Grave Doubts (A Paranormal Mystery Novel) (7 page)

The area rug
was out of place.

Why hadn’t she
noticed it before?  The rug usually sat in between the fireplace and the coffee
table − not underneath the coffee table. Lee’s head riveted back and
forth from the coffee table to the fireplace, calculating distances. The carpet
had been moved a good three feet. She picked up her purse and all of its
contents and placed it on a side table along with the piece of porcelain. Then
she pulled the marble-topped coffee table away from the sofa and lifted the
entire corner of the rug. She couldn’t control the small cry that escaped her
lips. There was a fresh gouge in the perfectly polished hardwood floor, almost
exactly where the porcelain had been held prisoner by the rug’s fibers. Lee
leaned over and stuck her finger into the indentation, as if the jagged edges
might tell her a story. The question was − did the broken vase have
something to do with Diane’s death?  And if so, what could Lee do with this new
piece of information?

She replaced
everything and picked up her purse, dropping the piece of porcelain into her
pocket. Then she reached for the camera and the bird, convinced now that something
besides suicide had taken Diane’s life. Finally, she grabbed her coat off the
back of a chair and started for the door.

She had just
stepped into the entryway when something dark flashed past the large mirror on
the wall, making Lee nearly jump out of her skin. When a second image flitted
past her right shoulder, she spun in a circle, dropped her purse and ran for
the meat skewer. She grabbed it off the coffee table and backed up to the
fireplace, shaking with fear.

Seconds passed
and nothing else happened. No sound. No movement. Her heart raced, drumming an
incessant beat in her ears. With faltering footsteps, she finally inched
forward and peeked around the corner of the sofa into the entryway. She
expected someone to jump out from around the corner, but what she saw made her
dizzy instead, and she dropped her defensive stance in shock.

Lying on the
carpet, just in front of the mirror, was a long dark feather.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Adrenalin
propelled Lee home in a blur. She couldn’t remember leaving the condo or
getting into her car. She couldn’t even remember finding her car keys. Her
heart was still racing, and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. By the time
she entered the area surrounding the campus, she felt completely frayed at the
edges.

She was
positive she’d left the onyx bird on her vanity at home. Yet, somehow it had
shown up on Diane’s floor, one eye glinting in the low light. She was just as
positive her purse hadn’t fallen to the floor all by itself. And the feather
hadn’t been anywhere in the house when she’d arrived. So, what the hell had
happened?  There were only two explanations. Either someone had been in the
condo with her all along, or…or…what? What was the second explanation?

With a sudden
twist of the steering wheel, she swerved to the curb and stopped. A big truck
rumbled past, throwing rainwater against the car as she put on the emergency
brake. She sat with her head resting on the steering wheel for a full minute.
Eventually, the adrenalin pumping through her veins began to slow, and she sat
back.

Privately, Lee had
always accepted the
possibility
that there were things no one could
explain. But she couldn’t say exactly that she believed in the paranormal. In
fact, she’d attended a party once at an abandoned house in college that was
reportedly haunted, and spent the entire night flinching like a school girl at
suspicious noises. So, if ghosts were real, she knew she didn’t have the
stomach for them. Faced now with something that could only be described as
ab
normal,
she wondered if she was going nuts. She had no idea how to explain anything
that had just happened, but decided very quickly that she couldn’t go off on
tangents looking for ghosts or supernatural bullshit. What she had to do was find
out what had happened to Diane.

Lee reached
into her purse and pulled out the bird. She stared at it in the shadows of the
car, wondering if it would suddenly become animated and fly away. But it just
sat there, an inanimate object. She was conflicted what to do with it. It had
been one of Diane’s favorite possessions, but right now, it scared her to
death. And right now, she didn’t need more stress in her life. Before she could
change her mind, she hit the electric window button and rolled down the
passenger side window. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed it into a bush and
closed the window.  When her breathing had returned to normal, she put the car
in gear and pulled back into traffic.

She was just
passing the athletic track when she noticed a dark young man crossing against
the light on the other side. Lee peered through the windshield at him. He
looked exactly like a younger version of Bud Maddox, only taller. Seeing the
boy brought Maddox, and everything she hated about him, to mind.

