I pressed the end button on my phone, and Miles did the same.
Soon there was a knock at the door. Miles rose from where he sat behind the desk, and ushered in our friends.
“Go ahead and have a seat,” said Miles, indicating two chairs. Miles sat beside me on the small couch that was larger than a chair, but smaller than a loveseat. It was just right for the two of us.
“So what’s going on, guys?” asked Xander. “And have you seen John and Annette anywhere? They’re not answering their phones.”
“Yes, actually. They came to see us this morning,” said Miles.
Xander and Jenny looked puzzled.
“The good news is, you guys both have your own rooms now. You don’t have to share anymore,” I said.
“Why? What happened?” asked Jenny, concerned. “Where are they?”
“We’ve no idea,” I said, and looked solemn.
Xander’s forehead was creased, and he looked at Miles and waited for him to explain.
Miles looked at me, and I couldn’t help smiling.
“So just forgo the torture then?” he asked me.
“Yeah, sure,” I said. “You do the honors.”
“What?” Xander said, very confused. Jenny was giving us a narrow-eyed look.
“John and Annette were married this morning.”
“What?!” exclaimed Xander. He clutched the sides of his head, and Jenny was stunned.
“The couple formerly known as John Turner and Annette James, are now Mr. and Mrs. John Turner,” I smiled.
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Xander practically exploded. His hair was standing on end.
“Anika’s telling the truth,” Miles said, smiling as I put my arm around him, and squeezed.
“I can’t believe they didn’t say anything!” said Jenny. “I knew Annette was acting funny… I never dreamed…”
“They’ve been together a long time,” I said. “Longer than we have. I can’t imagine waiting as long as they did.”
“I wonder what their families will say,” said Jenny.
“They don’t know yet,” I replied. “Hopefully they’ll understand. What’s done is done though, and John and Annette are really happy, so… I hope their families are understanding.”
“Man, I just can’t believe this,” said Xander, his eyes huge as he tried to process the news.
“You’re taking this kind of hard,” I pointed out.
“Well yeah! Now they’re going to be as bad as you two!”
I laughed, and so did Miles.
“It’s just you and me now,” Xander said, looking at Jenny as if he couldn’t quite grasp that.
“Is that so bad?” she asked, one eyebrow raised. I saw a hint of amusement in her eyes, but I don’t think Xander did.
“No, it’s not bad!” he hurried to say, as he put his arm around her. “It’s just that we’ve got no couple friends now! All we’ve got are married ones! We’re outnumbered!”
“Xander, do you need some time off to grieve your loss?” asked Miles, managing to keep the smile off of his face, but not out of his eyes.
“Yeah, maybe,” Xander said. He looked like he meant it.
We all laughed, and Jenny shook him. Kind of hard.
“Snap out of it! You’re being ridiculous.”
Xander grinned then, and laughed a little also.
“Okay, fine! I guess I’ll just have to get used to it.”
“That would be wise,” said Miles.
“It’s that or throw a fit, and none of us want to see that,” I said.
“She’s telling the truth,” Miles said, and I laughed and squeezed him again.
“Okay, fine! Well let’s talk about something else then,” said Xander.
“Great idea,” said Miles. “Let’s talk about Elizabeth.”
“Did you learn anything new?” asked Jenny, looking back and forth between Miles and I.
“Where do we even start?” I looked at Miles.
“Well do you know who she is?” asked Xander.
“No, we don’t have a name,” said Miles. “We do know she took a class at a university last fall and intended to go full time next year. It’s a fairly safe assumption that she was a student at North Glen Haven University, because last October 31st, she bought dip and a bag of chips at the Safeway near campus.”
“It’s also a fairly safe assumption that she was wearing the costume and died that night,” I added.
“How do you know this?” asked Jenny.
“Doreen asked her to check her pockets, and Elizabeth found a receipt.”
Jenny gasped and looked horrified. I looked confused.
“What?” I said.
“Your little sister is involved in this?” she exclaimed, looking at me like she didn’t know me. “I can’t believe—oh my word, what would your mother say.”
She covered her face with her hands.
“I wonder what she’d like the least. This, or that we let her stay up all night eating ice cream, and skip school today,” I said sarcastically.
Jenny sat up so fast her red curls bounced up and down like so many springs.
“It’s through no fault of Anika’s that her sister saw Elizabeth last night,” said Miles, squeezing my shoulder. “It’s my fault, if it’s anyone’s.”
“No, it isn’t,” I said loyally. “Neither one of us asked—oh. Well, I guess you did say you wanted to talk to Elizabeth. But whatever! It is NOT your fault, Miles. Whoever killed Elizabeth and started this runaway train, that’s whose fault this is! All of it!”
“You really let her eat ice cream all night, and skip school?” asked Xander. He sounded impressed.
I groaned.
“I’m sorry,” said Jenny sincerely. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded, I really didn’t.”
I nodded.
“It’s fine,” I said, waving away her apology. “Forget about it.”
“I’m sorry,” Jenny said again. She jumped up and gave me a hug.
She felt bad, and I didn’t want that.
