Fatal Storm (20 page)

Slowly the wall became solid again and
outside the winds died down and the rain was reduced to a soft
drizzle.

Sheila fingered the bands around her wrist as
she waited for her father’s reaction. All he had done since she
explained the entire story was pace around the hospital room
mangling an unlit cigar. Anna Monroe sat on the bench in front of
the window of the private room dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief
mumbling, “My poor baby,” as though she already reserved a private
wing in an insane asylum for her daughter.

Leyton Monroe finally stopped his pacing,
pulled a chair up to the bed and grabbed Sheila’s hand.
“Sweetheart, I have spent years building a publishing empire. I
have the respect of the industry. There are big plans for the
future and you are going to be part of it. I can’t...WE can’t let
anything ruin our reputation. If a preposterous story like this
gets out, that’s it. Everything I have worked for, the legacy I
hoped to leave to you, it will be gone. Do you understand?” His
voice was low and unusually understanding, probably on orders from
his wife that their daughter was in a fragile state.

All Sheila could think of was the beautiful
blonde girl kidnapped by Adrian Walker. Sheila counted the bands on
her wrist again. She knew she had twenty when she entered the
Sebold mansion. Now she had ten. She had given ten to Colleen.

“But Daddy...”

“NO!” Leyton yelled, then raised a fist to
his mouth as though shoving the word back down his throat. He
watched Anna wring the hankie as though she wished it were his
neck. His tone turned more civil. “Sheila, honey. You heard Chief
Wozniak’s explanation of what took place. Sergeant Martinez was
there. Everything he said sounded...” He struggled to find the
right word.

“Sane, Daddy? Is that the word you are
looking for?”

“Sweetheart, I wasn’t implying anything.” He
took a deep breath and fought images of a front page story by
Sheila describing every lunatic detail of what she had dreamed
while in a possible coma. And then another image of a story in the
New York Times questioning the credibility of his newspaper. He
couldn’t imagine what his stockholders would think.

“Your mother and I feel it best that
you go to that spa in Arizona for a few weeks to rest. Your mother
will go with you. She was hospitalized while you were gone, you
know. Almost had a nervous breakdown that her little girl was
dead.” Leyton’s voice broke and he fought back the tears. “You have
been through a lot, sweetheart. The doctors say you suffered a
terrible concussion. Those injuries tend to disorient a patient.
You are so lucky to be alive. After a nice long recuperation, I
just know you will realize this injury caused you to have some
pretty bizarre dreams.” He refrained from using the term
hallucinations
.

Sheila didn’t have any luck holding back her
tears. “Okay, Daddy.” She swallowed hard and wondered if she really
was losing her mind. She sniffed back the tears and shook her head.
“That sounds wonderful, Mom. A little sun, yoga, a massage, and
I’ll be as good as new.”

Chief Wozniak had the paper spread out on his
desk. It had been two days since Sheila Monroe had been escorted by
ambulance to the trauma center with a severe concussion and a
laceration to her forehead which had bled profusely. Periodically,
he would lift his head and glare at Padre and Dagger seated in
front of him drinking coffee.

“It’s great you got the story buried on Page
20,” Padre said. “Nice aerial shot of the smoldering rubble.”

“That was Leyton Monroe’s doing. The less he
had to show and tell, the happier he was. He’s just glad to have
his daughter back safe and sound. He didn’t care too much for the
wild stories she was telling him and he definitely didn’t want any
other reporter catching wind of it.”

“That’s why it is good you weren’t there,”
Padre said.

“Plausible deniability.” Dagger couldn’t
believe how easy it had been to fabricate a believable cover. “You
were able to sit and listen to her with Leyton and show genuine
disbelief.”

John folded the newspaper and placed it in
his bottom drawer. “Got a whole file drawer with your name on it,
Dagger. Although I do need to thank you for giving me a convincing
explanation for my press release.”

The official police report described a secret
panel under the staircase that hadn’t been on any of the
blueprints. Sheila had fallen down the stairs, been disoriented,
and somehow found her way into this hidden room where she possibly
passed out. The police report also stated that Josh McReady’s
remains had been found in the ruins of the mansion. He had been
trapped when lightning struck the house. There had been no mention
of a knife wound to Josh’s body. Venus had no recollection of what
had happened that night and Flea had one terrible hangover. Neither
Flea nor Venus wanted to be interviewed.

