The Terror (A Sarah Roberts Thriller Book 18)

by Jonas Saul

  “Why are you telling us all this?” Lori asked.

  She looked at John, then Lori. “I need your help with something.”

  “Our help?” John sounded skeptical. “How can we help?”

  “One of those obstacles, those challenges we spoke of earlier, took place at your home in Kamloops about a month ago. A contractor gave you an estimate on yard work. Something you wanted done with stones around the kidney-shaped pool in the back.” Lori was nodding. “This contractor asked for a sizable deposit. You gave it to him. The cheque cleared, but the man never showed up for the work. When you checked on his company, it was gone. Kamloops police have nothing for you. As far as they’re concerned, the investigation’s closed.”

  Lori nodded vigorously. “John has been having trouble with his disease for some time. I don’t want him working around the yard anymore. Since we’d been so busy this summer, I called around for a maintenance crew to do the work. I found that guy on a Facebook page. It looked good. His estimate was twenty percent less than the other two I had come by.”

  “And he took the deposit?” Sarah said.

  John was nodding now.

  “Yes,” Lori said. “And screwed off with it. We don’t need that sort of thing in our lives right now. I needed that work done.”

  “Here’s how I can help,” Sarah said. “I think I know who that man is. All I need is a picture of his face—”

  “A picture?” Lori cut in. “We don’t have a picture.”

  “I’m afraid you do,” Sarah said. “On John’s phone.”

  Lori turned to her husband. “John? You took his picture?”

  “I’m not sure. My phone’s over there in the pocket of my jeans. Grab it and let’s see.” Lori started for the small pile of clothes by the side table that was littered with flowers and gifts. Evidenced by the gifts, John had a lot of people that cared. “I was taking pics the day that guy was doing the estimate because I wanted before and after photos for our album later.”

  Lori touched the screen of his phone as she walked back over to stand beside Sarah. On the screen, Sarah watched as Lori scrolled through family pictures of Niagara Falls, then slowed as she hit pictures of their backyard.

  “There,” Sarah said. “That man.”

  Lori touched the picture, enlarging it. The pool area was gorgeous. The cement around the edges had overgrown grass and misshapen stones. Lori stood beside a man of medium build, medium height, clutching a clipboard in his left hand. The man faced the other way.

  “That him?” Lori asked.

  “Can’t tell from behind. Are there any others?” Sarah asked, knowing there was one of his face coming up. Vivian wouldn’t have sent her for any other reason.

  Lori thumbed to the next photo. Then the next. Backyard fence. Large stones. The man’s shoes in one photo. She moved to the next one.

  Sarah gasped.

  “You okay?” Lori asked.

  Sarah wrapped her fingers around Lori’s hand and angled the phone to see better.

  “That’s him,” Sarah said.

  The man in the grocery store. The empty cart. Vanilla cake mix. The shopping cart penetrating the image of the old man with the flapping arms as he walked away. That was how the note was left on her windshield. Thirio had watched her pull in and got close to her on purpose.

  Why didn’t he try anything? He had no issue with killing random people. His bombs didn’t discriminate. Her body shook for a moment at how vulnerable she had been, entranced by the old man and his message.

  “I need that photo,” Sarah blurted.

  She yanked Mason’s phone from her pocket and got Lori to text the photo to the phone.

  “I’m so glad we had this on John’s phone,” Lori said. “Does this mean he’ll be caught for what he did?”

  “Absolutely. Because of you, we will catch him.”

  Lori tilted her head to the side, staring at Sarah. “Hey, aren’t you that girl the police in Kelowna brought in to help with their bomber?”

  “I am.”

  “I saw what happened in the news. Crazy stuff.”

  “They say you’re psychic—” Lori stopped as she understood how Sarah knew everything she’d told them about their situation. “Oh, I get it. That’s how you knew everything.”

  “And how I knew you had this photo on John’s phone.”

  Lori stuck out her arms and looked down at them. “Ohhh, I’ve got goosebumps.” She glanced at her husband. “John, look at this.”

  “It’s been so nice to meet you both, but I have to leave now.” Sarah moved backwards toward the door.

  “Wait,” John said. “Can you tell us a little more about my condition?”

  Lori moved around the bed and grabbed her husband’s hand.

  Sarah stopped by the door.

  “I’m sorry.” She lowered her head. “Sometimes this job can suck.” She looked back at them. “I can see what has happened. I see your names, information, when you were born. The future? That’s a whole other ball game. I rarely get to see the future. But that’s a good thing. Usually, when I do see the future, it’s bad. Take comfort in that.”

  Sarah opened the door.

