“But he didn’t,” Devin pointed out.
Rocky was silent; Devin was certain he was waiting for Brent to leave before exploding and telling her that she had taken a stupid and dangerous chance.
“Good as new,” she told Brent, stepping back. His scratches hadn’t even bled.
Not much, at least, she thought, wincing inwardly.
“Where’s the map?” she asked Brent.
He picked up the cardboard tube and produced a rolled-up map. “Obviously, this isn’t original, but there’s been an upswing of interest in Perley’s theories. Larson Jones, who owns the shop next to me, ordered a bunch of these, so I ran over to get you one, and then I drove out here so your bird could attack me.” He glared at her reproachfully.
It was going to be a long time before Brent forgave her—and Poe.
“That’s so thoughtful of you. I wish you had called, though. I’m truly sorry about Poe, Brent,” she said.
He grunted.
“What do I owe you?” she asked him.
He waved a hand in the air. “Nothing. You took over on the tour for me. But next time you’re looking for something, you can come in and get it.”
“And here I was thinking of having a lovely Halloween party,” she murmured.
He smiled. “By Halloween I’ll be all right. And I’ll get Beth or someone to stand in front of me and shield me from the monster.”
“Can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Tea?” she asked.
“No, I’m heading home. Going to gargle salt water and try to get my voice back before my tour tonight.”
“Well, thank you again.”
Brent nodded and headed for the door.
Devin followed him, feeling Rocky right behind her. He made her uneasy. She felt his heat, breathed his scent. She was almost painfully aware of him as...
The opposite sex.
She closed the door and returned to the parlor, steeling herself for the anger she knew was coming.
But he didn’t yell. She realized that he was breathing deeply. Finally he looked at her and simply asked, “Why?”
“Because I saw her.”
He took that in, staring at her. At last he spoke. “The woman Mina saw at the window—the night you found our Jane Doe?”
“Yes. I saw her. You said that she was trying to talk to me, so I ran out after her.”
Then he asked her, “Do you have any self-control at all? You couldn’t stop yourself?”
“Hey!” she snapped.
But he had a point. She knew how stupidly she had acted.
Which, of course, was emphasized by the way he stood quietly.
Mina was still by the mantel, standing there quietly.
Rocky spun on her suddenly.
“And you just let her go?” he asked Mina.
“I couldn’t stop her,” Mina said. Now, of course, she was staring at Devin, too.
“She might have listened to you,” Rocky said. “She obviously has no idea just what danger is out there.”
“Hey! She’s standing right here. And yes, I made a tremendous mistake, but you will recall that you were the one to tell me that she might be the key,” Devin said.
“I never told you to run out into the woods after her!” he said. “And come on—you know it.”
“I can’t stay locked up forever,” Devin said.
He shook his head. “It won’t be forever.”
“It’s been thirteen years since the murder of Melissa Wilson,” Devin said.
She wished she could take it back. She knew that fact had been like a thorn in his side—something that had haunted him terribly throughout the years.
“This time, it won’t take so long,” he said.
There was truth, conviction, and dead-set determination in his voice. And she felt something warm shoot through her.
He wouldn’t stop. He wouldn’t give up. They’d have to drag him away before he left here without finding the killer.
“What I did wasn’t smart,” she said. “But I won’t do it again. I promise. I was just so eager to talk to her that I forgot everything else. I won’t let it happen again.”
“You could have followed her,” Rocky said to Aunt Mina.
Aunt Mina was silent a minute. “No, I couldn’t.”
“Why not?”
“I...can’t seem to leave the house.”
“But other ghosts—” Rocky began.
“I don’t know about other ghosts. I only know I can’t do it. I try to leave and I disappear in my own mind...or soul, or whatever it is that remains. I—I can’t leave the house.”
That puzzled Rocky, and Devin was glad. It took his mind off her idiotic behavior in the woods.
“It’s all right,” Rocky reassured Aunt Mina. “It’s not as if—Well, I don’t have answers. I don’t understand life and death any better than any man.” He smiled. “You’re here with Devin, and that’s a good thing.”
He was incredibly gentle with Aunt Mina, but when he turned to Devin again it was with a frown so fierce she was surprised she didn’t incinerate on the spot.
“Look, Devin, I know I’m just the fed you flagged down in the road, but—”
“I understand. I really do,” she said, exasperation growing in her voice. “I won’t let it happen again.”
“You had better not.”
Apparently he was going to drop it there. He turned and stared quietly into the fireplace for a moment. She saw his hands and realized that he was shaking slightly.
Because he’d been afraid.
For her.
Well, of course. He’d arrived to screams and shrieking in the woods and...
He knew what it was like to find the dead.
There was nothing personal in his concern.
He turned suddenly, his entire demeanor changed. “Why did you want that particular map?”
“Oh, I had a strange dream, that’s all,” she said. “I dreamed I was on Gallows Hill. I was watching the executions and listening to people talk—afraid to protest, afraid to say anything. If they protested, they’d wind up accused, too.”
“And the map?”
