“They’re coming,” he announced.
The teacher — I hadn’t gotten her name — made a face. “What ... and when did you start speaking that clearly? That’s amazing. I knew you’d been working with a speech therapist, but that was completely clear. Good job.”
“They’re coming,” he repeated.
“Everyone is already here,” the teacher countered. “No one was absent today.”
“They’re here,” the boy insisted, turning shrill. “They’re here! They’re here! They’re here!”
Something buzzed at the back of my brain as I moved closer to him. It wasn’t just the panic washing over his features, or the way his voice caused shivers to run up and down my spine. I sensed something approaching … and I was afraid. “Who’s here?”
He didn’t look at me. Instead, his eyes went unbelievably wide and he screamed. “They’re here!”
The room was plunged into darkness as the power went out and a deafening roar of what could only be described as thunder drowned out the children’s screams.
It was utter chaos ... and then something dark and unsavory passed through the room, and I knew things were going to get worse.
Two
“What do we do?”
Tara was breathless as I worked overtime to recover from the feeling of dread that cascaded over me like a relentless waterfall. The panic lacing her voice was enough to force me back to reality.
“We calm everyone down,” I instructed, raising my hands and clapping them to get the panicking students’ attention. “Listen ... .”
They didn’t stop screaming and I could hear them scattering across the floor, as if they were running from something. The ominous presence I felt was on the wind, not the ground. I very much doubted there was a predator in the room … and yet I couldn’t entirely shake the feeling that something terrible was either about to happen or had already occurred.
“Hey!” I yelled again.
Not one of the kids stopped screaming.
“They can’t hear you,” Tara pointed out. “It’s a deaf school.”
Oh, flaming hell! I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from cursing out loud. Of course they couldn’t hear me.
“Seriously, how are we going to calm them down?” Tara asked.
I had no idea. I opened my mouth to exclaim just that when the overhead lights flashed back to life.
I swiveled quickly, my gaze going back to the door that led to the gate room. There, an incredulous look on his handsome face, stood Oliver. “What’s going on?” he asked over the din.
I held my hands out and shrugged. “I don’t know. The power just died. Maybe there’s a storm.”
“I don’t think so.” He shook his head. “I can usually pick up on those things.”
He didn’t need to explain. I understood exactly what he was saying. As a vampire, his senses were more exaggerated. He would know if it was going to storm hours before one actually hit.
“So, what took out the power?” I asked as Tara attempted to calm the children, who had scattered across the room.
“I don’t know. The breaker was thrown. It was an easy fix.” He turned to look at the kids. “We should probably collect them, maybe give them some ice cream or something.”
That sounded like a good idea. “Sure. We should get their teacher first. I ... .” I lost my train of thought when I started looking for her. Of course, I started in the last place I saw her, which was where she remained. She was no longer on her feet, though. Instead, she lay unmoving on the ground, her eyes open and staring at the ceiling. The fact that her neck was bent at an odd angle made her almost look like a creature from another world.
“Son of a troll,” I muttered, starting toward her with some wild notion that I was somehow going to fix her, that the broken neck she obviously suffered was an optical illusion.
Oliver, quick as lightning, raced across the room and grabbed me before I could put my hands on her. “Don’t,” he hissed. “It’s too late.”
“But ... .”
“It’s too late,” he repeated, shaking his head. “I can smell her. She’s long gone.”
“Not that long,” I argued, keeping my voice low. “She was alive a minute ago.”
“She’s still long gone. She’s no longer anywhere near this plane. Trust me. When I say I can smell it, I can smell it.”
That was a freaky gift. “So ... what do we do?”
“We call for help.” He was grim. “That means the main office first and then the cops.”
My heart stuttered. “The cops. But ... .”
“We have no choice.” He didn’t back down. “Someone is going to be missing her and we have fifteen kids with special needs whose parents will be panicking in a few hours. We need professional help.”
“Yeah, but ... how are we going to explain this?”
He shrugged. “Tell the cops the truth. You didn’t do this, right?”
“Of course not.”
“Then you have nothing to hide.”
That didn’t stop the fear from grabbing me by the throat and squeezing. “I’ll call 911.” I was resigned. He was right. It was the only thing we could do.
“I’ll call the main office. We need direction.”
“That should go over well,” I grumbled. “It’s basically my third week on the job and we’re about to face a second crisis. That has to be some sort of record.”
Despite the serious nature of the situation, Oliver smirked. “Perhaps you’re gifted.”
“I’m ... something.”
“AND YOU DON’T KNOW how it happened?” Detective Steve Meeks arrived within ten minutes. By then we’d collected the children and grouped them together in the gift shop. They were sniffling and upset. They were also largely silent, even Granger Downey, who had been screaming “They’re here” seconds before the death. I only knew his name now because one of the other students jotted it down on a sheet of paper for us.
“It happened very quickly,” I replied, holding myself together as several uniformed officers and a team from the medical examiner’s office spread out across the aquarium. “One minute everyone was looking at the fish and the next ... well, the next the power went out.”
“And you don’t have any idea why the power went out?” Meeks asked.
