I couldn’t answer her, for fear of breaking the spell I was in. The vision I was seeing seemed so nebulous, so fragile, that the slightest disruption might cause it to shatter. I knew I was sitting in Jesenia Maupin’s living room, around a small wooden table, but I was also in a vacant lot in the wee hours of the morning, watching two men with shovels.
And I now recognized the second man. Gary Thornton, the man I’d seen eating with Darryl Hollis at McDonald’s. Gary Thornton, who would have been the sheriff of Banning back in the 1980s.
“I know,” I muttered. The “me” in the vision, the one standing watching the two men, watched as a fog enveloped the scene. Suddenly I was back, watching a cloudy crystal ball, Jesenia leaning across the table in anticipation.
“You know what?” she asked.
“I know why Coleman wanted me to walk to Trey’s last night. I know what he wanted to show me.” I sighed and looked up into Jesenia’s worried eyes. “And I know where Bryan Finn is buried.”
Chapter FIFTEEN
WE WERE sitting on the bed in the Ulalume Suite. My legs were splayed out, one on either side of Trey. His were folded, almost in the lotus position. He’d taken off his shoes and was plucking at some lint on his black socks.
“Say something.” I couldn’t bear the suspense. I’d just revealed everything to him, and while I was sure Trey wasn’t going to respond in the way Kevin would have—calling me stupid and yelling and generally playing the martyr at having to put up with me—I still wasn’t sure how he’d react.
Trey plucked a tiny piece of fluff off his sock and released it over the side of the bed. It slowly fell to the floor. “Well,” he said slowly, not meeting my eye, “first off, thanks for finally telling me. I wondered why you were acting so strange the other day.” He scrunched his mouth up and ran a hand through his thick mop of hair. He leaned back a little. “I can understand why you didn’t, though.”
“It was a dumb thing to do,” I said.
Trey shrugged. “Maybe. It turned out to be a good thing, though, if it was Coleman that shoved you out of the way of the car.” He looked around the room. “Thanks, dude,” he said to the air.
“I don’t think he’s here right now,” I said.
“Doesn’t matter. He knows I’m thankful.” Trey smiled sadly. “I guess if you were having this conversation with old Uglyface Kevin, he’d be throwing a fit right now, yelling and screaming and calling you names.”
“Definitely.”
A smile crept across Trey’s face. “Good thing I’m not Kevin, isn’t it.”
“Thank goodness.” My heart felt suddenly light as a feather.
“I’d have done the same thing, if it makes you feel any better.”
Hell, yeah, it did. “Would you?”
“Absolutely. Coleman’s not shown any animosity toward you. I’m the one he scratched, and that was because he was confused, thinking I was making a move on his man. Note that since he was informed that you aren’t, despite appearances, his Bryan, he’s been a perfect gentleman when I’ve been here. Well, okay, he made a bit of a mess at the séance, but he didn’t harm anyone. Plus, from the sound of it, you weren’t absolutely sure of what he was suggesting.”
“That’s true. But when it became obvious, I didn’t put up a fight.”
“Might have been too late by then. I think you’re beating yourself up over something you didn’t really have control over.”
Sighing, I leaned forward until my forehead was resting against his. “Thank you,” I whispered.
My eyes were closed, but I sensed his smile. “Hey, you’re my guy. I gotta stick up for you.”
“In my experience, those things don’t always go together.”
“They do now,” Trey said, kissing me just as I moved my head back and was opening my eyes. “Get used to it.”
We sat in silence for nearly a minute, gathering our thoughts and holding hands. I looked around the room. “My last night here.”
“Yep.” Trey didn’t sound nearly as wistful about it as I did.
“This is going to sound nuts, but I’m a little sad about leaving without finishing with Coleman.”
“You did all you could,” Trey told me.
My cell phone rang. It was Erin Hughes. “I’m downstairs” was all she said.
I hung up and nodded at Trey. “You’re coming with me for moral support. Right?”
“Absolutely.”