She laughed. “Well, no one knows the actual location of the historic Gallows Hill, but there’s a growing belief that a historian named Sydney Perley, back around 1921, came up with a pretty good idea of where the real hill was. Everyone knows the sheriff had been ordered to ensure that the executions were carried out beyond the boundaries of the town proper. And there are documents that tell us Benjamin Nurse rowed a boat to secretly retrieve his mother’s body after she had been hanged, so we know the real hill was near the water―and though it’s been filled in, there was a pond at the base of what Perley identified as Gallows Hill. Anyway, after the dream I started reading and I got curious. I wanted to see the Sydney Perley map.”
“May I see it?” Rocky asked her.
She unrolled the map.
“This is where he says it was. It’s actually a residential section now. This street here—Proctor Street—was just a cart path at one time. A cart path. They took the victims to be hanged by cart.”
“I’ve always thought Perley had it right,” Aunt Mina said. “In fact, I’ve been there. It’s just a little hill covered with a little patch of forest land, rather like the one that borders this house, and it has never been developed.”
“You’ve really been there?” Devin asked her.
“Of course. My coven and I went often to pray,” she told them.
“I know it’s real police work, but I’d like to go there,” Devin said to Rocky.
“Tomorrow,” he promised her, then glanced at his watch. “We should get going. We’re late.”
“I’m sorry.”
&nbs
p; “It’s not the end of the world. However, I did set this up, and it involves two groups of people who don’t know each other, so...”
“Let’s go,” Devin said.
Rocky said goodbye to Aunt Mina, who Devin thought was looking a little wistful.
“We’ll have a little dinner party here in a day or two, Auntie Mina,” Devin said. “Rocky can bring his coworkers.”
Aunt Mina seemed to perk up. “That would be lovely.”
Rocky looked thoughtful as they got into the car.
“What is it?” she asked him.
He smiled. “I was thinking that wouldn’t be a half-bad idea.”
“What?”
“Having a get-together at your house. Mina would be delighted and...”
“And?”
“And our Puritan might make an appearance when we’re all here and it’s safe to go into the woods.”
As they drove, she realized that they were heading to a residential section near the historic area favored by tourists.
She looked curiously at Rocky.
“Jack’s always loved the old Victorians,” he told her.
Jack’s house was beautiful. They were greeted at the door by his wife, Haley, a lovely woman with brilliant hazel eyes, blond hair and a welcoming smile. She greeted Rocky with a big hug and a kiss on the cheek—she clearly knew him well—but was almost as enthusiastic to meet Devin. She said she had all the Auntie Pim books—she read them to her son—and had been thrilled to hear that Devin had moved back to town.
“Appetizers and drinks are all set up in the dining room already,” she told them. “Go on in. But, please, if anyone starts singing our high school anthem, I’ll beat them with a wooden spoon, I swear.”
Rocky promised her that he would never do any such thing before they headed back to join the others in the large dining room. The beautiful cherry table, large enough to seat twelve, was covered with the promised array of food and drink. As they entered, Devin recognized Angela and Jane, and Rocky introduced her to Jenna and Sam Hall, the other members of his team, and his friends from “the old days,” Vince Steward and Renee Radcliff. Vince was a mammoth man—taller than both Rocky and Jack. Renee was a tiny, well-built brunette with manicured nails and a bubbly personality. She, too, said she enjoyed the Auntie Pim books. She didn’t have children yet, but she loved babysitting for Jackie and read them to him before bed.
Conversation was casual. Sam and Jack talked about a mutual friend, Detective John Alden, who had held Jack’s position a few years ago but had recently left the area to take a position in Colorado. John Alden had been involved in a case of a teen accused of butchering his parents; Jenna and Angela had also worked the case, and the four of them ended up discussing it, along with changes since the Krewe had last worked in the city.
It seemed an incredibly easy meshing of people, the makings of a charming evening.
It might have been any dinner party, except that there had been murders much like the one that had changed the lives of the hosts and many of the guests—and a number of them were suspects.
The two groups mingled nicely. Rocky belonged to both, and though she didn’t belong to either, everyone included her in their conversations.
At one point, Jackie woke up crying; Jack went off to his bedroom and came back with him, and they all oohed and aahed over the little boy.
“Any of you have kids yet?” Jack asked the agents.
“Not us,” Sam said. “Jenna and I haven’t even made it official yet.”
“Angela actually married the boss,” Jenna teased. “So maybe the rest of us will follow their lead.”
“Wait, I’m confused,” Jack said. “You don’t make it official and you don’t act like you’re together, but—”
“We’re coworkers when we’re working and we don’t run around blasting out the information when we’re a twosome,” Jenna clarified. “But we’re not discouraged from being together. We work well together. We just don’t bring it into work.”
“Ah, well, you are special people, huh?” Jack teased.
“For the good or the bad,” Angela said lightly.
“What about you, Angela? Do you have children?” Renee asked her.
“Not yet. We work a lot,” Angela said.
“Well, sometimes you just have to do things, you know?” Haley said.
“Haley!” Vince said. “All you wanted in life for as long as I can remember was marriage and that baby.”
“She used to date Rocky,” Renee put in. “But she finally decided he was a lost cause and gave up.”