Maddox had
slipped quietly into Diane’s life, almost before anyone noticed. He left little
gifts on her desk, took an interest in her hobbies, and generally filled the
void left by her ex-husband. Before long, Diane was leaving for lunch fifteen
minutes early and taking unplanned days off. She started wearing brighter
colors and smiling even when the mail was late. Yet, from the beginning, Lee
hadn’t trusted Maddox. It wasn’t that she didn’t think Diane could attract
someone like him. Rather, on some visceral level, she recognized Maddox for
what he was − an empty well, a black hole poised to suck up the universe.

A blaring horn
snapped her to attention, and Lee realized she’d stopped at a green light. She
raised an apologetic hand to the driver behind her and passed through the
intersection. Thoughts about Bud Maddox brought back her failed marriage and
the resulting decade of isolation. She had locked out that period of her life and
closed herself off from everyone else as a result. As Patrick said, she didn’t
date much, and when she did, there was always something wrong with the guy. At
the same time her husband had gone missing, her beloved black Lab had been
killed. It was one of the reasons she wouldn’t have a dog in the house. But how
much of her search for the truth now was a reaction to the guilt she felt for
having fought with Diane the night she died? And how much of it was atonement
for the way she’d handled her own husband’s disappearance?

Lee made it
home without further incident. She parked the car and was coming around the
corner of the house just as the headlights of a car flicked on across the
street. She continued up the steps and stopped to search for the front door
key, barely noticing the car as it pulled away from the curb going south. As
she struggled to get the key into the lock, the car made a U-turn and came back
up the street, slowing as it passed. Lee turned just as the car roared to life
and sped away. It was the tan sedan.

With a frown,
she pushed open the heavy wooden door and slipped inside, quickly closing and
locking the door behind her. She peered out the small paned window, but the car
didn’t return. She relaxed a bit, threw her purse and coat over a chair, pulled
the mail out of the mail slot, and headed for the kitchen. Soldier met her when
she slid back the door, thick tail fanning the air. Lee looked into those deep
brown eyes, feeling a connection building. With a grunt, she brushed the
feeling aside and turned toward the back porch.

“C’mon. You go
outside.”

Soldier followed
her down the hallway and bounded into the yard, squatting in the grass. Lee
left the screen door unlatched again and the back door open, and then returned
to the kitchen. She stopped at the antique roll-top desk to sift through the
mail. A moment later, the porch door slammed, and Soldier came into the room.

“How do you do
that?”

When the dog
didn’t answer, Lee reached for a small mug hanging on the wall and proceeded to
make a cup of tea. Wherever she turned, Soldier followed. After dodging back
and forth several times, Lee finally issued an order.

“Sit!”

To her
surprise, the dog sat.

“Well, thank
you.”

Why was she
thanking a dog?

“Now, stay
there.”

Soldier sat at
attention, the high-set ears standing perfectly erect. Shepherds were known for
their intelligence, but right now Soldier brushed her bushy tail across the
floor like every other attention-hungry canine. Lee watched her, smiling, until
the microwave timer beeped. She removed a bubbling cup of hot tea and placed it
on the counter before going to the refrigerator to grab the milk. As she kicked
the refrigerator closed, Soldier startled her with a bark. Lee turned to find the
dog sitting next to the roll-top desk where the answering machine sat. The
message light was blinking. Lee gave the dog a suspicious look before flicking
the playback button.

“You will never
make me believe that you knew there was a message on that machine.”

She continued
fixing her tea while the automated recording told her there were two recorded messages
and gave her the date and time of the first message. The fact the first message
had been left on Thursday didn’t register until a deep, familiar voice filled
the room. The intrusion of that voice made Lee jerk around as if she’d been
electrocuted. She dropped the milk and spoon. The milk carton fell with a splat,
splashing milk across the floor and lower cupboards. The spoon clattered under
the table, while the message played on. When it finished, the machine beeped
three times.

Diane's message
was over. The next was about to begin.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Lee sat at the
kitchen table, her fingers gently massaging the muscles around her right knee
as she stared in numbed silence at the answering machine. An amalgamation of
thoughts whizzed through her head. Lee tried to remember the sequence of events
the night of Diane's death.

