Grim Tempest

by Amanda M. Lee

  When Dad suggested Braden and I visit the mausoleum I thought it was a terrible idea. It wasn’t that I thought we wouldn’t find answers – we often found answers at the mausoleum, which only increased its creepiness factor – but I wasn’t keen to climb into Genevieve’s world for what felt like the hundredth time.

  Seriously, the woman cast something of a pall over our lives and I was growing to hate the mere mention of her name.

  “Yeah, let’s get it over with,” I echoed as I followed Braden into the structure.

  It was dark inside, the only light coming from the windows on either side of the building. A lantern hung from a chain at the front of the room. I knew that from past experience and brought a lighter to save time. After igniting the lantern, I grabbed the chain and carried it to the back of the mausoleum, where all the vault slots were located.

  Technically this wasn’t the Toth mausoleum. It was the Olivet mausoleum. Genevieve and the Olivets shared ancestors, so it was basically the same. After the fire – which I started to save myself and Aidan – we thought the mausoleum was gone for good. Someone rebuilt it quickly, though, and this time they added a dank basement. The basement was located under the previous mausoleum. It was a freaky room and I wasn’t looking forward to searching it.

  “Should we go straight to the basement?” Braden asked, glancing around. “This place looks quiet and clean. I don’t think anything weird has been going on here.”

  It went against my better judgment to agree with Braden – like, ever – but I nodded. “Yeah. I don’t want to spend all day here. I’d rather be back at Grimlock Manor with Griffin.”

  Braden sighed as he pressed the hidden button to open the basement door. It took us a lot longer to locate it the first time, but we knew where to look now. “You need to give him room to breathe,” he chided. “He’s doing a lot better than I would be under similar circumstances.”

  “That’s because I’ve been suffocating him,” I argued, lifting the lantern so I could better see the ancient and crumbling steps as we descended. “If I don’t give him room to breathe he has no choice but to get over things to shut me up.”

  Braden made a face as he grabbed the lantern. “Give me that. I can’t see thanks to the way you’re swinging around. Besides, I should be the first to go down.”

  Now it was my turn to offer a disgusted expression. “Is that because you’re a man?”

  “I know you’re trying to start a fight, but yes. Just let me go first.”

  “Fine.” I grunted as he slipped around me on the narrow staircase. “As for Griffin, he’s doing much better. I think he’s going to be back to his old self by the time we get back.”

  “And I think you’re dreaming,” Braden countered. “He’s not going to be back to his old self until we figure out how these storms are happening and he can go outside without being terrified that it’s going to start to rain out of nowhere.”

  Braden had a point. I really hate that. “He’ll be okay.”

  “He will be.” Braden took pity on me and shook his head. “He loves you. I like to still think of him as Detective Dinglefritz, but it’s clear you and he are supposed to be together. Don’t work yourself into a tizzy.”

  “I very rarely work myself into a tizzy.”

  “You do it at least once a day.”

  “That’s a vulgar lie.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Braden rolled his neck until it cracked, placing the lantern on a bare altar as he looked around the room. It appeared empty – felt empty – and yet we’d been at this long enough to know that didn’t mean our answers weren’t close. “How about you take one side and I’ll take the other? If anyone finds anything, we call out to the other. How does that sound?”

  I shrugged. “It sounds like a normal search.”

  “Did I say it didn’t?”

  “No, but you’re acting as if you’ve come up with the best plan ever invented and it’s the same plan we always come up with.”

  “Sometimes I think you argue just because you like to,” Braden groused. “Has anyone ever told you that?”

  “You just did. Does that make you feel special?”

  Braden growled. “Just go over there and search. If you could do it in silence that would be really great.”

  “Right back at you.”

  “You always have to have the last word, don’t you?”

  “I believe you have me confused with you.”

  “No, it’s you.”

  “It’s you.”

  “You!”

  “You!”

  I lost track of who had the last word, which I hate. “Just look.”

  Braden waited until he was sure I was searching to speak again. “I got the last word. Ha!”

  I was always offended when people said Braden and I were the most alike. Sadly, I knew it was true.

  “Not now you don’t,” I said. “Now I have the last word.”

  “This is going to go on all day.”

  He wasn’t wrong.

  20

  Twenty

  The room wasn’t large but it looked markedly different from the last time we were there.

  “They’ve cleaned up,” I mused as I studied a shelf against the far wall. “All the stuff that was here before, from when they were keeping the Grimleys captive, is gone.”

  “Yeah. I noticed that, too.” Braden was intent as he studied a stack of books on a small table in the corner. “I don’t think these were here before either.”

  I glanced to the stack. “Do they look interesting?”

  Braden shrugged. “They’re in another language. I think it’s Latin, but I can’t be sure.”

  “Take them,” I suggested. “Cillian will be able to read them.”

  Braden arched an eyebrow. “You want me to steal books from a mausoleum?”

  “Why not? They might be interesting, and it could throw off whoever is doing this if we take them..”

  Braden shrugged. “You have a point. We’ll grab them on the way out.” He moved to a shelf at the back of the room. “Have you found anything?”

