“There’s pressure again and it’s increasing,” said Miles quickly.
My mind raced, and I was struck with inspiration. We didn’t have much time, this had to work!
“Whenever Mom was upset, she’d say ‘Anika Grace Riley!’”
“When my wife’s upset with me, she says ‘Miles Delevan Bannerman!’”
I stifled a laugh, and he smiled and tightened the arm he had around me.
“When Mom’s upset at me, she says ‘Doreen Patience Riley!’ Of course she doesn’t sound very patient when she does, you’d think my middle name would act as a reminder…”
The wheels were turning in Elizabeth’s head. Miles squeezed my shoulder. We didn’t have much more time.
“When… Mom and Dad are upset… they say… Violet Elizabeth O’Neill!”
I clutched Miles’ hand, and he squeezed me and kissed my cheek. Doreen began a search on her iPad. Xander and Jenny looked excited, and Elizabeth—Violet, I mean—closed her eyes wearily, and held her head in her hands. She slumped in the chair, and she was asleep.
“There’s a lot of pressure being exerted to try and pull her away,” said Miles. “It absolutely corresponds to her level of consciousness.”
“We’ve got something we can work with though, we’ve got a name!” I said, and Miles kissed me again.
“Excellent job, Anika. That was perfect!”
Xander took his phone out of his pocket.
“You’re calling someone?” asked Jenny.
“I’m calling my cousin, Shawn. He and Spence are good friends. If his date was murdered, he’ll know.”
“I’m not sure she was,” I said, and Miles nodded.
“But she said she was,” said Doreen, looking up from her iPad and frowning. “She has to find out who killed her.”
“Hey, Shawn. What’s up? Mm-hm. Okay. Yeah, right! Like that’ll ever happen. Whatever, man! As if you didn’t call at three o’ clock this morning, to ask what time it was! Yeah, well I have a question. Sure, Shawn, you can hang up. If you do, I’ll call back. I know where you live too, so you don’t answer, I’m coming over! Yeah I thought so. Yeah, so you and Spence Daniels are friends, right? Mm-hm. So is there something going on with him? Did something happen to his girlfriend, last year?”
Xander’s face changed. I couldn’t read his expression, too many conflicting emotions were washing over him. Doreen started bouncing up and down in her chair violently at the same time, gesturing at her iPad. I made a “settle down until the man’s off the phone” motion. She made a face and settled down to some extent, but I knew what she must have looked like last night when Miles said she was vibrating like a hummingbird.
“Are you serious, man? That’s… awful! Well… what happened? No, I had no idea! I hadn’t heard anything. I can’t believe it wasn’t all over campus!”
The rest of us were silent, as we watched Xander listen to whatever his cousin was telling him. His eyes were serious.
“Man, I had no idea. That’s awful. Any idea which hospital?”
That didn’t sound good.
Xander stood and looked around. Miles tapped the notepad and pen laying on the coffee table, and Xander wrote something there.
“Okay. Yeah, I’ll do that. Sure. Bye.”
Xander put the phone back in his pocket and shook his head in disbelief, as he ripped the page out of the notebook and sat back down.
“Guys, this… isn’t what we thought. Violet is wrong.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“She wasn’t murdered!” blurted Doreen, waving her iPad again.
“She’s right,” acknowledged Xander. “I don’t get it, I mean I see her sitting there myself, but— Violet wasn’t murdered.”
“Then what happened?” asked Jenny. “It was an accident?”
“No,” said Xander, handing the sheet of paper to Miles. Written on it was the name of a hospital I didn’t recognize.
“She isn’t dead, she’s still alive!” Doreen was bouncing again. She better watch it, Miles would be calling her Fidget.
We looked at Doreen, and then back at Xander.
“She’s right. Violet didn’t die. She’s still alive.”
Miles and I glanced at each other quickly, then back at Xander.
“She was found Halloween night outside Professor Frederick’s house. She’s been in a coma ever since.”
