“Wow,” Sully said. “You’d be a good sketch artist.”
“I doubt it. Drawing portraits from people’s descriptions is a completely different skill than drawing from my own memory.” A few minutes and she had a decent sketch of her mystery man.
Sully took it and frowned. “He looks familiar, doesn’t he?”
“I thought so too. Like maybe a weekender?”
“Maybe.” Sully drummed his fingers on the table. “I’ll put one of the guys on it. See if anyone else has seen him around. Thanks, Robin.”
“No problem. Is there anything else?” She’d never finished her sandwich, and now she was ravenously hungry. Nothing good could come of that. “Can I collect my pacing husband and go home?”
Sully squinted at the picture. “Your family’s been in town for a long time, right?”
“Since before it was a town, I guess. We owned the land up in the hills. The dam just turned it into lakefront property.”
His eyebrows went up. “Lucky for you.”
“Lucky for my grandparents maybe.” Robin shrugged. “Most of it’s still logging land. The real estate market in Glimmer Lake isn’t exactly booming.”
“I know,” Sully muttered, paging through his notes. “That’s why I like it.”
He’d worked in Southern California for a while. Robin had forgotten that. After working in LA, Glimmer Lake must be a snooze. Of course, maybe that’s why Sully liked it.
Val and Monica walked over. “You ready to go?”
She glanced at Sully, who nodded.
“Yeah.” Robin rose. “I’ll probably just go with Mark though. He’s been waiting.”
“Okay.” Monica gave her a hug. “So weird and random.”
“I know.”
“See you, ladies,” Sully said. “I’ll call if I have any more questions.”
“Please do,” Monica said.
“Please don’t.” Val hooked her purse over a shoulder and put on her black aviators.
Sully glanced at her, and the corner of his mouth turned up. “You going to start offering a law-enforcement discount at the café, Valerie?”
“Do I look like Denny’s?”
Monica pulled her away and headed for the door. “Bye, Sully. Call us when you find out about the bones.”
“That could be months,” he said. “Possibly years.”
Robin walked toward Mark. “Ready to go?”
He ran his fingers through his hair and reached for her hand. “Yeah. You okay?”
“Sure.” She threaded her fingers through his and glanced over her shoulder. “It’s not the city. It’s Sully. He knows I’m not a murderer.”
Mark let out a sigh of relief. “It’s just so strange. All this is…”
“I know.” She squeezed his hand. “Come on. Let’s head home. I still haven’t eaten lunch.”
Robin walked out of the sheriff’s station feeling… kind of badass.
She’d survived a horrible car accident.
She’d seen a ghost. Probably. Or she was going crazy. Either way, not boring.
Now there was a dead body, and she’d just been questioned by the sheriff and given him evidence.
“This has been the strangest month I can remember in a long time,” Mark said.
“I know.” A smile lifted the corner of her mouth. “It’s kind of exciting, right?”
He muffled a laugh and unlocked the car before he opened the door. “I mean… I guess. But I’d rather you not have life-threatening accidents to liven up our lives, okay?”
“Fine.” She sighed dramatically. “If you’re going to insist on being boring…”
Mark barked out a laugh and shut the door after she climbed in the car. He walked around and Robin closed her eyes in the sun-warmed cab of his pickup truck.
Warm. Lovely. She felt warm. She felt… alive.
Mark got into the truck and started it, letting the engine warm up. He looked at her with an odd expression.
“What?”
The corner of his mouth twitched. “I don’t know. You seem different.”
“Me?” She shrugged. “Still me.”
“Thank goodness.”
She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she checked her phone while the truck warmed up. A few texts from her mother. Another from a customer wanting to know about the new desk she’d put on the shop’s social media feed.
As the truck pulled out of the parking lot, Robin glanced up. She saw the face of her mystery man appear in the dappled shade of the woods behind the sheriff’s station. Before she could open her mouth, he was gone.
Again.
She didn’t say anything to Mark. What could she say?
Hey, honey, so I’ve started seeing ghosts.
No, no. It’s fine. Pretty sure it’s just an early menopause symptom. Like hot flashes or weight gain.
No, I don’t think hormone replacement therapy is going to help with this one.
She felt her phone buzz and touched it to open the group text between her, Monica, and Val that had been going for roughly ten years, ever since Val finally gave in and got a mobile phone.
Monica had texted: Okay, so I have a super-gross job for Val, and she’s refusing to do it. Another text a moment later. She can’t text because she’s driving, but she says I’m being unreasonable.
What is it?
She needs to touch those bones they found in the back of the car and find out if they’re related to the weird stuff we’re experiencing. But she won’t because she says I’m being gross.
Robin winced. It was actually a really good idea. But also horrible. But also maybe helpful? She texted back: V said she doesn’t get anything from people though. Are bones people?
Good point. I’ll bring that up. A pause. She’s agreeing with you, bc of course she is.
Robin texted, Maybe she can touch the chains?
I’ll suggest it.
A few minutes later, another text came in. Okay, she says she’ll touch the chains and the lock, but we have to go with her because it could be super horrible, which is fair.
When?
Tonight.
Tonight?
