Krewe of Hunters, Volume 2: The Unseen ; The Unholy ; The Unspoken ; The Uninvited

by Heather Graham

  Tyler answered for her. “We were about to go out for a late breakfast. But if you’re worried about any of the papers or materials that are out of order or might have been compromised, please feel free to come back.”

  “I’ll do that,” Sarah said. “I’ll help you, Allison. You and I are both so careful about our research. I’d really like to find out if anything was taken.”

  “Of course, Sarah,” Allison said.

  “Well, then, we’re out of here.” Nathan paused and smiled at Allison again. “Thank you, Allison. Thanks for all you’re doing for the house.”

  “It’s my pleasure,” she responded. “I love the house and the history.”

  “Of course you do, dear,” Cherry said, but somehow she made it sound like a reproach.

  Tyler walked them all to the door. After another chorus of goodbyes, they were gone.

  “They can enter this house at any time,” he said as he returned.

  “We could have asked for their keys,” Allison told him.

  “No, we don’t want them thinking they’re under suspicion. What we do need is an alarm system that’ll alert us if anyone tries to enter with a key. Can you work on that, Sean?”

  Logan turned to Allison. “On the day Julian died, did you see them all leave?”

  “Yes, as my last tour was coming in.”

  “But Julian came into the house, and you didn’t see him. So one of them could have doubled back,” Tyler said. “Annette was at the dentist, but where were you when Jason left? The house couldn’t have been locked until he was out and you closed up, right?”

  “Did you see Jason leave the house?” Logan asked her.

  “I heard Jason shut the door, but I didn’t actually see him go. I did notice the board leaving, but…”

  “One of them could’ve come back in, and you wouldn’t have known it.”

  “That can’t be,” she said, and she knew her tone sounded desperate. “Annette, Jason and I all got mad at Julian, but none of us would have killed him. And I can’t think of any reason that a member of the board would have killed Julian. They could simply have fired him!”

  “They could fire him—but that wouldn’t help if he knew something he shouldn’t,” Kelsey said.

  “Breakfast,” Logan announced. “Or nearly lunch if you prefer. Hungry investigators don’t concentrate well. Let’s get something to eat and stoke up for the day. Then we’ll get started in earnest here.”

  “Let’s just walk to your friend’s restaurant,” Tyler suggested. “What time does it open?”

  “You mean Evan’s place? McDooley’s? He opens at eleven,” she said. “You don’t suspect Evan in this, do you?” she asked, her tone wry.

  “No, I suspect a board member, Jason or Annette, and I’m sorry, because I know that hurts you. And after the way she just insisted on going into the office with you, I want to know more about Sarah Vining.”

  “Sarah? But she’s…” Allison began, not sure how to say what she meant.

  “Because she looks fragile, sweet, eternally nervous and innocent?” Kelsey asked. “Never trust appearances.”

  “We’re all speculating right now,” Logan said. “Sean, can you quickly rig up an alarm for us?”

  “Yep, got the camera aimed at the door and a zip connection to my phone.”

  “Then let’s go,” Tyler said. “McDooley’s was a great place and I’m hungry.”

  They all agreed. Still shaking inwardly, Allison wondered how they could forget what they’d seen and think about something as mundane as food. But they were obviously used to bizarre occurrences….

  Evan beamed delightedly when Allison walked in with Tyler, Kelsey, Logan and Sean.

  “Hey, thanks! You did come back with friends,” he said to Tyler.

  “We need a hangout.” Tyler grinned. “Allison, introduce Evan around, will you?”

  She did so, and then her eyes widened as she saw Jason walking up to her. He was wearing a McDooley’s polo shirt and jeans.

  “Hey, Ally, oh, Lord! How are you? You poor girl, finding Julian like that… And I’d just been bitching about him. I wish I’d at least been with you when you found him.”

  “It’s horrible, yes, and we’re all devastated, but…” She tried to smile. “But you’re working. Evan told me to get in touch with you and Annette. I just hadn’t had a chance.”

