I met Levi’s eyes. He raised his shoulders in a subtle shrug. He didn’t know the answer either.
“Tell me something,” I said. “You’ve been following Josephine around for quite some time. Where did she live when she wasn’t in Edindale? Who did she associate with?”
“She moved around a lot. She seemed to know people everywhere. For the longest time, she was always one step ahead of me. Then I tracked her to this retreat center in Sedona, Arizona, run by a wealthy new-age guru type. I suspect he funded her business.”
“Sister Seeds?”
“Right. I think it was based there at the center. But when I started asking questions, I got the runaround. Everyone denied knowing Josephine. Or even seeing her. It felt like The Lady Vanishes. You know that old movie?”
“I do. Yeah.” Levi was full of surprises. I wouldn’t have figured him for a classic movie buff like me.
“Anyway, then she came to Edindale. I figured she was here to see you, but she kept going out to the forest.”
“What do you think she was doing out there?”
“I think she was scoping out HAPCO. She was planning something.”
I shook my head. That couldn’t be it. At least, not in the way Levi meant.
I started to argue with him, then noticed the tears in his eyes. My heart immediately softened—until he screwed up his nose, turned his head, and sneezed.
* * *
On the off chance I’d be allowed to see Gil, I made my way up to the fourth floor once more. However, he was sleeping, and since I wasn’t family they wouldn’t even let me go in.
From there, I went straight to Wes’s parents’ house. It was time for a little normalcy.
Bill and Darlene Callahan lived in a lovely Craftsman on a historical street in Edindale. We spent a nice afternoon talking about their renovation projects, offering our opinions on their paint samples, and, later, making and eating pumpkin pie. It turned out that Darlene and Bill had dinner plans, so Wes and I snacked on food from their fridge and left their house in the late afternoon.
It had been a nice little respite from the mystery, but as soon as we left, my mind began puzzling once more. We were home for only a few minutes before I started pacing the living room. The cat mewed nervously as she prowled about underfoot.
“Sorry,” I said to her. “I can’t help it. I’m on edge.”
“Did you say something?” called Wes, from the kitchen.
“I was just telling the cat how restless I feel.” I glanced out the window. “There’s still some daylight left. Want to take a drive out to Briar Creek?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Instead of answering, I went upstairs to the bedroom and pulled out the envelope of jewelry Detective Rhinehardt had given me. I slipped one of Aunt Josephine’s rings on my finger. Wes came up behind me.
“You’re not going out there again.” It wasn’t a question.
“Not alone,” I agreed. I turned to him with pleading eyes. “Aunt Josephine has been communicating with me, Wes. There’s no denying it. I need to hear from her one more time. Please. Go out there with me.”
With a sigh, he grabbed his jacket from the bedpost. “We’d better hurry,” he said.
* * *
We were quiet on the drive out of town, each lost in our own thoughts. I didn’t believe Levi was right about Josephine. He thought she was doing reconnaissance at HAPCO in preparation for another bombing. But that made no sense—not if she wanted to come clean about her past crimes.
So, the question remained: What was she doing out there in the forest?
We pulled into the lane leading to the cabins, when suddenly: Boom! A loud bang jerked me from my thoughts. I was so startled, I screamed. Wes swore and steered the rattling car to the side of the road. Luckily, we hadn’t been going very fast.
We both got out to examine the front tire. It was completely flat.
“Do you have a spare?”
Wes popped the trunk and cursed again. “I have a spare, but no jack. I lent it to a buddy the other day and didn’t get it back.”
“Looks like Carl is home,” I said, pointing to the office cabin. “Let’s go see if he has one.”
Carl had already come out to see what had caused the loud noise. He was a nice guy and immediately offered to help. While the men discussed tires, I cast an anxious glance at the sky. I was fast losing my daylight hours.
When Carl jogged over to his Jeep to get a jack, I pulled Wes aside. “I’m going to go ahead and take a little walk while you do this. Okay?”
“Okay. Wait. Not in the woods?”
