He kept walking, the hallway opening onto a large open area with a kitchen to the left behind the stairs, only a big island sticking out into the room. There was a fireplace along the far wall to the right. A sliding door directly ahead was open to a concrete patio.
A garage was a few feet from the building, free standing, a narrow driveway next to it with a low bush to offer some privacy. The people next door—two women, blonde with hair so short you could see their scalps through the cut, practically twins—stood watching. However, the way they held onto each other suggested a romantic relationship, perhaps marriage. They stood on their own patio, toes flush against the edge of the concrete like a dog that had been told to stay against his better nature.
A concrete path divided the two properties. It ran along the back of the building to the patio, so Taran followed it with his eyes and noticed a wood door that went to the kitchen, or perhaps a room behind it. It would be where the owner came and went from his home to his garage. A similar path sat on the other side of the little plot of grass. In between, on the perfectly manicured grass that was still incredibly green, lay a body on its side, a trowel near his left hand.
“It’s a man,” Taran whispered, conscious of listening witnesses.
Blake nodded, eyebrows raised. “What do you make of that?”
Chapter 40
Zoe rode in the passenger seat of Kay’s SUV. It was a nice car with cream leather seats that were heated, although Zoe hadn’t turned the heat on. It might be October but it wasn’t the time for that, not yet, and, fortunately, the air conditioning worked well, cooling the car down quickly.
Three suitcases were piled in the backseat, which seemed excessive to Zoe because it had sounded like Kay was just there for a day or two. One of the three was fairly large, too, large enough that Zoe could have traveled with it for two weeks, easily. Several bags were piled around the back as well, as if Kay had just grabbed things and stuffed them into the car for her trip.
Kay turned down the radio, playing a top-ten station when they pulled out onto the street. She drove too fast for the narrow streets, much like Zoe had when she first got home. There was something about Corbin Meadow that made you unconsciously slow down when driving.
Of course, Zoe reflected, she probably wouldn’t slow down in that car. Not that it wasn’t nice. Not that seats weren’t pleasant in the way they hugged her back. No, the problem was it smelled like a Chanel factory. Kay didn’t seem to be wearing that much perfume but the car reeked of it.
“You like perfume?” Zoe finally said as they turned down Main Street which would take them to an on-ramp to the main highway.
Kay laughed. “I did. And then I bought some. I had a bunch of stuff in the car that day because I was moving some stuff to a salon and the bag I had packed fell on the bottle and cracked the glass. It didn’t actually spill that much, but in the car, it’s like it’s become exponentially stronger.”
Zoe laughed a little. She watched the town recede in the distance as they hit the highway and the larger stores, the ones that weren’t in downtown Corbin Meadow. A blue county Sheriff SUV sped around them, siren going.
“I wonder what’s happened,” Kay said.
Zoe’s chest tightened, not the usual tightening that might come if you were worried you’d see an accident up ahead, she’d had those. This feeling was darker, like a premonition of something bad. Wherever the sheriff was going, his mission was a bad one, probably a death. This didn’t hit her the way other feelings had hit her. In fact, as soon as the car was out her immediate line of sight, when it turned into the condominium complex on the edge of town, the feeling passed, like a dark cloud had passed over the sun and was gone. Just like that.
“I think someone died,” Zoe said.
“Again?” Kay didn’t ask how she knew. Maybe she had those feelings, too.
Zoe shrugged. “It wasn’t a feeling like I got when Elaine died. I’m not sure why.”
“We’re technically out of town,” Kay laughed. “Do you think it’s safe to talk?”
“I don’t,” Zoe said honestly. Her gut told her they may have been beyond the town limits and into the county, hence the sheriff’s car, but they weren’t outside the influence of those things that were in Corbin Meadow.
“Do you think if I lived here it would be close enough?” Kay asked. “You know, maybe a place in those condos. I remember thinking they looked like they were going to be nice.”