  “I called him right away. I figured he’d lend a hand. I desperately need to work, since I still have to pay for school.” Jason kissed her cheek. “Thankfully, Evan said he could use the help.” He stood back, smiling curiously and waiting to meet the others. “I’m really pleased you’re here,” he told the Krewe. “I admit…I was mad as hell at Julian. He seemed to believe he was a star and that our little lives didn’t matter next to his. But you couldn’t help liking him. We’re all reeling after his death.” He looked at Allison. “You holding up okay? The police came and gave me the third degree, but I heard you were at the station all night.”

  “I’m glad they grilled us. We owe it to Julian to figure out exactly what happened,” she said.

  Jason frowned. “What do you mean? Julian was messing around the way he always did, right?”

  “Probably,” she lied. She assumed the Krewe didn’t want others knowing about their suspicions. “These people are going to find out what—if anything—is going on at the house.”

  He still seemed surprised. “I heard about your unit coming in. I’m just not sure what this can do for Julian. Well, nothing can be done for Julian now, of course. But, anyway, sit. I’ll get your orders and you can tell me anything else you think I need to know. Or ask me anything you want,” he told the Krewe members.

  Jason escorted them over to one of his booths. He made suggestions, and they ordered their meals and five glasses of iced tea.

  “So that’s Jason,” Tyler said as he watched him leave.

  “He’s a good kid. And it wouldn’t have made any sense for him to do anything to Julian,” Allison said earnestly. She was seated next to Tyler. Kelsey was between Logan and Sean on the other side of the booth. “Jason wants to keep going to school. You heard him. He needs an income.”

  Kelsey reached across the table and squeezed her hand. She said, “I admire your loyalty to your friends. During a case in San Antonio, I learned the hard way that we never know another person as well as we think we do.”

  “Yeah, but you got me out of the deal, right?” Logan teased.

  Allison was touched by the closeness between them, and yet when they worked together, you wouldn’t know they were a couple.

  Everyone in the Krewe seemed close to and dependent on one another. Their easy manner didn’t interfere with their professionalism and only seemed to enhance it.

  “So, you all met on a case?” she asked them.

  Logan said, “Yes, we did. Kelsey was the outsider.”

  “The rest of us are from Texas,” Sean explained.

  “But you work out of Virginia?” Allison asked.

  Sean nodded. “Now we do. And the way we work…works, somehow. Will Chan, one of the original Krewe members, was involved in our last case. He’s back with his crew while Kat, who was lead on that investigation, is back with us. They’re fortunate, though. They became a couple and found a great place in Arlington to call home when we’re on base.”

  “Sean isn’t so lucky,” Kelsey said, punching his shoulder lightly. “The love of his life actually has his old job in California. She’s with one of the premier special effects studios in Hollywood. So they have to get together when they can.”

  Sean looked at her with a grimace and lifted his glass of iced tea. “It can work—if you want it to. We do.”

  “My poor cousin!”

  “I’d forgotten you’re cousins,” Allison said.

  “You don’t see a family resemblance?” Kelsey asked.

  “I wasn’t really looking for one, but yeah…the eyes.”

  “Genetics can be unpredictable. Certain characteristi
cs can skip generations and reappear. Luckily, sometimes that happens with inherited diseases, too. Sometimes they’ll skip enough generations for cures to be discovered,” Logan said.

  Allison realized that Tyler was studying her. She felt a rush of warmth; he was probably thinking about the image of the wraithlike Lucy Tarleton—and just how much she and Allison resembled each other.

  She also realized she liked being where she was. There was something about Tyler that evoked trust. The man was six-four-plus and built of steel, and that surely led to a feeling of safety. But she liked the feel of him, the clean scent of him, his deep voice….

  She didn’t want to think about him in any kind of physical way. She was a tool for him and his team, and they were providing her with a safe haven. To suddenly enjoy the presence of this particular man was not wise. Especially since her taste in men hadn’t proven to be at all that reliable in the past.

  Apparently, his thoughts didn’t quite match hers because he asked, “Can you trace your ancestry back to the Revolution? You’re a historian, so I imagine you know your own family history.”

