Taste

by Juliet Madison

“Savvy,” I said. “Let Mom do what she wants.”

  “It’s okay,” said Mom. “It is weird. But good weird. He’s our neighbor, and he also, well… you know I still feel like I owe him a great deal. And you, Riley.” She ruffled Savvy’s boyfriend’s hair.

  “Nothing owed at all, Mrs. D.”

  “Rose, please, sweetie. Rose.”

  He smiled.

  “So you’re not like, really hot for him or anything?”

  “Savvy!” Serena exclaimed.

  Mom laughed. “We’re not a couple, if that’s what you’re asking. We’re just friends.”

  “For now,” Savvy mumbled.

  “Anyway, you kids go enjoy your night, and I’ll enjoy mine. Deal?”

  “Deal,” a few of us said.

  “But no hanky panky, Mom.”

  Mom placed her hands on Savannah’s shoulders. “My darling daughter, if I was going to indulge in some hanky panky I wouldn’t be making it public knowledge by discussing it with you all.” She chuckled.

  “Ew!” Both Savannah and Serena covered their ears with their hands. I distracted my mind with thoughts of food. Popcorn. Cupcakes. Leo’s chocolate mousse. Leo.

  Oops, he wasn’t food, but he was just as good. Better. Much better.

  As though he could read my mind, my phone beeped with a text from him.

  Guess what? Sam’s cousin (also a chef) came into town as a spur of the moment thing and is going to help him out tonight. His daughter, too; she’s going to wait tables. I have the night off!

  I sat up straight on the couch, a big smile bursting onto my cheeks. I typed back: Yippee! You can come to the movies with us. Get your butt here now!

  Actually, I was thinking, hoping, maybe we could do something, just the two of us? Some takeout for a change, go for a walk, watch the stars, all that romantic schmantic stuff. :)

  Bubbles of anticipation rose in my belly. Hell yes. Please.

  I’m happy to disappoint my sisters and friends for you. It’s not every night I get to go on a date with the best chef in Iris Harbor. ;)

  It’s not every night I get to do that either, he replied.

  Aww. Did he mean I was the best chef too? But technically there could only be one best chef, so later we’d have to fight over who it really was. And maybe settle the score with a cook-off or something.

  “Um, guys?” I said. “Slight change of plans.”

  • • •

  Later, after sharing some gourmet Thai by the harbor (yes we looked at the stars and yes he kissed me, and we also had a contest to see who could slurp up a long noodle the fastest), Leo and I decided to walk back to Roach Place. I could make him a cup of cocoa at my place. Or maybe he would make me one at his. We hadn’t really discussed what to do next.

  “Nice to get some fresh air for a change instead of being stuck in the kitchen,” Leo said.

  “It is. Although I don’t mind being stuck in the kitchen. Especially with you.” I smiled.

  “I know.” He slid his arm around my waist. “But when you’ve been stuck in there as long as me, you need a break every now and again!”

  A silver Audi with fancy wheels drove onto the main street as we waited to cross.

  “I bet the owner of that car isn’t a chef.”

  I watched it move smoothly down the street. “Unless they’re a celebrity chef. Or maybe an investment banker? Or a surgeon? A dentist? Dentists make a lot of money, don’t they?”

  “A friend of Sam’s is an orthodontist, and I know he does.” Leo followed the car with his gaze. “I bet the car came from Chasers Lane. There are a few rich houses on that street.”

  Chasers? My taste buds tingled with that metallic taste. The same taste I had during the vision in which Savannah had seen the word “chasers.” I remembered I’d thought it tasted like silver, if silver even had a taste. Silver, like that car. “How far away is Chasers Lane?”

  “You haven’t toured all of Iris Harbor yet since moving here? I’ll have to fix that and take you on a guided tour.” He removed his arm from my waist and slid his hand into mine, swinging it as we walked. “Tonight, we start with Chasers Lane. It’s sort of hidden, just off a couple of other streets in the middle of town.”

  I guess the cup of cocoa could wait.

