Sadie shook her head. “What videotapes? And why would she think I’d want to keep them?”
“She figured if you found them, you’d be pissed enough about Bowman to use them against her.”
“Use Stephen Brant’s videotapes against her? That doesn’t make sense. Also, why did she continue to steal the boxes after the baby was already discovered? Why take a chance on Mr. Ugly and breaking into a crime scene? Unless . . .” Sadie’s voice trailed off. “Unless there was an even darker secret and it was on those tapes.”
“Carole and Paula knew firsthand what Stephen Brant was capable of doing,” Petrovich said.
“They knew he murdered those two thirteen-year-olds . . . Tanya and Ashley?”
He nodded. “Not only that, Brant convinced Carole and Paula to help him.”
“Help?” Sadie felt sickened by the direction of the conversation.
“Carole and Paula admitted that they brought Tanya and Ashley to Stephen Brant. They traded the two girls for their own freedom away from his sick abuse.”
“Oh, God,” Sadie whispered. She put a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes for a moment. “But nobody would’ve found out about that, right? You said yourself, you didn’t even have enough evidence to arrest Stephen Brant for those girls before he wound up dead.”
“Yeah, but Carole found a video in her house. Actually, a box of videos.”
“He filmed himself with the girls?” Sadie’s jaw dropped.
Petrovich nodded. “Not just what he did to Paula and Carole, but he got them on tape bringing in the other two girls. Had them confessing that they’d lured the girls to the house.”
“Oh, no,” Sadie murmured. “All along they were worried they’d be charged along with Brant for murdering the girls. Even after he died, he held them hostage with those tapes because they could’ve been convicted. But if Carole found the videos . . .”
“Carole found a box of videos when her mom was packing and moving to Spokane, but a note inside told her there were many copies in other boxes hidden away. They tried to find the boxes but it was like finding a needle in a haystack. Even though she destroyed that first box of videos, it wasn’t enough.”
“And they knew that second box was probably sold at Bertrude’s sudden garage sale and bought unopened by Mimi. She hid all those boxes upstairs. The baby. The tapes. Have you been able to get into the upstairs of the Wickses’ house yet?”
“We’ve sort of taken a break there.”
“Probably a good idea.” A thought occurred to her. “Carole’s rubber ‘survivor’ bracelet and Paula’s S necklace.
I finally remember where I’ve seen that jewelry before. Maeva sells it on the counter of her store. Proceeds go to an organization that helps survivors of childhood sexual abuse. At some time Paula and Carole probably went to the charity for help.”
“It’s likely,” Petrovich agreed. “But the help didn’t stick. They didn’t ever get over it. Brant controlled them long after the bugs picked his bones cleaned. Maybe Paula and Carole can get the help they need in prison.”
Maeva came back in the room and handed coffee mugs to Sadie and Petrovich.
“Thanks,” Sadie said, gratefully sipping the strong liquid. “So, what about the fires? My van, car, and the warehouse?”
“We’re at a stalemate there,” Petrovich admitted. “Carole says it must’ve been Paula, and Paula claims it was Carole.”
“Huh. What do you think?”
“I’m leaning toward Carole since you said it was a dark SUV that followed you. Bertrude drives a black Trailblazer and Carole had easy access to it.” He paused thoughtfully. “By the way, Paula has a really gross-looking rash. Her entire face is covered with puss-filled blisters and hives.” He shuddered. “Doctor looked at it and they don’t have a clue what caused it. No amount of medication seems to help. She’s convinced you gave it to her. You know anything about that?” Petrovich asked.
“Not a thing.”
Sadie and Maeva shared a giggling smile over their cups of coffee.
“Okay, I think she’s had enough,” Maeva said to Petrovich. To Sadie she said, “You’ve got to take it easy. Pace yourself.”
“Yes, Mom,” Sadie joked.
Petrovich left and then Sadie convinced Maeva to go back home to Terry.
“Terry’s getting ready to cater a bachelor party tonight,” Maeva said. “He doesn’t need me underfoot.”
