by R E Gauthier
Nikki felt the guilt creeping in again. “No, I insist,” she said as her burner phone chimed. “I need to take this call. Excuse me.” Nikki hurriedly walked a distance away before she tapped the accept call icon. “What the hell happened? You weren’t supposed to take the bodies.” Nikki’s hushed voice hissed into her phone.
“I didn’t take any bodies. What are you talking about? I did what you asked, but when we opened the three caskets you told us to target, there were no bodies inside.”
Nikki stepped back as if someone hit her. No bodies. There were no bodies. The bodies of Mack’s uncle, aunt, and cousin were not inside the coffins. Nikki couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you saying that they were empty?”
The man on the other end of the phone conversation laughed, and Nikki could imagine him looking at his phone as if she were some crazy woman. “Yeah, they were empty. So, either there were never any bodies in there, which would fit the fact the linings looked untouched, or someone removed the bodies shortly after they were put inside but before they were buried. My guys are professionals, and they have seen a lot of used caskets if you get my drift.”
Nikki reeled from this revelation. Did someone remove the bodies before they were buried? Or were there never any bodies to begin in those graves? Had Mack’s family members even died that night?”
Chapter Ten
Isla MacKenzie’s (Nanna’s) House, April 9, 2012
“You know you don’t have to come with me. I can do the family notification myself,” Lindsay said for the third time since they began the drive to Isla MacKenzie’s house on McGregor Drive.
Nikki had confessed that she knew the family through a fellow FBI agent but didn’t go into detail how or who the agent in question was. Nikki didn’t feel as though Lindsay needed to know everything, but that Nikki knew the family. It was her way to be there when Isla MacKenzie was told that the bodies of her daughter, granddaughter, and son-in-law were missing. Nikki needed to see the reaction to know if Mack’s grandmother knew of the deceit, or in her surprise, she was also in the dark of what happened to their bodies. Had the CIA moved the bodies or destroyed evidence to cover up the truth? “No, I need to be there. I owe it to my friend to be there for her family.”
“Well, if you’re sure. How should I proceed? Is this Isla MacKenzie a frail woman. Should we have more family with her when we give her this news? I don’t want to have to call an ambulance.”
Nikki bit her bottom lip to stop herself from laughing out loud. She shook her head. “You won’t have to worry. Nan…I mean, Isla MacKenzie isn’t frail.” Nikki knew that the scare the older woman had given Mack weeks ago had been a ruse, and the nonagenarian was spryer and more fit than seventy, or even eighty-year-old people. “Besides, she doesn’t live alone, so we’ll have back-up…I mean help if Ms. MacKenzie gets distraught.” Nikki was confident that Nanna would be upset, but she hoped that Lindsay’s and Miranda’s presence would thwart any repercussions from Nikki being there when Isla learned her world of lies was unraveling. Nikki was sure nothing was put over Isla MacKenzie’s eyes and that she knew that those bodies were not in their graves.
As Lindsay pulled her car into the driveway of the large Victorian home, she turned to Nikki and said, “about earlier, we can chalk it up to some leftover tension between us. I’m married; I don’t normally do things like that. I’m happy with Anna.”
Nikki was taken aback, but relieved. Part of Nikki was also disappointed because she and Lindsay would not be having sex again. They may not have been right for one another, but the sex had always been exceptional. But the last thing Nikki needed right now was to get involved with a needy woman like Lindsay. Nodding her agreement, Nikki said, “I’m okay with leaving what happened today in the “it won’t happen again” column. I’m not looking for anything complicated right now.”
“Good, now let’s go inside and tell this poor woman that the bodies of three members of her family are missing. I’m going to help you find these sick bastards. Our forensic team is going over the caskets with a fine-toothed comb, and if there is anything to find to help us bring the people responsible to justice, they will find it.”
Nikki knew they would not find anything. Just like she knew that Isla MacKenzie would not be as upset about the news as Lindsay thought she would be.