  I could feel my eyebrows drawing closer together as we walked down a street, and then turned into another. A sense of déjà vu rattled my nerves, and the metallic taste intensified and became a little gritty.

  “Actually, I think that orthodontist probably does live here. I remember Sam saying he had one of the best houses in Iris Harbor, though he didn’t say where. Chasers has the best houses, not counting the Jamesons’ epic mansion farther uptown.”

  “Oh yeah, theirs is pretty impressive.”

  I was going to tell him about the haunting that went on there and how Serena had found out about the previous owners, but the taste in my mouth made me think of something. Metallic. Silver. Orthodontist. Didn’t they use silver things for people’s braces? Stainless steel or something?

  I had the strong feeling that we were meant to visit Chasers Lane, and that the word in our vision wasn’t anything to do with chasing, or being chased. It was the street name.

  “You okay?” Leo asked.

  “Yeah, it’s just that…” Now that he knew about the Delta Girls, it was easier, but it still felt weird to be telling him something we’d predicted. “My sisters and I, we…”

  Leo stopped and looked at me, his eyes wide. “Saw something? I mean, sensed something?” He looked fascinated.

  I nodded. “Savvy saw the word ‘chasers,’ and I tasted something like silver, and well, we did see that silver car. Not that I know what a car would taste like. I mean I don’t go around licking them or anything.”

  Leo laughed. “You crack me up sometimes.”

  “I hope not in a weird, crazy way.”

  “Um, yes,” he replied, “But I like weird and crazy.” He gave me a peck on the lips.

  “Anyway, I think we need to walk down that street and see if I remember any more clues.”

  “Cool,” Leo said. “I feel like a spy.”

  “Pearce,” I said, in a manly voice. “Leo Pearce.”

  “There you go again,” he chuckled. “Cracking me up. You weird, crazy, beautiful lady.” He hugged me close.

  I nestled into his side as we walked down Chasers Lane, with its old-fashioned-looking streetlamps casting an atmospheric, silvery glow on the shiny rain-washed ground. Silvery. There we go again. Some of the houses were set further back from the street and hard to see. Others sat proud and tall close to the street. Many were dark, their owners probably out enjoying Saturday night somewhere flashy. We slowly wandered along, and I stopped when pebbles crunched under my feet.

  “What is it?”

  I stepped purposefully onto the pebbles of the driveway of Number Seven, Chasers Lane, which sat on the curve of the road near the dead end of the street. “Serena said she heard crunching, like gravel or pebbles.”

  We both glanced at the house, its modern, angular frame imposing but elegant. Grayish-silver railings lined the four balconies on the second level.

  Okay. Something was important here. Silver everywhere. Chasers Lane. Pebbles.

  But what?

  The bizarre thought of it having something to do with my dad popped into my mind. What if the person responsible for my dad’s death lived here? A crazy thought, but I sometimes got crazy thoughts. It was the mind’s way of trying to find a solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem. I mean, if the person or persons responsible for my dad’s death were still alive, then they must live somewhere.

  Where were they? What did they do during the day? The evening? Did they watch TV and laugh like normal people? Did they go out for lunch and coffee and walk around like everyday citizens? How dare they! Or were they living in some far-removed world of crime and fear and danger?

  “Did you hear something?” Leo asked, holding his finger up to his lips. “Sh
h.”

  I angled an ear toward the house. I heard a sound like metal rattling.

  Serena, she heard that.

  I didn’t want to trespass on private property, but we had to walk down the driveway. I had to see where our vision would lead. “Come on,” I whispered.

  The pebbles crunched, and Leo led me to the grass on the side of the driveway, alongside the fence. “It’s coming from around the back.”

  “What if the owners are home?” My heart rattled like the metal.

  Leo gestured at the house. All the lights were off, and it wasn’t late enough that they would be in bed unless they were very early risers.

  And I had a feeling that the silver Audi had come from this house. I was sure of it.

  Oh God. Serena had also heard smashing glass. Maybe it was supposed to be a window. “Leo, this could have something to do with the town thief.” I spoke as quietly as possible.

