Wayward Secrets, page 9
“Please, continue if you’d like.” He took on a more relaxed stance with his feet set wider rather than closed tight. “My response will remain the same, however. I’ve been reconsidering career options since assisting you with that vigilante group back in November. I told you then that I liked living in Whispering Pines because it’s so laid back. Still do and still don’t wish to leave, but I feel there are better ways for me to contribute to this community.”
I smiled at him. “I agree.”
“Sheriff Jayne?” A voice came over my walkie-talkie. “This is Arden.”
Prickles of gooseflesh instantly covered my body. Something was wrong. “This is Sheriff O’Shea. What’s up, Arden?”
“Can you come to Pine Time, please? We’ve got a situation here.”
At the word situation, Jagger pushed his shoulders back and stood at attention again. “Do you need my assistance?”
“I’ll be right there, Arden.” As I reattached the unit to my belt, I told Jagger, “I won’t steal you mid-shift. Talk to Maeve and find me later.”
He held my gaze, sort of the way River did. “You’ll let me know if I can help with whatever’s going on?”
My throat had tightened too much for me to speak, so I nodded in response. Not wanting to raise concern, I speed walked back to the Fairy Path but switched to a sprint the instant my feet hit the wood plank pathway. I didn’t stop running until I got to my truck. Reed must have seen me coming from inside and met me at the back door.
“Boss? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Problem at the B&B.” I slid into the Tahoe. “Oh, I just hired Jagger. We’ll work out the details later.”
Chapter Twelve
I might have driven home at five miles per hour, or I might have been going fifty. Whatever my speedometer read, it took way too long to get there. My pulse pounded in my ears. My vision tunneled. If there was a problem at Pine Time, why was Arden calling? Why wasn’t Tripp or Rosalyn at the other end of that walkie-talkie?
At the turn onto the road that led to my driveway and past the campground, I nearly collided with a small SUV pulling out of the camp. I waved my apology and waited for them and two other vehicles to pull out, my left leg bouncing with frustration the whole time. I could count on one hand the number of times I’d run into traffic on this road. Finally, I floored it and took off, my tires chirping against the pavement in protest. Thirty seconds later, I jerked to a stop in front of the garage, leapt out, and ran past Josephine’s and Arden’s cars parked in the visitor’s section.
Arden met me on the front porch and before I could ask what was going on said, “I don’t know where they are.”
“Where who are?”
“Tripp and Rosalyn.”
My body went numb, and my vision tunneled.
Pull yourself together, Sheriff Jayne barked at me. Right now.
Yes. I had to be the sheriff. “Back up and tell me what you know.”
Arden blew out a breath, centering herself. “I had already left for the day but came back because I forgot my reading glasses.” She tapped the sunglasses in her shirt breast pocket. “These are prescription, so I wasn’t blind, but I didn’t want to wear them all night. I got here about half an hour ago, a little after one o’clock. There was a family waiting to be checked in. Rosalyn had mentioned an early check-in, so I went looking for her. I searched the entire house, basement too, the garage, your loft, even the boathouse but couldn’t find either her or Tripp. I waited a few more minutes, thinking they might have stepped out and would be right back.”
What if staying in Whispering Pines was your worst decision ever?
A feeling of nausea hit me so hard I almost vomited.
“Okay, hang on.” I sat in a nearby porch chair before my knees gave out. “Let’s back up even more. You were here to clean this morning, right?”
“I was. Tripp said he was going on a hike with Meeka, but there were still breakfast dishes to do. Since all the guests just checked in yesterday, all I needed to do was make beds and tidy up. Two of the guests, The Treehouse and Josephine, didn’t want service today. Those early check-in folks weren’t in The Alcove yet. That left only The Side to tidy and the hallway upstairs to vacuum. I told Tripp to go on his hike and I’d finish up. After taking care of the upstairs, I did the dishes, reset the dining room, and left a little after noon. As soon as I got home, I realized I left my glasses and came back.”