***
Inside the house, Nikki and Lindsay sat in the sunroom awaiting Isla Mackenzie. Miranda had greeted the women at the door and led them to the sunroom. It was apparent Miranda had questions when she saw Nikki with Detective Lindsay Hansen, but she refrained from asking them. Nikki managed to whisper to Miranda that she would explain everything as soon as she could. Miranda had nodded and told them Nanna would join them shortly. As they waited for the older woman’s entrance, Nikki asked Miranda about the work they were doing in the garden.
Miranda looked confused.
“I’ve told Detective Hansen that I’m close with the family. She doesn’t know the specifics, but she’s aware of my involvement. I asked to be present when she gives Isla this news.”
Miranda’s eyebrows rose. She smiled and nodded. “I understand. Nanna and I are doing some planting to be ready for the wedding.”
Lindsay nodded and smiled. “I told Nikki that I didn’t need her help, but she insisted that she’d be here. When is the wedding?”
Miranda and Lindsay chatted about the upcoming nuptials.
Nikki knew that Miranda had more questions, but she would explain it all after Lindsay left. She planned on being present for Lindsay’s notification and then tell the detective she would stay back and call a cab after she spoke to Isla and Miranda in private. Nikki hoped that Lindsay wouldn’t ask too many questions. The detective wouldn’t be happy she had been used to reveal the lies and that she had made a notification of a false body-snatching crime. She wasn’t proud of lying to Lindsay but felt justified in doing so. Nikki’s musings and the two women talking were interrupted by Isla MacKenzie’s entrance into the sunroom.
“Detective Hansen, Special Agent Hyland; I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. What has brought you to my home today?”
Nikki nearly choked on the gasp that fought to be allowed out of her mouth. Nanna was one very imposing woman, and the air around her snapped with electricity. Nikki couldn’t imagine how formidable this woman had been in her youth. As a nearly ninety-two-year-old, Isla MacKenzie could make even the biggest, meanest man tremble with fear.
Lindsay stood and greeted Nanna with a handshake. “I’m sorry to have to be the bearer of bad news. Please do sit down, Ms. MacKenzie.”
“Call me, Isla. I’m Isla to everyone who isn’t a friend. Isn’t that right, Special Agent Hyland?”
Nikki nodded and mumbled, “yes, Nan…I mean, Isla.” Nikki was confident Nanna had chosen her words to convey she didn’t feel Nikki was a friend at the moment.
Nanna smiled. “Why Nikki, you know you can call me Nanna.” Turning toward the tall woman across from her, Nanna asked, what is it that you are here to tell me, Detective Hansen?”
Nanna’s demeanor was unnerving, but Nikki tried to shake off the feeling that Nanna was playing a part to perfection. Nikki took a deep breath. She straightened to watch Nanna’s response to what Lindsay was about to say. She wanted to see if Isla MacKenzie would allow her veneer to slip and show Nikki she knew about the missing bodies in the caskets.
As Lindsay spoke, Nanna remained quietly watching, and then when she heard that the bodies were taken from their graves, Nanna gasped as if on cue. Her eyes never wavered, nor did they change size or expression. Nanna feigned the shock response to fit into what was expected of a grieving relative, upon learning their loved one’s graves were desecrated. Nikki knew immediately that her theory had been correct. There had never been bodies in those graves because the people were not dead. Jesus, I need to tell Mack.
***
After Lindsay left, Nikki sat out in the garden with Miranda while Nanna went to get them some tea and o
atcakes. Nikki didn’t have much of an appetite, and Miranda looked too shocked to speak. Nikki’s head spun with all of the news she had mulling around inside. The most prominent idea at the moment was Nikki’s need to reach out to Mack. Her best friend needed to know her cousin, aunt, and uncle may not be dead. The questions of why and if they’re not dead, where are they made Nikki’s head buzz. Did Nanna know the answers? Nanna acted summarily upset, but inside, the woman was calm and reserved. She wasn’t surprised that the police found no bodies in the disturbed graves.
“Nikki, did you have something to do with the disappearance of the bodies?” Miranda blurted out.
Choosing her words carefully, Nikki said, “there were never any bodies. I’m certain of that now. I had my theories, but today’s revelations have proved them correct.”
“No bodies? What do you mean there were no bodies?” Miranda shook her head. I don’t understand; how could there be no bodies. They died over twenty years ago; of course, there were bodies.”