“Well, you’re welcome to hang around but I’m going to be boring as hell. Sleep. Watch TV.” Sadie shrugged. “Maybe throw a ball to Hairy.”
“Well, I’ll leave you for a little while and check back in a couple hours.”
As soon as Maeva left, Sadie made a list with only three items on it. She picked up the phone and went to work to tackle the first item on the agenda.
“Hi, Louise,” Sadie said. “Can you get the Thingvolds together and meet me at Sunnyside Avenue?”
Sadie went to Sunnyside Avenue early. She’d had to rent another vehicle. As she pulled into the driveway in the small compact, she made a mental note to go car shopping soon. Nervously she glanced up and felt the weight of Stephen Brant’s evil gaze hammering down on her from the upstairs window. She rubbed her arms for warmth and was thrilled to see Louise’s blue Mini Cooper pull into the driveway behind her. The Thingvolds were with her.
Sadie greeted them in the driveway. “Thanks for coming,” Sadie said.
“Thanks for not getting killed,” Louise said.
“Hail, hail, the gang’s all here for round two,” Thing One announced.
“We’re glad to help,” Thing Two told her. “But you should know that this may be a bit trickier then last time.”
“Because we held him in one area and now have to move him?”
“Oh, we can’t move him,” Thing Two said.
“Rick is right,” Louise said, reaching into her car and pulling out her large black tote bag. “We’re not playing chess with a pawn piece here.”
“That’s right,” Thing One added. “We can’t really be moving him from place to place.”
“We can’t?” Sadie asked. “Because, you know, I’m kind of happy with just pushing him here or there. We could even just stick him in a closet the cops don’t need to get into. I don’t think we need to do anything more than that.”
“It wouldn’t be prudent,” Thing One said.
“Or ethical,” Thing Two added.
“We need to banish him to the next dimension. Permanently,” Louise said.
Oh, brother.
Once inside the house, everyone got busy. Louise opened her bag and took out a bag of green herbs. The Thingvolds opened their own satchels, pulling out their wands and muttering words of enchantment to each other. Sadie did her thing, standing and wringing her hands, cursing under her breath and stealing furtive glances up stairs.
“You should understand that we’ve never actually moved a circle of protection before,” Thing Two said.
“It’s true,” Thing One confirmed. “We’ve put them up, taken ’em down, and then put up new ones and stuff like that but, well—”
“They’re trying to tell you that there are no guarantees,” Louise said. “Sometimes the evil gets in, no matter how strong the magic.”
“Oh, I feel much better now,” Sadie muttered sarcastically. “So what will we do?”
“We’ll travel upstairs while I perform the purification smudging,” Louise said. “And we have a spell to chant together.”
Thing One recited quietly, “Divine God and Goddess, protector of all that you possess, protect us all of kindly heart, from blackness in the darkest part. If evil dwells within this place, banish it to another space.”
“It’s important that we all say it together,” Thing Two pointed out. “It’s more powerful that way.”
“I’m going to need a day or two just to memorize that,” Sadie said drily.
“I brought index cards,” Louise said, happily handing them out. She turned to Sadi
e. “You can also do this.” Louise thrust a small bottle of clear liquid into Sadie’s hands. “It’s holy water. Just sprinkle it around and fling it at the dude.”
“Right.” Sadie’s knees shook with fear. She felt as if she was about to throw up.
They climbed the stairs slowly and deliberately. The door to the corner bedroom was open. It was the room the ghost would’ve been bound to if the circle truly did prevent him from leaving but Sadie didn’t see him there now.
“He’s not there,” Sadie said.
“He’s there,” Thing Two said firmly. “I can feel his evil-ness.”
“What a bunch of freaks,” snarled a male voice from the corner. They all looked over at Mr. Ugly glaring over at them from the center of the upper bedroom.
“Let me out,” he roared.
Sadie flinched and spilled the entire contents of the holy water on her shoe.
“I’m willing to help you,” Sadie told him. “You need to move on. There’s nothing left for you here. It’s over. Your stuff is gone and what’s left here will be going soon.”