“Jenny, it’s okay. Believe me. I am personally horrified at the chain of events that began when my sister discovered Elizabeth in our sitting room in the middle of the night. I don’t expect anyone else not to be shocked by it. We were up all night then, and… I couldn’t send her to school with no sleep, and as wired as she was on what really goes on in her sister and brother-in-law’s life.”
Miles put both arms around me and kissed my forehead.
“So… what happened?” Xander wanted to know.
Miles gave me a second to speak if I wished to do so. I did not.
“In a nutshell,” he said, “In the middle of the night, Doreen saw Elizabeth. The result is that Anika’s sister now knows about my past, my abilities, and Anika’s.”
“You’re kidding!” said Xander. “How’d she take it?”
“She’s a sharp kid, and amazingly resilient,” said Miles. “She reminds me a lot of Anika. She was shocked, but accepted the truth. She looks up to Anika, and it’s easy to see she’s proud of being let in on a part of Anika’s life that very few are.”
“She’s also extremely observant,” I said. “She asked a ton of questions last night at dinner, that I couldn’t answer. Such as, how could I have nightmares about losing Miles before I met him. Apparently I talk in my sleep.”
I looked at Miles.
“Sometimes you talk when you’re having a nightmare. I wake you up when I realize you are, the same as you do me.”
I nodded. So that’s how he knows. Well, that and the crying.
“My sister may have been too sick to do anything else, but while we were living in the cabin she was listening. Last night she wanted answers to her questions, and now she has them. So… I wish she was safe at home with Mom and Dad. I can’t tell you how much I don’t want her anywhere near even the idea of murder. If Mom had any idea what Miles and I end up involved in on an almost daily basis, she would have taken Doreen with her. But she
didn’t, and now Doreen knows, and…”
“She’s taking it all in stride,” said Miles. “Her questions have been answered which, though we wouldn’t choose it, is for the best.”
“So where is she now?” asked Xander.
I laughed shortly. Not because anything was funny, but because everything was all so ridiculous!
“Babysitting Elizabeth,” I said.
Miles quickly added, “Elizabeth is asleep, and Trix is keeping an eye on both of them.”
“Man, your life is so… different,” was all Xander could think of to say.
“Just imagine what our own children are going to be exposed to, living with us 24/7,” I said. I groaned, and buried my face against Miles’ shoulder.
“Let’s just hope our children don’t have laser vision or the ability to throw flames, or vanish…”
“Oh my goodness, you’re not helping!” I couldn’t keep from laughing, and Miles smiled and hugged me.
“We won’t be given anything we can’t handle,” said Miles.
“The Bible doesn’t say that, you know,” I said. “You told me that yourself.”
“Yes dear, thank you for pointing that out. What I’m trying to say is that whatever happens, we’ll navigate it together, and… it’ll be okay. Things may look bad at times like they did last night, but… in the end, it’ll all work out.”
“You’re right. Whatever it is, we’ll navigate it together.” I was reassured.
Miles hugged me tighter and kissed my forehead, then we turned back to our friends, whom we’d momentarily forgotten about.
“So… you mentioned that Elizabeth is asleep?” prompted Jenny.
“Yes, she goes along okay for a while, but then zones out,” I said.
“This never happened to me, and Anika and I find that very puzzling,” said Miles. “Even more puzzling, is that something is trying to pull Elizabeth away. She said this has happened over and over. If I didn’t have her encased in a force field, it would succeed.”
“What?” Xander’s eyes were huge. “Are you kidding?”
“He’s telling the truth,” I said.
“I can feel pressure exerted from outside the force field even now,” said Miles. He turned to me. “What do you bet that as soon as it diminishes, she’ll wake up?”
“Oh my goodness, do you think?” I looked at him sharply.
“When she appeared and I sent her to the sitting room, there was no outside pressure. She faded fast, after it began. There was no pressure when we woke up and joined Doreen and Elizabeth this afternoon, but it returned as she began to fade and then fell asleep again. It’s stronger actually, than it was last night.”
“So how strong are we talking?” asked Xander, his eyebrows knit. “Can you hold up against it?”
“Easily,” said Miles.
“Can you tell where this pressure is coming from?” asked Jenny. “Are you able to trace it, or something?”
“How awesome would that be!” Xander said with excitement.
Miles shook his head.
“No, that I’m unable to do. I know there’s something trying to break through and pull her away, but that’s all.”
“The thing is, Miles never experienced anything like this. He didn’t sleep, he didn’t have anything trying to control him, he wasn’t transparent, his eyes didn’t glow, he didn’t experience pain from the injuries that resulted in his death, he wasn’t confused… There really are more differences than similarities.”
“It’s baffling,” said Miles.
“She said last night she needs to find out who murdered her,” I remembered. “Did we mention that already?”
“No, you didn’t,” said Jenny. “So she doesn’t know then?”
“Apparently not. We could have got a whole lot more information, she seemed talkative, but we were doing damage control with my sister.”
“Elizabeth joins in if we’re talking to each other, but asking her direct questions results in her becoming extremely confused and unable to remember,” said Miles.
“That’s right, last night she said it had been hard for her to hold on to thoughts long enough to think them. She holds her head a lot too. That and the confusion…”
“So maybe she died as the result of head trauma?” asked Xander.
