A Haunting Dream (A Missing Pieces Mystery) (3 page)

I looked into his mind. It was like looking into a person’s attic where they stored the things that were important to them. I felt my usual reaction to being in someone else’s thoughts—shaking all over for a few seconds. That passed as I focused on locating the lost medallion.

After a moment, I saw it. It was resting on the floor, under a table near a goldfish bowl. Newspapers and some junk mail were lying on top of it. No wonder he couldn’t find it.

But when my mind touched it, I knew there was something unusual about the medallion. I’d seen it before, even held it. For a moment, I couldn’t make out what I recognized about it.

Then I knew—it was a gold award medallion that had belonged to a real estate broker named Amanda Sparks. She’d lost it on the road in Duck when she’d visited here in 1964.

My eyes flew open as I realized that the medallion now belonged to her son, Chuck Sparks. I’d returned it to him last year when he’d set up his business, Island Realty, LLC. “I know who this belongs to.”

Old Man Sweeney’s eyes popped open too as he jerked his hands away from mine. “There’s a reward. I suppose you saw that too. Don’t think I’m sharing just because you helped me find the medallion.”

“I don’t want the reward.” I tried to calm his fears. “I was just surprised at finding the medallion again.”

“What are you talking about? I found it.”

“It belongs to Chuck Sparks. I gave it to him last year after finding it on Duck Road.”

“I don’t think so.” Old Man Sweeney looked at me curiously, as if assessing my next move. He took a scrap of paper from his pocket and glanced at the writing on it. “He said his name is Derek. I have his phone number to call him when I find the medallion.”

I really wanted to go home and tell Gramps about what had happened at the Coffee House. I knew he’d say all the right things and I’d feel better. He was good at that.

But that wasn’t going to happen right away. Something about Old Man Sweeney’s finding that medallion seemed off, wrong. I knew it belonged to Chuck Sparks. Why would someone named Derek say it belonged to him and offer money for its return?

I sighed and wondered how I was going to convince my neighbor to let me help him give Derek the medallion so I could find out what was going on.

Chapter 2

O
ld Man Sweeney’s house looked weatherworn but
neat on the outside. I hadn’t been on the inside since I was about six and my mom made me apologize to him for writing on his sidewalk—while the concrete was still wet.

The inside had deteriorated a lot, from what I could remember. The living room looked like our house had before Gramps convinced me that I needed to open a thrift store to sell the things I’d found or collected down through the years. There had been very little room to walk and every flat surface was covered with something that had caught my attention. Some of it was valuable. Some, not so much.

In Old Man Sweeney’s house, assorted items were parked and piled in every corner—from an old bicycle to stacks of books and magazines as well as crates of dishes and bottles. He looked like he needed a thrift store too.

“I don’t know why you insist on being here when I turn the medallion over.” Old Man Sweeney had protested all the way from the coffee shop. He hadn’t let up now that we were at his house either.

“I told you, Mr. Sweeney.” I laid it on thick. “As mayor of Duck, it’s my monthly honor to commend one of our citizens for a good deed. I’d like that to be you at next month’s town council meeting. Don’t you want everyone to know what a wonderful person you are?”

It didn’t work.

He still grumbled and complained, but he managed to call Derek quickly enough after I’d crawled under his table and brought out the lost medallion. I looked at it carefully before I handed it over. It was the same gold medallion I’d found for Chuck. There was no doubt in my mind who the medallion belonged to.

And that was when the vision hit me.

I was standing in the dark, empty parking lot behind the Harris Teeter supermarket. I couldn’t actually see Chuck, but I was fairly sure I was seeing everything from his point of view. He was standing beside a burgundy Lincoln. The headlights were off. A single parking-lot lamppost tried valiantly to illuminate the scene.

“There! You have everything now. What else do you want?” Chuck asked someone I couldn’t see. He was holding his arms up in the air as though he were being robbed.

“You’re right.” The voice that responded was deep and husky, as was the laugh that followed. “Thanks for adding to my retirement fund.”