“What time did Tripp leave?”
She looked skyward as she thought about that. “Breakfast was done at nine. He’d put the leftovers in the fridge but hadn’t started the dishes yet. I’m not sure exactly, but I’d say they left here between 9:30 and 9:45.”
“And he never returned,” I mumbled.
“That’s not like him.” Arden echoed my thoughts.
“And Rosalyn?”
“She was here when I left at noon but was gone when I got back here.”
I shook my head and paced a short line on the porch. “Her job is to be here when Tripp isn’t. Why would she leave?”
“That’s why I called you, sweetness. Something’s wrong.”
Arden stood nearby as I stared across the front yard and into the treetops, my mind racing. I needed to call people. Reed first. He could organize a search party. I could get Jagger on board right away and ask Violet to activate the call tree.
“Oh my God,” I whispered. The call tree.
“What?” Arden took a step closer. “What is it?”
“Jola and Lily Grace. Effie called me to the Triangle this morning because she’s certain Jola and Lily Grace are missing.”
“They’re fortune tellers,” Arden noted as though I was totally dense. “You doubted them?”
I shifted focus to the woman trying to help me. “I followed protocol. Reeva just saw Jola yesterday morning, so I had no reason to believe she was missing. Lily Grace always wanders off.”
“And how often does Effie report them missing?”
Like a stiff wind blowing away heavy fog, my head cleared. She was right.
“If I may suggest something,” Arden continued, “get your guests checked in first. They’re still waiting in the great room. I would have done it, but I don’t know how. After that, don’t worry anymore about Pine Time. I’ll be right here, taking care of your guests, until you tell me I can leave.”
Tears prickled my eyes. “Thank you, Arden.”
I put on my bed-and-breakfast owner persona and greeted my guests, a nice family from the La Crosse area in southwestern Wisconsin. As I verified their information and ran their card, I noted the icon for the security system on the laptop’s screen. As soon as they’d left with smiles on their faces and room cards in hand, I clicked the icon and woke up the system.
Rosalyn was here when Arden left at noon. When did she leave? I opened today’s video recording, brought up the timeline starting at ten minutes to twelve. Arden left at 11:50. At 11:53, another car drove into the lot. A man in a hoodie, with the hood pulled up, ran to the front door and left again two minutes later. Who was he, and what was he doing here?
Then I watched as my sister left the house and ran to her car at 12:05. She sped out of the driveway at 12:06.
“Why were you in such a hurry? Where did you go?”
Maybe she needed to get something from Sundry. Jayne in my head suggested. Did she forget to pick up the light bulbs?
“Nothing from Sundry could have been important enough to make her leave the B&B unattended. So what would make her rush out like that?”
Something with Reed?
I stood to pace it out. “I left him at the station around 11:20 to go talk to River. Reed was going to talk with that kid from the circus. Could something have happened to him?” I pulled the talkie from my belt. “Sheriff O’Shea for Deputy Reed.”
Seconds later, “Reed here.”
“Where are you?”
“At the station. What’s wrong?” He must have heard it in my voice.
“I’ll be right there. Don’t leave.”
Feeling a little lightheaded suddenly, I stopped in the dining room to grab a coffee and a few of Tripp’s peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Then, hearing him scolding me about eating healthier, I swapped them for an apple. I turned to find Arden standing in the doorway.
“Thank you. I owe you for this.”
“Just find them. And drive safely. We don’t need anything happening to you as well.” Then she realized what she’d said. “Not that anything has happened to them.”
I laid a hand on her shoulder as I passed. “I know what you meant.”
My mind spun as I drove. Where could they be? Neither of them would be this irresponsible. And what about Jola and Lily Grace? I now felt the kind of panic Effie must be feeling. A small four-door car in front of me turned on its left turn signal and slowed. Probably going to the Meditation Circle. While we waited for a line of cars coming from the other direction, Tripp’s words from this morning came back to me.