We put on our shoes, grabbed our jackets, and went downstairs, where the deputy was chatting with Betty Schultz at the front desk. She paused when we approached, realizing I probably didn’t want Lonnie’s mother included in our conversation. She excused herself and ushered me and Trey over to an unoccupied corner of the room.
“You were pretty vague over the phone,” she said in low tones. “But I gather you’ve got some information for me, but you can’t really say how you got said information.”
“Well, I can say,” I told her. “You just wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me.”
“I know where Bryan Finn is buried. At least, I think I do.”
She arched an eyebrow. “And how did you come by this information?”
My face was my apology. “I was looking in a crystal ball.”
Trey put his arm around me. “I know it sounds—”
“Ridiculous?” Hughes shook her head. “Oh, guys, I’ve heard worse in my time, believe me. May I ask where he’s supposed to be buried?”
“You know that vacant lot down the road? The one toward downtown? There’s a patch at the back where there are some trees. He’s back there.” I was thankful she was still listening to us and not dismissing us outright.
“And you saw this through a crystal ball.” It wasn’t a question, so I didn’t answer. “Let me guess. Jesenia Maupin was somehow involved.”
“She was,” I admitted.
Deputy Hughes bit her lip. “It’s pretty flimsy, guys.”
“We know. That’s why we called you specifically. At least you know us. You know we’re not total crackpots.”
“Speak for yourself,” Trey muttered to me.
Hughes thought some more, rubbing the back of her neck. Finally she emitted a groan and said, “I appreciate the faith you’re giving me, guys, but you have to understand my position here. I can’t go to Sheriff Boswell and tell him I’ve had a great tip and that I know now where a decades-old body is buried because a guy saw it in a crystal ball.”
“You don’t have to,” Trey said. “Michael and I can dig—”
The deputy shook her head. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea either. I’m pretty sure that lot is city property, but I’m not completely sure. If someone owns it, you’d be trespassing at the very least.”
“Well, we can’t just leave him there!” I protested.
Hughes’s head shaking became more emphatic. “I can’t have you digging holes all over a vacant lot—”
“I know the exact spot!”
She gave me a sympathetic look. “Look, I can tell you’re pretty worked up over this. But try to see it from my point of view. Officially, Bryan Finn isn’t a murder victim. Most folks around here believe he ran off about the same time as Coleman Hollis back in the 1980s and that they’re alive and happy right now. Darryl says he’s even heard from Coleman over the years, that he’s married and had kids.”
“Well, yeah, he would say that. He’s the one that killed him.” Trey snorted in derision.
Pursing her lips, Hughes seemed deep in thought. “I suppose there’s no harm in having the two of you show me the spot.”
While it was a concession on her part, it fell short of what I’d hoped for. “It’s been decades. It’s not like you’re going to see anything on the surface after all this time. We have to dig—”
She stopped me, holding up a hand. “Let’s just check out the spot and go from there. If I get the right vibe, who knows what I might do? I might feel like doing a little digging. I might not. But I’ll check out th
e area in question.”
I managed a smile. “I guess it’s better than nothing.”
Hughes nodded. “Then you two had better come along and show me the spot. We’d best get a move on, though, while there’s still some daylight.”
SEEING THE spot in the present, not in a psychic vision, gave me an odd feeling. I knew in my heart that Bryan Finn was buried in the ground under us, but after all the years there was no indication. It was, however, fairly isolated. A huge wooden fence, which, now that I saw it, had also been there in the vision (just a dark shadow there), cut off any view from the north. The trees shielded the area from the prying eyes of the neighbors next to the lot, and a decrepit warehouse was to the east. A person walking along the street might, just might, be able to get a view of someone standing among the trees, but it was unlikely.
Even Hughes had to admit it would make a good makeshift burial site.
“At night,” she said, kicking at the ground with the toe of her boot, “you could probably get away with it. As long as you didn’t make too much noise.” She looked at me. “You need to tell me everything you saw in that crystal ball. Like I said, I can’t promise to act on it, but I want to know.”