Devin turned to look at Jack. He shrugged good-humoredly. “They were the Barbie and Ken of our high school. But they were going different ways, and they knew it.” He grinned at Rocky. “My gain.”
“Absolutely,” Rocky said, lifting his glass to Jack. “You two are perfect. And Jackie is a great kid.”
Devin considered them curiously, but there didn’t seem to be any ill will between them.
It wasn’t until Jackie was back in bed and they’d all helped Haley bring out dinner—clam chowder and broiled scrod—that they sat down around the table and the conversation turned serious.
“I guess it’s pretty obvious,” Vince said, looking at Rocky. “You’re not back to stay—or to vacation. You’re back because of the murders.”
“Yes,” Rocky said simply.
Renee looked at the Krewe, then turned to Jack. “So they’ve taken over. What are the cops doing, then?”
“We haven’t taken over,” Rocky said. “It’s a joint investigation. What we want is the murderer caught.”
“This case is still wide-open,” Angela said. “We have so few real clues that there’s no limit to what we must investigate. We need a lot of manpower.”
“Of course,” Vince said. He drummed his fingers on the table. “God, I hope you get him.”
“We intend to,” Rocky said.
“Could it be the same person who killed Melissa?” Renee asked.
Vince leaned forward, staring at Rocky. “Could it be? That was so long ago.”
“It’s certainly possible,” Rocky said.
“But how can you know that?” Renee demanded.
Vince was still staring hard at Rocky. “Because these murders were the same,” Vince said quietly. “God help us all. You found them the same way as Melissa.”
“Vince,” Renee murmured uncomfortably, “you can’t know that.”
But Vince shook his head. “No, I was there. And what I saw has been imprinted in my mind all these years. You found them lying the same way...outstretched, like a pentagram. The blood on the throat...”
Renee shivered. “Stop it, Vince, please.”
“I can’t. Because they’re thinking it was someone who was here at the time—and here now.”
CHAPTER 9
“Like one of us,” Vince continued.
Silence fell for a brief second.
“Me?” Renee squeaked. “You think that it could have been me?”
“No,” Rocky said.
“He’s lying,” Vince said, and laughed bitterly. “I’m an attorney. I can tell when a man is lying. Trust me—I’ve listened to liars for years.”
“I’m not lying,” Rocky said, looking at Renee. “It would have been almost impossible for you to have killed any of the women. You’re too short.” He looked back at Vince. “Could it have been one of the rest of us? Yes.”
“So I could be a suspect?” Vince asked.
“Frankly, yes,” Rocky said. “Have you taken up the Wiccan religion recently, Vince?” he asked.
“What?”
“Wiccan—did you become a Wiccan?” Rocky asked.
“No!”
“Then why on earth di
d you buy an athame?”
Vince stared at Rocky in openmouthed surprise. If the situation weren’t so critical, Rocky would have been amused. Vince had come a long way—law school was no easy track—but right then he looked like the kid in class who had just been told there was going to be a pop quiz on the material he hadn’t studied the night before.
“What?” Vince asked.
“Athame. It’s a double-edged blade used in the Wiccan religion. It’s normally ceremonial, but it’s the closest match we’ve found for the weapon used to murder our victims.”
Vince reddened. “I know what an athame is,” he muttered. “You think you’re the only one who knows anything?”
“You said, ‘What?’” Rocky reminded him. “I thought you were asking what an athame was.”
“Why are you attacking Vince?” Renee asked. She was sitting next to him, which made her look even tinier—and Vince look almost like an ogre.
“Guys, this is a dinner party, not an interrogation,” Haley said.
Rocky didn’t flinch. “I’m not attacking anyone,” he assured her. He looked at Vince evenly. “I’m just asking questions.”
“How the hell do you know so much?” Vince demanded. “Oh, that’s right. You’re a fed. Big Brother is watching.”
“There’s no conspiracy here,” Angela assured him.
“Did you get a warrant to violate my privacy?” Vince asked.
“I didn’t need one. If you use a credit card, the record of your purchases is on the internet and readily available to anyone, not just law enforcement. But you’re stalling, Vince.” He smiled to take the sting out of the words. “And you’re good at it. I’m glad you got your law degree. I can only imagine how effective your arguments are in court. Back in school you already had the ability to convince half our teachers it was their fault you hadn’t done your homework.”
Vince’s jaw tightened as he looked down and shook his head. He looked back up at Rocky. “We all have our strengths. It was easy for you to get it done, and easy for me to talk my way out of it.”
“Vince,” Rocky said, “I’m not attacking you, but I need to know. Why did you buy it?”
Vince looked around at the agents. “I don’t know which of you is the computer pro, but you can check this out. I was defending Midnight Mercantile. They had a shipment go overboard just outside Boston Harbor. They lost a lot of merchandise, including a large order of athames, which was recovered and the contents unsalable. I bought one made to the same specifications to demonstrate in court that if the contents had been made to the manufacturer’s promised standards, the time they spent in the water wouldn’t have ruined them to such a degree. We subjected my athame to salt water for an equal amount of time, and I proved my point. You want the athame? I’ll get it to you.”
Heather Graham Krewe of Hunters Series, Volume 4 Page 43