by S F Bose
“It was strange. Just as Damian was spinning away from you, he stopped for a second and was looking toward the kitchen. I glanced over and saw vapor kind of swirling in that part of the kitchen. The shape reminded me of a man’s body but all foggy. I figured I was in shock. After Damian fired into the kitchen and turned toward me, I shot him. Whatever he saw slowed him down a beat or two. Why did you ask? Did you see something too?”
“No,” I lied. “I saw Damian hesitate and shoot into the kitchen. But then I just rolled toward the counter wall to get out of the line of fire. Afterwards, I wondered why he paused.” So Finn had some limited ability to see ‘visitors,’ but without any detail. I felt closer to him.
After a pause, he said, “We’re both very lucky people, Liz,” and I agreed. I mentioned my dad’s invitation to dinner at the B&B. Finn liked the idea and proposed talking about it after he and Sherrie returned from their trip. I walked him to the front door, hugged him, and waited until his Mini Cooper went down the drive.
Later in the day, my brother, Brian, found me in the living room. He looked very academic in his gray tweed, elbow patch jacket, white shirt, blue tie, and jeans. His red hair was long and a little wild. The co-eds must love him.
“Mom called. Scared the crap out of me. I went to the hospital a couple of times but you were always sleeping.” Brian sat next to me on the couch and folded me into a hug. “Are you okay?” He sat back and his baby blue eyes bored into me. He actually cares, I thought with some shock. I still remembered bossy, annoying Brian from my childhood.
“I’m okay. No permanent damage. It will take a few weeks to get rid of this,” I said, wiggling the splint on my right hand.
“How about your head?” He looked at the bruising on my forehead and the bump on my temple. I finger brushed my bangs back over my forehead.
“Just a little banged up. The doctor said I’d heal fast.”
“Thank God,’ he said and dropped his head." After talking to Mom, it occurred to me that I haven’t told you lately that I…love you.”
“Lately? You never told me you loved me,” I said softly. It just slipped out and I felt bad when I saw his face. Brian looked at me with sad eyes.
“I know. How awful is that?”
I put my arms around him again. “I love you too, Brian,” I said into his neck. He hugged me tightly.
“Maybe you should go back to that job you had out east? It sounded safer than what you’re doing now,” he said earnestly. I laughed and sat back.
“I don’t know. I like being home in Mystic Grove. I also like the challenge of the job.”
Brian nodded. “I can understand that. You always liked adventure.”
“What’s going on with you?” I asked. He told me about the classes he was teaching at the University and a vague plan to go to the next Burning Man in Nevada.
“Are you seeing anyone?” I asked. His face reddened.
“No. Mom is always asking,” he replied. “I dated a woman while you were away, but we broke up over a year ago. How about you? Anyone special?”
“There was someone I was seeing, but he…passed away.”
“Oh Liz, I’m sorry,” Brian said, patting my knee.
“I haven’t told anyone else yet. Please don’t tell Mom. I’ll tell her soon. I’m just not ready for the third degree yet."
Brian nodded. “I totally understand. She’s like a force of nature sometimes. My lips are sealed.”
We chatted a little longer. Then he had to leave to make it to Madison for office hours for his students.
As he stood, I asked, “Hey you know Abbie Quinn right?”
He stopped and frowned. “Sure. She was in your class at school. Pretty redhead. She owns the Farmhouse Café. You dated her brother, Otto right?”
I was amazed at his memory. “You remember I dated Otto? I’m impressed. Anyway, I was at the Café talking to her the other day. She asked about you and said to say ‘Hi’ the next time I saw you.”
Brian smiled and he blushed. “Abbie asked about me? Really?”
“Yeah. You should go have lunch there or something. She’s nice.”
“Thanks. I’ll do that,” he said. Brian leaned down to hug me and then tousled my hair.
“I like the white hair look. Very trendy,” he said and whistled as he left the room. I wasn’t a half-bad matchmaker, I thought and smiled.
Later, my older sister, Becky, strode into the room. She had short red hair, flashing blue eyes, and a commanding presence. Becky was always in motion, juggling five different things at once, and pulsing with energy.
