Sidekicks (18 page)

Cooper's relief told me that was exactly what he'd been worrying about. "It seems really disrespectful to love that place so much when some bad things might've happened there."

I knew what he meant. "Yeah, but life goes on. And those women, probably more than anyone else, would want us to celebrate it instead of mourn. Their own lives were cut so short, after all."

"Once this is resolved and every victim we've seen accounted for, we could hold a memorial service, just you and me."

"I really like that idea," I said, touched by his sincerity. "Detective Simms might even want to come. It would definitely give him resolution, something I don't think he got when he was in the military."

We got there in plenty of time to explore the entire property way before dark if we got started right away. I wrote down all the GPS coordinates on a napkin he had in his truck because we didn't want to walk around with a deed in our hands, especially if it might rain.

And it was surely looking as if it could, the reason I'd brought along my slicker that morning. We also tore a bath towel he kept in his truck into strips so we could mark the corners. I noticed that the towel smelled like him after a football game--one part sweaty boy, three parts cologne or soap or something--and tucked an extra strip into my bag to sniff later.

Cooper disconnected the GPS from the stand mounted in the dash of his truck. After checking that it was fully charged, we both put on our rain gear--him, his blue jacket and me, my yellow one. I could imagine how we looked as we headed into the woods at the front of the property near the two-lane highway. Two more splashes of vivid color amongst a forest of orange, red, and gold.

Leaves rustled under our feet with every step. I could hear cars passing, as well as songbirds and those noisy crows.
Caw. Caw. Caw.
A low rumble of thunder told me the rain might be getting closer, but I didn't mind. Checking out the grounds of Cooper's place was nothing but fun. I got no bad feelings and honestly didn't have a care in the world.

We found the first corner easily enough and marked it with a stout stick and one of the towel strips. Cooper used a rock to drive the stick into the ground, which was damp enough to take it. In summer, we never could've done that.

We set out again, our eyes on the GPS as we tried to figure out which way to go. I noticed that the screen flickered a couple of times, but didn't worry. How lost could we get with the highway so close we could hear the radios of passing vehicles?

It took quite a while to find the second corner, proof that we didn't have a clue what we were doing. It was one thing to be in a spot and find our coordinates. It was another to know the coordinate and walk straight to it. So with the sky getting darker by the minute and lightning illuminating the rolling black clouds sweeping across it, we struggled with a learning curve, making more than one wrong turn in the process.

I still didn't worry. I'd never felt so safe, so carefree. Not a single ghost had popped into view yet, and I wasn't getting any weird vibes, either. I played with the idea that the guy with the murderous thoughts at MPD had confessed, thereby eliminating any need for his victims to contact me ever again.

"Is this great or what?" Cooper began walking backwards, keeping just ahead of me as he talked. "There's just so much I can do here."

"Such as?" I asked, humoring him.

"I could divide it into lots and develop a subdivision."

"You wouldn't!"

He gave me an impish grin. "You're right. I wouldn't. I could take up farming. I could offer guided turkey or deer hunts--"

"Only if you can find your own way around."

"I could even--" Cooper's sentence ended with an
oomph!
Right before my eyes, his hands flew up in the air and his legs sank into the ground past his knees. I heard a soft
thunk
to my left.

I tried not to laugh, but watching him struggling to get out of the hole he'd stepped into to was simply hilarious. It didn't help that the ground broke off in chunks around his arms when he tried to get enough leverage to heave himself up. By the time I offered help, that cavity had some size, and my boyfriend had both feet buried up in the bottom of it. He grabbed my hands. I dug my heels into the wet dirt, hoping I didn't land down there with him.

"What's this?" Cooper abruptly released me and bent to pull something long, narrow and whitish from under his feet.

My heart skipped a beat. Was that a bone?

He bent again and began kicking dirt around. "Holy shit, Mia. Would you look at this?"

I edged closer and cautiously peered into the hole. Oh God. That looked like the top of a human skull. "Get out of there now!"

Cooper pretty much clawed his way up with me pulling on his belt to stop him sliding back down. Filthy and panting, he collapsed on the leaf-strewn ground. I knelt beside him. Goose bumps skittered up my arms and not just because of the chill in the moisture-laden air.

"Do you think...?" I couldn't even say it.

"I do." He sat up and glanced around. "I wonder how many other graves are on this property."

My stomach lurched. "We should go back to the truck."

"Yeah."

I helped him stand and then went to work brushing dirt and mud from his jeans and jacket. "Where's the GPS? We need to mark this spot so the police can find it."

Cooper looked blankly at his empty hands. "I had it a second ago."

"Did you drop it in there?" I pointed, but didn't dare look in that horrible hole.

Clearly the braver one of us, he walked to the edge and glanced down. "I don't see it."

I suddenly remembered that
thunk
. "Uh-oh. I think you might've dropped it when you went down. I heard something land somewhere over there." I pointed to my left.

Without answering, he stepped around the hole and a tree, negotiating tangled underbrush. "Here?"

"Yes. No." I wanted to cry. "I'm not sure."

Clearly sensing I was about to lose it, Cooper turned and came back. "Doesn't matter. We've got our phones." He pulled his out of his pocket to check the signal, as did I. No bars. I glanced at his. None on it, either.

"So we'll find our way to the truck without them. Can't be far. We haven't even walked a mile." At that moment a drop of rain hit the top of my head. I looked up just in time for another to land in my eye.

Then the heavens opened up, drowning us. Cooper grabbed my hand and started back the way we'd come. Blinded by the downpour, I could barely keep up with his long strides. It didn't help that my feet kept catching in brambles I didn't remember stepping across the first time we'd passed through that area.