Nikki frowned. She had hoped she would have an easier time explaining this. Miranda was told by the whole MacGregor family that Mack’s uncle, aunt, and cousin died in some home invasion more than twenty-one years ago. She wasn’t sure what Mack might have told her fiancée about that night, but the fact was that Ethan MacDonald wasn’t who he said he was and worked with Mi6 and the CIA. And now today, Nikki learned the family, Mack believed to be dead were not killed that night. “I’m not sure what you know, but when Nanna comes back, I hope we’ll be able to clear it all up.”
Nanna walked out onto the patio with a tray and smiled when Miranda jumped up to help her. “Thank you, Miranda.”
After serving everyone their tea and cakes, Nanna sat and nodded in Nikki’s direction.
Nikki knew that was her cue to begin. Taking a deep breath, Nikki chose to start at her beginning and then wait for Nanna to step in to clarify or correct her summation.
After several moments of Nikki telling them her ideas of what happened that night, Nanna sighed and then spoke. “It’s a nice theory, but you have a few things wrong. That night only I, Cat, and Ethan knew what happened. Everyone knows what everyone was told; they died that night.”
“But they didn’t. You knew, and you let Kelsey’s heartbreak that night. You knew what it did to her thinking they were dead, what she has gone through. How could you do that to her?” Miranda bowed her head, and her shoulders shook as she sobbed openly.
Nanna’s eyes welled up, and she blinked a few times and shook her head. “I had to do it to protect them. I did it for the greater good. If they knew they were alive, everyone was in danger. I made a promise, and I kept that promise to protect them.”
“What about Mack and her promise? You knew she became an FBI agent to find justice for their deaths. Her whole life was filled with anger and revenge for their deaths. You could have saved her years of agony and pain.”
“You don’t think that I wanted to tell her? That I wanted to keep her from being hurt? Every moment of her life, I felt her pain, knew I couldn’t do anything. That is why I tried to stop her from knowing the truth. I stopped her from using her gift to the fullest. I believed it was the best.”
Nikki wanted to scream for her best friend. Mack would be crushed to know her beloved grandmother had lied to her all these years. The one person she thought loved her unconditionally, was the one person keeping a horrible lie from Mack. With her heartbreaking for Mack, Nikki bowed her head and sobbed. “Mack…needs to know. If Paul Washburg wasn’t involved in Mack’s disappearance, who is? Do you know something about where she is…Do you know who did this to Mack?”
Nanna shook her head. “I don’t know what happened exactly, but I do know Kelsey is safe and that she’s better off where she is now, she isn’t safe with us. You may think I have not told you everything, but you, Nikki haven’t told us everything either.”
Chapter Eleven
An Undisclosed Room, April 10, 2012
Kelsey felt as if her limbs were filled with lead; her head ached more than it had ever in her life. Exhaustion like she had never felt before, weighed her down. Closing her eyes, Kelsey attempted once again to make sense out of what Aisling was saying. “This cannot be happening. It has to be some trick or a dream. I used to have visions that appeared to be real, that must be what is happening. I hit my head, or I have an illness. There has to be an explanation as to why I am sitting here listening to you tell me you’re sorry, and everything I have ever known to be true is a lie. Please tell me I’m right, and this isn’t real.” Kelsey squeezed her eyes closed and then opened them. Aisling still sat in front of her with a crooked smile on her face.
“I’m real. You’re not having a vision or hit your head, nor do you have an illness. I’m alive, and I’ve waited more than half my life for this moment.” Aisling nibbled on her lower lip. Her hand reached to touch Kelsey.
Kelsey pulled away. Anger bubbled up, and she climbed out of bed. The rapid change in position caused a wave of nausea, and black spots appeared before her eyes. She reached out to find something to keep from falling. Her hand hit the dresser, and then she felt a steadying hand on her arm.
“You may not be sick, but you are weak. Please eat something, and then we can talk some more.”