“Thought I’d go find that graveyard. I want to thank your grandparents for creating the village and for having your dad so he could have you.”
If he did, he would have parked on the dirt road near the Circle. If he’d gotten lost or hurt, his truck would still be there. I flipped on my turn signal and followed the little golden-beige sedan north. When we got to where other cars had parked, the driver hopped out and stood in the middle of the road.
“Is something wrong, officer?” he called, not quite panicky but far from calm.
I didn’t feel like opening a discussion about it but did point out the big Sheriff label painted on my truck and stuck my head out the window. “Other than you standing in the middle of traffic?”
The man looked around and realized there was a full-size SUV waiting to get past from the north and leapt to the side. “Sorry. So you’re not pulling me over?”
“Do you feel like I should?”
He shrugged. “Been having problems with my backup lights. Thought maybe they went out again.” He shrugged again. “I mean, you are following me.”
Any other day, I’d stay and talk with him for a bit because he was acting suspiciously. Today, I had more important things to worry about.
“I didn’t notice any issues,” I told him. “Of course, you weren’t backing up, so I didn’t notice your lights. You can stop in at village services if you’d like. The Busted Knuckle is right along the highway on the other side of the village. Can’t miss it. Pull in and they’ll check your lights for you.”
“Okay. So you weren’t following me?”
“Just going the same direction. I’d like to continue going that way now.”
“Right. Thanks, um, Sheriff.”
I continued to where the line of vehicles ended. Tripp’s F-350 wasn’t on either side of the road. Did he change his mind about where to hike? Had he completed his trek and gone somewhere else?
I pulled ahead a little farther until I was past the cars far enough to turn around when I spotted Sister Agnes in her black-and-white habit coming my way on her bike. The way she energetically waved an arm at me, she’d clearly spotted me too.
“Sheriff O’Shea. Blessed be. Are you coming to climb my tower?”
Sister Agnes’s unchurch was north and a little east of the Meditation Circle. She’d recently added on to the two-story tower attached to the building. Now it rose above the treetops and provided a view of all of Whispering Pines. That was how we caught Lane Cordick earlier this month. He’d started a fire in the middle of the forest, and we spotted the smoke from up there.
“I don’t need your tower today, Agnes.”
She turned serious. “I saw fires burning in the circus from up there today. Small ones. Do we have another firebug?”
“I don’t think it’s another arsonist, no, but I’m not exactly sure what we’re dealing with yet.”
“You’re sure you don’t need the tower?”
For a second, I wondered if I could spot Tripp’s truck or Rosalyn’s little red SUV from up there, but I had vowed to never go into the unchurch unless someone knew about it. Agnes had a way of flipping moods, and I didn’t want to be trapped in her bizarre home when she went dark.
“Thank you for the offer, Agnes. And thank you again for helping us find the firebug last time.”
She placed her hand over her heart. “Each one of us was summoned to this beautiful place for a reason. I am here to serve. I don’t always know what I’ll be called to do, Sheriff O’Shea, but I am always prepared when presented with a request.”
I smiled at her. She did have her moments. “That’s wonderful, Agnes, and good to know. I’d love to chat with you, but I need to get going.”
“What’s the rush?”
“I’m looking for Tripp. He went for a hike up to the cemetery this morning and hasn’t come home yet.”
“The cemetery?” And just like that, her features flipped, and the creepy Agnes was standing before me. “Maybe a portal to Hell opened and a demon pulled him through.”
Before I could respond, she pedaled her bike, continuing on to wherever she was going, her habit flapping in the breeze behind her.
What was wrong with me? I knew better than to share anything important with her. She loved freaking me out.
I called after her, “There isn’t a portal to Hell in the Whispering Pines cemetery. Blind Willie would have told me if there was.” I froze. Once again, Sister Agnes to the rescue. “The owl statues that Willie had placed around the graveyard.”
Like the security cameras we had at Pine Time, if Tripp and Meeka had been there, Willie’s graveyard feed would tell me.