  “Not really. I … .” I broke off when my eyes fell on the wall, tilting my head to the side as I took in the three adornments adding a bit of color to the gloom. “I take that back. I see … something.”

  “What?” Braden abandoned his search and joined me, his eyes immediately traveling to what looked to be colored discs embedded on the wall. “What are these? Were they here before?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t remember seeing them. Look here.” I traced the one in the middle. The frame remained, but whatever disc was inside was now gone. “I think this is where Harry Turner got the disc I saw in his house.”

  Braden pursed his lips. “How can you be sure?”

  “It’s just a feeling. It’s the same size, and look at the others. They’re made of the same material. I think it’s freaking silver, which seems stupid to leave around because anyone could steal it.”

  “Do we know what they are?” Braden moved closer, his nose practically pressed to a frame. “They have symbols on them. We could take photos and text them to Cillian.”

  “Or we could just steal these, too,” I suggested, grabbing one of the frames from the wall. “See. They come right off.”

  Braden made a face. “So now we’re stealing books and what could be evil discs? Are you sure that’s a good idea? What if touching them makes you go insane or something?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I touched the one in Harry’s house and I’m perfectly fine.”

  “Are you sure? I’ve always thought you bordered on insane.”

  “Ha, ha.” I grabbed the second frame. “We’ll take them to Grimlock Manor and let Dad and Cillian look them over. If they’re nothing, we’ll bring them back … or throw them away or something if we’re feeling lazy.”

  Braden snorted. “Cillian will melt down if you throw away ancient books.”

  “Well, what he doesn’t know won’t hurt him.” I clutched t
he frames under my arm. “Grab the books while I look around. If I don’t see anything else, we’ll head straight back to the house and consider this a job well done.”

  “Fine.”

  After another ten minutes I was satisfied there was nothing else of interest in the basement, so we closed it up, put the lantern where we found it after extinguishing the flame and walked out into a gloomy day with a sense of purpose. I was feeling good … until I found Detective Green staring back at us.

  “Uh-oh,” I muttered, shifting the frames.

  “Uh-oh is right,” Green intoned. “You’re in big trouble.”

  “Why does he look familiar?” Braden whispered, uncertain.

  “This is Detective Green. He’s the one who arrested me for murder a few weeks ago.”

  “Ah. I should’ve put that together.” Braden forced a smile that was almost comical. “It’s so nice to see you again, detective. How are you doing this fine and … wet day?” Braden shifted his eyes to the ground and lifted his shoe. “Did it rain when we were inside?”

  The question caught me off guard. Now that he mentioned it, the air did smell a bit musty. “Oh, double crap.” I flicked my eyes to Green and found his pallor unnaturally pale. It didn’t necessarily mean anything – he could’ve avoided the rain, after all – but I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. “You weren’t out in the storm, were you?”

  Green wrinkled his nose. “What does it matter to you?”

  “I’m just curious.” I took a small step to the side to increase the distance between Green and myself, bumping into Braden in the process. “Move to the left a bit,” I whispered. “Try to keep moving. Maybe we can get out of this.”

  Green was a good twenty feet away yet the look on his face made me believe he heard the order. “Stay right where you are.” He didn’t draw his service weapon, which was visible on his hip, but his voice held enough authority that I was understandably worried.

  “Listen, Detective Green, I think you’ve got the wrong idea here,” Braden offered. “We’re simply picking up family artifacts from our mausoleum and taking them home to our father. We deal in antiquities and antiques – which I believe you already know – and he wants to inventory the items in the mausoleum.”

  That sounded completely plausible, and I wanted to applaud Braden’s lying efforts. He was good when he wanted to be. Green didn’t look as if he agreed with my assessment, though.

  “That’s your family mausoleum, eh?” Green gestured toward the building behind us. “The one that says ‘Olivet’ is yours?”

  “It is on our mother’s side,” I lied. “She was related to the Olivets.”

  “Why aren’t you going into that mausoleum over there?” Green flicked his finger to a small structure down the way. “That one has your last name on it.”

  Of course he would notice that. He was a detective, after all. “Well … .”

  “It doesn’t really matter,” Braden offered, cutting me off with a firm headshake. I couldn’t understand what he was thinking, but it was clear the gears in his mind were working … and working fast. “We’re not in Royal Oak, detective. We’re in Detroit. This isn’t your jurisdiction.”

  Hey, why didn’t I think of that? “He’s right,” I interjected. “It doesn’t matter what we’re doing because you don’t have the authority to arrest us.”

  “That’s not exactly true,” Green said, a sneer on his face as he stepped forward. I didn’t fail to notice that the mist was heavy enough to leave a dull sheen on my skin. I couldn’t help but wonder if that would be enough to trigger Green’s internal Hulk. It was something to consider, which made me all the more nervous. “I’m a police officer and I see you guys stealing from a cemetery. It doesn’t matter if I have jurisdiction here. If I see you breaking the law, I can take you into custody wherever I am at the time.”

  “Is that true?” Braden asked me.

  “How should I know?”

  “You’re marrying a cop.”

  “That doesn’t mean I know all the ins and outs of law enforcement,” I groused. “My brain is only so big. I can’t fit any other facts in it. I’m full up for the day.”