A second later, a shot broke the silence and Chuck fell to the ground, his mother’s medallion rolling out of his limp fingers and onto the pavement. I could sense that he’d been holding it because he was scared and it made him feel lucky.

I could feel the blood and life draining from him, but there was nothing I could do. This event had already happened. I didn’t know when, but I knew it was in the recent past.

Then Chuck turned his head as though by doing so he could see me there with him. “Help her, please.”

I jumped back from the memories encased in the medallion. My breath came quickly and my heart pounded. Chuck’s death was in the past, I reminded myself. He couldn’t have seen me there with him. Maybe he’d been talking to someone else.

But I knew I was just trying to make excuses for this new turn in my abilities. This had never happened to me before. I’d had visions of people, but they could never see me. They certainly never
talked
to me.

I heard the knock at the door and knew Derek must be there for the medallion—Derek who I realized might be the person who’d robbed and killed Chuck.

Old Man Sweeney started for the front door, probably eager for his reward. I looked at the medallion on the floor where I’d dropped it. What if Derek was trying to tie up loose ends? He must have realized that the medallion was left behind in the parking lot.

But what had happened to Chuck? I’d know if the police had found him dead at Harris Teeter. Like I said, Duck was a small town. I tried not to doubt my visions, but something seemed off about this one. Actually,
everything
seemed off about it.

Old Man Sweeney was reaching for the door handle when I grabbed him and pulled him back.

“What’s wrong with you, Dae O’Donnell? I’ve a good mind to call Horace and tell him how crazy you’ve been acting today.”

“Good idea! Let’s give him a call right now. I know Derek won’t mind waiting.” I took out my cell phone and hit speed dial to call Gramps. He was a retired sheriff of Dare County. He’d know what to do.

I hoped.

“Bah! Give me that medallion and get out of my way. I don’t care if I get the mayor’s award or not. I just want the
re
-ward.”

The phone was ringing. I could only hope Gramps was next door. I couldn’t remember if this was his day to train with the volunteer firefighters or play pinochle. Neither, I prayed.

Be next door.

“Horace O’Donnell speaking.”

“Gramps, you have to come over to Old Man Sweeney’s house right away. I’ll explain when you get here. Hurry!”

“I can’t believe you still call him that! What’s wrong, Dae? I’m right in the middle of making some fish stew. I don’t want to leave the stove on.”

“Get over here right away,
please
!”

At that moment, Old Man Sweeney opened the front door. Derek stood on the doorstep. He smiled when he saw us. He had a pleasantly handsome face, dark brown hair combed away from his forehead. He was well dressed, even wearing expensive shoes. “Hello. I’m here for the lost medallion.”

“I’ve got it right here.” Old Man Sweeney grabbed the medallion from me. “I believe you mentioned a
generous
reward.”

“Indeed I did.” Derek reached inside his tailored jacket.

I panicked. I couldn’t let him shoot us like he’d shot Chuck. I needed to buy some time. “Won’t you come in and have some iced tea with us? I’m Dae O’Donnell, the mayor of Duck. I don’t recognize you. Are you just visiting?”

As I spoke, I was pulling Old Man Sweeney backward. He kept slapping at my hands, but I kept pulling him anyway.
Where is Gramps?

“Nice to meet you, Mayor. I’m Derek Johnson. I’m here on business.”

“And you lost your medallion,” I said sympathetically. “How did you manage to do that?”

“A friend of mine picked me up at the Harris Teeter.” His grin widened—it was even bigger than my mayor’s smile. “I guess I dropped it there. I never go anywhere without it. It’s a good luck charm.”

Suddenly, Gramps came running from around the bushes between our house and Old Man Sweeney’s. He was breathing raggedly, wearing his fishing overalls and straw hat. “For the love of God, Dae, what’s going on?”

I realized abruptly that he didn’t have a gun, like he always used to have when he was the sheriff. I didn’t know what I’d been thinking when I called him. Of course he wasn’t armed! I looked at both the old men and realized I’d only made matters worse. What was he supposed to do—Derek Johnson was probably dangerous.