“Hey Becky. Where are the kids?” She had three-year-old twins, Ethan and Emma.
“Mom’s picking them up from pre-school.” She dropped a kiss on my forehead. “Adam has court today or he’d be here too.” Both she and her husband, Adam, were lawyers. She tossed her coat on a chair and joined me on the couch.
Her lips tightened into a disapproving line. “Damn, Liz, you could have been killed.” Her tone was accusing. I just shrugged which made Becky angrier. “I mean, seriously, we could have lost you.”
“Becky, I’m fine.” I gave her a reassuring smile.
“Oh sure, you look fine,” Becky snapped. “Banged up head, banged up hand. Look at you! You’re the very definition of ‘not fine.’ ” Her voice had risen. I reached up and finger-combed my bangs again to cover the bruising.
I searched her face. Instead of getting angry, I just put my hand on hers. “Becky, I’m sorry I scared you. I’m really fine. I’m going to be okay.”
“Liz, we can’t lose you,” she said firmly. Without warning, she slid over and hugged me tightly. Evidently, the secret to getting hugs and love from my family was near death. My arms tightened around her.
“Love you, Beck,” I said into her ear.
“Love you too. If you pull a stunt like this again, I’ll kill you.” That made us both laugh.
After talking about the twins for a bit, she tried to persuade me to do something less dangerous for a living. I said I’d think about it, knowing that I wouldn’t. I didn’t want to have an argument. Half an hour later, Becky threw on her coat and flew out of the room, on her way to a meeting with a client. She energized and exhausted me at the same time.
***
After dinner with Chloe and Olivia, where we talked about everything but the Damian Fletcher case, I retreated to the living room with the cats. Snap and Sammy cuddled together at one end of the couch, while I read a new mystery on my Kindle. I was so engrossed I jumped when I heard Chloe’s voice.
“Liz, you have company,” she said. I looked to my right and saw Raven striding into the room with her. Chloe kept giving Raven sideway glances.
“Hi Raven,” I said, standing up to greet him.
“Liz Bean, the solver of murders,” he replied with a smile. His Irish brogue made it sound so melodic and I smiled. He looked good. Under his unzipped parka, he wore a blue turtleneck sweater and blue jeans. A shopping bag dangled from his right hand. Chloe stood behind him, gave me two thumbs up, and then left the living room.
Raven set the bag on the oak coffee table and tossed his parka on a chair. Then he hugged me and whispered in my ear, “You are going to be the death of me.” He held me at arm’s length and asked, “Are you truly all right?”
“I am, Raven. I just banged up my hand a little.” I held up my right hand and displayed the splinted finger. He frowned at that. Then he slowly swept my bangs aside with a forefinger and looked at the bruises.
“You’d be so much safer in Virginia,” he muttered. Then he made a face and let me go. Reaching into the bag, Raven presented me with a bottle of Irish whiskey. “I think whiskey is so much better than flowers, don’t you?”
“I do! Thank you! Would you like a glass?” I asked.
He held up a hand. “No, thank you. That’s for you and your family. I’m driving out to the airport later, so I’ll have to abstain.” I set the bottle on the coffee table.
“You’re leaving?�
�� I felt a pang that surprised me. We both sat down on the couch and turned to face each other.
Raven smiled. “For a bit. I’ll be back. I fancy the country life” He looked down and ran a finger over my splint. “Battle scars. You’re in a dangerous business, Bean.” His look turned serious.
“We were all fooled. But you were right about motives and alibis.”
“I was?”
“Yes. Damian Fletcher, the killer, had several strong motives. However, not many people thought he was a violent man, so he flew under the radar. When he became a suspect, he persuaded his wife to lie and give him an alibi. Later we found she had lied, but still didn’t have proof Damian had killed Justin Church. I was so sure the murderer was somebody else, but it turned out to be Damian.” Then I gave Raven a quick summary of our plan to flush out the killer and the events at the cabin.