  “That’s such crap.”

  “Fine. I never asked.” My agitation fired. “Does that really matter right now?”

  “It would help if we knew he was telling the truth. If he’s not, I could fight him.”

  One look at the grim set of Green’s jaw told me that was a bad idea. “No, I don’t think we should go that route unless it starts storming again.” I lifted my eyes to the sky. “I think the mist is having a muted effect on him. That’s all I can come up with.”

  “It’s not much.”

  “No,” I agreed. “If you think you can do better, by all means. Why don’t you handle the problem?”

  “Fine. I will.” Braden squared his shoulders. It was a mistake to put him in charge. I knew that. I did it anyway and now we were going to suffer. “If you could just hold on one minute, I have something I need to do.”

  To my utter surprise, Braden shifted the books he carried to me and pulled out his phone. “Just one minute.” He held up a finger to still a confused Green and typed 911 into the keypad. He waited until someone answered to speak again. “Yes, my name is Braden Grimlock and I’m being harassed in Eternal Sunshine Cemetery. There’s a man here who claims to be a Royal Oak police detective and he’s displaying some rather aggressive tendencies. I’m worried for my safety and that of my sister, who happens to be with me.”

  “Hey! What are you doing?” Green realized far too late what Braden intended to do. “Put that phone down.”

  “Yes, that’s him and he’s threatening us,” Braden said. “I don’t know what to do. I was raised to always follow police orders, but there’s something very off about this situation. I’m afraid I’m about to be hurt, and if something happens to my sister … well, let’s just say my father will never get over it.”

  “Put that phone down!” Green roared.

  “You do?” Braden swallowed hard as he stared down Green. “That’s great. Tell them we’re waiting on the pathway at the back end of the cemetery and the sooner they can get here the better.” Braden disconnected the call. “They’re in the cemetery – apparently they were already here for something else – and heading our way. I think we should let the Detroit police sort this out.”

  “You’re going to regret making that call,” Green seethed, his chest heaving as he clenched his fists at his side. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”

  “Yes, well, it’s done now.” Braden was blasé. “You should stay over there so there are no misunderstandings when the other officers arrive. I don’t want anyone to accidentally get hurt.”

  I slid him a sidelong look, both impressed and worried. “Do you think that was a good idea?”

  Braden shrugged. “I have no idea, but we didn’t have many options.”

  “Maybe we should call Dad, too.”

  “I leave that call to you. He’ll yell at me.”

  He would probably yell at me, too. “We’ll wait it out and only call if we get arrested.”

  “Good plan.”

  I RECOGNIZED ONE OF the responding officers. He was based out of Griffin’s unit and once helped me with a vending machine that tried to steal my Diet Coke. Despite that, I didn’t know if his presence was a sign of good or bad things to come.

  “I’m Inspector Craig,” he announced, glancing between faces. “Can someone tell me what’s going on here?”

  I stared at him for a long moment, debating whether I should drop Griffin’s name or keep him out of it before speaking. Finally I decided that – for better or worse – I would not risk Griffin’s standing to get myself out of trouble. I’d been in jail several times before. It wasn’t the end of the world.

  “I think this man is following me,” I announced, extending a finger in Green’s direction and causing him to widen his eyes to comical proportions. “He came out of nowhere and thr
eatened us. I’m really worried given all the stories I’ve heard flying around the news lately about violence and whatnot.”

  I did my best to appear vulnerable as I leaned closer to Braden. “The only reason I think I’m still alive is because my brother is with me and he’s been really brave.”

  Braden caught my gaze and I could see the wonderment there before he recovered and latched onto the story. “This isn’t the first time my sister mentioned this man showing up out of nowhere,” he said. “It happened at a coffee shop the other day, too. It’s starting to get uncomfortable, and I don’t think that’s fair to my sister. She doesn’t deserve to be terrorized for no reason.”

  “It sounds a little odd,” Craig said, stepping forward. “Can you show some identification please, sir?”

  Green was incensed. “I’m a police officer, for crying out loud! I’m with the Royal Oak Police Department. I was trying to arrest these two for theft when they called you.”

  “Why would we call the police if we’re thieves?” I countered. “That doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

  “It doesn’t,” Craig agreed. “I need to see some identification, sir.”

  “Fine.” Green dug in his pocket and came up with his badge. “Are you happy?”

  “Keep your hands away from your weapon,” the second officer said, tensing when Green’s hand brushed against his holster. “We don’t want any accidents here.”

  “There aren’t going to be any accidents,” Green snapped. “These two are the criminals. I’m trying to arrest them.”

  Something occurred to me and it didn’t sit well. “How did you know where we were?” I asked, changing course. “I spent the night at my father’s house in Grosse Pointe. I never went home yesterday.”

  “Do you live in Royal Oak?” Craig asked. He kept looking at me as if he should recognize me but couldn’t quite place my face. On a normal day I would’ve been insulted – I’m quite lovely and distinctive – but I knew better than to push my luck.

  I nodded. “I live there with my boyfriend. But we spent the night at my father’s house last night. Both of us, together. Detective Green here would’ve had to follow me there … and spend the night … to know when I was leaving and figure out where I was going.”