“Are you serious?” exclaimed Jenny.
“He’s telling the truth,” I said.
“How is that even possible?” Jenny stared at Violet, asleep in the chair.
“I don’t know, how is anything possible?” Miles replied. “Anika and I have been baffled by the significant differences between Violet’s transparent state and my semi-transparent one, since the beginning.”
“Violet has been so confused. We know she was wrong about her identity when she claimed to be Elizabeth Conner. Today Miles and I began to question her claim that she’d been killed. She believes it, I don’t mean we thought she was lying.”
“She said she needs to know who murdered her,” said Xander. “I know she’s not dead, but…”
“She needs to know who tried to murder her,” said Doreen, holding up her iPad. “The police don’t know. It’s not in the news, anyway.”
“What does it say exactly?” asked Miles.
I comforted myself with the knowledge that she wasn’t reading about an actual murder. My husband was not asking my baby sister to read about an actual murder, just… an attempt at one.
“There’s several articles. Do you want me to read them all out loud?” she asked, looking from her iPad to Miles. “I can do that, if you want.”
“That’s not necessary, but thank you for offering. Would you mind emailing those to me, though?”
“Sure.”
“Who is Professor Frederick?” I asked.
“He taught the class Miles, John and I were in last semester. Spence is his teaching assistant.”
“Why on earth would Violet be outside of his house?” asked Jenny.
“She was at a Halloween party,” said Doreen. “It was at that professor’s house.”
“That’s right,” said Xander. “I’d forgotten, but yeah. I remember Spence was not looking forward to that.”
“So do you know Spence, then? Outside of class?” I asked.
“Yeah. Not, you know, as well as I do you guys, and John and Annette. But he’s Shawn’s friend, and yeah, I’d say we’re friends, too.”
“So why wasn’t he looking forward to this party?” asked Jenny.
“Why not do something else if he didn’t want to go?” asked Doreen. “He’s a grown-up. Nobody can make him do stuff if he doesn’t want to.”
Well that’s not the truth, but I wasn’t going to burst that bubble for her.
“You need a little background to understand,” said Miles, looking up briefly from his phone. The email Doreen sent with the news articles had reached his inbox. “I remember hearing about this. Dr. Frederick’s daughter had a major crush on Spence. She used her father’s position to get to him.”
“How in the world did she manage that?” I wanted to know.
“She volunteered to help with grading, things like that,” Xander said. “Spence couldn’t say no, it wasn’t up to him. She talked a lot more than she helped, and got in the way more than anything. Then she’d need a ride home, because hers didn’t show up. No big deal if it happened once, and was legitimate. But it happened a lot, and Spence got real tired of her always being around. Dr. Frederick was using Spence as a babysitter more than a TA. Spence needed the job, but when he found out people thought they were dating because that’s what she was telling them, he put his foot down. He threatened to go to the department head, if Dr. Frederick insisted on her being part of his job.”
“So did that take care of the problem?” asked Jenny.
“Well… yes, but then he hosted a party for the department at his house, and insisted Spence attend.”
“That seems awfully unwise on the part of the professor,” I said.
“The guy hosts this party every year though,” said Xander. “Spence is his TA, it was a departmental party, and he expected him to help out. I don’t know if his daughter had anything to do with his plans or not, but to the department head it would make sense, and be perfectly reasonable.”
“So Spence had to go, and Violet went with him,” said Jenny, thinking out loud.
“And they were dating, your cousin confirmed that?” I asked.
“Yeah. I don’t know much more than that,” Xander said.
“She was found outside the house like Shawn said,” Miles told us, as he continued to scan through articles. “It’s bizarre, no one saw her leave… she’s wearing a jacket, though.”
“Yeah, a heavy one,” I said as I looked over at her. “She meant to be outside, then. She wouldn’t have worn that jacket under her costume while in the house. Not without burning up.”
“Unless… the house was abandoned, and therefore didn’t have power,” said Jenny. “Or, the person that owned it couldn’t afford to heat it.”
