I decided to spend another night in Corbin and leave early the next morning. I didn’t relish the ten to twelve hour drive back, but at least I had some additional information about Marilyn Saunders. I wasn’t sure exactly how Bella’s insight would help me, but knowledge is supposed to be power.
Refraining from watching the evening news on this day, I was relaxing on the bed after I had indulged in a pizza supreme from that pizza joint. I was smarter this time. I bought a small instead of a medium. Sam doesn’t eat pizza and I had no refrigerator in my deluxe room to keep leftovers. The small size was a better fit for me.
I fed him a couple of burgers without the buns. It satisfied him immensely.
Sam was snoring on the end of the bed. The motel phone on the bedside table rang and forced him to turn over.
It was my Corbin psychic, Bella Cantrella. Love that name.
“I forgot to tell ya that other thing,” she said.
“How’d you get this number?”
“Chile, did ya not see my sign in the front yard?”
“Okay. Yeah, I saw it. What’s that other thing?”
“What I read in yur palm.”
“Oh. What did you see?”
“Danger.”
“You told me that Marilyn was trying to kill me.”
“You already knew that.”
“I did.”
“That weren’t what I wuz gonna tell ya,” she said.
“Will this cost me extra?”
“No, this one’s on the house.”
“No coupon or nothing.”
“There is danger for your family.”
“Know that, too. Marilyn does not like me at all and she is after anyone close to me.”
“Told ya she wuz evul. But yur palm reading wuz more specific.”
“Okay.”
“You have a brother?”
“I do.”
“He’s in danger.”
“As are all of my kith and kin,” I said.
“He’s in danger now. If you can call him, do so. If ya don’t heed my words, he’ll die.”
“Sounds ominous.”
“Don’t know nothin’ ‘bout that word, but I saw it in your palm and I just read some cards fur ya. If ya listen to me, you cud save his life.”
“Anything specific in that reading of yours?”
“All I saw and read wuz something ‘bout birds. Yur bruther needs to stay away from birds.”
She hung up on me before I could say anything else. I looked up a number for her in the three year old phone book I found in the bedside table drawer. No number was listed. There was not even an ad for her business in the colored pages of the small book. She should hire someone to do marketing for her. The sign out front was not likely to draw that many customers. Maybe she knew that.
Sam and I drove to her house. It was dark and no one answered the door. We stayed until I grew tired of banging my knuckles on the screen door frame.
I decided to be safe instead of sorry, so I called my brother on his cell. Luckily, he answered.
“Hey, sis. How are you?”
“Still chasing ghosts, but with little luck. Where are you?”
“Flying to Kansas City, Missouri. Got a business meeting tomorrow morning, so I am traveling tonight.”
“Where are you now?”
“Oklahoma City.”
“Can you spend the night there instead of taking the flight out?”
“I’m boarding the plane as we speak. I have to get to Kansas City.”
“One more night in Oklahoma City wouldn’t adversely affect you, would it?”
“Since when do you call me and tell me to change my schedule like this? What have you been drinking?”
“I just know that you are in danger and I am trying to help.”
“Danger from that mad woman you told me about earlier?”
“Yeah, she’d be the one.”
“So what’s the danger?”
“I think it’s a bomb, but I can’t be for certain.”
“And you know this how?”
“A dream,” I fudged a bit.
“Oh, yeah, right. You and your dreams. Clancy, you have always had peculiar dreams. I’m being kind here.”
“I know. But I am worried about you.”
I didn’t dare tell him that a psychic had warned regarding my brother.
“Look, I will call you from Kansas City. Don’t worry about me.”
Despite my skepticism about so-called psychics, and my first-hand experience with Bella Cantrella, I maintained an uneasy feeling about my brother. Her warning plus my recent nightmare were too much like coincidences. My thinking about coincidences had not changed.
I didn’t change his mind and I passed another night with little sleep and restless dreams. I got up close to five. Sam and I were both restless during the night. I likely caused his restlessness because of my constant waking up and moving around to find some new position of comfort. It was useless. Discomfort was the way the night went. He slept through my shower and early morning rituals.
We left Corbin around 6:30. My goal was to arrive in Norfolk by the end of the day. I talked with Rogers and brought her database up to date with Bella Cantrella’s information. Somewhere around Bristol, Rosey called to say he was heading to Norfolk.
I stopped for lunch in Roanoke. While Sam and I were dining on Philly Cheesesteaks, Rogers called.
“Just got a news bulletin that a plane blew up on the runway in Kansas City but no passengers were injured. Apparently there was some type of mechanical problem, so the authorities at the airport emptied the plane while they worked on the repairs. A couple of the maintenance guys were hurt from flying debris, but they were treated at a local hospital and released. The explosion occurred about twenty-five minutes after the plane had been scheduled to take off for Chicago.”
“I need to call my brother.”
“No need. I did that for you. He is fine. But his end of the conversation was rather strange and I understood little of it. However, you would be proud of me. I played along with his little barbs about wild dreams and weird sister stuff so he had no idea to whom he was speaking. I do a mean impersonation of you, Babycakes. Have no fear.”
