Echoes of Evil

by Heather Graham

  “Make it good, kid,” he said.

  She didn’t let herself look at him. Father Rodriguez ended his prayer and brought her up.

  “Cliff was, beyond a doubt, a one-of-a-kind man,” Kody began.

  “A wonderful man!” Cliff’s ghost said. “An extraordinary man—best ever.”

  Kody didn’t give him a glance. She couldn’t.

  “A charming man, as well. A bit of a flirt, in the best way, as his wife, whom he loved beyond all measure, can tell you.”

  “All right, all right, so maybe not a wonderful man,” Cliff’s ghost said.

  “A very good man, kind to all,” Kody said. She talked a minute more, mentioning his ability with songs and guitar, his contribution to the local music scene, and then said, “We thank you all so very much for paying homage to Cliff tonight. We will miss him. Many will miss him as a friend. Rosy will miss him as the love of her life. All of us will miss him as a very special part of Key West.”

  “Why don’t you ask which one of the bastards murdered me?” Cliff suggested.

  “Truly loved by all,” Kody said. She looked around the room. All eyes were on her.

  She actually felt tempted to repeat Cliff’s question herself. But then, she couldn’t do that to Rosy.

  “He will be missed more than words can say,” she added. “And, of course, we’ll always be looking for those who knew him, always seeking to exchange stories and...always...” she finished softly, because she could not help herself “...always seeking to find the truth. Thank you.”

  She walked away from the coffin.

  10

  “I always wonder what a wake just might tell us,” Liam said quietly. He and Kelsey had found Brodie down near the sidewalk outside the funeral home, watching as others left.

  “I wish it had told us something,” Kelsey said softly. “It broke my heart to see Cliff. He loved Rosy so much.”

  “She seems to be having a bad time,” Liam said. “Anything?” he asked Brodie.

  “Not tonight. We were all watching. People seldom go to a wake and suddenly scream out a confession anyway,” Brodie said.

  “No, I guess not,” Kelsey agreed.

  “We’re heading home,” Liam said.

  “Heading home. It’s late,” Kelsey said. “And, of course, we’ll both stay up for hours, poring over everything we know about Cliff and Arnold Ferrer and the ship.”

  Brodie smiled. Kelsey was the perfect fit for Liam. She was a “seer” as well, of course—that was something that made life easier from the get-go. She wasn’t just support for her husband; she was a true sounding board.

  “I think we’ll all do the same.”

  “And it works,” Kelsey whispered. “I couldn’t get near Kody—if you see her, give her my love. And tell her that we’ll all be there tomorrow.”

  “Will do,” Brodie promised.

  He watched them walk down the path to Liam’s car. And he waited.

  Then he saw a group from Sea Life coming out. Ewan headed over to talk to Brodie.

  “Anything else on Mr. Ferrer?” he asked.

  “Liam and his team are working hard. We’re getting more and more bits of information daily,” Brodie told him.

  “Well, you really crashed back into working—for a guy on vacation,” Ewan said.

  “I know you, Ewan. If you were me, you wouldn’t be able to let it go,” Brodie told him.

  “No, no, I wouldn’t. But I’ve got my work back down on the ship.” He hesitated. “We found chains. And some human remains. Bones...bone fragment, really. After being in the service so many years, I didn’t think that too much would get to me. I’ve gotten to see a lot of man’s inhumanity to man time and time again. But when I get down there sometimes, I can’t help but wonder—how could one human being do such things to other human beings?”

  Ewan was clearly disturbed by the discovery and what he was seeing. Being in the actual environment was different from hearing about it. He was doing his job; doing what needed to be done. But not without empathy.

  Most of the time, Brodie’s sense about people was right on. Maybe that came hand in hand with seeing the dead; he wasn’t sure.

  “Hey, no one has cured the world of cruelty yet, and it’s unlikely it will happen anytime soon,” Brodie told him. “The best we can do is make and enact laws—and ignore those who run around feeling superior.” He looked back toward the funeral parlor. Kody was still standing next to Rosy, holding her around the shoulders as Rosy thanked people for coming.