“No.”
“How did you get the power back on?”
“I did it,” Oliver replied, drawing the detective’s attention. “I was in the storage room when things went dark. I’ve worked here a long time, so I knew where the breaker is. We have emergency lights in the back hallway, so I followed those to the breaker and threw it. The lights immediately came back on.”
“So ... you think the breaker was somehow tripped. Do you know how that could’ve happened?”
“I don’t,” Oliver replied. “We have a generator, but it only comes on after the power has been down for a full five minutes. It never got to that point today.”
“Well ... what about her?” Meeks tilted his head in the dead woman’s direction. “How did that happen?”
“I have no idea,” I replied. “I was in this room with her when the power went out. We couldn’t see anything, and the kids started screaming.”
Meeks turned his attention to the gift shop, where two officers stood with the students. No one was speaking. “They’re from a deaf school, right?”
I nodded. “I don’t remember the name.”
“The Duskin School for the Deaf,” Tara interjected. She’d been quiet since events unfolded. I knew she was aware of the gate, our real purpose at the aquarium. She didn’t often bring it up. “They contacted us about a month ago and wanted a tour. I thought it would be fine, especially given the time of year.
“Because our facility isn’t big, we could lock the front door and the kids could wander without us having to worry about them,” she continued. “We thought it was fine because it’s not warm enough for many visitors to come to the island. We don’t get busy until May.”
“Uh-huh.” Meeks flicked his eyes to the door as it opened to allow a tall, distinguished man entrance. “Who is that?”
I frowned and stared at the man in question. “Cormack Grimlock. He’s technically the boss here.”
Instead of reacting with dread, like me, Meeks brightened considerably. “Oh, right. He’s Griffin Taylor’s father-in-law.”
I happened to know Griffin, too. I’d met him through the Grimlocks several weeks ago. He was a new father and prominent face on the Detroit police force. I wished he was the one on this particular job. It would make things easier.
“Where is Griffin?” I asked. “I would think he’d jump at the chance to take this case.”
“He’s on paternity leave,” Meeks replied. “He’s with his wife and daughter.”
Of course he was. That made perfect sense. “Oh, well ... .” I forced a smile as Cormack approached. “It’s good to see you, although I wish it was under different circumstances.”
Cormack faked a smile and nodded. “Yes, I think we can both say that,” he drawled, his eyes busy as they bounced around the room. “What do we know?”
“The deceased is Lauren Tate,” Meeks replied. “Her neck is broken. The medical examiner will obviously need to do an in-depth exam, but for now, that’s all we know.”
“I see.” Cormack pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “And no one knows how this happened?”
I shook my head and ran through the story again. I was quickly growing tired of relating it, but there was no other choice. When I was finished, Cormack was befuddled.
“I don’t understand.” He glanced between Oliver and me. “Are you sure you didn’t hear anyone in the room?”
I thought about the feeling of dread that overwhelmed me right before it happened, and shook my head. “It was hard to hear anything over the screaming kids.”
“It also happened in a matter of seconds,” Tara added. “Like ... thirty seconds. The kids were screaming, Izzy tried to yell at them to be quiet, which was a wasted effort because they couldn’t hear her. I pointed out they couldn’t hear her. Then the lights came back on.”
“That fast?” Meeks asked.
Tara nodded. “It was definitely less than a minute.”
“Then I don’t see how we can explain this,” Meeks noted. “I mean ... it was a room full of children and two women.” His gaze was heavy when it landed on me. “I’m assuming everyone here denies killing her.”
“Why would we kill her?” Tara was appalled. “We didn’t even know her. I mean ... I met her exactly twenty minutes before it happened.”
“We don’t have motives,” I pointed out.
“Sometimes that doesn’t matter.”
Cormack cleared his throat to get Meeks’ attention. He had a commanding presence, one that struck fear in those around him. Sure, his children – all five of them – didn’t fear him because they recognized he was a big marshmallow beneath the tough exterior. That didn’t mean he wasn’t dedicated to his job and willing to play hardball if necessary.
“Should I hire a lawyer for my employees?” Cormack challenged.
Meeks shook his head. “I have no interest in arresting either one of them right now. No, seriously. They’re right about a lack of motive. Still, this doesn’t look good.”
“Then we’ll have to find the truth,” Cormack said simply.
“Can you think of anything that might lead us to answers, Ms. Sage?” Meeks pressed.
Briefly my eyes flicked to Granger, who stood in the center of things and stared at nothing. He’d turned sullen and mute the moment the lights came back on. I’d wanted to question him myself, get a look in his mind, but Meeks showed up quicker than I’d expected.
“No,” I answered, avoiding Tara’s probing gaze. I worried she would bring up Granger’s outburst, but apparently she decided to defer to me because she remained quiet. “I don’t know what happened. Honestly ... I can’t fathom what possibly could’ve gone down in the darkness that resulted in this. I have no idea how to explain it.”
“Well, maybe we’ll get more from the medical examiner,” Meeks suggested after a few seconds. “It’s always possible she somehow fell and hit her head. I mean ... that’s been known to happen.”
