Conspiracies and Stuff: A Dreamland Junction Mystery (6 page)

Before we had a chance to get in the jeep, my phone rang. It was a long distance number, so I figured it was the Riverside Police. I was right.

“This is Detective Roberts. I’m looking for Katherine Parker.”

“This is she,” I said into the phone. “I need some information on the Peterson case. The person I talked with yesterday said you were the one I needed to get in touch with.”

“That’s me, but there really isn’t much to tell. Mister Peterson was electrocuted when a hairdryer fell in his bathwater.”

“It was my understanding that although it was ruled an accidental death, there were some questions about his wife’s involvement.”

“Well not necessarily his wife … more like the kid. Molly Peterson wasn’t even home at the time of the accident … just Mister Peterson and the kid. The kid’s fingerprints were all over the hairdryer,” he explained.

“That
is
suspicious.”

“The mother insisted that the kid used the hairdryer every morning so his prints would be on it, but he seems awful young to be using a hairdryer all the time.”

That was true, though it was always possible the boy showered in the morning and mom didn’t want him going out with wet hair.

“Thanks Detective. I appreciate the information.”

“Is there some problem concerning the Petersons?” he asked.

“Molly died under suspicious circumstances a few nights ago, and the child is missing.”

“That’s unfortunate. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to contact me,” he said.

“Thanks.”

Ending the call, I turned to Celeste, who was staring straight ahead, a dazed expression on her face.

“Well let’s go get that lunch. I’m starving,” I told her.

That seemed to do the trick. She was back in her body and smiling. “Me too. I guess I’m eating for two now so we better find something to eat that will fatten me up a little.”

I wasn’t about to argue with her. Celeste needed some meat on her bones, especially if she were going to be carrying around a little person inside her.

The Alien Museum was getting ready to close for the day, but Jacob didn’t mind me hanging out for a few minutes.

Jacob Lamont had been running the museum for as long as I could remember. It was actually started by his brother, but Steve Lamont disappeared years ago. According to the story people told, one morning Steve didn’t show up to open the museum. First his house was searched, then the town, and then the entire country. No sign of him was ever found. He just disappeared into thin air.

There was nothing to indicate foul play was involved, but the way he left his house was certainly strange enough. The TV was left on, and there was a half eaten plate of dinner at his kitchen table. All his clothes and belongings were still where they were supposed to be. His car was still in the driveway. Nothing was missing at all, except for Steve.

“You waiting for another phone call at the payphone?” Jacob asked.

I nodded, keeping my eyes focused on the deck of cards I was examining. It was one of those decks with pictures on each card. This deck just happened to have aliens posed in different positions, and not exactly nice positions.

Totally perverted!

“Why do you carry such sick merchandise?” I asked, but mostly because I wanted to take his attention off my waiting for a call at a payphone, when the entire world used cell phones these days.

Jacob shrugged. “The tourists like quirky things.”

“Hmm … well to each their own,” I said, putting the deck back on the little wrack of merchandise.

“You know, waiting for calls at payphones is a red flag,” Jacob pointed out.

He wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t already know, though apparently this fact was totally lost on Derek.

“Oh … it’s just that my phone gets bad reception sometimes, and I need to make sure I get this call.”

It was a total lie, and Jacob knew it.

Thankfully he was graceful enough to change the subject. “How’s your uncle getting along? I haven’t seen him in here for awhile.”

“He’s as grouchy as usual.”

Glancing at the digital clock on the wall, I noticed that I only had a few minutes left until the appointed time. “Well I better get out there now or I’ll miss my call.”

“Take care.” Jacob waved as I was going out the door.

I sure did hope that he wasn’t some kind of government operative. All this waiting around for phone calls was sure to tip anyone off. It was time I had a talk with Derek about this contacting each other problem.

Right at fifteen minutes after five the phone rang.

“Hello,” I said, picking it up.

“Kat?”

“That’s me.”