“Thanks, Rogers. Did he say where he was headed next perchance?”
“Well, he did say that he had changed his plans once he arrived in Kansas City and was scheduled to be on the plane that exploded going to Chicago for another client meeting. He was grateful things worked out the way they did. He said he would be staying in Kansas City for a few days of R&R and awaiting a call from you before changing locations.”
Chapter 34
After our lunch in Roanoke, Sam and I changed directions and headed towards Clancyville to have a short visit with my mother and Aunt May. I figured that Saunders would not have any idea where I was, so that it would be safe to stop off for a visit. I told Rogers to inform Rosey once he arrived. Now that they were buds, she could be my go-between on occasion.
I pulled into the circular drive of May’s country cabin estate, opened the door to let Sam roam for awhile, and my cell phone buzzed me.
“Yur brother okay?” Bella’s voice on the other end was distinctive to say the least.
“Yes, thanks. How’d you get my number?”
“I’m a psychic, remember?”
“I don’t believe in psychics.”
“I don’t care. There’s lots of folks don’t believe in God, but that don’t change God none.”
“Hardly an apt comparison.”
“A what?”
“Never mind. I appreciate your concern. I had already had a dream about my brother being in an explosion, so your word of caution came at the right time. He was, however, fortunate. Had the plane not had some mechanical difficulty, he would have been on it along with several other passengers en route to Chicago.”
“Yeah, I know’d that. That’s why I did a little séance and got some folks I know to work some magic on that plane
and keep it grounded. I figure the least I cud do would be to find ways to go against Marilyn Cantrella Saunders.”
“I don’t even want you to explain what you just said.”
“Well, look at it this way, Miss Clancy Detective. I’m on yur side. I want to help you stop that evul bitch. Does that clear things up for you?”
“I appreciate your help. Thanks for your … ah… influence.”
Life is full of wonderful surprises and bunches of weird stuff. Deciphering the difference is not always easy. Sometimes, I suspect, wonderful and weird seem to combine and do some good things. I can’t explain it. And I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain what happened in Kansas City. I am simply grateful that Scott was okay, whatever Bella Cantrella did.
I slid the phone into my jeans pocket and was greeted by my mother.
“Another business associate?” she asked.
“In a manner of speaking. How are you?”
“I’m a prisoner in this God-forsaken wilderness hovel that May calls her home. I cannot for the life of me believe anyone would prefer to live like this.”
“Must be the wild and rustic ambience.”
“It’s a cabin made of large logs with dirt and trees and plants and wild animals all around it. I need to get back to civilization.”
“You’re safe here.”
“I’ll never be safe as long as you do what you do and make the enemies you make.”
“If memory serves me, it was my mother who asked me to investigate a recent case, the case in which I had the misfortune to run into Marilyn Saunders.”
“So you’re blaming me for all this mess we’re in?”
“Only as much as you are blaming me, mother.”
“No respect. All the years I slaved and sweated ….”
“Don’t forget about working your fingers to the bone. Maybe you could get some mileage out of that one.”
“Keep the dog outside,” she said as she moved quickly inside the cabin to regroup and prepare for her next onslaught against me.
“She’s just worried about this whole mess,” Aunt May said as she approached the car. “Some folks just like to be home when there’s a crisis. This is hard on her.”
“May, I swear I think you’d find a good side to Old Scratch himself.”
“Your mother’s a good woman, you know that.”
“I know that. I just wish sometimes she was simply be a friend and not my mother.”
“Shame on you for sayin’ such a thing, Clancy Evans. Why your daddy would skin you alive if he heard you say such a thing.”
“My mother is a pistol to live with, and my daddy knew that as well. But, in her case, being a pistol to live with is also a good thing. Blessing and curse on the same coin. You have to accept both in order to get along with her.”
“Well, that’s probably the truth with all of us. So, how goes the search for this crazy woman?”
“I’m not really searching for her at present. I am simply trying to learn as much as I can about her in order to get a fix on her. The more I know, then perhaps the better able I will be to stop her before she kills somebody I love, including me.”
“Learn anything worthwhile?”
I told her about my trip to Corbin and meeting my new BFF Bella Cantrella. While I didn’t share every detail, I told her enough to satisfy her curiosity. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust my aunt. It was more along the lines of need to know. Some things were better left out, as is my general rule with sharing with anybody but Rogers.
“Sounds like this Saunders woman had a rough childhood and started off on the wrong foot.”
“You think people are born with evil, or do they learn it?” I said.
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s certainly cryptic of you. You’re not usually given to offering conundrums.”
“Life is full of riddles and mystery, Clancy. I think about your Uncle Oswald, my one true love, and what happened to him. He only dabbled in his gift of painting before he fell off of that ladder and broke his back. Once his life changed and he was confined to that wheelchair, he was relentless with his artistry. And he was quite good, as you know.”