  “It was nice that your whole crew came out, Ewan,” Brodie said.

  “We hadn’t been working that long, but heading out to see Cliff Bullard play was something we’d all gotten into doing. It was nice at the Drunken Pirate—Cliff was funny. He was a good showman. And he strummed a good tune. But it wasn’t so loud that we couldn’t hear ourselves, talk over what we were doing... Anyway, we’ve called a moratorium on our work tomorrow, too. The parent company has sent down a few men to watch over the Memory and the dive site out of respect—we will all be attending the funeral.”

  “That’s a nice gesture.”

  “That’s respect,” Ewan said. “Good night, Brodie.” He started to walk away, but then turned back. “You know, you’re welcome back at the dive site any time. And Sea Life wouldn’t let me say that to many people.”

  “I’m honored,” Brodie told him. “Thank you.”

  He walked back toward the entry to the funeral parlor.

  The crowd had winnowed out.

  He’d been watching the ghost of Cliff Bullard all night; he’d seen Cliff tease Kody, and he’d also seen something of the sadness and emotion in his voice when he’d suggested that she should ask which of the bastards had killed him.

  He walked over to the group; he saw that Kody’s mother was looking at him curiously as he approached.

  Rosy stopped sniffling for a minute to stare at him, too.

  “You’ve all met Brodie McFadden, except for my mom and Frank,” Kody said. “Brodie, my mom, Sally, and her husband, Frank Frampton.”

  Frank immediately extended a hand. Brodie took it firmly. “Glad to meet you, sir.”

  “Pleasure, young man,” Frank said.

  “Likewise,” Kody’s mother said. She stepped forward, and to his surprise, gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Sorry, we’re a very kissy-huggy family. We actually heard about you, Mr. McFadden,” Sally said.

  Everyone looked at her.

  “Seriously?” she asked, a half smile on her face. Sally glanced at Rosy with sympathetic eyes. “We have been in touch with Liam and Kelsey the whole time. Our first thought had been to come straight home, but then...well, Cliff was very supportive of Frank’s work, so we came this morning. We didn’t want to bother you with phone calls.”

  Rosy smiled. “Kody has been a dream helper in so many ways!” Rosy gave a deep sigh. “I guess I need to head home. Tomorrow...”

  “We’ll get you home,” Kody told her.

  “The car is taking me home. Sonny is coming with me. She’s staying at my place,” Rosy assured her. “You...well, your mom and Frank just got back. Don’t worry about me, Kody. I’m in good hands.”

  Sonny looked at Kelsey and smiled. “I’m on duty,” she promised.

  “And I’ll head over for a few minutes, too,” Bill said. “Until you’ve had a chance to wind down.”

  “It’s a big car,” Emory said.

  “So, should we get some coffee or something?” Frank asked Kody. “Mr. McFadden, you’ll join us?”

  “Sure. Thank you,” Brodie said.

  They bid Rosy good-night, Kody giving her a warm hug, Sally doing the same. Brodie suggested the little restaurant where he and Kody had eaten the night before—they served food until midnight—not that there weren’t other places, but it was a full menu, and,
as far as he knew, none of them had eaten.

  They ordered soon after sitting down; Brodie knew that he was being studied. He didn’t mind. Frank talked about his work—the company he was with was a nonprofit, like Sea Life. “Tomorrow, I’ll be back on the road, staying up in Marathon.”

  “I’d be going with him,” Sally said. “Except...”

  “Mom,” Kody said, “you’re still going with Frank. You don’t need to stay because of me.”

  “We’ll see,” Sally said.

  “We won’t see—I’m fine. We have wonderful friends here. Liam is here—and Brodie is going to be here.”

  Had Kody told them that something was going on between them?

  Frank wasn’t going to get into it. “Anyway, we’re going to film a documentary on all the good that is done by many of our aquariums and marine facilities. What many animal activists don’t realize is how many creatures would die if they weren’t cared for by such facilities.”