“No sign of the kid underground,” he said, and then there was a click. The sucker had already hung up.

Damn Derek and his spy games!

Sighing, I glanced across the parking lot to the giant sign with a spaceship and alien on it.

If the boy wasn’t at 51, I hadn’t the slightest idea where to begin looking for him. Of course I’d been working with Derek long enough to understand that just because his contacts didn’t know about something, didn’t necessarily mean that it wasn’t true.

Something told me that this time, they were right. The boy wasn’t at 51.

I was so lost in thought, that when I felt the tap on my shoulder I nearly jumped out of my skin.

When I spun around to see who was intruding on my private thoughts, my heart literally skipped a beat.

I found myself staring into the hollow eye sockets of Johnny Reyes, or at least something that looked like Johnny.

A scream lodged in my throat. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t get it to come out.

He was trying to say something, but he had no tongue.

Grabbing my shoulder, he shook me. That’s when I finally managed to scream.

“Are you okay?” Jacob asked.

Blinking rapidly, my vision cleared.

I wasn’t looking at Johnny at all, but Jacob. It had been a hallucination.

“Yeah … I think so. You just startled me. What were you saying?”

“I was telling you that I’m getting ready to leave. It’s getting late. You don’t want to be out here alone.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I was more than willing to get the hell out of there.

Johnny had been trying to tell me something, but what?

If only there was a way to amp up my psychic antenna.

* * *

Two days off and I was starting to get worried. If Rafe didn’t put me back to work soon, I wouldn’t be able to make my rent.

The vision, or hallucination I’d had at the museum was still bothering me. I didn’t usually have hallucinations. Part of me figured it was caused by some kind of guilt I was feeling over having words with Johnny just before he died, but that didn’t make a lot of sense. I sure didn’t
feel
guilty.

Dead or not, he’d had it coming.

I’d just shot off an email to the fertility clinic concerning Molly Peterson’s treatment six years before, and was drinking the last of the milk from my cereal bowl when the doorbell rang.

Who the heck would be so inconsiderate to show up at my front door at 7:00 in the morning, on my day off even?

Without waiting for me to answer, Lavern opened the door and rushed in. Even for someone as dramatic as Lavern, she looked distraught.

“Thank God you’re here!” she gasped.

“Where else would I be at this time of the morning?”

“You’ll never guess what happened,” she said, still trying to catch her breath.

“You got married again.” It was a low blow, but I couldn’t help it. I hadn’t yet had my second cup of coffee.

“No,’ she said, her ruby lips dipping into a frown. “That’s not very nice of you.”

“Sorry,” I apologized. “So tell me what’s up.”

“I took a home pregnancy test this morning … and I’m pregnant!”

“You’re a little beyond your prime for that … aren’t you?” I assumed she was anyway.

Lavern nodded. “This couldn’t be right.”

“Have you been to Doctor Neely lately?” Suspicion was beginning to form in my still sleepy brain.

“Yes … I was in to see him for a pap … about a month ago.”

“Hmm … maybe I need to stop by and have a talk with the doc,” I said, talking more to myself than Lavern.

“Why?” She was confused.

“Just a hunch. Try not to worry. If I find anything crazy going on, I’ll let you know. Other than that, I would suggest you start planning a nursery.” I smiled, trying to lighten the mood a little.

“You don’t think he could have accidentally given me some kind of fertility treatment, do you?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “But I’m going to find out.”

I didn’t want to say too much and upset her, but two people I know coming down with the pregnancy flu at the same time, didn’t sit well with me. Something wasn’t right.

“You go on to work and I’ll call you if I find out anything.”

As soon as Lavern was gone, I dialed Doctor Neely’s office. Of course it was too early to get anything but voice mail. The mechanical voice on the other end instructed that if I was experiencing an emergency, I should hang up and call 911. If not, leave a message and someone would return my call as soon as possible.