“He was. I have a few of his art pieces in Norfolk. Wouldn’t take anything for them.”
“And I think a lot about your daddy, Oswald’s younger brother. Yep, life is full of mystery and wonder.”
“And questions.”
She put her arm around me and guided me into the cabin.
“Come on inside and rest some. I would imagine that you are headed to Norfolk tomorrow.”
“Sam and I have to get back. I have a lot of thinking to do.”
“You could let Sam stay here with us, you know. Lots of room to run and explore.”
“And aggravate my mother since she loves dogs so much.”
“Now, Clancy. She loves that dog.”
“No, May. She tolerates that dog, but only because he is so intelligent. She respects his smarts, but disdains him for being a canine.”
“Honestly, you don’t give your mother enough credit.”
“What’s for supper?”
“Whatever you like. I am honored to have you as a guest in my home, so I will prepare any meal of your choice, as long as it is heavy with vegetables and light on the meat.”
“Veggies sound good to me.”
Chapter 35
I was cruising west on Hwy. 58 already missing Sam. He seemed satisfied to remain with Aunt May and my mother in the wilderness of Pitt County. I couldn’t be without him for long, so I knew that I would return in a few days even with the risk of Saunders trailing me. Besides that, we needed to have our Thanksgiving feast while it was still November. Something about celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday in early December seemed very wrong to me.
Maybe that was a plan. I was not used to having plans come to me so quickly like that. Usually my plans were kind of methodical, as in slow in developing and unhurried in progress. Ideas that came to me were often frightening because they were so rare.
I called my apartment to see if Rosey was awake. It was after ten o’clock.
“Yes, may I help you?” Rogers answered.
“You and Rosey bonding?”
“We’re getting along. You know how any new relationship is, it takes a while to come around to where it needs to be.”
“Where it needs to be … that sounds a bit controlling to me.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Well, relationships evolve. They go where they go. You cannot control a relationship anymore than you can control love.”
“I do not love him, if that is what you are asking me. Our relationship is purely platonic.”
“I should know better by now. Is he awake?”
“I have no idea.”
“Why not?”
“Because he is not here.”
“I thought he arrived yesterday.”
“He did, but then he left again. Said he had some calls to make and would return later.”
“And later never came.”
“Not yet. Tell me more about this psychic woman you met in Kentucky. Anymore contact with her?”
I told her about my last phone call and Bella’s offer to help if we needed her.
“You think she is on the up and up?”
“I love these colloquialisms you are collecting from the English language.”
“Ever adapting. That is my function.”
“And to irritate me. I don’t know about Bella. She’s definitely out there.”
“She was helpful, right?”
“Yes. She just goes about it in a strange way.”
“We can’t all be Clancy Evans, now can we?”
“I need to run.”
Rosey was waiting on me when I arrived at my apartment. We drove over to a restaurant at Virginia Beach in order to enjoy the balmy ocean waves. It was an unusually warm late November evening. I told him all about Bella Cantrella Cantrell.
“Now there
’s a woman I must meet.”
“Perhaps you will.”
“Wonder how she does what she does?”
“You mean you don’t believe in psychics?”
“Oh, I believe in them, but I wouldn’t trust my life to one. They exists and they can do all manner of strange things. I just don’t know how they work their magic.”
“They wouldn’t call it magic.”
“Poor word choice. Stuff might be a better word to use.”
“As in work their stuff?”
“Yeah. How do they do it?”
“So you think it is legit, and you only want to know their method?”
“Something like that. I am intrigued by their insights, their knowledge, and their abilities to read people. With more education, they’d make good psychiatrists.”
“Not all of them are the same. Some are better than others. And some are just strange from the get-go,” I said.
“Like this Bella Cantrella lady? The name alone is worth the price of admission.”
“The next time I go to Corbin, you can come with me.”
“Deal. Now, you said you had a plan. I can’t wait to hear it.”
I told him my idea.
“She won’t fall for it. She’ll think it’s a trap.”
“It is a trap, but she’ll fall for it because of her ego. She believes that she can beat me no matter what the stakes are. She believes she will win.”
“You want to make it so enticing that she cannot possibly resist.”
“Exactly.”
“How do we make sure that she gets wind of our gathering?”
“Can’t be for certain, and in this we do have to be careful. But I have to believe that she is keeping some tabs on me, us, and maneuvering away from us each time. We do something in that direction, she goes somewhere opposite us.”
“You think we’re bugged?”
“Don’t know, but somehow she always manages to stay ahead of us.”
“Okay, you want to bring in everyone who is close to you into one location. You think this will cause Saunders to come to us.”
“I do.”
“How do we let Diamond know of this plan?”
“She’ll have to contact us. I don’t have her on my speed dial. She hasn’t called in a few days now so I expect to hear from her. We’ll make our move once Diamond calls and knows the game plan. I don’t want to move the chess pieces until I am ready for Saunders to move her piece.”
Revenge: A Clancy Evans Mystery (Clancy Evans PI Book 4) Page 15