“Or, the person that owned it chose to keep the place like the inside of a refrigerator,” said Xander.
That made all of us laugh, the idea of someone doing that on purpose… who would be that ridiculous! I can’t imagine anyone would enjoy visiting them.
“We know it wasn’t the first two scenarios,” said Miles. “The party was at Professor Frederick’s house.”
“Yeah, it’s safer to assume she put the jacket on and then left, or left and put the jacket on,” I said.
“I’m not familiar with this hospital she’s at,” said Miles. “Are you, Xander?”
“Well… I don’t know what all they treat, but as a kid I remember hearing jokes about the place.”
“Jokes?” asked Jenny.
“Yeah. Like it’s a looney bin.”
Doreen looked shocked and offended.
“What an awful thing to say! That’s not ‘people first’ language.”
“I’m just repeating what I heard as a kid,” Xander was quick to point out.
“Okay, well assuming this is a mental health facility,” I said, “then why is Elizabeth there?”
“Good question,” said Miles. “Memorial Hospital here in Glen Haven, has a neurosciences center. They’re dedicated to, and specialize in treating trauma to the brain. I know one of the doctors personally. He was Second-Miles’ doctor and then mine, after Anika freed me, and I returned in Second-Miles’ place. Dr. Reeves transferred to Memorial after I returned to the estate, and I saw him several times that summer. So why is Elizabeth at this other hospital, instead? Is this place adequately equipped to care for her injuries? ”
“What do you suppose is going on when that pressure is exerted on the force field, and she falls asleep?” I wondered.
“Is she being drugged?” wondered Jenny. “Maybe the coma is induced.”
“What exactly is sitting there in that chair?” wondered Xander. “Her spirit? Her soul? A piece of her consciousness? Brain waves? We know she isn’t a ghost, since she isn’t dead.”
No one had an answer to that question. Or any of the others.
“Xander, you think you could find out more about what happened from Spence’s perspective? Ideally you’ll do this with Anika and I present. She doesn’t have to be close, just nearby. She’ll know if he’s telling the truth.”
“Yeah, I can figure something out,” said Xander. “I don’t think he hurt her, though. He seems like a stand-up guy.”
“I don’t suspect him either,” said Miles. “We need to start somewhere though, and we know he was at the party, and that Violet was with him. It makes sense to talk to him, and see what he can tell us.”
“I’m looking forward to solving this case by talking to someone other than Violet,” I said. “Since my ability doesn’t work on her while she’s in this transparent state, any truth gained would become a memory. Whatever happened to her, I’d rather be able to forget it once I know.”
“Since we don’t have your ability, do us a favor and don’t tell us what you find out!” said Xander. “How do you handle this, man?”
“Anika doesn’t share details with me,” said Miles. “She only tells me what she has to, in order for me to be able to help her.”
“So what’s the plan?” asked Doreen. “What do we do now?”
“We go back to bed,” I said, and yawned. As if to back me up, the clock on the mantle struck. It was one o’ clock in the morning.
“I second that,” said Miles. “We’ll talk more over breakfast, tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow then,” said Xander, as he and Jenny stood. We all said goodnight, and Miles walked with them to the door. I stood and stretched, and looked at my sister, her eyes glued to her iPad.
“You are going to bed, right?” I asked. “To sleep.”
“Oh, yeah. Sure,” she said, glancing up very briefly. “I’m hungry though.”
She missed the raised eyebrow, she was too focused on attempted murder to notice my reaction.
“You’re hungry, huh?” I said. How that was possible, I’d no idea!
“Yeah. I’ll find something, though.”
Probably the three half-gallon containers of ice cream Miles replenished the freezer with, earlier.
“Okay, well… goodnight,” I said, as Miles joined us again and put his arm around me.
“Goodnight Doreen,” said Miles, as we turned toward our room. “See you later in the morning.”