  “Will we see you again?” Lori asked. “How will we know you caught the guy who took our money?”

  Sarah paused in the open doorway. “Unfortunately, I won’t be around long enough to see you again. When this business is over, I’m flying back to Toronto.” She held the door open with an elbow. “But you’ll know I caught the guy because it’ll be front page news. His picture will be everywhere.”

  She let the door close slowly.

  “Thanks, Sarah,” Lori called after her, but then the door closed, cutting off Lori’s voice.

  Hospital security walked toward her. Two men in uniform. Sure they weren’t there for her, she turned and headed for the stairwell anyway. Once on the stairs, she dropped to the first floor quickly and exited the building through a side door. At the second the door clicked closed, a car raced by going too fast for the parking area.

  An unmarked cruiser.

  She wasn’t close enough to get a good look at who was inside but suspected it was Lee and Parkman.

  She started across the parking lot toward Waters’ vehicle wondering when Vivian would be back in touch. Wasn’t the man in the suit long gone? At the car, she stopped and scanned the parking area, the road ahead, and the sidewalk. Was the old man in the suit the only one? Or was she now able to see more people from the other side?

  Two women were on the sidewalk. A man smoked outside the emergency doors. A red Kia navigated the parking lot, looking for a spot. An ambulance bounded into the area by emerg preparing to unload its human cargo. No one stared at her. No one tried to signal her.

  She faced the hospital. Squinting to look into individual windows, images rose from the tinted glass. As if forming from the air, dozens of faces stared out at her from those windows.

  Sarah stepped back, bumped the car, and held onto to it for a moment.

  “What the fuck?” she whispered.

  Another ambulance, sirens blaring, turned into the hospital, snapping her from the trance the people in the windows had over her.

  She blinked, shook her head, and without looking back at the hospital windows, dropped into the driver’s seat, and slammed the door.

  It was her turn to have goosebumps. She had talked to and listened to Vivian for so long she almost forgot her sister was on the other side. Seeing those faces in the windows was something else altogether.

  She left the Vernon Hospital, headed back to Kelowna, her hands shaking.

  Would Vivian be blocked when others reached out to Sarah? As souls by the dozen left hospitals all the time, would hospitals be off limits to Vivian’s connection going forward? She hoped Vivian would come back soon and explain some of this shit. It was starting to get old. And fast.

  She grabbed Mason’s phone and called Lee. They needed to coordinate the investigation.

  Chapter 26r />
  Parkman snatched up Lee’s cell phone while Lee drove. Call display told him it was Sarah. Lee gave him a dirty look, but Parkman ignored him. “It’s Parkman,” he said. “You good?”

  “Yeah,” Sarah said. Wind distorted her voice. She was driving. “Tell me something.”

  “Go.”

  “Why hasn’t Lee tried to apprehend me? Or come for the car I have? He was livid when I snatched the cruiser to go to the mall’s coffee shop. What changed?”

  “Trust.” Parkman stole a look at Lee. “He trusts you. And wants you to trust him. Those officers today—Mason, Calder, Waters—went rogue. Right off the fuckin’ map. There was no way anyone could’ve predicted that.” He paused, then added, “Well, other than you.”

  Sarah didn’t respond for several moments. Parkman waited.

  “It’s good to hear your voice, Parkman. I don’t like working like this. We should be together.”

  “Agreed.”

  “Did you get your luggage yet?”

  “No.”

  “There’s a note in your bag. Do what it says. Your life could depend on it. Promise me you’ll get the note.”

  “I will.” He didn’t bother asking what was written on it. If she was going to tell him, she would’ve.

  “Parkman?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m scared.”

  He wasn’t sure he heard her right.

  “Say again.”

  “I’m seeing things.”

  “Things?” He watched the white lines of the road zip by, waiting.

  “People. That have passed on.”

  He sat up straighter. “Passed on. As in dead?”

  “As in dead.”

  “But how?”

  “Not sure. Maybe something opened when Vivian got close to me in Denmark after I died. Like some sort of metaphysical portal.”

  “Could be. Are you okay though?”

  “They appear to me like flesh and blood. When I see them, I can’t tell the difference. I mean, it’s hard.”

  “Wow. That’s just wow. I’m speechless.”

  “There’s something else.”

  His stomach dropped. “What?”

  “When they come around, staring at me, paying attention to me, they block Vivian. At the hospital in Vernon, Vivian was completely silenced.”

  “You saw de—” he stopped, turned toward the window, then rephrased his question. “You saw that kind of thing there?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are they talking to you?”

  “No. Not talking. But they’re communicating.”

  “How?”

  “Gestures. Messages. Like sign language.”