Tonight. Remember S said the bones were going to the crime lab in Sacramento tomorrow.
“Right.” Robin bit her lip. “Mark, can you pick Emma up from the library tonight?”
“She really needs to get her license,” he muttered. “We never had to chauffeur Austin when he was a senior.”
“Austin also didn’t get grades like Emma, so maybe we shouldn’t compare—”
“You know what? Agreed. Let’s not get into comparing Emma and Austin. Yes, I can get Emma. You need to go over to Monica’s?”
To Monica’s… and the morgue. “Yeah. To Monica’s.”
“No problem.”
She texted back: Tonight is a go. Let’s break into the morgue and make Val touch some old gross bones.
Monica texted back: Val says chains only. She only touches old gross bones if they belong to millionaires who want to pay her mortgage.
Robin bit her lip to keep from laughing.
Chapter 9
“Does Glimmer Lake even have a morgue?” Val asked. “Where are we going?”
“The hospital.” Monica was driving her minivan into Bridger City because how else would three middle-aged possible psychics go out investigating the bones that had mysteriously ended up in their car when they drove into a lake?
“Are we sure driving your minivan is the best idea?” Robin said. “Should we park around the block maybe?”
Val turned around, her eyes narrowed. “You think someone is going to be suspicious of a minivan in a hospital parking lot?”
“Well…”
“You know, a lot of private detectives use minivans in their work because they’re both inconspicuous and also have a lot of cargo room.” Monica read a lot of true crime and it showed. “Also, they’re very comfortable when you have to wait a long time.”
“The legroom is pretty
great.” Robin sighed. “I’m going to have to get a new car eventually.”
“I hate that,” Val said. “Can you buy one online?”
“Can you?”
Monica said, “Gil always bought our cars at the end of the year and the end of the month. He said you get the best deal during that time. Something about sales quotas.”
“I inherited the Subaru from my mom. I loved that car.”
Val pursed her lips. “You probably shouldn’t have put it in the bottom of a lake then.”
“Thanks. Great advice.”
Monica’s low chuckle broke the tension in the car. Val looked over her shoulder and winked at Robin. Monica didn’t laugh much lately. Hearing it put a smile on Robin’s face even if Val was being kind of bitchy.
The forty minutes into Bridger City flew by, and pretty soon they were pulling into the familiar hospital parking lot. Robin had been there countless times to visit friends who were having babies or whose parents were in the hospital. Both her kids had been born in Bridger City. Austin had broken his arm when he was eleven. Emma had her tonsils out at thirteen.
She knew they’d blend in with all the other visitors, but she still felt conspicuous as Monica led them into the lobby and down a hall, not once stopping or pausing for anyone to question them.
“Where are we going?” Val asked quietly.
“Just follow me,” Monica said.
“Do you know—?”
“Val, shut it.” Robin knew why Monica knew where the morgue was. She was only surprised Val didn’t remember.
Monica hadn’t been home when Gil had died. Jake had been the one to find him. Robin had been the one to drive Monica into Bridger City to join the boys because they’d taken Gil’s body to the hospital morgue.
They walked through corridors and through doorways, following Monica silently.
What was she feeling? The last time she’d been here had been maybe the worst day of her life. Why had she suggested coming back?
They reached a door that simply said Morgue on the door.
“Do you think it’s locked?” Val whispered.
“Probably.”
Monica reached for the handle. “We’re not going to know until we try.” She gripped it, pulled down.
And the door swung open.
“That can’t be legal,” Val said. “You just leave a morgue unlocked?”
“I mean, it’s Bridger City,” Robin said. “Not LA.”
“Weirdos are everywhere, Robin!”
Robin was watching Monica’s face. She had the door handle in her hand, but she hadn’t pushed it open. She hadn’t gone inside. “We don’t need to do this,” Robin put her hand on Monica’s shoulder. “We’re probably just imagining—”
“Do you want to find out what’s happening to us?” Monica’s eyes cut her. “I do. I want to find out how that body got in the back of your car. I want to find out why this weird guy who’s maybe a ghost is in my dreams.”
Robin nodded. “Okay. I saw him again this afternoon by the sheriff’s station. Just for a second. You realize—”
“The bones in there might belong to the mystery man?” Monica asked. “Yeah. I had the same thought.”
“Yeah.”
Val took a deep breath and put her hand on Monica’s. “Okay. Let’s get this over with.”
Monica and Val pushed the door open, and all three of them stepped into a dark room that smelled like disinfectant.
“Lights, lights, lights.”
Robin pulled out her phone and flipped on the flashlight. “Is this enough?”
“No,” Val hissed. “There are dead people in here! Turn the overhead light on.”
“People will be able to see from outside,” Robin said. “There’s a window in the door.”
“No one is out there!”
“Do you want them to find us? They’re going to think we’re the weirdos!”
“Will you just—”
The lights went on. Monica walked over and shoved a piece of paper in the little window at the top of the door. “Stop arguing. Let’s find them.”
Monica walked to a wall of square doors.
“That looks exactly like it does on TV shows,” Val said quietly.
“Well, yeah.” Monica squinted. “Why wouldn’t it? Darn it, I forgot my readers. Robin, do you have an extra pair?”