All three men stared at me. Old Man Sweeney recovered first. “She’s been acting like a fruitcake ever since I told her about finding this man’s medallion. I’m sorry I took your advice, Horace, and asked for her help.”

“If there’s a problem, I can come back later,” Derek said with a polite nod of his head. “If you’ll just give me the medallion—”

“Dae?” Gramps stared angrily at me, probably embarrassed to be caught in this crazy scene.

But I couldn’t forget what I’d seen. If Derek left here now, we might never know what had happened to Chuck. We were going to have to take our chances.

I drew in a deep breath, prepared to tell everyone what I knew, despite the risks. I saw Duck Police Officer Tim Mabry out of the corner of my eye as he pulled his squad car into my driveway.

I hated to put him on the spot, but I didn’t know what else to do. As soon as he saw all of us at Old Man Sweeney’s front door, he started in our direction. “Hey, Dae!”

“Thank goodness you’re here!” I ran to him and brought him close to the group. “You have to arrest this man.” I pointed at Derek Johnson. “I think he killed Chuck Sparks.”

Chapter 3

T
here was a general ruckus after I’d said those provocative
words. It was exactly what I’d expected. The good thing was that Tim did what I’d asked of him and tackled Derek with his long, lanky body, then held him on the ground.

“Get off of him!” Old Man Sweeney shouted. “He’s about to give me a reward. All you young people are just plain crazy. Horace, do something.”

Gramps grabbed my arm and pulled me to one side. “Dae, what’s going on? Did you have a vision or something? I hope it’s something that makes sense, no offense. But you just opened the town up for a lawsuit if it doesn’t.”

I told him about Chuck Sparks’s medallion. “You remember. I gave it to him that night at our place. He offered us a lot of money to sell the house.”

“That’s right.” He asked Old Man Sweeney for the medallion and studied it. “You’re sure this belongs to Mr. Sparks, Dae?”

I kind of stared at him. “Are you
really
asking me that?”

“Just trying to get the facts straight. Why do you think this man is guilty of anything except maybe stealing this from Chuck?”

“That would be enough, wouldn’t it?” But I told him what I’d seen and heard in the vision. “I haven’t heard anything about Chuck going missing or getting shot, have you?”

As past sheriff, Gramps was very chummy with the new sheriff and all the other law enforcement officials around the Outer Banks. We both knew nothing had shown up on the radar. “If you’re really sure about this, honey, I’ll call Chief Michaels and let him sort it out.”

“I’m really sure.” I shuddered again when I thought about Chuck looking at me while he lay dying.

“What do you want me to do?” Tim asked Gramps, still holding Derek on the front lawn.

“You have the wrong person,” Derek said in an angry tone.

“I’m going to give Ronnie a call.” Gramps made his decision and took out his cell phone. “I’d pat him down, if I were you, Tim. Just to be on the safe side.”

“I assure you it’s not necessary,” Derek complained. “If you’ll let me up, I can prove who I am.”

“I don’t think who you are is in question, sir,” Gramps said. “But you’ll have plenty of time for answers when our police chief gets here.”

Tim patted his prisoner down and found a small handgun in his jacket pocket. “Not much but it would cause a little sting.”

“I have a permit for that,” Derek said. “A man can’t be too careful anymore. I sometimes have large amounts of cash with me. It’s part of my job.”

“Save it for the chief,” Tim said, then whispered to Gramps, “Should I Mirandize him?”

“The chief will be here soon.” Gramps nodded. “Best wait until then.”

“I might as well go inside and watch TV,” Old Man Sweeney said. “I won’t get any money out of this now. Thanks, Mayor. I won’t be voting for
you
come next November.”

I hated to lose even one vote, but it couldn’t be helped. Losing Old Man Sweeney’s vote would mean another vote for my opponent, Mad Dog Wilson. Old Man Sweeney might change his mind later if I’d saved his life.