  “Tommy—he’s a sea turtle,” Sally said. “Poor thing was so entangled in fishing wire...he couldn’t make it on his own. And Augustine the dolphin—rescued off the North Florida coast, so mangled by a boat propeller it’s amazing that he has survived at all. He’s very happy—loves his vet and his trainer, and when they go near his section of the water, he squeals and rushes to see him. Augustine loves people!”

  “So, we’ve learned a little bit about you, Mr. McFadden,” Frank said.

  Kody rolled her eyes. Brodie smiled. “I am a PI. I’m from Virginia, but love visiting Key West. I was working with Ewan Keegan, of Sea Life. I was the one who found Mr. Ferrer’s body. I’ve actually met Liam before and we worked together. Sad case—a boat crashed off of Stock Island and a man was killed—his body was entangled by an anchor chain that had been discarded.” He hesitated. It was going to sound like all he did was find dead men in the water. “I was one of the divers who finally found him.”

  “Oh,” Kody’s mother said, glancing at Kody.

  Kody laughed suddenly. “Mom, Liam is a cop. A detective. He’s always involved with crime. You don’t have a problem with that.”

  “One of the best cops on the island,” Frank said. “One of the best cops we’ve ever had.”

  Brodie lowered his head, trying not to smile. Liam was Kody’s friend—he hadn’t asked, but he was pretty sure the two had never been romantically involved. There was a difference, maybe, in Sally’s eyes, between a friend who was a cop and a man who might be more than a friend winding up in the midst of danger all the time.

  “What do you think about all this?” Frank asked Brodie seriously. “Horrible—that a man was murdered, trying to do the right thing.”

  “Well, he’s still doing the right thing,” Brodie said. “The ME will be releasing Arnold Ferrer’s body tomorrow, so a former partner of his is coming down. She’s going to take him home to be buried. And she’s going to sign over the papers that were so important to him to Sea Life and then to Kody, for the museum.”

  “That’s wonderful of her,” Sally said.

  “Excellent,” Frank said. “When Kody started working on the museum, I was afraid that it might be...” He hesitated, looking at Kody.

  “He was afraid I was going to create the museum as something that catered to the sensationalism of some of our ghost stories,” Kody said, grinning.

  Frank flushed. “Well, Kody hasn’t managed it that way at all. It’s one of the best museums on the island, even if I am prejudiced.”

  “Thank you, Frank.”

  “And there’s a beautiful memorial to your father, too,” Frank said. “And, of course, other artists, actors, writers and musicians.”

  “Can’t have Key West without music,” Kody said. She smiled sadly. “I do remember when Dad and Cliff would play.”

  “Your father loved to play with his friends—let them be seen and heard. I think he was always surprised that he managed to gain the popularity that he did. I don’t think he always thought that he was worthy of the accolades he received,” Sally said. She reached across the table and squeezed her daughter’s hand. “You’re going to add Cliff in to the musicians of the past section, right?”

  “Absolutely. I already have a great picture of him with Dad up on the wall. Of course, I have lots of pictures of the people he played with through the years.”

  Dinner came and went; they all lingered over coffee.

  “Who is doing the eulogy?” Sally asked, after Frank and Brodie had politely argued over the bill. Frank won; Brodie didn’t want to offend him.

  “I’m doing the eulogy,” Kody told her.

  “Hmm,” Sally said.

  “Mom, I can do a eulogy.”

  “I’m sure you’ll do it beautifully,” Sally said. “It’s just that Rosy and Bill Worth are so close, and Bill writes for a living.”

  “Rosy asked me. What could I say? In fact, I need to get something down on paper now.”

  “And we really need to get to sleep. The service at the church is at ten, right?” Frank asked.

  “Ten o’clock,” Kody said.

  “Sweetheart, do you want to come home with us? Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” Kody said. “I just need to go mull my words. Brodie will help.”

  “Okay. Oh!” Sally said, as if just realizing Kody’s relationship with Brodie might go deeper than she had thought.