“Yeah, it’ll be fine. I know my way around these trails really well now. I won’t get lost.”
“Come on, Kel. Be reasonable. It’s gonna be dark soon.”
At that moment, a couple of middle-aged women with hiking sticks emerged from one of the trailheads.
“Look,” I said. “People are still out here. I’ll be perfectly safe.” I hitched my purse on my shoulder and waved at Carl as he rejoined us. “Be back soon.”
I walked quickly and soon found myself under the dark vault of the trees once more. As I trod deeper into the forest, I twisted Aunt Josephine’s ring on my finger.
“Speak to me,” I whispered. “Speak now.”
As I followed the familiar trails, I recalled the day Levi had showed me the place where Josephine was killed. Scanning the landscape now, I spotted it: the stacked stones. I left the trail and stood next to the cairn.
“Aunt Josephine? Are you here? Send me a sign.”
Nothing happened. I observed only the ordinary autumn evening sights, sounds, and smells. Frustrated, I returned to the trail.
It was dusk now. I knew I should go back. But instead of turning around, I continued down the trail until I came to a fork I recognized. The offshoot led to the sandbank where Farrah and I had parked the canoe the other day. That meant the HAPCO fence was near here.
Follow in my footsteps.
The thought came to me like a directive from beyond. I needed to retrace Josephine’s steps—but not her last running, limping steps. Her first steps. Where did she go first?
My mind flashed to the list in Josephine’s pocket and her plan to “see Ricki.” Ricki was on the good side of the law. Maybe Josephine was scoping out HAPCO, but not for nefarious purposes as Levi suspected. Maybe she hoped to catch the business in an environmental crime. She had her camera to take pictures, then show the pictures to Ricki.
I spotted the fence at the top of the incline on the side of the trail. I climbed up to it and looked through the links. Then I followed it all the way to the front entrance like Farrah and I had done before. When I reached the end, I hid behind a tree and studied the scene.
How did Josephine get on the property? From what Levi said, she must have been trying to find a way on for several days. Did she watch the gate and wait for an opportunity to sneak in? In the movies, heroes always snuck past guards by hiding in the back of a truck. But the only trucks entering HAPCO were tankers and semis carrying drums of chemicals. No place to hide there.
Then I thought of the private zoo behind the facility. All those animals had to eat. I figured there must be routine meat deliveries. Of course, those trucks would be refrigerated. Again, no place to hide.
How about the old wait-for-someone-to-open-the-gate trick? Could she have slipped in unseen in the wake of an authorized vehicle? I dismissed the idea as soon as I thought it. The area around the front gate was totally exposed, with no place to hide. Anyone tailing another car or truck would certainly be seen.
How did you do it, Josephine?
Slowly, I retraced my steps along the edge of the fence. This time I studied the fence from top to bottom, looking for any weaknesses. I had nearly reached my starting point, when a gust of wind shook the branches overhead, causing a rain of leaves onto my head. Brushing them off, I looked up. The branches were awfully low here. Was it possible?
It was. Channeling my i
nner child, I climbed the nearest tree and crawled, hand over hand, along the lowest branch. It brought me within inches of the HAPCO fence. Like an aspiring trapeze artist who wasn’t quite up to snuff, I clutched the branch, lowered my legs, and swung my body toward the fence post. After a couple of tries, I finally managed to plant my feet on the metal post. Fearing I’d fall into the barbed wire, I wasted no time. I jumped to the ground.
The moment my feet hit the uneven berm below, it dawned on me. This was how Josephine had sprained her ankle. She was injured even before she was chased. Luckily, I didn’t suffer the same fate. I landed on my hands and knees, evenly distributing the pain. I hopped up and ran to the nearest building.
The place was quiet, but well lit. Floodlights bathed the front gate, while security lights cast small pools of light throughout the facility. In addition to the semitrailers I’d seen before, a small pickup truck was parked next to one of the buildings.