“I still consider you a good Samaritan, Mr. Sweeney,” I told him in a cheerful voice. “I still want to give you that award next month. You’ve earned it.”

“Bah!” He slammed the door in my face.

Oh well.

Police Chief Ronnie Michaels arrived a few minutes later. He always reminded me of an older drill sergeant with his graying flattop, patent leather shoes and carefully pressed uniform. He was about ten years younger than Gramps. They’d worked together at the sheriff’s office before Duck had created its own police force.

“What’s going on here, Horace? I don’t mind you commandeering Officer Mabry, but I hope you had good reason.”

Gramps took Chief Michaels into the driveway, out of earshot of the rest of us, and presumably explained everything. The chief—like everyone else in Duck—knew about my gift. I’d helped him a few times, but he was never too happy about it. Visions and feelings weren’t good police work, he always said. I suspected he liked doing it better without me.

While Tim, Derek and I waited for Gramps and the chief to return, Kevin’s old red pickup pulled in front of my house. He got out and walked up the driveway toward our ever-increasing group.

I wasn’t sure how to act or what to say when it came down to talking with him. What
could
I say? I didn’t want to lose him. I wanted things to go on as they had between us. But clearly, that wasn’t going to happen.

Kevin was an honorable man. I wouldn’t expect anything less from him. He’d have to at least try to work it out with Ann. It was the only fair thing to do.

Even though I hated it.

Gramps and the chief finished their discussion. “Mayor O’Donnell, could I have a word with you?” The chief waited in the driveway while Gramps came back to the front porch of Old Man Sweeney’s house.

“Can I put him in the car now?” Tim asked.

“Just stay there another minute,” the chief commanded. “I’ll get to you soon enough.”

It was my turn to explain everything, in greater detail. I told the chief what had happened, glancing from time to time across his shoulder at Kevin. I wondered if he’d come because he’d heard about the goings-on at Old Man Sweeney’s from the police scanner, or because he wanted to talk to me about Ann.

I knew that what I’d felt from the medallion was right—it had brought me there in the first place. But convincing the chief was something else.

“And you’re sure you’ve never seen this man before?” he demanded.

“No. It was just a fluke that Mr. Sweeney asked for my help and I recognized the medallion. I knew it belonged to Chuck Sparks as soon as I saw it.”

“In a vision?”

“Yes.”

“There’s no accident report. No missing person report filed. Nothing that says anything has happened to Mr. Sparks.”

“Fine. Let’s call him then and ask him about it. Maybe Derek is just a friend of his pretending that the medallion belongs to him. It won’t take more than a few minutes to check it out.”

“Not a bad idea,” the chief admitted, somewhat grudgingly.

He wasn’t thrilled about having to follow up on one of my visions, but at least he was willing to try and make sense of it. If I was wrong about the whole thing, he could always apologize to Derek and let him go.

Me too, I supposed.

The chief used his radio to ask the dispatcher to get in touch with Chuck. When there was no answer at Island Realty, the dispatcher called Chuck’s home and cell phone numbers—the police maintained a list of emergency contact information for local business owners. The chief frowned when they couldn’t reach him.

“He’s a real estate broker,” I reminded him. “There’s no way he wouldn’t answer one of those phones—unless something
has
happened to him.”

“You know I can’t just arrest a man based on one of your visions, Mayor,” he argued. “I’ll send someone over to Chuck’s house and office. What kind of car was that you saw in your dream again?”

I ignored the
dream
jibe and answered, “A burgundy Lincoln. Late model, I think.”

The chief took it from there. He told Tim to take Derek to the police station and hold him for questioning. When Derek protested, Chief Michaels explained that it was only routine and that he’d probably be back where he wanted to be in time for supper.

“Where is home, by the way?” the chief asked. It was a loaded question delivered in a good-old-boy drawl, but I could see the purpose in his eyes.

“I’m from the mainland,” Derek responded with an uncomfortable look on his lean face. “I haven’t done anything wrong. You have no right arresting me.”