His face faltered.
“You’re doing good,” Thing Two told her. “Keep talking.”
“You’ve been in limbo for a long, long time,” Sadie said. “I’m sure you’re tired. There are probably others waiting for you on the other side.”
“Oh, they’re waiting for me all right.” He sneered. “Want to see?”
He opened his mouth impossibly wide until his jaw stretched and distorted like that of a python unhinging its jaw for a huge prey.
“Oh, God,” Louise cried. “Don’t look at it!”
But Sadie couldn’t resist. The cavity of the spirit’s dark mouth showed the fires of hell, and mingled in the flames were the twisted shapes of spirits screaming in agony. Sadie didn’t realize she was falling until Things One and Two grasped her elbows and tugged her roughly to her feet.
“Snap out of it,” Louise shouted, snapping her fingers in Sadie’s face.
“You!” Louise pointed a finger in the general direction of Mr. Ugly. “In the name of all that is good, we banish you from this place!”
All at once Louise and the Thingvolds began shouting in one voice, “Divine God and Goddess, protector of all that you possess—” Louise nudged Sadie, and Sadie groped for her index card so she could read along. She added her own words to the three shouting, and their voices rose to a loud scream.
“Protect us all of kindly heart, from blackness in the darkest part. If evil dwells within this place, banish it to another space!”
As they shouted, the spirit began to fade until Sadie could see clear through his form to the other side of the room.
“Again!” Thing One said, and three repeated the chant at a shrill screaming level.
Sadie was shocked that their intended target appeared weakened by mere words. Suddenly, in a cloud of bright red, the edges of Mr. Ugly burst into a brief blue flame that quickly died. For a few seconds there was a popping, sizzling noise that was followed by a blinding shimmer before he disappeared altogether.
“He’s gone,” Sadie said, her voice a hoarse whisper.
“Good job, everyone!” Louise shouted.
There was a spontaneous and enthusiastic group hug. Unfortunately, Sadie forgot the three were touch sensitive like Maeva, and within seconds Louise and the Thingvolds had all lost their lunch in the upstairs hall.
22
Sadie quickly perused the back bedroom that Mr. Ugly had been so determined to protect. Almost the entire room had been cleared out with just a few odds and ends remaining; however, on the top shelf of the closet Sadie discovered a carved wood box. Sadie popped it open and saw a collection of girlie things: barrettes, a pair of earrings, and a silver chain were among the items. She was willing to bet that these were souvenirs Stephen Brant kept. Monsters like Brant enjoyed reliving their moments of torture through the personal mementos of their victims. Sadie fingered two braided friendship bracelets and wondered if they’d belonged to the murdered thirteen-year-olds, Tanya and Ashley. With a sigh Sadie closed the box and placed it back on the shelf. Then she called Petrovich and left him a voice mail telling him of her discovery and the banishment for Stephen Brant.
Sadie, Louise, and the Thingvolds left the Sunnyside Avenue house, closing the door behind them for good. Out on the street, Sadie waved good-bye to the three with a promise she’d buy them all dinner sometime soon. She waited for Louise to pull her Mini Cooper out from behind her, and then Sadie put her little car in reverse. As she was backing up she noticed Bertrude Brant peering at her from between the drapes of the living room next door. The woman looked woefully dejected and forlorn. Sadie almost felt sorry for her. She’d lost both her husband and her daughter.
Sadie pulled off of Sunnyside Avenue and was glad to leave it behind. She drove a little way to Revolutions Espresso & Bakery on Woodlawn and enjoyed a latte while she ticked off that first item on her list and prepared for item number two.
An hour later, Sadie drove out of Green Lake and to the Eastside. She pointed her vehicle down the 405 toward Renton. She sat in her vehicle for twenty minutes in the parking lot of the Whispering Groves Drug Rehab Center before she had enough nerve to enter.