“I am kinda curious, though.” John grabbed
the carafe and refilled his coffee cup. “I have seen fires started
by lightning before but never have I seen so much destruction. Even
the damn porcelain and marble melted. You wouldn’t happen to have
an explanation for that, would you?” He turned his gaze to
Dagger.

“Remember how we told you Skizzy had
incinerated the Friday the Thirteenth killer?”

“He used that homemade gizmo of his that
spews out napalm or something?”

“He doesn’t leave home without it,” Dagger
replied.

Padre smiled at the thought of one-upping the
nosy reporter. “Sheila must have put up a fight when you tried to
give her your simple explanation of what transpired.”

“Oh, yeah. The reporter in her kept firing
off questions, like Rick Jensen’s wallet she put in her pocket and
the blood on her sweater. She claimed it was Josh’s but I reminded
her of her head wound. Then she told me how she ripped her clothes
off to remove the remains of Adrian Walker to which I told her she
ripped off her clothes because she kept seeing spiders crawling all
over her. Nice suggestion, by the way,” he said to Dagger.

“She hates spiders. It all supports the
suspicion that she was hallucinating.”

“Her clothes got burned in the fire, I led
her to believe, along with whatever she thinks she had in her
pocket.”

Dagger doubted Sheila would stop digging.
“She might read about Jensen in the paper.”

“Story is already old news. If she ever looks
into it, I’ll come up with something.”

“Amazing how her forehead didn’t start
bleeding until she stepped out of that portal. Just like Skizzy
said, everything seems to standstill.” Padre would never have
believed it if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, even though he
wanted to pay back John big time for sending him to the
mansion.

“Well, Sheila wasn’t convinced. Wanted her
clothes back to have them tested.” John shook his head but couldn’t
keep from smiling. “For my own curiosity I had them tested in an
outside lab. Never know who Sheila could seduce into telling her
whatever she wanted to know. The blood was hers but also
Josh’s.”

“I trust you destroyed the clothes,” Dagger
said.

“Oh yeah. Sheila also kept saying she gave
ten of those damn animal bands to this Colleen she met whom she now
claims is Julia Sebold.” John laughed until tears streamed down his
face. “The more she talked, the more ludicrous she sounded.” John
wiped at his eyes. “You do give us entertaining cases, Dagger.”

“Hey, you gave this one to me. I had nothing
to do with it.”

“What’s going to happen with the property?”
Padre asked. “We can’t let anyone buy the place, can we?”

“That attorney is going to take his losses
and run. He doesn’t even want to pay to have the rubble
removed.”

“Good. That will discourage anyone from
wanting to buy the property. Lord only knows what will happen in
ten years.” Padre made a sign of the cross.

“Hey.” Joe Spagnola placed the vase of roses
on the nightstand.

“They’re beautiful.” Sheila combed her
fingers through her hair. She knew she looked a mess but she didn’t
care. Her eyes were puffy from crying and her head was still
pounding from the concussion.

“I’d ask you what the hell you thought you
were doing but I’m sure your old man already recited that poem.”
Joe pulled a chair close to the bed and sat down.

“You’ve got that right. He’s shipping me off
to a much-needed vacation. Although when I travel with my mother I
don’t know how much of a restful vacation that can be.”

“Well, you had us all worried.”

Sheila leaned back with a sigh. Just when Joe
thought she might be drifting off to sleep, Sheila said, “I want a
baby, Joe.”

Joe just about swallowed his gum. “Are you
outta your fuckin’ mind? What? Did they open a new boarding school
in the Hamptons?”

Sheila forced a laugh at that remark even as
the tears squeaked from her eyes. She wasn’t aware she had been so
transparent. Yes, she and kids didn’t exactly go together but she
couldn’t get Colleen/Julia out of her head. If she had imagined
her, exactly whom had she patterned her after? The tour she had
given school kids recently didn’t have one girl who resembled
her.

“Guess I’m going through one of those
life-altering moments. Silly me.” Sheila didn’t bother wiping away
the tears.