Chief Michaels laughed in an easygoing manner that was definitely not like him. “That’s why we’re not arresting you yet, son. But you better come up with some answers before I come to question you. The mainland is a big place. You think about where
exactly
you come from and why you’re here for the next time I ask you.”

Tim closed the police car door and got in the driver’s seat. “Dae? Just so you know, I was on my way here to see you. Don’t do anything crazy until you hear what I have to say.”

He glared at Kevin significantly, and I knew what he had to say. There had been a misunderstanding between us for years. Tim thought the kiss we’d shared in high school meant we were destined to be together forever. In between his other girlfriends, he always came back to me.

I knew he’d heard about me and Kevin. But no matter what happened with us, Tim and I would always be just good friends. I wished he’d see that.

When everyone else was gone, Kevin and I stood there, awkwardly, not really looking at each other. I knew Gramps had already heard the news when he made a lame excuse and left us right away, glancing back once before he went inside.

“It’s okay.” I finally broke the awkward silence. “You didn’t know this was going to happen. I understand.”

“Can we sit down for a minute and talk about this?” Kevin asked. He took my hand, and we sat together on the front steps of my house.

I really hated being uncomfortable around Kevin, but there was no way to make this easy for either of us.

“I had no idea she was being released,” Kevin said. “She doesn’t understand what happened. It’s like the last couple of years never existed for her.”

“It has to be hard for her,” I said sympathetically. “I can’t even imagine what she must feel.”

“Dae—”

“You have to stay with her,” I blurted. “You were together for a long time. I know you must still love her.”

He stared out at the cars passing by on Duck Road. “I don’t know what I feel right now. I never expected to look up and see her standing there.”

The logical, good-natured part of me
completely
understood. But the sappy, sentimental part that really wanted Kevin to be the person who’d share
my
life couldn’t stand it.

I got to my feet and let go of his hand. I didn’t want to. I just didn’t see any other way. Better to cut it off quickly. “It will be fine. Give her, and yourself, a chance to work it out. You both deserve it. I hope she likes the Blue Whale Inn.”

Kevin stood next to me. “I don’t want to lose
us,
Dae. What we’ve shared has been important to me. You’ve changed my life.”

I smiled and forced back the tears. “We won’t lose us. I’m sure we’ll still see each other. It’ll be fine. You’ll see.”

He didn’t say anything else, just got in his pickup and drove away. I sat on the stairs until it was dark. Gramps finally came outside and sat next to me.

“If it’s right, it’s right,” he said. “Things happen for a reason, honey. You can’t see it yet, but it’s there. Come on in and have some stew. You need to keep up your strength or you’ll never beat Mad Dog Wilson in that debate tonight.”

I had totally forgotten about the first debate!

I started to tell him that I didn’t care. My heart wasn’t in it anymore. It felt like it was shattered into a thousand pieces in my chest.

But pride and a commitment to Duck made me glance at my watch. I had about twenty minutes to change clothes and get to the fire station where the debate was being held. “You’re right. I have to go. Save me some stew. I’ll eat when I get back.”

Some things are just pounded too hard into your head to ignore. In the case of my family, it was community service. Gramps always made sure I understood about giving back to our hometown. I could no more sit there and sulk than I could grow gills and swim.

I changed clothes and put on a sober blue suit and white silk blouse. I wore very little makeup because I had a tan all year from being outside so much. My short, fly-away brown hair bleached out easy every summer, and that’s about all I could get it to do.

I looked at myself in the mirror over the bathroom sink, blue eyes staring into blue eyes. I didn’t think I’d ever been so unhappy, at least not since my mother had died. I was even starting to feel that life was unfair.

I could remember my mother telling me that life was never fair and that we made our own happiness. I never agreed with her on anything once I’d started growing up. She’d died right after one of our major arguments while I was at college on the mainland. A storm had forced her car off of a bridge that crossed from the sound to the Outer Banks. Her body was never found.