  “Sally, let’s go. Let her get her eulogy written. I know it’s going to be very important to her.”

  “All right, all right...um. Hmm. Brodie, very nice to meet you,” Sally said, and she started to leave with Frank. But then she paused. “You’re not from here. Are you going to stay until the murder from the ship is solved? That might take... Well, there are murders that go completely unsolved, so... You live in Virginia.”

  Frank gave Brodie and Kody a grimace over Sally’s shoulder. “Good night, you two. We’ll see you at the church.”

  “Good night, and a true pleasure,” Brodie said.

  “Of course,” Sally murmured. “But—”

  “We’re going Sally,” Frank said. “We’ll see them in the morning.”

  They finally left, and Brodie took his seat again, smiling as he met Kody’s eyes.

  “She is my mom,” Kody said.

  “She’s lovely.”

  “She really is. And Frank... I’ll always miss my father. I know that he had very bad days when he was younger. He might not have made it. My mother was his lifeline, and he truly adored her. But I’m honestly happy for her now. Frank is a good man.”

  “He seems exceptional,” Brodie agreed. He leaned across the table. “We are done, right?”

  “I should go home, write the eulogy. Be where I can actually shower and dress in the morning.”

  “If that’s what you want.”

  She smiled. “I said that I should. I didn’t say that I would.”

  “I’ve got a compromise. I’ll get my things. We’ll stay at your place.”

  “I like it. Oh! But the captain.”

  “Kody, we just had dinner with your mom—I think you can manage the captain.”

  She smiled.

  They left the restaurant. “I didn’t see the captain at the wake,” Kody said thoughtfully as they headed to his room.

  “I’m sure he was there.”

  “Cliff was there.”

  “I saw. And I heard,” Brodie told her.

  “Do you think that’s why... I always wondered why some people stay—and some go. I mean, it makes sense that you’d stay if...if there was trauma. If you were murdered, or if you died violently. If you had a reason, but...we’ve had a number of ghosts on this island who didn’t leave the world violently. And I always wondered why...”

  “Why you can never see your father?” Brodie asked.

  She nodded. “You’re lucky.
In a way, you have both your parents.”

  “We are lucky,” he said. “And luckiest, I guess, because they’re together now as they were in life. They were lucky. Not everyone gets that kind of...not just love, but commitment.”

  “I really would love to meet them,” Kody said. “But not tonight!”

  He smiled at that. “There’s no need to fear that. They’re in Virginia, happily checking in on my brothers.”

  They’d reached his room. Brodie quickly gathered what he thought he would need for the night.

  Kody hovered by the doorway, as if afraid that if she went in, they wouldn’t leave.

  The walk to her house didn’t take long. When she opened the door, Brodie thought that she was a bit nervous.

  When they went in, the captain didn’t seem to be there.

  The cat found them immediately, rubbing up against Kody’s ankles and meowing loudly.

  “Yes, you need some attention and some treats,” Kody said. “But... Brodie, I don’t think that Captain Hunter is here.”

  “He’s out wandering. He said that he’d do his best to listen, to see what he could hear.”

  “I guess, but...”

  “Kody, you can’t worry about—a ghost. He’s fine.”

  Kody agreed. Then, she suddenly seemed a little awkward. “I... Do you want anything?”

  He smiled. “Just you,” he told her.

  They were the right words. She slid into his arms, and her lips met his.

  They kissed, long, deep, hot, wet, breathless. Then she drew away. “You should go put your stuff upstairs. Stairs are to the right in the hall...there are actually four bedrooms, but one is an office, another a storage room...one guest room, and one is mine... First at the top of the stairs.”

  He pulled away. “I’ll get set up. You go write what you want to say,” he reminded her softly.

  She took a step away from him. “Yes...so important. I have to make it right for Cliff...even if he can be a ghostly jerk.”

  Brodie turned her about and prodded her toward the hallway. She hurried ahead of him.

  He went up the stairs, admiring the architecture of the old house as he did so. In the bedroom, he set down his bag and hung up the lightweight suit he’d wear the next day.