  Allison nodded. “My dad’s family, yes. They’ve been in Philly since the 1700s. I lose count of the greats, but I have family buried at Christ Church graveyard—not all that far from Benjamin Franklin. In fact, I think the monument is close enough for pennies to fall on great-great-great-whatever granddad.”

  “Pennies? Why?”

  “Local tradition has it that tossing pennies on Ben’s grave brings financial good fortune.”

  Logan grinned. “Well, that kind of contradicts that proverb of his—a penny saved is a penny earned.”

  They all laughed. Tyler asked, “Did you have a great-great-great-whatever fighting in the Revolution?”

  She nodded again. “William Peter Leigh. He survived the war and lived to the ripe old age of eighty-seven. He’s at Christ Church with his two wives, several of his children and their children. My mother’s from a more recent wave of Irish immigrants. They came to New York during the Famine and then made their way over to Philadelphia.”

  “It would be interesting to find out more about your family,” Logan murmured.

  Allison shook her head. “I know what you’re trying to do, but as Tyler said, I’m a historian, and I’m familiar with my own family background. I am not related to the Tarleton or the Dandridge families. The Philadelphia Department of Records has my dad’s family history generation by generation—and a lot of what’s in the Department of Records can be verified by church records. Same with the Tarleton family. Angus Tarleton had two children, Lucy and Sophia. Lucy died, and you can trace the Dandridge family, as well. The name died out with Cherry Addison’s mother.” She sipped her iced tea. “But I’m not sure why this is relevant. You tell me that what was done to Julian wasn’t done by a ghost. So how can the past matter so much?”

  “It might and it might not,” Logan said vaguely. “We’ll see.”

  “When we get back into the office, I’d like to keep going through the papers and records that were thrown around up there.” Tyler smiled at her. “I’d also like a better tour of the property.”

  “You mean the stables and the graveyard?” Allison asked.

  “Yes. I looked around quickly when I first arrived, but there’s nothing like a good tour—with a knowledgeable guide.”

  As he finished speaking, Jason and a few other servers appeared with their meals. “Careful if you’re driving out on the highway,” he told them. “There was a massive accident on US1.”

  “That’s awful,” Allison said.

  “They’re just showing it on the television up at the bar,” Jason was saying. “It looks like at least ten cars are involved and two trucks have turned over. I’m afraid there are going to be some fatalities.”

  Allison slid out of the booth and followed Jason over to the bar. A reporter was at the scene of the crash, and she saw a twisted mass of steel on the road. One car had flipped and fallen on another. One truck was on its side, another stretched across the road, forming a barrier.

  Staring at the tangle, she gasped. “Jason, that car—it’s a blue Volvo.”

  “Yeah,” he said.

  They were thinking the same thing.

  Sarah Vining drove a blue Volvo.

  “Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Jason said. “There must be a lot of blue Volvos in the Philly area.”

  “Sarah said she’d always drive a Volvo because it was the safest car on the road,” Allison whispered.

  “Yes, and it is a Volvo, so even if Sarah’s in that car, I’m sure she’s going to be okay.”

  Allison noticed Tyler standing next to her and saw that he had his phone out. He was speaking to someone who could zero in on the license plate and pull up the vehicle records.

  She and Jason waited anxiously as he spoke. He grunted replies, finished with a terse “Thanks,” and snapped his phone shut. He looked from Jason to Allison.

  “The car does belong to Sarah Vining,” he said. “From what the police have determined so far, Sarah was the one who caused the accident.”

  11

  While Logan spoke with officers at the accident scene, Tyler found the ambulance bearing Sarah Vining to the hospital. After showing his I.D., he was permitted to join the EMTs. The siren was blaring but he could make out what they were saying behind him.

  The EMTs were troubled, speaking urgently with doctors while en route, doing their best to save the woman.

  The Volvo she had so depended on had stood her in good stead; she had slammed into one of the trucks and her air bag had inflated to protect her.