Josephine wanted to get inside. Was she looking for a place to plant a bomb, like Levi suspected? Or did she just want to find evidence of illegal chemicals, like I believed? Either way, where did she go from here?
Like me, she surely wanted to remain out of sight. I darted to the back of the warehouse, so I wouldn’t be seen by anyone who happened to enter the front gate. I passed loading docks, and garbage bins, until I reached a grassy area between two buildings. I paused, uncertain which way to go, when a strange whistling rang through the air. A familiar whistling. It sounded exactly like Mrs. Hammerlin’s banshee.
Following the sound, I climbed up an embankment at the back of a warehouse and noticed a gap between the berm and the building. Looking down, I saw a row of dingy windows along the wall near the ground. They must be basement windows. One was broken, leaving a splintered gash just large enough to peek through.
Kneeling on the ground, I looked through the hole. I gasped and drew back. There were people inside, bustling about in a frenzy of activity. Cautiously, I took another look. I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. It was a large room with cinder-block walls and several metal tables. One table contained what looked like laboratory equipment. Another table held stacks of clear plastic bags in assorted sizes. The men below were filling some of the bags with pill capsules, and others with a white substance. The bags were then being weighed on a small scale.
This wasn’t an environmental crime. This was a drug operation.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I pulled my phone out of my purse and snapped a couple pictures through the hole in the window. Though it was dark outside now, the underground room was well lit. I hoped the pictures would turn out.
This must be what Josephine photographed with her camera. Only she was caught.
With that sobering thought, I dropped my phone into my purse and backed away from the window. Now, to make my escape. I couldn’t very well leave the way I came in. I had no means to get over the barbed wire from this side of the fence. I’d have to exit through the front gate.
Was that Josephine’s plan, too? Was that when she was seen, and then chased through the forest?
Heart pounding, I hugged the building as I inched my way toward the front of the facility. When I reached the corner, I ducked behind a semitrailer and gauged the distance to the front gate. I’d have to cover at least forty yards, all out in the open.
Then I discovered another problem. The gate was electronic with a motion sensor for exiting vehicles. I couldn’t just lift a latch and walk out.
Headlights sliced through the darkness on the road outside the facility. As I watched, the gate opened and a black sports car drove in. It was Tadd Hemsley’s car.
Suddenly, I remembered the evening of the haunted barn opening. As I stood chatting with Vampire Crenshaw, Tadd had come out to take a phone call. It was a call that seemed to annoy him and caused him to leave the event. That was Friday night, just hours before Josephine was shot.
Oh, God. Was I still walking in her footsteps? Was this turning into a repeat of that night?
I had to get out of here.
I ran back toward the warehouse buildings, in the opposite direction Tadd’s car had taken. Avoiding the building with the drug lab, I rushed to the next one. I tried the first door I came to. Amazingly, it was unlocked. I pulled it open, then hesitated on the threshold. Perhaps it wasn’t wise to go inside. I felt like I was entering a dragon’s lair.
Heavy footsteps drew near. Someone was coming! I had no choice. Into the lair I went.
It turned out to be a cavernous warehouse. Dim security lights lined the floor and ceiling. On the far end of the building were loading docks with half a dozen bays for truck trailers. Another end contained a process area with a conveyor belt, venting equipment, and covered vats of chemicals. The center of the building was filled with industrial-sized metal shelving, stacked with steel drums and sacks of pungent-smelling fertilizer. It was an altogether creepy place to be.
I eased my way along the wall, hoping to find a telephone. On the other side of the building, a closed door caught my eye. Maybe it was an office. I headed that way but didn’t get very far. The click of a door opening echoed throughout the building.
In a panic, I ducked into a small alcove between a tall lift truck and a stack of wooden pallets. There was a hollowed-out space behind the pallets. It looked like a good hiding place. I crawled inside and shone my phone on the floor, so I wouldn’t bump my head. After a couple of passes with the light, I noticed a small slip of paper. I would have ignored it, except that a word jumped out at me. It appeared to contain flight information—the date, time, airline, and number for a flight out of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
It might as well have said, “Josephine was here.”