“Goodnight,” she said. It was more of a reaction, than a conscious farewell. She was distracted by her research. She’d wonder later when it was we disappeared, and why we failed to announce our departure.
Miles closed the doors behind us, and we crawled gratefully back into bed.
“I’ll be glad when this is over, and we don’t have to set our alarm to wake us in the middle of the night to talk to Violet anymore,” I said.
“Me too,” agreed Miles.
“What do you bet we wake up in the morning to find Doreen asleep in the chair, with three empty containers of ice cream on the kitchen counter.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Miles replied. His cheek rested against my forehead, and I knew he smiled.
“Why?” I had to know.
“She may eat one of them, that won’t surprise me at all. If she wants the other two though, she’ll have to get past the force field, first.”
I laughed.
“You are too cool, Mr. Superhero husband!”
“So are you, Mrs. Superhero wife.”
I kissed Miles goodnight and fell asleep smiling as I thought of so many ways those force fields were going to come in handy when we have kids!
Chapter 15
The door to the bedroom where Doreen slept, was ajar. I tapped, but there was no response.
“Doree, time to get up,” I said softly.
No response.
“Doreen, up and at ‘em!” I said more loudly. “You’re going with us to walk the dogs, remember? You need to get ready.”
How does Mom get this kid to school in the mornings? How was I going to get her to school in the mornings! No more letting her decide when to put herself to bed, that’s for sure.
I gave the lump in the bed a narrow-eyed look. Like it or not, she was going to get up. I wasn’t leaving her here without at least Trixie to watch her, and I wanted to go with Miles to walk the dogs.
I looked at my watch. Out of the kindness of my heart, and because I could tell by the heavenly scent wafting from the kitchen that Miles made coffee, I decided to give her a few more minutes. Just a few.
I turned to leave the room. Bumping hard into someone coming in, I let out an involuntary shriek.
Doreen, the someone that I bumped into, shrieked also.
“What are you doing?” she exclaimed.
“What a
re you doing, other than trying to scare me to death!” I snapped back, my hand over my heart to keep it in place.
Miles called from the kitchen, “Now we know it’s impossible to wake Violet, anyway.”
“If you must know, I was using the bathroom,” she said with dignity. “I assumed that was allowed. If you think finding out about Violet would make Mom mad, imagine what she’d think if my kidneys exploded.”
“Smart-aleck,” I said, swatting her as she walked past. She swatted back, but missed. “Get dressed so we can walk the dogs.”
“I am dressed,” she said, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh. Well then—put your shoes on!” was my parting shot, as I joined Miles in the kitchen.
He stood leaning against the counter drinking coffee, laughter in his eyes. He picked up the mug beside him and handed it to me.
“Thank you,” I said gratefully, as I breathed in the aroma.
“You’re welcome,” he smiled. He put his arm around me, and I leaned against the counter also.
Doreen came around the corner, and into the kitchen. I was pleased to see she was wearing snow boots. Leggings seemed more than a little underdressed for the weather, but that wasn’t my hill to die on, so I kept my mouth shut.
“Mm, coffee!” she said, opening a cabinet in search of mugs.
“Mom lets you drink coffee?” I asked in surprise.
“Mom makes coffee every morning before breakfast,” she responded nonchalantly.
“Mm-hm. Evade the question why don’t you,” I said, raising an eyebrow.
Doreen grinned and filled her mug with flavored syrup, coffee, and cream. She tasted it and made a face.
“Doesn’t taste quite like it smells, does it,” said Miles.
Doreen took another sip and nearly gagged.
Miles took pity on her.
“You don’t have to force yourself to drink it, if you don’t like it.”
“No, it’s great,” she said, taking another sip and shuddering.
I reached for Miles’ hand which rested on my shoulder, and squeezed twice.
He said softly, “You’re telling the truth.”
I nearly choked on my coffee.
“I’ve got to work on my timing,” Miles said, as he patted my back. “I seem to have a knack for amusing you right as you’re taking a drink.”
The Lodge at Whispering Pines Page 21