She’d argued
with Diane just before leaving the condominium. On the way home, she’d stopped
at the mall to walk off her anger. Diane must have called and left this message
while Lee was at the mall. When Lee arrived home she was still obsessing over
the argument and had gone straight to bed, never checking the answering
machine. The next day, Lee was more than a little angry because Diane had failed
to show up for work and hadn't called to explain her absence. Immediately after
work, Lee had taken Amy and Soldier to the vet’s and then had gone to Diane’s
condo, hoping Amy’s presence would serve as a buffer, because she knew she was ready
for a fight.

By the time she
returned home, she felt as if someone had removed her brain. She’d unplugged
all the phones, hoping to shut out the world. She’d even switched her cell
phone to “silent.” Amy had convinced her to reconnect the hallway phone for
emergencies, but Lee had purposely left the answering machine off so that she
wouldn’t be forced to listen to condolences from well-intentioned friends.
She’d never noticed there was an existing message.

She clicked on
the answering machine again so that Diane’s voice filled the room one more
time.

“Lee, I know
you won’t approve, but I won’t be in tomorrow. I have a couple more vacation
days coming to me, and Bud and I are going to Portland for something special. Tell
Marie to make sure the newsletter gets to the printers. See you on Monday.”

The anger in
Diane’s voice wasn’t lost on Lee. She stood with her finger on the button, deciding
to let the tape run through. The second message was from Amy. She’d arrived
safely in Corvallis. At the sound of Amy’s voice, Soldier whined.

“She’ll be back
this weekend.”

Lee stood up to
erase the tape, but paused. Maybe she shouldn’t. It was the last communication
from Diane and could be important. Instead, she turned out the light and left
the kitchen. After locking doors and turning out lights on the ground floor, she
headed upstairs to her bedroom. She turned on the hurricane lamp next to her
bed and was preparing to plop down on the goose down comforter, when her knees
buckled and she had to catch herself on the side table.

The onyx bird
was sitting on the side table next to the lamp.

Lee felt bile
rise to her throat, and she turned and rushed to the bathroom. She leaned into
the sink, breathing hard. Her face was hot and flushed, and she could taste the
sourness of the bile in her mouth. She took several deep breaths and then
looked up into the mirror. What was going on?

On unsteady
feet, she returned to the bedroom and carefully approached the bird. Again, it
just sat there. There was no movement. No fractured dimensions of time and
space surrounding it. It looked like any other small figurine one might pick up
in a gift store. Completely innocent.

Lee moved over
and sat on the bed, watching it. Another minute passed. Nothing happened.
Finally, she swung her legs up and leaned back against the headboard, keenly
aware of the bird next to her. Her heart still raced, but she was able to think
lucidly now. So, what was going on? She’d asked Diane for help at the condo,
and the bird had suddenly appeared. Right where she’d found the gouge in the
floor. Then, she’d thrown it away, but it had come back. She snuck a glance at
it and felt a renewed increase in her heartbeat. Maybe she was meant to keep
it. Maybe even keep it close.

Okay, she
thought. It stays. She just couldn’t deal with it right now. If she was losing
her mind, then Patrick would have to commit her at some later point in time.
Right now, she was fixated on Diane’s death.

She took a deep
breath and tried to relax. Her mind flitted back to Diane’s taped message. That
was the important thing. She had to decide what to do with that.  She could
call Alan and tell him she had a real piece of evidence. There was no denying
now that Bud Maddox had lied to the police about not having spoken to Diane for
several days before she died. He must have called Diane right after Lee left
that night and invited her to Portland. He must have also lied about breaking
up with her; he may have even been the last person to speak with her before she
died. But what could Alan do?  He’d probably just say it was more
circumstantial evidence. There was nothing to link Bud to any crime, and she
was sure Sergeant Davis wouldn’t care anyway.

Heavy breathing
made Lee turn to where Soldier sat next to the bed. The dog’s eyes pleaded for
attention, so Lee reached out her hand. Soldier scuttled forward and laid her
head on the bed so that Lee could stroke her nose. The dog closed its eyes in
ecstasy while Lee’s thoughts returned to Diane.

“Okay, time to
lie down,” she finally told the dog.

Soldier
complied with a groan and placed her long snout across one of Lee’s tennis
shoes. Lee smiled in spite of herself. Just then, the phone rang, making Lee jump.

