The Truth of Yesterday (63 page)

     “What's your point?”

     “What if that someone was Paul?”

     It didn't take him long to make the same connection I was making. “And what if he somehow found out about the illegal activity and that was who he was writing the letters to.”

     “Then Paul would have ended up dead.”

     
“Only one problem.”

     “What's that?”

     “This wasn't a professional hit. It wasn't Black's style at all. Paul was strangled and the apartment was trashed. Whoever killed Paul did it in a fit of anger or panic and then systematically tore the place apart looking for something.”

     “Or that's what they wanted you to think.”

     “You think it was just a cover?”

     
“Maybe.
I need to talk to the detective in charge of the investigation.”

     I dug out my cell phone, looked up and number, and quickly dialed it.

     “Who are you calling?” Micah asked.

     “
Chris
.”

     The phone was answered by a young sounding boy. I tried to remember
Chris
' little brother's name.

     “Kevin,” I said as it came to me. “This is Killian Kendall. Is
Chris
there?”

     “Yeah, hang on.”

     He set the phone down with a clunk and I heard him yell, “
Chris
, it's your boyfriend.”

     A few seconds later,
Chris
was on the line. “Hello?”

     “
Chris
,
it's
Killian.”

     “Hey, what's up?”

     “A lot, but I'll have to fill you in later. Were you able to get me an appointment with the detective in charge of Paul's murder investigation?”

     “Well, yes and no. I talked to him. His name is Owen Evans. My dad says he's a good cop. He said he would be willing to talk to you, but that he was really busy right now with another case.”

     “Can you call him back in the morning and tell him it's urgent that I speak to him immediately? I may know something that could solve this case for him.”

    “I doubt he could resist that. What's going on? What did you find out?”

    “I can't really go into it now. I'd rather tell you in person.”

    “Ok, but you're killing me here.”

     
“Poor choice of words.
Look, try your best to get me in with him tomorrow afternoon. I'll drive up there in the morning.”

     “You're pretty confident you'll get in to see him, aren't you?”

     
“Just determined.”

     “Ok, then I'll see you tomorrow. And I expect a full briefing.”

     “I promise.”

     We hung up and Micah looked over at me. “I wish I could go with you to DC, but I know you'll be safer there than here.”

     “It's ok. You have your job to do and I have mine.”

     “I just...” He took a shaky breath. “I couldn't bear to lose you.”

     I reached over and took his hand. “I'll be ok, Micah. I'm not going anywhere.”

     “I wish I knew that for sure.” He bit down on his lip and stared straight ahead. A few minutes later, we pulled into the circular drive in front of
Amalie's
House. Micah walked me in and waited while I called Adam and Kane at home and told them I thought it would be better if they came and stayed at the B&B. Of course, Adam demanded to know why. I told him I couldn't go into details, but it was possible they could be in danger at the house because of one of my cases. That sent Steve and Adam in almost identical panic attacks. By the time Adam and Kane arrived, and I got everyone calmed down enough to go to bed-Adam and Steve armed with a small pistol that I didn't even know Steve owned-it was almost 1 AM.

     I tossed and turned fitfully in my room. My mind refused to shut off. I was still full of energy, even though I was dead tired. I turned the case over and over in my mind, looking at it from every possible angle I could think of. Once that bone was gnawed on as much as I could gnaw, I moved on to what Jake had said. Once again, I was filled with guilt for the way I had neglected him. And the worse part was he wasn't the only friend I had been neglecting. I couldn't remember the last time I'd talked to Will.

     After what seemed like an eternity, but my clock said was only about an hour, I finally fell into an uneasy sleep filled with strange, foreboding dreams about which, upon awakening a short time later, I found I couldn't remember anything. They just left me with a very unsettled feeling.

     I was lying awake in the dark when I suddenly felt another presence in the room. I sat up with a jolt to find Seth standing at the foot of my bed.

     “My God, you scared the hell out of me,” I snapped.  

     “You're in grave danger,” he said with an intensity I'd never heard before in his voice.

     “Tell me something I don't know.”

     “You have to be careful, Killian. I helped once before; I won't be allowed to help again. You're on your own this time.”

     “Do you know what's going to happen?”

     “No, I've told you before, I'm not omniscient. All I know is that you've set certain events into motion; and by doing so, you've put yourself in danger. There are many ways this could go. More than one of those ways ends with you being either hurt or killed. The choices you make from here on out will be crucial to the outcome.”

     “Isn't that true of everything? Every choice we make has an effect, like a stone being dropped into a pond. No matter how tiny the pebble or how huge the boulder, there is some effect.”

     “I don't have time to get existential with you. Just be very careful.”

     “I will. I promise.”

     “Good. I...I don't want to lose you.”