  “Maybe we’re about to find out.”

  I gulped, hoping whatever or whoever was making the subtle but definite noises wasn’t armed and dangerous. But I had to trust that my sisters and I had sensed this for a reason. I had to follow our leads and see where they took us.

  The closer we got to the back of the property as we traced the perimeter with quiet footsteps on the grass strip, the louder my breathing seemed. I tried to slow it down and force it to be quiet. I gripped Leo’s hand tightly, and he gave it a squeeze as if to say, “I’ll protect you.” Maybe I should have taken up taekwondo like Sasha and Savannah.

  Leo yanked my hand closer, making another gesture for quiet as we approached a tree near the back of the property. We stood behind it, then looked toward the back corner of the house as a shadow moved across the ground.

  Someone was at the back of the house.

  We needed to move away from the tree to be able to see. Slowly, we inched to the side, our eyes fixed to the shadow. Metallic noises sounded in the night air.

  Then another shadow. A large, rectangular shadow, as the unknown person’s silhouette came into view. He was lifting the fly screen off the back window! He’d unscrewed the bolts, and would probably smash the window or try to pry it open. But surely a house like this would have an alarm? But if the thief was handy with tools then maybe he knew how to disarm it, and had planned his intrusion strategically.

  Leo and I exchanged cautious glances, and he nodded. We had to stop whoever it was. Now. Before he went too far. If we got caught here, the cops could think we were the ones who had tried to break in. Leo quietly extracted his keys from his pocket, and slotted them between his fingers as he made a fist, the keys poking out and forward. Instant weapon.

  I grabbed my phone, switched off the volume, and held it up, snapping a few shots of the dark, hooded figure at the window. Then I opened the keypad, ready to call for help if needed, and slipped it back into my pocket.

  The figure tried to do something with a tool to the window, and grunted a little. Then he stepped back and surveyed the window. He reached down and pulled something out of a small bag. A hammer.

  Uh-oh.

  I braced myself, and Leo stepped forward, just as the person swung the hammer behind his shoulder to get momentum.

  “Wait!” Leo called out, not so loud as to be heard by all the neighbors, but loud enough.

  The hammer faltered, and the person swung around, retightening his grip on the hammer as he held it out toward us. He turned to the side and made a run for it. Before he fled we caught a glimpse of him, but a hoodie obscured much of the top of the thief’s face.

  “Wait,” Leo said, dashing after him. I followed, but there was nothing I could do except watch. Leo came closer to the person, who dropped the hammer, leapt onto the fence, and was just about to topple over to the other side when Leo grabbed at the guy’s jeans, pulling them back down and tackling him to the ground.

  “Get off me!”

  Leo pulled at the hoodie and beanie of the struggling guy, then managed to lift both off his head.

  I was about to call the police, but gasped when I saw the culprit’s face.

  “Lachlan?” Leo said. “What the hell are you doing?” He loosened his grip, but remained straddling our colleague so he couldn’t get up.

  I dashed over to the pair, echoing Leo’s disbelief. “You? Are you the one who’s been stealing things around town?” I asked. “Why?”

  “It doesn’t matter why,” said Leo. “Call the cops, Tamara.”

  “No!” Lachlan cried. “Wait! Please. I can explain.”

  “Explain why you were about to break into this place? For the sheer joy of it? For something fun to do in a small town on a Saturday night? Give me a break. Call them.” He turned to glance at me.

  My finger hesitated over the keypad.

  “I’ll call them,” Leo said, putting his key-weapon away and replacing it with his phone.

  “Stop! I have a reason. Please listen to me first! Give me a chance, then if you still want to call them, go ahead.”

  Something in Lachlan’s eyes made me want to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Tell us then,” I said, crossing my arms.

  I expected him to start rambling on about being poor, or maybe being on drugs and needing to get money to pay for his habit, or having a debt to pay to someone dangerous, or something similar. But he did something I didn’t expect. He started to cry.

  “Oh man.” Leo tipped his head back and looked to the side.