Raven listened closely and nodded his head. “But in the end you got him. That’s what’s important. I’m thankful it turned out the way it did.” He paused and then said, “I went to the hospital, you know. You were sound asleep with some mope snoring in a chair next to the bed.”
I laughed. “Thanks for coming to see me. The mope was Sam, my boss.”
Raven rubbed his beard and grunted. “Not impressed. If I had been an assassin, you both would have been goners.”
Smiling, I looked at him closely, debating whether to ask him about what I had seen in the cabin that night.
“Raven, when things were at their worst in the cabin, Damian saw something that caused him to hesitate. Finn, the man who saved us all, got an edge and was able to shoot and kill Damian. Afterwards, I asked Finn if he’d seen anything strange. He said he saw vapor of some sort in the kitchen and that it reminded him of a man.”
“Did he now?” Raven asked, arching his eyebrows.
“Then after Damian was dead, when we were waiting for the police to arrive, I looked up and saw you standing in the kitchen. You were wearing a tee shirt and camouflage pants. In your right hand, you held a large sword and on your right arm, you had the same lightning bolt tattoo that my cousin, Chloe, has on her arm. The same one in that painting,” I said, gesturing to the painting of lightning that hung over the fireplace across the room.
Raven slowly shook his head. “Liz, your granny said you hit your head several times that night. I think you must have just been dazed.” His voice was filled with sympathy.”
I shook my head. “It was real, Raven. I know what I saw.”
“You saw an apparition of me?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You did fade in and out, but it was flesh and blood. It was real.”
Raven’s mouth tightened. Then he reached out and put his hand on my shoulder. “Liz Bean, do you believe in magic?” he asked. I was surprised. I thought about my premonitions, learning about my new family skills, and what I saw that day in the cabin.
“Yes, I do,” I replied firmly. Raven smiled.
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.’ W.B. Yeats said that. He was a fine, Irish poet. It’s one of my favorite quotes.”
My heart thumped faster. “So you were there?”
Raven opened his mouth and then closed it. After a few more seconds, he said, “Maybe you had a moment of magic and conjured me up when you needed me.”
I groaned in exasperation. “Raven, give me a direct answer, please. Were you there?”
Raven smiled and then shrugged. “I’m flattered, Liz. But I think you just got knocked hard on the noggin and had visions of me.” We both laughed at that.
Then I remembered something. “Do you have a lightning tattoo on your right arm?” I demanded.
Raven grinned. “Someday, perhaps, you’ll find that out for yourself.”
I felt warmth flush my face. I almost dared him to roll up his sleeve, but something stopped me.
Raven sat back. “Sorry, Liz. I wish I could give you the answers you want, but I can’t. I wasn’t there.”
“Okay, I won’t push it,” I said, feeling disappointed.
He cleared his throat. “Liz, I still want you to come back to work at Worldhead. All things considered, it would be safer.”
I smiled. “That seems to be the consensus. Raven, I’d like to see if I can get better at this PI work. Although, I don’t know if Sam still wants me to work for him.”
He shook his head. “He’d be daft if he didn’t. I don’t like it, not one bit. But I can’t force you to come back.” Then he stood and looked down at me.
“I’m keeping you on our active roster for the foreseeable future, Liz. No arguments, please. If and when you’re ready to return, there will be a place for you.”
I didn’t argue. It was an option I suddenly wanted to keep open too.
“When will you be back?” I asked.
“In a few months, if not sooner. I have to see Thorn and the northeast forest in the spring. There’s something special about the forest. This may become my getaway retreat,” Raven replied with a smile. I nodded. According to family lore, the northeast forest had its own magic. However, I decided to keep that to myself.
“This is a whole new country side of you I’ve never seen.”
Raven smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” Then his smile briefly faded. “Besides, I couldn’t get a single recipe out of Grace. She’s a very stubborn, iron-willed woman, you know. So I have to return for another round with her.”