  But while cars continued to slam into one another around her, Sarah had done the unthinkable—she had stumbled out of her car. She’d been hit by another vehicle and hurled several feet in the air.

  Sarah lay bruised and broken with an IV in her arm—unresponsive to anything that was said or done to her as the medical techs strove diligently to keep her alive.

  When they reached the emergency room, she was immediately wheeled in.

  Tyler wasn’t allowed entry, but he identified himself to the emergency room doctor and told him he’d be waiting for any information or any possibility of talking to the woman. While the doctor seemed surprised that a federal agent was so determined to see a vehicular accident victim, he agreed as he hurried off.

  Tyler paced the waiting room. He’d been suspicious of the woman just before this happened. And he was still suspicious—although no longer of Sarah herself.

  He wanted to know what would cause the woman to lose control of her vehicle as she had. And why in God’s name would she crawl out of the car?

  More victims from the accident arrived at the hospital. It was controlled chaos as those with the severest injuries were treated first and the triage nurses worked at a record pace to see that everyone was taken in according to need.

  Tyler followed one of the EMTs outside, where the man had just leaned against a wall to draw a deep breath.

  “Is everyone in?” he asked.

  The EMT nodded. “Twenty-four people. I’m praying they all make it. One guy was bleeding like a sieve. There were a few children…but I think they’re going to be okay. A broken arm, a few bumps and bruises, trauma from air bags. It’s been a rough day.” He offered Tyler a weak smile. “No one at the morgue yet, though, and we thought we’d see a lot of dead.” His eyes narrowed. “You have a family member involved?”

  “A friend,” he said. “I’m glad to hear that, so far, everyone’s hanging in.”

  He went back to the emergency waiting room and sat down beside a woman with her arm in a makeshift sling, hoping for a chance to ask her what she’d seen without looking like an ambulance chaser or a voyeur.

  He didn’t have to worry; she just started talking. “It was unbelievable!” she said, turning to him with wide eyes. “The woman in the blue Volvo was in front of me, driving, and then she threw her arms up and started screaming. A few seconds later, she veered in
to the next lane, crashing into a truck and spinning into me! Then another car hit the truck and another car hit me…. Why on earth would she suddenly do that? Oh, my God, I’ll never forget the sound. It was awful, just awful…the screeching of brakes, the cars all slamming together. Were you there?”

  “No, I wasn’t. I’m so sorry for everyone who was hurt,” Tyler told her.

  “I’m alive!” she said. “It’s a miracle.”

  “But you did see the woman driving. And she was fine at first, and then…”

  “It was as if she went crazy. As if she was struck by lightning or possessed by a demon or something. I knew to get away from her but it was too late—it all happened so fast!”

  Tears appeared in her eyes. Tyler placed a comforting hand on her arm. “Thank God you’re all right,” he said sincerely.

  He saw the doctor who’d been with Sarah Vining when she was wheeled in.

  Tyler excused himself, stood and walked over to him.

  “I’m sorry to tell you this. Ms. Vining was declared dead about four minutes ago,” the doctor told him.

  “Her injuries were that extensive?” Tyler asked, feeling deep pity for the woman, and a sense of loss. He also felt the tension of needing to find out how she’d died.

  He knew she hadn’t just “gone crazy” and caused the accident. Waiting to hear what had happened was like waiting for a hammer to fall.

  “Snakebite,” the doctor said.

  “What?” Tyler asked. “Snakebite?”

  “The EMTs were at a loss because they couldn’t see the bite. There must’ve been a snake in her car. A copperhead? They’ll know for sure when they’ve finished the autopsy. She was bitten. The bite probably caused her to lose control of the car. Her other injuries led us astray at first, and between the trauma of the accident and the poison…Ms. Vining succumbed.”

  “Thank you. Where will she be taken?” Tyler paused. “You’re sure? She was bitten by a snake?”

  “Look, I still have people here to see, but check it out for yourself.” He nodded to one of the nurses in the hall. The young man came forward to direct Tyler into the room where Sarah Vining lay on the operating table.