“It seems like it’s at the edge of things, you know? I don’t know what that creature would say.”
Kay said nothing, chewing her lip. They made it to Lenoir soon enough, passing the funeral home that Zoe liked to think guarded the entrance to the town. Kay pulled into the Burger King that wasn’t far up the road, and they sat in the parking lot.
“You hungry?” she asked.
Zoe shook her head.
“I’m not really either. I haven’t eaten all day except for a frappachino when I left this morning, but I just can’t.” Kay sat with her hands on the steering wheel though she’d turned off the car. It was getting warm inside the SUV.
Zoe wanted to lower a window, but she couldn’t. Kay noticed her actions and turned the key, rolling down both windows about half way. It would help but they’d still be warm.
“So you were wondering if you died if that would break the connection,” Zoe said.
Kay nodded.
“I think I can see him when I’m with you because I’m also ‘of the Blood’ as he says. It’s just too thin for him to use me.”
“That’s what I mean. If I died, it might cut the tie that binds that devil to the town. People would be safe again,” Kay said.
Zoe shook her head. “There’s the problem with you dying, though. The town wasn’t safe when you were gone.”
“But maybe my blood anchors him here to this plane, or whatever. He seemed to think that he had more power in the town when I was there. I’m not sure I understand it.”
“I know I don’t,” Zoe said quietly. “But here’s the thing. There were those other creatures who were killing people. They tried to kill me. In fact, my arm still burns like a bitch, although I think it’s fading a little. If you died, would that leave the rest of us at their mercy? I don’t get how that works.”
Kay shook her head. “I had to ask. I mean, if I could sacrifice myself and save the town, I would.”
“I don’t think you’re being asked to do that. You could just keep talking to this creature and make sure he keeps the town safe. Granted, you’re stuck living in Corbin Meadow, but it’s not the worst place. And you do hair. Last I checked there wasn’t anyone good. Grace still does it, but most of her clients are old enough to be our grandmothers.”
Kay laughed a little. “I think Charlene’s grandmother goes to her, but that’s only because she doesn’t want to drive into Lenoir to find someone else. I think they’re building one of those walk-in salons in the commercial center we passed. I looked into it because even though I had to leave, was glad to leave, I missed this place. I even missed Taran a little, although he drove me nuts.”
Zoe smiled. She felt uncomfortable talking about Taran with his ex-wife, although why she should didn’t make any sense to her. It wasn’t like they were dating or anything. They were just friends, and he seemed to care that she might be next on the list of people to be killed.
“They don’t like bringing in people,” Kay said. “Maybe it dilutes their power.”
“He said something about that,” Zoe agreed. “And those were the major types of things that were getting people killed.”
“I wonder if I can wish that Emrys makes sure they don’t kill anyone and then you could start working on making sure more people came to the town,” Kay said. “We could work together to break this influence.”
Zoe nodded. She wanted to build up the town largely because she thought it would be good for the people there, bring in a better economy, which was likely something she’d gotten from her mother, n
ot because they needed to destroy something special about Corbin Meadow. However, if that was the way Kay wanted to look at it, well, that was Kay.
“Do you think it’s safe for you to do that?” Zoe asked. “I mean, not just for your soul, but could they try and hurt you, too?”
Kay shook her head. “Didn’t you hear Emrys? I am of the Blood, or whatever, and they can’t touch me, even if he isn’t directly protecting me. But your blood wasn’t strong enough.”
“You had to ask Emrys to protect me and then they couldn’t touch me. Like you make him stronger. Do you make them weaker?”
Kay shrugged. “I’d like to think that my dying would kill them all.”
“Emrys talked about us as mortals. Does that mean they aren’t mortal and can’t die?” Zoe was musing aloud, trying to parse what she’d learned, force it into something that made sense.
“We need to know more,” Kay said. “We don’t know enough about these things to know how to bargain or what’s good. For now, they aren’t hurting you, but I need to make sure they don’t hurt anyone else. And I need to learn more about them.”