I laughed and stood up. “Good luck with that. Goodbye hug. Bring it in,” I said, holding my arms wide. Raven smiled and we hugged. He smelled like the familiar earth and wood smoke, but now I detected clover, and a hint of cinnamon. I held on for a bit too long, but didn’t care. It would be months before I’d see him again. He shrugged into his parka and we walked toward the front door, arm in arm. In the hall he turned and said,
“Liz, read the letter from Nate, soon.” I didn’t ask how he knew I hadn’t read it yet.
“I will.”
“You know that I’ll always be near, if you need me?” he asked.
“I know. Safe trip home, Raven.”
“I’m not so sure it’s home, but thank you,” he replied.
I was surprised and speechless. With a wink, he smiled and opened the front door. It was dark out. He walked out the door and down the path toward the B&B. I watched him slowly fade to gray until he turned left at the B&B. Then his body dissolved like mist as he disappeared into the big old house I loved. As I closed the coach house door, I felt a surprising sadness.
Chapter 60
The next morning I met Sam at the B&B for breakfast. He sported a dress shirt with a paisley bow tie and black Dockers.
“Looking good, Nolan. How long did it take to tie the tie?” I asked.
He grinned. “I’ve got it down to a little over three minutes. I’m getting much better.”
“I feel underdressed,” I replied, glancing down at my sweater and blue jeans.
“You look fine,” he said.
We sat with Addie, Nana Anna, and Nancy Blackwell, our service dog-raising neighbor.
“Liz Bean, what did you do to your hand?” Nancy asked.
“Oh I like to box and jammed my fingers in the heavy bag,” I lied. I was relieved that my bangs covered my other bruises.
Nancy studied my face. “Indeed,” she said and went back to her breakfast.
Grace took our orders and soon I was enjoying her scrambled eggs and bacon. Sam had gone with the cheese omelet.
The talk eventually drifted to Damian and Justin.
“I cannot, for the life of me, imagine Damian doing anything violent,” Nancy said, forking a little omelet into her mouth.
“You can never tell about people,” I said. Time for a diversion. “Do you have any new puppies coming?” Nancy’s eyes lit up. Addie and Nana Anna both shot me surprised looks. I was more of a cat person.
“Belle is due in about three weeks. Rhett is the dad so we should have nice, tall Danes.”
“Do you have dogs for kids too?” Sam asked, finishing off his omelet.
“We have given dogs to children with balance problems. We also give dogs to adults with mobility issues and to veterans. We like to see natural matches, though. We ask all potential recipients to come out and interact with our trained dogs. It can take many weeks, but eventually you’ll see dogs gravitate toward particular recipients,” Nancy said. Sam asked more questions and we spent the rest of breakfast talking about service dogs.
***
When I saw Matt Durand walk into the dining room, wave at us, and walk to a table on the other side of the room, I excused myself to go over and talk to him. It was the first time I’d seen him since Damian Fletcher had been killed. Sam quickly joined me.
Matt stood up to hug me and nodded at Sam. I sat across from Matt and Sam slid into the chair to my left.
Matt sat back in his chair and looked at me. “Liz, I wish we could have done something to save you, Finn, and Haas from that ordeal.”
I waved my hand. “We all thought we had a good plan, Matt. I really thought Sweet was the killer. It made sense to start with him. Do you want breakfast?” I asked when I realized he only had a cup of coffee in front of him.
“No, I ate earlier, thanks. Liz, could you run through how it all went down at the cabin?” Matt asked. I quickly related how Damian had found us, admitted murdering Justin Church, and threatened to kill us if we didn’t give him the Bible and letter. I also described the fight and how Finn had saved my life.
Matt nodded. “Good. That confirms what Finn told us. I stopped by the hospital the next day to talk to you, but your mother scared me off. Literally. She has quite the glare. She said you needed your sleep.”
I smiled but ducked my head. Mom was full of surprises.
“So have you learned anything new?” I asked.
“Yes, a few things,” Matt said, taking a sip of his coffee. “Mark Sweet’s girlfriend, Nikki, admitted she lied. She confirmed Sweet had been with her before he went to the Emporium the day of the murder. She lied because she didn’t want to be dragged into anything Sweet might have done. I read her the riot act about lying to the police.”