“Yeah, but why would that affect her? Miles’ injuries didn’t affect him when he was semi-transparent,” I said. “If they had, he wouldn’t have been able to walk.”
“No kidding. It took two surgeries and a ton of grueling physical therapy for that, once I was solid again,” Miles said.
“You had to work hard all summer once you were back at the estate, too,” I remembered. “You still wore a knee brace then, and limped.”
“Did you have any sign of your injuries before you came back?” asked Jenny, her forehead creased as she tried to find an answer that would make sense.
“None,” said Miles.
“Did you say earlier you think she died here in Glen Haven last Halloween night?” Xander asked suddenly.
“Yes, that’s what we’re thinking,” Miles answered. “The receipt puts her here in Glen Haven and near the University, Halloween night.”
“Wouldn’t we know about it if a student died or was murdered?” Xander turned to Jenny.
“I can’t imagine not hearing about it,” she said, puzzled.
Miles and I looked at each other, also puzzled.
“We were so overwhelmed last semester with all my investigations and classes and everything else, we thought either we never heard or didn’t register if we did,” I said. “That doesn’t make sense that you wouldn’t know, though!”
“You know the campus Halloween party was on the 30th last year, not the 31st,” said Xander. “The committee wanted it on a Friday night. That’s how they always do it, even if they have to hold the party the weekend before.”
“She wasn’t in costume for the party at the University, then,” Miles said, giving that consideration. “So either another party…”
“She’s kind of old for trick-or-treating,” I said. “Could she have been with a group, maybe taking kids around? Or siblings? But she doesn’t have siblings, she only mentioned having a mom and dad.”
“It makes sense that she was going to a party though,” said Jenny. “Remember the items on the receipt.”
“You’re right,” I said. “That’s party food! She must have been.”
My phone buzzed, and I fumbled to get it out of my pocket.
“It’s Mom,” I said quickly. “Mom? How’s Grandma?”
Miles kept his arm around me. He probably wanted to hear too, so I held the phone between us so he could. I was relieved to know Grandma was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing well. Grandpa was doing well too, and when he wasn’t with Grandma he was being entertained by my little brother. Dad was there, and Aunt Louise and Uncle Tim, so that was all good. I reassured Mom that Doreen was fine and welcome to stay as long as necessary, and I was very thankful then to say goodbye!
“Thank goodness she did most of the talking,” I said. “Thank goodness she didn’t ask many questions!”
My phone buzzed again, and I looked at it apprehensively.
“Oh, it’s Doree…” I said, as I read her text. “Oh good grief, why does this not surprise me… she’s letting us know there are no reports of a murder taking place in Glen Haven last year on Halloween, or in the days after. Not of a college age girl, anyway. She also took it upon herself to do searches on the surrounding areas, too.”
Miles rubbed my shoulder as I took a deep breath.
“Honey, she’s… your sister. You may not look anything alike, but in every other way, you are.”
“She should be watching the latest Disney Princess movie, not investigating murder!”
“I have a feeling you’ll be able to control your sister about as well as anyone was ever able to control mine.”
“Doreen was such a quiet little kid! Sort of shy, and sensitive,”
I said, as if that made any difference now. “What happened?”
“She became very ill. For what, a couple of years anyway, right?” asked Miles.
“More than that. She started getting sick when she was seven.”
“Okay. So for the last two or three years that you lived with your family, she was sick.”
“So sick she could barely interact,” I remembered. “Light hurt, sound hurt, anything that touched her hurt…”
“She was still sick when your family moved here. She was doing a lot better by Thanksgiving last year, but you and I were engaged by then and when we saw your family, you were mostly talking about wedding plans with your Mom, not hanging out with your sister.”
“At camp I’ve been amazed at what a transformation kids go through between just fifth and sixth grade,” said Jenny. “They change so much, and not just in appearance.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised that I don’t really know her anymore then,” I said, kind of sad about that. “On Tuesday when we went to pick up the dogs, she said she misses me. She said that again last night.”
“Well… she knows your secrets now,” said Xander. “That ought to make it easier. You don’t have a ton of stuff to hide.”
“That’s true,” I said, as I considered that. “It’s like with you guys. Now that you know, Miles and I are more relaxed than we were when we had so many secrets we had to keep hidden.”
“We’re able to really be ourselves,” said Miles. “It feels good. We can be ourselves around your sister now, too. Isn’t it kind of a weight off, when you think about it?”
“Yeah, I guess it is,” I said. “Now that you brought it up, if she didn’t know, we’d never be able to become very close. Eleven seems awfully young to be exposed to all this, but… she’s growing up so fast.”
“She doesn’t look or act like a little kid,” said Jenny.
“No kidding,” I almost snorted. “Miles and I had to set Joe straight last night. The way he looked at her, he obviously thought she was old enough to ask out.”
“You set him straight though,” Miles smiled. “I hope you never have that look in your eyes when you talk to me. I’ll be afraid, if you do.”
I laughed.
“Well what about you? After the way you said ‘she’s eleven,’ he had to be scared!”
The Lodge at Whispering Pines Page 18