So I told her. This time I included who it was I saw with the shovels. She didn’t seem unduly shocked.
“I always had a bad feeling about Darryl Hollis,” she said, repositioning her hat on her head. “Nothing I could put my finger on. Just a feeling. Maybe it was growing up in this town and hearing all those stories about Coleman leaving town and never coming back. I think part of me always wondered if he killed those two boys. But Gary Thornton? Never liked the man, but why would he be involved?”
“He was friends with Darryl Hollis. Still is. Maybe Darryl called him, asked him to help out an old buddy,” Trey suggested.
“Hell of a favor to ask. ‘Hey, I killed a guy. Want to help me bury him?’” Hughes chuckled hollowly.
“Maybe Thornton owed him a favor. A hell of a favor,” I said.
Hughes bit her lip and let out a little hiss of air. “You guys have put me in an impossible position,” she said. “Officially, I’d have to ignore your information. It’s not like I can write on a report that the information came via a crystal ball. I’d be asked to give up my badge.”
“And unofficially?” Trey prompted.
“Unofficially, I don’t discount entirely that Michael here might have some sort of precognitive abilities. Hey, I’m friends with Betty Schultz, and I’m fully aware that she honestly believes in the ghosts at Raven’s Rest, although I’ve never seen anything myself. But I did see something once that makes me kind of believe this.” She looked down at the ground, kicking at the dirt again.
“There was this boy that died when I was in high school. Years later, I was at a party at his parents’ house. And I saw him, just for a moment, walking up the stairs. No one else saw it, and of course, people just thought I’d had a little too much to drink. But I know what I saw.”
“So you’ll check it out?” I asked hopefully.
I was a little surprised to see her shake her head. “No,” she said. “I can’t. There’s just nothing to go on. I have no real reason, other than what can best be termed a hunch, that there’s anything here to find.” She held up a hand when Trey and I both began to protest. “I said I couldn’t do any digging. There’s no reason you two can’t, though.”
I looked at Trey. He raised his eyebrows. “I’m sure I can find a couple of shovels.”
“You be Burke, I’ll be Hare,” I said with a wry smile. When Trey and Hughes stared at me blankly, I added, “They were famous grave robbers. I thought everyone knew that.”
“Yeah,” Trey said slowly, “that’d be a no.”
“First let me do some asking around,” Hughes said. “Make sure this lot is owned by the city. I’m pretty sure it is. Give me a day or so.” Trey and I both made noises of protest, and she added, “If what you think is true, he’s been down there a long time. Another day or two won’t hurt. Just let me ask around.”
Knowing in my heart that Bryan Finn’s bones were resting in the ground beneath us, I was conflicted. I knew Hughes was right. It sounded daft, and I could hardly ask her to act on a vision I’d had. But on the other hand, I was itching to prove that, indeed, Bryan Finn was buried here among the trees.
But why was his spirit separated from Coleman’s? Why weren’t they joined in death? Surely they’d died, if not together, at least on the same day. Or soon after. Had Darryl killed his son’s boyfriend first, thinking that would be an end to it? What had really happened all those years ago? Would we ever know for sure? And where was Coleman’s body?
I sighed. “You’ll let us know as soon as possible, right?”
“Hopefully tomorrow morning. I’ll do what I can. You’ll be at the inn?”
I shook my head. “I’m moving into my new place in the morning. Got a couch and a bed being delivered and everything. But just call my cell.”
Thank goodness I’d taken the day off to move. Now, hopefully, Trey and I would not only be moving furniture but also excavating earth.
In my head I was already hearing my shovel scrape against something that wasn’t a rock or dirt, and I shivered.
AS IT was my last night in the Ulalume Suite, I wanted to spend as much time there as possible, but Trey and I were both starving, so after Deputy Hughes left, we journeyed downtown to a little restaurant that Trey said wasn’t “too bad.”