Once inside she was directed to a small office where Zack was already waiting. She’d called ahead, but they had made no guarantees he’d want a visitor. When he saw Sadie, though, he jumped to his feet and rushed to pull her into his arms.
“I am so sorry,” he breathed into her hair.
“I know.” She tightened her hug. They broke apart and smiled sheepishly at one another. “And thanks for rescuing me. Again,” she said with a smile.
“I’m just glad you’re okay,” Zack said, but he added, “Just promise me you won’t be needing any more rescuing for a few weeks. I’m going to be here a while.”
His voice was lucid, concise, and clear, and it brought tears to her eyes.
“I promise.” Sadie made a cross-my-heart motion and they both laughed.
They walked and got a bad cup of coffee from the lounge area of the facility. Before Sadie left, she promised to bring him a cup of espresso on her next visit.
When they hugged good-bye, Sadie’s voice broke. “I just wanted you to know that when you’re done here, you can move back in, if you’d like.”
He pulled away from her.
“I was thinking maybe we should start over,” Zack said. “We’ve never actually dated. I think I should get my own place and we should go out on real dates. Dinners. Movies. Like a real couple. A normal couple.”
Sadie smiled. “I’d like that.”
When she was back in her vehicle, Sadie happily ticked off that second item on her agenda and with a deep breath headed toward the location of that third and final item.
She called her mom and asked her to put on a pot of coffee. But once inside the house of her youth, Sadie began having second thoughts. Maybe she should come back another day. Or another week.
“I made banana bread this morning,” Mom said.
Happily bustling about, Mom put the thick slices onto a plate and took the plate into the living room with Sadie carrying the coffee cups behind her.
“Or would you rather eat in the kitchen?” Mom asked, stopping abruptly.
“Here’s fine,” Sadie said, taking a seat on the sofa.
“Well, eat then. You can’t just live on coffee, you know,” Mom reprimanded. “You’re already too skinny.”
Sadie smiled at her mom and chose a slice of banana bread and took a big bite. It was nice to see her mom trying so hard, but Sadie’s heart fell when she couldn’t see her dad’s spirit anywhere.
“Well?” her mom was asking.
“Oh. It’s delicious,” Sadie said. “You’ve always made the perfect banana bread. Whenever I’ve tried to make it on my own, it comes out too dry.”
“That’s because you’ve never asked me for my recipe. I have a secret ingredient, you know.”
“Really
?”
“I add a quarter cup of plain yogurt,” her mom explained. Suddenly she was back on her feet. “How about I write out the full recipe for you?”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to do that.”
“Nonsense; it’ll just take me a couple minutes. Every woman should have a recipe for good banana bread.” She ran back to the kitchen.
Sadie swallowed another mouthful of banana bread and then got to her feet. She paced around the living room and softly called for her father. She’d been looking for him since she arrived but hadn’t had any luck. She was beginning to think number three on her list would have to wait, but then finally there he was. His image had even managed to come all the way over.
“Dad!” Sadie exclaimed. Her heart jumped joyfully in her chest. “And look at you, fully formed and everything. You didn’t leave a single part of you behind this time.”
“That’s because I finally figured out what was keeping me here.” He walked over to her mother’s antique sideboard in the corner of the room and opened and closed a drawer. “And I’ve had to fine-tune my talents.”
Sadie nodded in amazement. It wasn’t often that ghosts managed to connect with objects, let alone move them and use them, unless they’d stayed in limbo for a helluva long time. Like Mr. Ugly’s ghost.
“That’s really impressive,” Sadie said, and meant it, but she was confused. “So that’s what’s been keeping you here? The fact that you needed to learn to use objects?”
“No.” He shook his head. “What’s been keeping me here is you.”
“Oh.” Sadie frowned sadly. “I know, Dad. I’m so sorry, and that’s why I’m here—”
“You don’t get it, Sadie,” he interrupted. “Hold on a second.” He went to the living room window and glanced outside and then rushed over to her. “You see, you are the reason I’ve been in limbo because you’re important.”
“Aw-w-w, thanks, Dad,” Sadie said, feeling emotional.
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