He said the words but none of us believed them.
“I guess.” I forced a tight-lipped smile. “What about the kids?”
“Their parents have been notified and are on their way. They should be here in the next thirty minutes or so. They’re all locals who go to the school during the day and return home at night.”
That didn’t give me much time to operate. “Well, that’s good.” I focused on Cormack. I needed him to keep Meeks busy for a few minutes so I could question Granger. Unfortunately, I couldn’t convey my needs in front of a witness. “How is Aisling?” I asked, making up my mind on the spot. Cormack enjoyed talking about his youngest child and only daughter. Meeks knew Griffin, so I hoped they would take a conversational detour and allow me to slip away.
“She’s well.” Cormack offered up a genuine smile. “Tired. The baby isn’t much for sleeping, so that’s been an adjustment. She was at the house with us for a few nights and then returned home, although I’m not sure how well that’s going. She’s a cute little thing.”
“I’ve seen her,” Meeks volunteered, causing me to inwardly smile. They were both falling into my trap. “She’s adorable.”
“She looks like her mother.” Cormack’s smile widened. “Aisling looked exactly the same as a baby.”
“Griffin is over the moon,” Meeks enthused. “I mean ... he’s tired. He brought the baby in for us to see the other day and he had huge circles under his eyes, but he’s thrilled with her. She was wearing a shirt that said, ‘Melting grandpa’s heart is my super power.’ I think she charmed the entire squad.”
Cormack beamed. “She’s my baby girl. She charms everybody.”
Once I was certain they were lost in their own conversation, I slipped away to talk to Granger. Oliver followed. Once I hit the gift shop, I ignored the two officers watching the kids and headed immediately to the boy in question.
I knelt in front of him, forced a smile that I didn’t feel, and searched the kid’s eyes. There was nothing there. He looked dead inside. “Hey, Granger.”
He didn’t respond.
“Um ... do you remember talking to me?”
Nothing. The boy didn’t as much as lift a shoulder or meet my gaze.
“You know he can’t hear you, right?” Oliver challenged. “He goes to a school for the deaf. That means he’s deaf.”
I wanted to strangle him. “He talked to me right before it happened.”
Oliver was taken aback. “He did?”
I nodded. “He kept saying, ‘They’re here’ over and over. I don’t think that was a coincidence.”
Oliver’s gaze was thoughtful as it washed over Granger. “Well ... did you sense anything when the lights went out?”
I glanced around to make sure the police officers weren’t eavesdropping and then nodded. “I did.”
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense.”
“I felt ... evil.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah. I felt a sense of evil. It was quick. It washed over the room and was gone by the time you turned on the lights.”
“Did you see anything?”
“No.”
“Hear anything?”
“No.”
“You just felt ... evil.”
“That’s what I said.”
“Well, that sounds peachy.”
I ignored his tone and focused on Granger, staring hard until the boy’s eyes finally locked with mine. “Do you remember what you said?”
The boy’s stare was blank.
“Do you remember talking?”
He didn’t open his mouth or move his hands to respond.
“Do you know what sort of creature was here?”
Still nothing. Finally, I stra
ightened. I was getting nowhere with the kid and I sensed that would continue. “I don’t know what to do,” I admitted after a beat. “I have no idea what was in that room ... but whatever it was, a woman is dead because of it.”
“Because of what?” Cormack asked, sliding into the spot behind me and causing me to jolt.
I slid a sidelong look to Oliver. “Couldn’t you have warned me he was coming?”
“And miss all the fun?” Oliver smirked. “Mr. Grimlock, it’s good to see you. I wish it was under different circumstances, of course.”
“We both wish that.” Cormack was contained. “Tell me the part you didn’t tell Meeks. Don’t bother denying you’re holding something back. I know better than that.”
I sighed, resigned, and then told him the story as quickly as possible. I trusted him. He was a good boss. I wasn’t particularly thrilled about being drawn into the Grimlock net again, especially so soon after the previous catastrophe, but I didn’t really have a choice. When I was finished, he looked more curious than concerned.
“And this is the boy?” he asked.
I nodded.
Cormack bent at the waist and regarded the child with kind eyes. “Hi, buddy.” I was surprised when I realized he was signing as he spoke. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
The child watched his hands for a bit but didn’t respond. If anything, he appeared to grow more disinterested the harder Cormack tried to engage him in conversation.
“Well, if he can talk, he’s decided to stop for the time being,” Cormack said as he straightened. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that he began babbling right before it happened.”
“You don’t think he did it, do you?”
“I don’t see how.” Cormack was thoughtful as he studied Granger. “He’s far too small. It’s more likely that he heard something or channeled something. My guess is some sort of creature or malevolent force was in the aquarium with you and it disappeared with the light.”
“How did it get in?”
“I have no idea.” Cormack mimed stretching so he could look in Meeks’ direction without drawing attention. “He’s going to be a problem. He obviously suspects we’re hiding something. I’ll ask Griffin about him, but we’re not going to have the usual amount of cover we do with Griffin on leave.”
Only the Quiet Page 2