It turned out to be a 1950s style diner, complete with red plastic seats (some of which needed repair) and pictures of Elvis and Buddy Holly adorning the walls. We were the only customers, and the waitress didn’t seem overjoyed when we arrived. Perhaps she and the kitchen staff were hoping to close up early. When she came, grudgingly, to take our order, she nodded briefly to Trey. “Hey.”
“Hi, Suze.” He handed her back the menus we’d been handed when we sat down. “Think Bert can manage a couple of burgers and fries?”
“Sure. We’re closing in half an hour, though. Just to let you know.”
Trey gave her his best grin. “We’ll hurry. Promise.”
Stone faced, she traipsed back to the kitchen. I waited until she was out of earshot to say, “I hope she’s not expecting a huge tip. Talk about service with a grimace.”
Trey shrugged. “Not many places in town are open this late on a Sunday night, other than the fast-food places. I guess we should just be happy they’re open at all. I went to high school with Suze. She’s not bad.”
I could have pointed out that she hadn’t even glanced my way and had been colder than the water in the glasses she’d brought out for us, but then the bell above the door jangled. “Seems we’re not her last customers of the day,” I said.
My back was to the door, but Trey’s look of alarm made me turn around to see who the newcomer was.
Gary Thornton, the former sheriff, was standing in the doorway. His gaze locked onto mine, and he strode purposefully toward our table. Suddenly I wished the restaurant was a bit more crowded. This man, while possibly not a murderer himself, was at least an accomplice. Who knew what skeletons were in his closet?
Brow furrowed, he stood, blocking any exit I might have wanted to take out of the booth. “What’s your game?” he demanded.
I thought about trying to casually take a sip of my tepid water, but I didn’t think I could pull it off. My hand would be shaking like a leaf. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“I’ve been checking up on you,” he said, his gaze darting to Trey and then back to me. “Both of you. You’ve been harassing Darryl Hollis.”
“Harassing?” I choked on the word. “I barely know the guy!”
Thornton sneered. “You’ve been snooping around. Don’t think I don’t know about it. I’ve got friends in this town. Talking with that crazy woman, Maupin. Holding séances at the Raven’s Rest.”
I paled a little. How did he know about that?
“Oh, yeah. Like I said, I’ve got fr
iends in this town. All this talk of ghosts. Ain’t no such thing, and you know it. You’re just trying to stir up trouble.” He leaned toward me. If he was attempting to be intimidating, he was succeeding brilliantly. “And I’m telling you to stop.”
“Seems to me,” Trey said, his tone reasonable, “that what we do shouldn’t be a concern of yours. You’re not the sheriff in Banning anymore. Haven’t been for years. You’ve got no—”
Thornton turned to Trey, his face red and his teeth clenched. “Look, you little shit! I won’t have the two of you bothering my friends! Knock it off, before I….”
He let our imaginations fill in the blanks.
I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my nerves. “We haven’t been harassing anyone. We just—”
“You were with that deputy tonight!” Thornton’s voice must surely be audible to those in the kitchen. I hoped someone would come out to see what the commotion was about. A witness might keep him from punching either me or Trey, a possible action in Thornton’s mind, judging from his tightly clenched fists. “What have you been telling her?”
“You’ve been following us!” I remembered a car driving slowly along the road as Hughes, Trey, and I had just been entering the vacant lot earlier. I’d paid no attention to the driver, my mind fully on Bryan Finn at the time, but it could have been Thornton. A chill ran through me. Had it been either Thornton or Hollis who had tried to run me down? I’d assumed it had been Kevin or one of his buddies, but now I wasn’t sure.
Thornton jabbed a finger in my direction. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave town. Now. No one wants you here, except maybe this little faggot.”
“Hey!” Trey protested. “I’m not that little!”
I admired his ability to be a smartass in a situation such as this. Personally, it was all I could do to keep from peeing myself.
Thornton ignored him, instead curling his lip at me. “Keep your trap shut. That’s my advice to you. Stop interfering in other people’s lives.”
He spun around but stopped in his tracks when I said, “Is there something in that vacant lot you don’t want us to find?”
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