  “Lachlan, what is it?” I asked, kneeling next to him, becoming aware of the scent of body odor.

  “Tamara, don’t get too close, he could be playing you,” Leo warned.

  Lachlan sobbed. “I’m not playing you! Oh God,” he said, covering his face with his hands. “This is such a mess!”

  Leo sighed. But I believed Lachlan. I believed that there was something going on, some reason he was doing this. He needed someone to listen. He needed help, not a citizen’s arrest.

  “It’s for my sister,” he whispered.

  Leo crossed his arms.

  “She’s sick. Really sick. The medical expenses are way too high and my mom, it’s just her and us; she can’t pay all of them. So my sister suffers. All because of stupid politics and lack of funding and no financial support for those who really need it,” he explained in between sobs. “But people like this,” he waved his hands around at the grand house, “They can afford anything they want. But do they share? No, They keep it all to themselves. The bastards have no idea.”

  He wiped at his eyes.

  “She’s been taking an experimental drug that’s getting good results, but it costs a lot. When we ran out, she got worse. So I started finding ways to get some more money, enough to keep her in supply of the medication, if only for the short term.”

  “And your mom, what does she think about this?” I asked.

  “She thinks I’ve been doing extra shifts at work and that Sam gave me a raise and a few bonuses for working extra hard. But then when I kept bringing in more, she asked about it but then said, ‘I don’t want to know.’” He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. “She just wants to keep helping her daughter, no matter what.”

  Wow. If this were all true, then I couldn’t blame him. It made me think of my dad. Dad had wanted to get some extra money to surprise my mom for their anniversary. He hadn’t stolen anything, and it wasn’t exactly a life or death situation, but he did what he thought would help. With Lachlan, it was similar, but different. But he couldn’t keep this up, especially now that we knew. We couldn’t risk being charged as an accessory.

  Lachlan eyed the house. “Damn you two. I’ve been planning this one for weeks. How did you find me?” He shook his head. “I found out what alarm system they used and everything, even their passcode; I had it all worked out. They have some good stuff in there. I could have grabbed enough to give my sister a few months’ worth of treatment.” He rubbed his temples with his thumb and fingers.

  I can taste the future and it somehow led me here. There
you go. That’s how we found you. “We were out for a walk and heard some noises.” I cleared my throat. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. What matters now is what we’re going to do about it.”

  “What we’re going to do is call the cops and explain the situation,” Leo said. “I’m sure they’ll be sympathetic when they find out the motivation behind the thefts.”

  “No, please! And please don’t tell Sam. I need the job. The money’s not much, but it helps.”

  Leo sighed again. I caught his gaze. “Leo, we can’t just turn him in. We need to help him.”

  I knew what it was like to have a sick sister. To have had a sick sister. You’d do anything to help them get better, or be free from suffering.

  “I’m sorry about your sister, really I am, but that’s life. People get sick. Sometimes they die. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

  “Leo!” I grasped his arm. He flinched, and between him and Lachlan I could sense the pain simmering around them. Leo hadn’t had a chance to help his mom or his dad. They’d both been taken cruelly from him. It was understandable that he’d feel cheated.

  “Okay, let’s take you home and I’ll think about it.” Leo helped Lachlan up and grabbed hold of his hoodie. “We need to get off this property.”

  Lachlan picked up his things and we walked around the side of the property, and I hoped no neighbors would see us and call the police. But the houses weren’t close to each other.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when we were back on the street. “Where do you live?” I asked.

  “Near the train station.”

  “Let’s go. And promise me, no more stealing. Yeah?”

  He lowered his head.

  “Lachlan?”

  “I’ve gotta do what I’ve gotta do.”

  “Then we’ve gotta do what we’ve gotta do,” said Leo. “Tell the cops.”

  “It would be your word against mine. There’s no actual evidence, and I didn’t even get to break into that house.”

  I glanced at his hands, gloved. There’d be no fingerprints on the fly screen. Then I remembered and held up my phone. “Actually…”

  “Oh man, really? Thanks Tamara.” He shook his head.