  “You can read sign language?” Parkman asked, his tone one of surprise. What other revelations was she going to offer up?

  “No. I said it was like sign language.”

  “Oh. Right.” He cleared his throat. “What would someone like that want to say to you?”

  “I’m as lost with this as you are, Parkman. I’m hoping Vivian comes back and lets me in on what’s happening. Then we’ll all know. Has Lee talked to his son yet?”

  “He tried but didn’t get through.”

  “Tell him to try again. His son has a picture of the unsub. Did you talk to the people at the hospital?” Sarah asked.

  “Yes. When we left, more people were filing in. Most had been poisoned by something. Through preliminary interviews, a pattern formed. They were all coming from one grocery store. But then others showed up with similar symptoms who had been at another store.”

  “The unsub, his name is Thirio, sprayed some kind of poison on fruits and vegetables at The Fast Way grocery stores in town.”

  “How did you get his name?”

  “He left me a note on my car window when I went to The Fast Way to stop him. I was too late and got tied up with a dead man in a nice suit. Anyway, Thirio and I were in the cake mix aisle together. We met there. I saw him today.”

  “You what?” he gasped into the phone. “This conversation has gone from weird to off the rails.”

  “In a grocery store, Parkman. I met Thirio at The Fast Way.”

  “That’s why you were there? To meet him?”

  “You’re listening, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah.” He nodded even though she couldn’t see him.

  “I was there to stop the poisonings but couldn’t. I was too late. He walked by me when I was busy with a dead man.”

  “Okay, I heard you, but,” Parkman shook his head, “did I hear you right?”

  “You did.” Sarah waited a heartbeat, then said, “Are you still in Vernon?”

  “Yes. The Vernon RCMP detachment got a call that a man in a rural area was found murdered about half an hour ago. We’re heading to that location to see if there’s a connection. Vernon saw two people dead this morning. A third would be a huge coincidence if it isn’t our unsub—sorry, Thirio. Where are you?” Parkman detected Lee looking at him at the mention of the unsub’s name.

  “Heading to the next location Vivian has instructed me to go. A house on the outskirts of Kelowna. I don’t have an exact address but I’ve got the street name. I basically know where it is and what I’m looking for. But I’ve got another stop to make on the way.”

  “We’re headed back to Kelowna after this. You want to meet up? Talk things out? Lee’s on our side. I’ll vouch for him.”

  There was another pause. If it wasn’t for the sound of the wind in the background, he would have been convinced she’d hung up.

  “Not yet.”

  He knew not to ask her reasons. If she was going to offer them, she would have. Lee slowed the cruiser as they neared the house where several emergency vehicles parked every which way, covering the lawn, the driveway, and the street.

  “We’re here, Sarah. When you need us.”

  “Be careful, Parkman.”

  The phone clicked in his ear. He set it down, already missing her. This wasn’t supposed to be the way things were done. They worked together. Even though he was with Lee, surrounded by other members of law enforcement, Parkman felt so alone.

  It was good to talk to Sarah. He needed that. But what did she need? And what was that about a note in his luggage?

  “Hey, Lee. I need my luggage from the airport.”

  Lee frowned. “You gonna tell me about that call? Or do I have to assume most of it from what I heard you saying?”

  “I’ll tell you what I can after we’re done here and heading back to Kelowna.”

  “Okay.”

  They opened their doors at the same time and exited the cruiser.

  “Thirio,” Lee said, as if he was tasting the name, rolling it off his tongue to see how it felt. “What kind of name is that?”

  Parkman popped a toothpick in his mouth, then offered a don’t-really-care shrug.

  “No idea.”

  He started for the house with the large garden fenced off at the back thinking about Sarah’s newfound ability to see people that had passed on. Would Esmerelda Hall or Dolan Ryan drop in to say hello to Sarah? He disabused himself of such a notion. Sarah had a unique purpose. The other side got involved only when serving that purpose. People who have passed on wouldn’t drop by to say hello unless they were forwarding Sarah’s aims.

  At least he thought so.

  Chapter 27

  Mason stared down at the white cast covering his broken arm. Bandages covered his face, surrounding the broken nose. The drab hospital room drove him insane with the smell. Instruments hung from the walls and were attached to the cabinet. Tools were in cupboards on the side above a sink and counter. Everything reminded him of a dentist’s office, and he hated dentists.

  This was the second time he’d broken a bone. The first was a broken rib in his back over two decades ago. Without a cast on that one, the doctor said the bone would fuse in four to six weeks and firm up by eight weeks. He always remembered that injury because of the month-long nights in a recliner. Sleeping in a bed had been
agony.