“I don’t even know what they are,” Zoe said. “Where would we start asking?”
Kay pulled out her phone and started punching buttons on it. Zoe waited. She had her phone, too, and began doing her own searches, bizarre things like “are goblins real?” and then she tried gnomes. So far as Google was concerned, the answer was mostly no.
“There’s a professor at Redwellyn College just over the border in Tennessee, outside Johnson City,” Kay said. “It’s got a fairly large paranormal program, with a bunch of different focuses including one that studies folk creatures and the reality behind legends.”
“Like those creatures,” Zoe said.
Kay nodded. “Want to take a road trip?”
“It’s late. We should go back and I can pack up a bag,” Zoe said. “And I can tell my father where I’m going. He’ll probably be relieved that I’m getting out of town.”
“Great. That way if it gets late or if Professor Newton isn’t in, we can find a hotel and spend the night.”
Zoe had to pause a moment to try and catch up with Kay’s train of thought. Clearly Newton was the professor that had the expertise closest to what they needed. Before she could ask for more information before agreeing, Kay had turned the car around to head back into town.
Chapter 41
Taran was hot, tired, puzzled, and feeling overwhelmed when he left the scene. Blake Fellows hadn’t asked him to get statements this time. This time he was having his own people do it. Of course, the condominiums were technically out of Taran’s jurisdiction, but just. Not that he knew the people there, not like he did in the rest of the town. The people in the condos, by and large, worked at the tech firm. A few others, attracted by living off the beaten path and good housing prices for the area, telecommuted to Raleigh or Charlotte. The condominiums had only started selling less than a year ago, the first people moving in about seven or eight months before.
The dead man was Austin Marino. Taran was left with knowing only that, frustrated by the hole that his lack of knowledge left. Taran didn’t remember playing football with him, watching him play, or listening to stories about his games. He didn’t remember hanging out at the diner with him, enjoying his company or jealous of his success.
Austin had moved there from Raleigh about four months earlier. He lived with a girlfriend named Margot Walker, who was currently out of town.
So far there were no suspects. The two women who lived next door, Belle and Siobhan, hadn’t seen anything, nor had they heard anything. Both telecommuted from their home having reconfigured the downstairs to accommodate two small offices, or so they said. Taran hadn’t gone inside, hadn’t cared to go inside. Walking through Austin’s home had been enough.
He wondered what the death meant for Zoe and the threats against her. He turned the car towards her home. He had the window down as the day had cooled when the sun lowered in the sky. Headlights on, the radio drowned by the whoosh and occasional clack of the road, Taran hung an arm out the window, holding onto the roof like he remembered his father doing years ago when he was a kid.
He breathed deeply, clearing the smell of death from his nostrils and filling them with the smell of French fries as he passed the McDonald’s, and later fried chicken when he got close to the grocery store. The rest of the time the air held that unique aroma that could only be found in Corbin Meadow, clean and crisp, faintly piney, and sometimes overwhelmingly floral like an old lady who had splashed too much perfume on her body. All of those scents were always mixed up in the town like layers of memories that overlaid the actual happenings.
Taran worried about what he’d do if Kay was still at Zoe’s, but he pushed that aside. She’d been there early in the afternoon. Surely she would have left. Maybe he ought to call to be sure. His hand twitched, the one holding the wheel. He felt the muscles in the arm resting on the car door tense, as if they were trying to make a decision his brain didn’t want to make.
The car continued rolling towards the Hyer house, the destination set as if in stone, and Taran was going there no matter what. It felt a little like destiny. He breathed again, wondering if it was fate or destiny and how bad it could be.
The same bronze-colored SUV was in the driveway when he pulled up. Getting out of the car he heard the slight ticking of the SUV’s engine as it cooled after a drive. Taran looked inside, saw the same pile of suitcases, too many for a short trip, too few for a homecoming. They looked like Kay—not that his ex looked like a square cloth bag for carrying clothing, but rather they looked like something she would purchase and use. Her style.