After leaving a message, I turned my attention to the Internet. If there were a lot of unexplained pregnancies in Dreamland, there would likely be some buzz about it online. Getting the latest gossip was the one thing social networking was really good for.

Unfortunately, I spent the better part of an hour scouring local forums, but with no luck. No one was talking about babies, though there sure was a lot of gossip about the recent murders. Theories ranged from love triangles to aliens. The latter wasn’t really surprising, considering where on the planet we were.

Just before nine, my phone rang. It was Doctor Neely’s office.

“Is this Katherine Parker?” the nasally female voice asked.

“Yes. I left a message earlier for Doctor Neely. Is he available to talk?”

“No he’s not Miss Parker. There’s been a serious accident. He won’t be available at all today. You may want to contact Doctor Hunter. He’ll be taking Doctor Neely’s patients.”

“How long will the doctor be unavailable?” I asked.

“Miss … Doctor Neely had an accident. He won’t be practicing any longer.” The woman hung up without offering further explanation.

I felt a little ghoulish calling Uncle Sonny to find out what happened to the doctor, but I didn’t have a lot of choice unless I wanted to wait to read about it in the newspaper.

“What’s up Kat?” Uncle Sonny answered.

“I just talked to Doctor Neely’s receptionist and she said he’d had an accident. Do you know anything about that?”

“Security found him dead, in front of the Jake Rhiner Professional Building, early this morning. It looks as if he jumped from the roof.”

This was too much of a coincidence.

“Why were you calling Doctor Neely? Are you sick?” he asked, worry etched in his tired voice.

“No … it was just business. Let me know if you find out anything more.”

Just as I hung up, my phone rang again. It was Celeste.

“Celeste … are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes … I’m just a little upset. Did you hear about Doctor Neely?”

“Just now.”

“I think I know what happened to the doctor, and maybe even Johnny, but I don’t want to talk on the phone,” she rushed to get her words out, as if she were afraid someone would overhear her.

There was something more going on with Celeste than what she was saying.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Why can’t you talk on the phone?”

“I had cramps last night, so I went to the hospital. Someone was following me when I left this morning,” she explained.

At this point I wasn’t sure what I should be asking about, the hospital visit, or if she was still being followed. The immediate danger seemed to be the fact that someone was after her.

“Where are you now?”

“I’m at the rest stop, but I’m afraid to stay here long incase they find me again.” The trembling in her voice made her last words almost inaudible.

“Come here … to my house. I’ll call the police.”

“No! Don’t call the police. What if they are in on it?”

Now I was really getting worried. Celeste wasn’t the type to go in for conspiracy theories. In fact, it was the one area where we had nothing in common.

“Okay, then just come here and hide out.”

“I don’t dare. If I’m still being followed, I’ll lead them right to your house. It’s better if we meet in a public place.”

“You’re close to the Alien Museum. I’ll meet you there.”

“I’ll head that way, but hurry!”

She hung up before I could say anything more.

I didn’t take the time to dress. People were just going to have to deal with my cherry blossom pajamas and green slippers.

The museum was only five minutes away. If I hurried, I’d probably get there about the same time as Celeste.

When I pulled into the parking lot, the only cars were Jacob’s and Celeste’s.

Considering I was wearing pajamas, I wasn’t too disappointed with the lack of people, though it would probably have been better if it had been a bit more crowded. Safer anyway.

It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the dim lighting when I stepped inside the museum.

The gift shop was empty.

“Jacob! You here?” I called out. “Have you seen Celeste?”

My answer was utter silence. It was so quiet, I could actually hear myself breathing.

“Jacob!”

Nothing.

My eyes fell on the red velvet drapes that separated the museum in back, from the gift shop. This was where Jacob would take tickets before allowing patrons into the back, which was where all the artifacts were.

Figuring he must be busy in back, I pulled the drapes aside and entered the display area. There were wax replicas of the famous Roswell bodies and wreckage, and even the alien autopsy video that made its way around the Internet in the 90s.

“Jake! You back here?”