Aisling’s voice was close to Kelsey’s ear. Even with her eyes shut, Kelsey could see in her mind, the smiling face of an adult-form of her dead cousin. Aisling is dead. How can this be happening? “I need to talk to Miranda. Please let me call her to tell her I’m okay.” The need to find something solid and real in her world, made Kelsey think of her beautiful fiancée. Miranda must be worried. Nikki must be going crazy. “Please, I’ll eat something if you let me use the phone to call Miranda and Nikki.”
Aisling scoffed. “If it were not for that woman, we wouldn’t be sitting here. She has done enough. I cannot let you contact anyone right now. It’s too dangerous. You have to stay dead, or they will kill you.”
Kelsey lifted her bowed head and turned away from Aisling. Ambling the short distance to the en suite bathroom, she left her cousin standing beside the bed. “I’m going to take a shower, and when I’m out, I want you to get me a phone to call Miranda. I’ll talk to you when you do; until then, leave me alone.”
Once inside the bathroom, Kelsey allowed her body to crumble to the floor, and great sobs wracked her body. Her whole world was turned upside down. Everything she thought was real wasn’t anymore. Lies; everyone had lied to her. Her whole life had been one lie after another. What can I believe? What is real? The one person who she trusted her entire life had helped ruin her life and lie to her repeatedly. How could Aisling have done this? Aisling did try to explain. She told Kelsey that she didn’t have a choice, but everyone had options, and Aisling chose to keep living a lie, hurting Kelsey. The sobs tore through her, and she let them escape unchecked for the very first time. Holding it together for everyone else and trying to be strong had been what Kelsey did. She never felt so bereft since she thought she had lost Miranda forever, but even then, she hadn’t felt this alone and betrayed. Miranda. Miranda, I love you and need you. Kelsey reached for the amulet around her neck. She was too exhausted on the ship to try and contact Miranda, but today it may work. Her hand didn’t find her amulet. Sensing the loss of her connection with Miranda, even more, Kelsey sobbed louder.
***
Aisling’s heart broke more with every sob she heard. “I’m sorry, Kels; I never meant to hurt you,” she whispered before leaving the room. She made her way to the parlor, where she knew she would find her mother, Catrina MacAskill. Needing to talk to someone who would understand, Aisling’s pace quickened. Upon entering the warm, sunny room, Aisling saw her mother, Cat, sitting on the bench in front of the window, overlooking the garden. Remembering how her mother instantly loved this room when she saw it, Aisling smiled. Her mother said it reminded her of her home as a child, sitting in the sun with her mother. Nanna, I wish you were here. How many times had she wished for this
same thing over the years? Seeing Kelsey only amplified her need to have her Nanna back as well. Aisling’s life hadn’t been easy since she learned that she lived a lie, that she was dead to everyone she ever knew.
“She is still upset. You shouldn’t have done it, Aisling. This is going to complicate everything.” Cat said.
“Mom, I told you why I had to do it. You said you understood.” Aisling needed the comfort of her mother’s approval, but most of all, she needed someone to say what she did had been the only thing she could have done.
“I know why you did it. I do understand, but it’s going to make everything more difficult. Your father will not be happy. There is a reason why we haven’t contacted anyone from our past life. You knew it would be dangerous for everyone.” Cat stretched her arms over her head and yawned. “We should go for a run later; some exercise will do us some good. She’ll come around; you’ll see. She may not like it but if you explain—”
Aisling interrupted her mother, “that’s just it; she won’t let me explain. She said she wouldn’t talk to me unless I let her talk to Miranda and Nikki.” She nearly spat out the last name. That woman was the reason why Kelsey was here. She wouldn’t leave it alone, and they wouldn’t let it go. If Aisling hadn’t arranged for Kelsey to die, they would have killed her for real. “You know I cannot do as she asked. You know I have to make sure they keep thinking she is dead. One whiff of the fact she is alive and everyone she’s ever loved or cared about will be in danger. I cannot let them go after Nanna or the rest of the family; they’ve been hurt enough.” Aisling felt and heard the deep pain in her mother’s sigh. Mentioning her grandmother always made her mother very sad and lonesome for home. “I’m sorry, mother.”
“No, I’m sorry. I should have made a different decision all those years ago. I could have changed everything. You could have grown up with family and with Kelsey. We wouldn’t be here right now, none of what happened would have happened.” Cat bowed her head.