“I didn’t bring them.”
Val shoved both of them to the side. “Okay, old ladies, get out of the way and let the young eyes in.”
“Right.” Monica drew out the word. “I’ve seen you on your phone, Val. But keep lying to yourself. That’s fine.”
“This one has a name on the door,” Robin said. “We’d be looking for like… John Doe or something, right?”
They all took different rows. Val was the tallest and read the top row. Robin the middle. Monica the bottom.
“Jerri West,” Monica said. “Isn’t that Dorrie’s sister? From the salon?”
“Oh, maybe. That sounds familiar.”
“That’s a shame. I wonder what happened.”
“Let’s not find out.”
“Focus,” Robin said.
Val said, “Here’s a John Doe.” She opened the door and quickly slammed it shut.
“What is it?” Robin frowned. “What happened?”
“Just… definitely not bones.”
“Okay.” Robin decided she didn’t want to know.
“Found it,” Monica said. “It just says Glimmer Lake Bones. That’s more obvious than I would have expected.”
“But accurate.”
Robin and Val walked over, and Monica opened the door.
She gripped the edge and pulled. A long metal shelf slid out from the wall with a black body bag lying on top. It was pretty flat, but then there was far less body in the bag than normal.
Robin bit the inside of her lip and stepped forward. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
She pulled the zipper and the bag opened. There was another bag around the bones, but they were visible through the plastic, brownish grey, still looking like they’d been bathing in mud.
Val scrunched up her nose. “Still gross.”
“But less gross,” Monica said. “They’re dry at least.”
Robin tried to hold her breath, but it was impossible. “Slightly less… gooey.”
“Oh my God, did you have to say gooey?” Val had a hand over her mouth. “I can’t touch those.”
“Just like… a finger,” Monica whispered. “Just try a finger.”
“His finger or hers?” Robin asked.
Val stomped her foot. “That question is gross too!”
“When Jackson had a compound fracture, you held his arm together all the way to the hospital, Val. This can’t be grosser than that,” Monica said.
“It was equally gross, but Jackson is my kid and I’m legally required to handle his gross bones.” Val pointed at the skeleton. “I am not legally required to touch his!”
Robin reached out for Val’s hand, took it, and held it over what remained of the body. “One finger,” she said. “Just try. You need to know.”
Val took a deep breath and nodded. She reached out with two fingers and touched the least gooey part of the skull she could find, closing her eyes.
Robin held her breath for what felt like a minute but probably was only a few seconds.
Val withdrew her hand and shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Okay, so now you know—whatever this weird thing is—it doesn’t work on bones.”
Monica quickly zipped up the body bag and reached for what looked like a white garbage bag that lay at the foot of the body. “I’m hoping the chains are in here.”
“Would they be?” Robin said. “Or would Sully have sent them from his office?”
“They’re here.” Monica reached in and pulled out a clear plastic bag with a white sticker on the front. “It’s just one of those giant Ziplocs.”
“Is it sealed?”
“Nope.”
Monica pulled it open. “I am not very impressed with our local chain-of-custody procedures, I can tell you that much.”
“This isn’t exactly a hot case,” Val said, peeking over Monica’s shoulder. “Okay, let me touch those. Not nearly as gross.”
“Really?” Robin said. “Because these were around Dead Guy’s legs. They’re probably the reason—”
“Shut. It.” She held up a hand. “The less I think about it, the better.” She nudged Monica out of the way and reached into the bag. “Here goes.”
Robin didn’t know what Val saw when she touched things, but she knew whatever happened in the next moment wasn’t good. It was like her friend’s whole body seized.
“Hold her!” Monica got behind Val and held her around the waist. “Hey, honey. I got you. I got you, Val.”
Robin ran to catch Val’s shoulders. The woman was stiff as a board. It was like she’d received an electric shock and her entire body had frozen.
“Val,” Robin said firmly. “Let go of the chains.”
“She’s not letting go.”
“See if you can get her fingers loose.”
Monica reached around and pried Val’s fingers from around the rusted chain while Robin eased Val back and away from the drawer.
“Okay, I got it.” Monica carefully put the chains back in the bag and sealed it while Robin caught Val, whose knees had given out as soon as she let go of the rusted metal.
“You got her?”
“Yeah.” Robin eased Val down to the linoleum floor. “Monica, can I have your sweater?”
“Yeah.” She threw a cardigan at Robin, who laid it under Val’s head.
“Bag,” Val murmured.
“What?”
“Gonna puke.” She was swallowing hard. “Get me a bag.”
“Right.” Robin shot to her feet and dove for the row of cabinets by the sink. She couldn’t find anything plastic, but she found a paper bag like the ones they had on airplanes. “Do these actually work?”
“Robin!” Monica held out her hands, and Robin tossed the bag to her. Monica caught it and got it to Val’s mouth just in time.
Robin grabbed a few more bags and placed them next to Monica while she took care of Val. Next, she stood and tried to put everything around the bones back as they’d found it; then she pushed the metal drawer back into the wall of bodies and shut the door.
Suddenly Psychic: Glimmer Lake Book One Page 8