“You’ve been through a lot, Sheila. I
wouldn’t spend time with ghost hunters in the daylight let alone at
night with a storm cutting you off from the rest of the world.” Joe
checked his watch. “Baby, I gotta get to work. Will I see you
before you leave town?” He bent down and kissed her on the
mouth.

“Sure.” Sheila watched him leave then turned
away from the door. Outside the skies were clear. One would never
know that they had just experienced the worst storm in the history
of the Midwest.

“About time he left.”

Sheila turned and smiled. “Were you waiting
around the corner until he left?”

“Sure.” Dagger took the seat that Joe had
vacated. “Not enough space in this room for both of our egos.” He
had never seen Sheila without makeup before. Even when they were
dating she always went to bed with makeup on. “How are you
feeling?”

“Other than a pounding headache, physically
I’m fine. Mentally, Daddy is sending me to a spa for a few weeks to
get these hallucinations out of my system.” She slipped a fingertip
under the bands on her wrist. “Everything seemed so real, Dagger.
All the time I was missing I thought I was in a coma. It seemed all
the details from the research I did on Dawson’s Corner, Cedar Point
and the Sebold mansion took center stage in my mind. Then Daddy
says I lost some of the bands, that I didn’t give them to some
mysterious girl. How could I be missing the exact number that I
gave her? It makes no sense.”

Dagger had seen a photo of Julia Sebold. If
Sheila were ever to have kids, he would imagine her daughter would
look just like Julia. He studied the bandage on her forehead. “How
many stitches did you need?”

“Twelve. Now I’ll have to find a plastic
surgeon. Can’t have a scar on a perfect Monet.” She laughed but the
tears fell and she turned serious. “You came to my rescue, Dagger.
I knew you would.”

“Don’t thank me. I didn’t want to be involved
but it was Sara who convinced me. Besides, your father paid me a
hundred grand. Can’t pass up that kind of money.”

Sheila smiled, it was a sad smile of love
lost. Her wedding dress was still hanging in her closet. She had
never given up hope that Dagger would come to his senses and
realize that Sheila was the only woman for him. “I knew the minute
Sara walked into your office that day that she would be the
one.”

“The one what?”

“Don’t give me that,
I’m like a big brother to her. I don’t mix
business with pleasure crap
. The look on your face
that day reminded me of the look my daddy had when he saw his first
Mercedes on a showroom floor.”

Dagger sighed. He was getting tired of having
to constantly justify his relationship with his partner. “She and I
are strictly business. You and I fell in lust, not love. To have a
physical relationship which involves love just doesn’t work for me.
Doesn’t pay to get emotionally involved. Makes it easier to pick up
and move any time I want.”

Sheila shook her head, surprised she had to
draw Dagger a picture. “You are either really naive or just plain
stupid. Face it, Dagger. You can’t leave her now.”

Dagger hung his keys on the key rack and
tossed his jacket on a kitchen chair. The house couldn’t feel more
like home than if he had built it with his own two hands. Although
he had always said he trusted very few people, the truth was all of
them lived in Cedar Point. This city was the longest he had lived
anywhere. The kitchen smelled of popcorn smothered in butter and he
could almost feel his mouth salivating. He pulled a beer from the
fridge and walked into the living room. The door to the aviary was
closed. Einstein was probably sulking because they had left him
alone during the storm. Sara was sitting on the couch, feet braced
on the coffee table, a bowl of popcorn in her lap. Jewel was still
in shock, Flea was sucking his thumb somewhere, Sheila was
recuperating in a hospital, and here was Sara eating popcorn and
watching television.

“How is Sheila doing?”

“Still in denial but slowly accepting the
fact that she was hallucinating.”

“Do you think Sheila will ever try to spin
her story again?”

“Nah. It’s her word against the four of us.”
Dagger studied her, imagining what Sheila had seen when all hell
was breaking loose at the mansion. Nothing appeared to affect Sara.
It was another day at the office. Sure, the Friday the Thirteenth
killer unnerved her because she had never met another shapeshifter.
She had needed time afterward to seek answers from an elder back on
the reservation where she grew up. If anything, Sara grew stronger,
wiser, with every weird case she encountered.