“Damn!” she
sighed. Her nerves were shot. She answered the phone.

A familiar male
voice on the line made her slump back against the pillow.

“Hey, Sis, I
need a favor.”

“What now?”

“What do you
think about me coming to stay with you for awhile?”

Lee sat up.

“Why would you
do that?”

“Well, what
with Amy gone and everything, I thought you could use some company.”

Lee felt her whole
body tense.

“Patrick,
you’re married. Why would you come to live with me?  What about Erika?”

As soon as she
asked the question, she knew the answer. She’d noticed a growing distance
between the couple. Erika was a graphic artist who worked at home, while
Patrick spent long hours at the theater. The couple rarely spent time together,
certainly not enough to start the family Erika so desperately wanted. There was
a pause at the other end of the line.

“I think
sometimes women like to have time alone. You know, to sort things out.”

Lee sighed. “You’re
splitting up.”

There was
another pause. Patrick’s normally jovial manner had disappeared.

“I hope not,
but we’ll have to wait and see. For now, I think I just need to give her some
space.”

Lee rubbed a
knot on her forehead as hard as if she were rubbing out a stain in the carpet. The
last thing she wanted was Patrick hanging around the house getting on her
nerves.

“I’m going to
have to think about that one. Let’s talk tomorrow.”

“Okay, I’ll
give you a call tomorrow. Sleep tight.”

He started to
hang up when she stopped him.

“Patrick!  Any
chance we can have lunch tomorrow?  I have something I need to talk to you
about.”

“Sure. I have
an acting class at ten and Theory at two-thirty. What’s up?”

“I’d rather
talk to you about it tomorrow.”

“Okay. Why
don’t we meet at Papa Fromo’s at noon?”

“Great. See you
then.”

“Is everything
okay, Lee?”

Lee hesitated,
not sure whether to say anything, yet. Her ego was still bruised by what
Patrick had said that afternoon, and it would be hard to admit he’d been right.
She decided to make him wait.

“I just need
some advice. See you tomorrow for pizza.”

Lee hung up and
allowed her head to sink back onto the pillow, contemplating her brother. Patrick
was two years older than Lee, and she’d grown up idolizing both her brother,
and her father, John O’Donnell. But her father had been a rogue, and a
philandering one at that. So on Lee’s eighth birthday, her mother had packed up
their things, taken Lee by the hand, and walked out on her husband. She had
also left Patrick behind, something Lee had never understood. But she suspected
it was because Patrick reminded her too much of his father. She and her mother
moved back to Minnesota where her mother married John Vanderhaven, a bland and
unaffectionate man. Deciding this time to marry for security, she warned Lee,
“Love
isn’t everything, Lee. There’s something to be said for stability.”

In time, her
mother’s personality became as dull as her stepfather’s. Most of what Lee
remembered about those days was the silent meals around the dinner table and
the smell of sour milk on her stepfather’s shirt where he had a tendency to
dribble his morning breakfast. Lee found herself counting the days until summer
when she would spend a week with her father and brother on her aunt’s farm in
upstate New York.

Unfortunately,
when she was eleven, her father remarried and stopped coming, sending Patrick
on alone. The day after her fifteenth birthday, John O’Donnell died in a
factory accident, extinguishing the light in Lee’s world. What Patrick didn’t
realize was how much she resented his good luck for having grown up with the
one man she would love forever. And that resentment would, at times, find its
way into disagreements with Patrick. She did love her brother, though. She loved
the way he used to put a protective arm around her when the fights between their
parents got to be too much. She loved his insatiable sense of humor. And loved
that he truly wanted the best for her. Perhaps having him come to stay for
awhile might not be such a bad idea, especially now. She’d let him know the
next day.

Lee climbed off
the bed to brush her teeth, careful to step over the prone dog already snoring.
After finishing in the bathroom, she donned a nightgown and glanced out the
window before closing the blinds. The tan sedan sat alone under the street lamp
across the street, like a sentinel on guard duty. She couldn’t remember if
she’d ever seen the car before today. It could merely belong to someone who
lived across the street. But from now on, she’d pay more attention to it, just
in case.

She climbed
into bed and fell asleep dreaming of a flock of birds.