     A shiver went down my spine at his words that so eerily echoed Micah's from earlier. “I don't understand.”

     “You don't understand what?”

     “How can you lose me? Won't I be with you no matter what?”

     
“Oh, Killian.
You can't understand and I can't explain. I gave up so much to be able to come back...and all for you.”

     “What do you mean?”

     “I can't explain it. It's against the rules.”

     “Fuck the rules! What do you mean?”

     “I can't, Killian. I can't.”

     “I don't understand.”

     “I love you,” he said and vanished, leaving his final words echoing behind him.

     “Great. Just what I needed,” I hissed into the empty room.
“One more thing to worry over.”

     I flopped back onto the bed and tried to will myself back to sleep. That never works. Once again, I gave my mind full reign and allowed it to wander where it wanted. I thought about Seth and our brief friendship while he was still alive. I'd known him longer as a ghost then I had ever known him as a living, breathing person. I'd never really thought about what it meant that he could come speak to me whenever he wanted. He'd talked about the rules before, but always in vague terms, never anything concrete. I knew so little about what made it possible to see and talk to him. I'm sure it must have been made easier by my Gifts. Thinking about my Gifts made me think about Judy's promise to find me a teacher. While I wasn't necessarily eager to deal with all that, in some ways I was looking forward to finally understanding it all a little better. I wondered who my teacher would be.

     Eventually, my mind wore itself out and I began to drift back to sleep. I was just at the threshold of slumber when I once again felt that tingly awareness that told me there was another presence in the room.

     “Seth,” I mumbled with a sigh and a pushed myself into a sitting position. “Aren't you going to let me get any sleep tonight?” But it wasn't Seth this time.
Amalie
now stood in the exact same spot where I'd last seen him. I felt my mouth drop open as the hairs stood up on the back of my neck.

     I'd never been able to understand why seeing Seth was so much easier for me that seeing
Amalie
. Every time I came face to face with her, I felt terror wash over me like ice water. There was just a very different quality about her, a different aura, one of despair and pain.

     She looked exactly the same as she had the first time I saw her, all in black, her hair pulled back, with an undeniable air of sadness about her. She stood there staring at me with a pleading expression on her incorporeal face.

     “What?” I rasped, responding to her expression. “What do you want?”

     For a moment, she seemed almost surprised that I had spoken to her. Then she turned and took a few quick steps towards the door. I noticed there was no sound of footsteps; they weren't needed at the moment. She paused and turned back, motioning me to follow her. Without hesitating, I slid from the bed a followed her. She turned once again and walked through the door...without opening it. Being at something of a disadvantage, with being solid and all, I had to open it to exit the room. She was standing in the hall, waiting expectantly.

     As soon as she saw me, she moved silently down the hall to the stairs. I hurried to keep up. On the first floor, she went directly to the cellar door, where she'd led me the last time I'd followed her.

     “We've been down there before,” I said, coming to a stop. I wasn't keen on going down there alone. It was dark, dirty and spooky, not to mention cold, and I was only wearing the boxers that I sleep in. Until that moment, it had never occurred to me that Seth's warning could have applied to anything except my case involving Fenton Black. Suddenly, I wondered if it was possible that he could have been warning me about
Amalie
instead. He'd warned me about her once before, telling me to be careful because she wasn't like him.

     When she realized I was no longer following her, she stopped and turned back to me. She motioned me to follow her again, this time, more emphatically.

     I sighed. I'd made a promise to find out what was going on and if that meant going down into the cellar in the middle of the night alone with a ghost, so be it. I'd have to take that risk. I started forward and
Amalie
melted through the door.

     I unlatched the safety lock and opened the door to reveal the pitch black stairwell stretching out before me like the throat of some giant monster waiting to swallow me whole. At least up here there had been enough reflected moonlight as well as a few nightlights that Steve left burning all night that I could see where I was going quite clearly. Down there, there were no windows and no nightlights. There was a light at the bottom of the stairs, but it was the kind with the chain that hangs down and you have to pull it to turn it on. Steve had been intending to change it for some time, but it just wasn't high on his list of priorities. Hardly anyone ever came down here anymore.

     I gritted my teeth and started down the wooden steps, carefully feeling my way along and hoping with all my heart that
Amalie
stayed well ahead of me. I'd never come into contact with her and I was quite sure I didn't want to start now. My progress could best be described as snail's pace. At last, my bare feet felt cold, slightly slimy dirt under them instead of the rough planks of the stairs. I began waving my hands around in the dark, trying to find the chain that turned the light on. I must have looked quite a sight, flailing my arms around like a blind man in a cave full of bats. I was glad it was dark so
Amalie
couldn't see me, although why I thought she couldn't see perfectly well in the dark or, more importantly, why I cared if she saw me is beyond me.