass up. ‘To our damned souls.’
‘Our damned souls,’ Theo repeated as they both downed the fiery liquid.
Olivia threw her head back and laughed as Veronica smiled behind her glass.
‘I can’t believe your mom did that,’ Olivia shook her head. ‘No wonder you took the job with Renata and moved to Mercy despite the recent murders.’
‘I think I’d rather take my chances with a murderer,’ Veronica stared into her nearly empty glass of wine. ‘That came out a little harsher than I meant, I do love my mom it’s just that she’s a bit…controlling.’
‘It’s probably just because she loves you and she wants what’s best for you.’
‘Do you know she actually forbade me to take the job at the museum?’
‘Really?’ Olivia asked in surprise.
‘Yeah,’ she took a sip of her Cabernet, she was on her third glass and
beginning to get very chatty. ‘She said it wasn’t ladylike to work so many hours in a dusty old museum and that no one would ever want to marry me if I didn’t make more of an effort.’
‘No offense,’ Olivia replied, ‘but your mom sounds like a bit of a bitch.’
‘She is,’ she sighed and then suddenly giggled. ‘You should have seen her face when I told her I didn’t care what she wanted, that this was my choice and I was going whether she liked it or not.’
‘You rebel,’ Olivia laughed in delight.
‘Yeah, my teen rebellion came about ten years late but I finally got there,’ she looked up and smiled at Olivia. ‘I didn’t realise that I was slowly suffocating in that house with her and my father. My brothers were all allowed to pretty much go and do whatever they wanted but I was like mom’s own personal little doll. Piano lessons which I hated, ballet lessons which I was absolutely no good at and she would buy all my clothes for me and even tell the hairdresser how to cut and style my hair.’
‘Damn,’ Olivia pursed her lips thoughtfully as she looked Veronica up and down, taking in her sensible shoes and ugly skirt, not to mention the sweater that buttoned up to her neck with what she guessed was an equally sensible blouse underneath. ‘How old are you Veronica?’
‘I’m twenty eight,’ she glanced at Olivia, ‘you?’
‘Same,’ she replied. ‘I’m not trying to be rude here but you dress like you’re forty; is this one of your mom’s choices too?’
Veronica nodded.
‘I’ve been so busy with the move and setting up my apartment and then the renovations at the Museum I haven’t had time to get anything new. There again I wouldn’t know where to start, do you know I’ve never owned a pair of jeans?’
She eyed Olivia’s jeans enviously.
‘You looks so casual but so feminine and sexy,’ she sighed again. ‘I’ll never look like that.’
‘Yes you will,’ Olivia answered purposefully, ‘when’s your next day off?’
‘Thursday.’
‘Okay it’s a date then.’
‘Eh what is?’
‘We are going to buy you some new clothes and get something done with your hair,’ she patted Veronica’s hand reassuringly. ‘You’ll be amazed at how much of a confidence boost it will give you.’
The Ferryman (The Guardians Series 1 Book 2) Page 8