I didn’t have time to dwell on this information. Footsteps clicked across the concrete floor. Then a voice rang throughout the building.
“I know you’re in here, Keli Milanni! You were seen in the window. You can come out.”
I froze, not daring to breathe. I listened as Tadd seemed to swagger up and down the corridors between the metal shelves.
“You shoulda left well enough alone, darlin’! I’d already decided you didn’t know anything. I wasn’t sure at first. The old lady made one phone call while she was in here, so I figured somebody knew what she saw. Of course, now I lock the office. But she managed to make a call to somebody. The ancient phone doesn’t save outgoing calls, so I didn’t know who she called, except that it was a local number. I thought it might be you, until you showed me how clueless you were.”
His voice grew louder, as he got closer to my hiding place. I closed my eyes and mentally deployed my glowing shield of white light. He will not find me. He cannot see me. He will not find me. He cannot see me.
“Then I thought it was Gil Johnson,” continued Tadd. “You told me he was the old lady’s friend. He acted so flighty, I was sure it was him. I put a tail on him and ordered my boys to take him out. Then, lo and behold, you show up here. So, I figure I was right the first time. It was you all along. And here you are to see what your auntie was tellin’ you about.”
He laughed, a raspy hacking sound. I had no idea what he was talking about. Josephine hadn’t called me. Who would she have called?
“Of course, then the old lady managed to escape outta here. My boys were supposed to be watching the doors, the numbnuts. I have to do everything myself. But she didn’t get far before I found her. Fortunately for me, she was too chicken to use her little rifle. She had her chance and couldn’t pull the trigger. I grabbed it right outta her hands.”
He laughed again. I shook with anger and disgust—and sorrow. In the end, Josephine chose not to take a life. And she had paid for it with her own.
“You can’t hide forever, ya little sneak! I’ll tell you what. How about if I go open the tiger cages? What do you think? Serve a trespasser right.”
A door slammed. I backed out of my hiding place and peered around the corner of the stack of pallets. The room appeared to be empty.
I didn’t know if he’d really open the cages or if it was a ploy to lure me outside. Either way, I had to take my chance. I bolted for the exit and tore through the night all the way to the front gate—where I stopped short and looked up.
How could I get it to open? I ran back and forth in front of the gate hoping to trigger a sensor. It didn’t work. I also realized I was probably being recorded on a security camera.
Suddenly, headlights blazed at me from both directions. Behind me was Tadd’s black sports car, the engine revving. Ahead of me, a black Jeep flashed its brights behind the gate. I scarcely had time to react before Tadd plowed toward me. I dove out of the way in the nick of time. He switched his car in reverse and pulled back to try again. However, his car had activated the sensor. The gate slid open, and the black Jeep came roaring through. Three men jumped out and ran toward me.
I met them halfway. “Get me out of here!” I cried.
Wes, Levi, and Carl rushed forward to help me. Then Tadd zoomed up and opened his car door.
Levi jumped in front of me with his hand on a holster. “Got any federal offenses on this guy?”
“He admitted he killed Aunt Josephine! And he has a drug lab in that building right there. I have photos in my phone.”
The moment Tadd emerged from his car, Levi stepped forward. He flashed his badge in one hand and his gun in the other. “Tadd Hemsley, you’re under arrest.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
It was a long night full of explanations, statements, discussions, and endless Q and A—and that was just my conversation with Wes. I also spent several hours with Detective Rhinehardt and other members of the Edindale Police Department, along with Special Agent Len Martinwood, alias Levi Markham, of the FBI.
I had Levi to thank for my timely rescue. When I didn’t come out of the forest by nightfall, Wes had gone in after me. However, he soon realized he would end up lost in the darkness before he ever found me, so he went back to the owner’s cabin for help. Carl enlisted Levi, who immediately—and correctly—guessed I’d be sneaking around HAPCO. “Like aunt, like niece,” he’d said.
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