I spun the truck around and drove as fast as traffic would allow to the station.
Chapter Thirteen
Reed leapt to his feet when I came bursting through the back door at the station. I’d startled him by letting the door slam into the wall. I glanced to my right as I entered the main area. The boy who’d set the firebombs around the circus was sitting cross-legged on the cot in one of the cells. I’d ask about him later. “Do we have a phone number for Blind Willie?”
“Um—”
“Or any way to get in touch with him?”
“He doesn’t have a phone,” Reed reported, “but he’ll probably video chat with us.”
I paused for a second at that revelation. Despite his mountain man, outdoorsy, slightly loony appearance, Willie was a computer genius. He owned and ran a computer technology corporation from the log cabin he lived in and built by himself. He had a tech setup in there that was second-to-none. He was painfully awkward talking to people, so it surprised me that he’d be comfortable doing video calls. I would guess email but that wasn’t an efficient way to do business anymore.
I motioned for Reed to follow me. “Show me where Willie’s contact info is.”
River had supplied the station with new laptops, so waiting for mine to wake up took seconds now instead of minutes. After Reed pointed me to the right area in our shared drive, I clicked on Willie’s name and hit the call button. Willie didn’t respond the first time I tried. Or the second or third. But then he called me.
“Some folks think persistence is a positive trait,” Willie grumbled when he saw my face. “I was takin’ a bath out back. What’s so important?”
That meant he was splashing around naked in the creek behind his cabin. Fortunately, very few people hiked up that far. Fortunate for the tourists, that was. No one needed to see a naked Willie. Of course, that thought set off a poorly timed giggling fit that made both Willie and my deputy look at me like I’d finally lost it.
“Sheriff?” Willie asked. “Did you actually need me for something?”
“Sorry.” I cleared my throat and took a deep breath. The burst of emotion helped center me, though. As they say, laugh or cry. Or was it laugh until you cry? Regardless, I wasn’t prepared to cry. “Yes, I understand you’ve got cameras posted in owl statues around the graveyard.”
“That I do. Not necessary in the winter, so I take ’em down, but they’re up now. Hooligan tourists like to come through and do headstone rubbings and such. That’s not such a big deal, but they sometimes get chalk all over the stones, and that’s pure disrespect.”
“I agree.”
Reed nodded that he did too.
“Then,” Willie continued, “because we’re a village of witches, they think it’s funny to sleep in the graveyard overnight to see if there’s ghosts too. They drink beer and leave the cans and other messes behind. They start campfires using the dried flowers from the plots. I can clean up the mess, but I wasn’t happy about the fires. And when an especially unruly bunch tipped over a stone, I installed the cameras with motion sensors and a silent alarm that lets me know if someone’s in there. They do the most damage at night. Especially if there’s a full moon. If they’re up to no good, I sneak over and scare the wahoobies out of them. Why do you ask?”
“You said they’re up now?”
“Yes, ma’am. Checked them all over, stuck in new batteries, and got them all running last week. I’ll leave them up until after the Samhain event. Saw that you and Rosalyn stopped to visit Lucy and Keven on Thursday. They’d be tickled.”
I smiled a moment at that. “You should be able to tell me if Tripp and Meeka went through there this morning.”
Reed perked up at this. “What’s going on, boss?”
I held up a finger, indicating I’d tell him in a minute.
“This morning?” Willie echoed. “Sure. Any idea what time?”
“Arden said they left Pine Time between 9:30 and 9:45. It takes a good half hour to hike up that far. I’d start around 10:00.”
“You want me to send you a file from, what, a little before ten until noon?”
“That should cover it. I’ll let you know if I need more.”
“Will do. Give me about five minutes.” His bearded face took up the whole screen as he reached to sign off, but then he backed up. “Everything okay, Jayne?”
My throat tightened, and tears pricked at my eyes again. “They never came back from their hike, and I can’t locate his truck.”