He walked up the path to the door, noticing as he did that the porch light was on. Through the closed curtains he saw hints of shadows as people moved around inside, at least two, perhaps more. He hoped for more, hoped that Ed was there to help diffuse tension as he talked to Zoe, made sure she was still okay, and then had to face Kay, which was almost as difficult as having to face the fact that he didn’t believe the people in his town had been killed by human hands.
Taran reached out his hand and rang the bell, listening as he did so to the chimes playing their tune, softly fading away, footsteps already making their way to the door.
Ed opened the door, dressed in dark jeans, almost black, and a blue and cream plaid short-sleeved shirt.
“Chief Rees!” Ed said loudly. The murmur of voices in the background stopped, waiting.
“How are you?” Taran asked.
Ed opened the screen, gesturing for Taran to come in, his head going out to peer around the garden, as if making sure Taran hadn’t been followed, or perhaps he was looking for a swat team coming to swoop in and take away his daughter.
“Been worried,” Ed said.
Zoe and Kay were both standing in the big living room. They held glasses of something to drink. Kay had part of a sandwich in her hand. Zoe didn’t. There was an empty plate near a chair, as if he’d interrupted a casual chat over sandwiches, no doubt provided by Ed.
“Taran,” Kay said quietly.
Taran nodded at her.
Zoe said nothing, just looking at him, and her look said something to him deep inside. He wanted to go to her, to hug her, to make sure she was still real, but he stood there, his eyes going back to his ex-wife who still frightened him a little bit.
“There was another murder,” Taran said. “In the condos.”
“We saw the sheriffs,” Zoe said, moving a step towards him. It brought her even with Kay, who stood near the closest chair. Kay set the sandwich down on a plate, which forced her to turn slightly to do so.
Taran waited, putting on his expectant look, saying nothing.
“We went to have a chat in Lenoir. The sheriff went racing by us,” Zoe continued, filling the silence.
He nodded. Ed had moved back into the family room, leaving him to chat with the women.
Zoe and Kay exchanged a look. Kay gestured f
or him to come closer. He did so, his feet moving more easily than his brain in this supremely uncomfortable situation.
The two women moved back to the corner of the room near the fireplace. Kay and Zoe leaned in.
“We talked to it,” Kay said, her voice a whisper, her breath warm against the side of his face.
“We’re meeting with a paranormal expert tomorrow at Redwellyn,” Zoe said. “We were just going to go tonight, but I called and got an appointment for tomorrow at noon. The professor sometimes sees students on weekends, I guess.”
“We might still go tonight,” Kay added.
“But you’re safe?” Taran whispered. Clearly Ed hadn’t been filled in.
Zoe nodded.
“I asked that she be safe,” Kay said. “You’ve seen it?” Clearly she was referring to the creature.
Taran didn’t need to nod. Zoe was already doing it for him. Kay gave them both a look but said nothing. If it bothered her, there was no outward sign.
“It said I had to stay in Corbin Meadow to protect people,” Kay said. “I’m not sure I understand why.”
“It—Emrys, Kay called it—said that there were others killing people because they were bringing in too many humans to the town,” Zoe added. Her voice was further from his face, her whisper softer to his ears, though no less clear.
The idea of why gave him something to look into for Austin Marino. Who was he? What had he wanted to bring in or change? Taran would have to find out.
“Wouldn’t it be safer for other people if Kay stays in town?”
Kay frowned. She didn’t like the idea. She wanted to run. That would be like her. She’d always hated the fact that it was such a small place. She felt like it was a prison.
“But we don’t know what will set them off. If Kay knows about something she can ask for this Emrys to protect them, but I’m not sure he can protect everyone generally,” Zoe said.
“What if she just wished no one was murdered?” Taran asked. “In town, of course.”
Souls Lost (Appalachian Souls Book 1) Page 16