This time I heard a faint gurgling sound coming from behind one of the walls.

Following the sound, I made my way through the maze of walls that separated each display.

When I rounded the corner that would take me to the alien autopsy room, I froze.

The surreal scene was like something from a nightmare, made even more unreal by the hazy green lighting of the room.

Jacob was on the floor with Celeste bent over him. She was covered in blood.

At first I thought he’d had an accident and she was trying to help him, but that notion evaporated quickly when I saw the blood dripping from her mouth.

I was so shocked, I couldn’t even scream.

My terror numb mind protected itself by forcing the idea that something was wrong with Celeste. She had to be under some kind of mind control.

She stood and stared at me. At first there was no recognition in her eyes, but slowly she seemed to come out of whatever daze she’d been in.

Tears streamed from her eyes, mixing with the blood smeared across her cheeks.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me!” she cried. Her voice sounded different, almost gravelly.

“Celeste,” I whispered, unsure if I should try and comfort her or run for the nearest exit.

That’s when I noticed her eyes. There was something different about them. Normally her eyes were brown, but at the moment they were a yellowish green color, and they were the eyes of a reptile.

I slowly began backing away, hoping she wouldn’t notice.

“Did you kill Johnny too?” I asked.

She nodded. “But I couldn’t help it. I have to eat.”

Celeste took a step in my direction.

“Don’t come any closer,” I warned.

“I have to eat,” she repeated.

“Well you’re not going to eat me.”

“It’s inside me and it is eating me,” she wailed.

I had no idea what she was talking about, and wasn’t really in the mood to get into another subject. At the moment I was more concerned with the fact that I was face to face with a murderess.

“What did you do to Molly Peterson, and the boy?” I asked, not so sure I was ready to know.

Celeste shook her head. “I didn’t eat them.”

Pulling out my phone, I started dialing 911, but someone came up from behind me and gently covered my hand with his.

It was Levan.

“Sorry, I can’t let you do that.”

“But she killed Jacob,” I protested, too stunned to even wonder how he’d shown up at the precise time he did.

“I know and we’ll take care of it, but for now you have to go to sleep,” he said, placing his hand on my forehead.

Just before my world went dark, he brushed my lips with a kiss.

* * *

When I woke up, I was on a stretcher and being loaded into the back of an ambulance. Uncle Sonny was leaning over me.

I tried to talk, but he put a finger up to his lips. “You received a severe blow to the head. Don’t try to talk.”

“But,” I croaked.

That was the last thing I remembered before waking up in the hospital hours later. Spencer was sitting by my bed.

“I need water,’ I whispered, my throat so dry I felt as if I’d been walking in Death Valley for days.

Spencer brought me a glass of water and held the straw to my lips. I took several gulps.

“Thanks,” I said when he pulled the glass away.

“Feeling better?”

“I don’t know. What happened?”

“Do you remember anything?” he asked, sitting in the chair.

“Celeste.”

Spencer nodded. “Something went wrong in her head and she killed Jacob. Johnny too, from what I understand.”

“She was pregnant,” I said, keeping my voice low.

Spencer leaned closer. “I know. I think someone was impregnating the women in Dreamland, and they did something to Celeste.”

“There was something wrong with her eyes. They weren’t human.”

“They are saying it was the sudden change in hormones that made her go wacky, but I don’t know.” He shrugged.

“Where is she now?”

As soon as Spencer looked away, I knew something was wrong. “What is it?”

“She didn’t make it. When the police showed up from your 911 call, they found her dead.”

My heart leaped into my throat. True, she’d killed people, but she’d still been my friend, and it hadn’t really been her fault.

There was so much I wanted to talk with Spencer about, but I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open.

We now knew what happened to Johnny, but there was still Molly Peterson and her son. Now there was also the mysterious death of the doctor … and Celeste.

Just before I closed my eyes, I noticed a large vase of roses. “Who are those from?”

“The card says Levan.”

# # #

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