Though we should've been back to the truck in no time, we never found it. Knowing the slightest veer off a course with no path could mean losing our way, I abruptly braked.

Naturally, Cooper had to, too. "What?"

"Are we lost?"

"I don't see how we could be."

"Well, I do." A wind kicked up, rattling branches that had already lost their leaves and making those that hadn't lose more. I could barely hear what Cooper said because of the thunder, a constant rumble in the background.

Letting go of my hand, he slowly turned to scan the woods around us. "Is that the house?"

I squinted against the rain, just making out distant shadows that could've been a structure. It was hard to tell. How had it gotten so dark without us noticing? "Have you got a flashlight?"

"No. You?"

I shook my head.

"Is that a light?"

Looking where he pointed, I saw what appeared to be a beam of light, sort of bobbing between the trees as if someone might be carrying a spotlight of some kind. "I think it is."

Our gazes collided.

"Getting any vibes?" asked Cooper.

"No. You?"

He hesitated. "No."

"Are you lying to me?"

"Why would I?"

A little weirded out, I grabbed his hand. "What should we do?"

"Find out who it is. We're lost, and--"

"I knew it!"

Cooper winced. "Everything is okay, Mia. These woods don't go on forever. Even if we never find whoever's carrying that light, we'll come out on the road or a field or something and get our bearings there." He bent his knees slightly to look me in the eye. "Okay?"

"Okay."

He hugged me. "Good. Come on. My fingers already look like prunes, and I want to know who's trespassing on my property."

Cooper headed in a new direction, pretty much dragging me along with him. We saw the light briefly and only once before we stepped into a clearing that revealed the house up ahead. How we'd wound up on the backside of it, I couldn't say, but I was dang relieved to be there.

"Told ya," said Cooper, grinning.

My fears dissipated. "I know, and you're never wrong, right?"

"Wrong right?"

I playfully punched him. Yeah, I was definitely feeling better. We trudged through knee-high weeds--me, at least. The tallest only came halfway up Cooper's calves. It wasn't until we were about a hundred yards from the house that I realized a black car was parked behind the barn. I stopped and silently pointed.

Cooper frowned, at least I thought he did. It was honestly hard to see. "Recognize it?"

His question wasn't that crazy. Teens in love were always looking for privacy. And I'd seen evidence of a hook-up inside the house. "No."

Taking care, we crept up to the car, a late model Jaguar no student we knew could possibly afford. We peeked through the tinted windows, but really couldn't see inside it.

"Getting anything?" I asked, keeping my voice low. Clearly the driver of this car was alive, which meant I wouldn't.

"Maybe, but it can't be right."

We stood in silence, listening for anything unusual. Trouble was, we couldn't hear squat between the rain, the wind, and the thunder. I shivered and rubbed my frozen face with wet hands that weren't one bit warmer.

Cooper put his mouth to my ear. "I'm going to check inside the barn. Wait here."

"As if." No way would I let him leave me all alone.

"Okay. Fine. But stay behind me."

"Why? You're not exactly bulletproof."

"Please?"

I gave in with a sigh. Now wasn't the time to be a butt. I grabbed a handful of Cooper's blue jacket to be sure I kept up as he edged his way around the barn. So when he reached the front right corner and suddenly jumped back, he almost toppled me. I slapped my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming.

My heart began banging in my chest, so hard it actually hurt. "What?
What?
"

Cooper shushed me by touching his finger to his lips. I went very still, though my heart still raced. The barn door creaked and slammed shut, telling me we'd nearly walked up on someone. Cooper peeked around the corner and then began to move, motioning for me to stay close.

I knew there was no way we could get in that barn except through the same doors the trespasser had used. Whoever was there would hear us for sure. We rounded the building. Cooper stopped in his tracks and turned to me. "Why am I sneaking around? This is my freakin' barn. And I think I know who's here, anyway."

Before I could stop him, he walked right to the double doors and flung them open.

"Detective Simms?" he called out just as I caught up with him. "Are you in here?"

"I am." A man stepped out of the shadows.

I sagged with relief.

The detective flipped on a flashlight, briefly shining it on us and then directing the beam toward the ground. "You two are soaked through. What are you doing?"

"What are
you
doing?" Cooper asked, his tone terse enough to be called rude.

I glanced at him in surprise.

Detective Simms didn't seem to notice. "Taking a look around. I've been thinking about those apparitions ever since we talked and decided to drop by. Wasn't expecting that storm to move in so fast. Guess you guys weren't, either."

"No," I said, trying to keep things civil. "It surprised us, too."

Though I didn't read minds as Cooper sometimes did, only an idiot wouldn't know my boyfriend was pissed about something.

"Why'd you hide your car behind the barn?" Cooper asked.

"
Hide
my car? I didn't hide my car."

"But you did drive it off the gravel and into the grass, something I wouldn't think you'd do in a sporty Jag. Who knows what lies in those weeds? You might've gotten a scratch. A flat tire, even."

For long moments, the two of them stared each other down. My sidekick told me something wasn't right and though I didn't know what, I did know I could add
scared
to my growing list of discomforts.

When I could stand the tense silence no longer, I tugged on the hem of Tyler's jacket. "We should go."

The detective shook his head, never taking his eyes off Cooper. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

That confused me even more. "Why not?"

"Cooper, here, knows too much...don't you, son?"

"I'm not your son."

"What's wrong?" I asked, now frantically yanking on my boyfriend's arm. "What do you know?"

Instead of answering, he dug into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his keys, which he handed me. "You need to leave, Mia."

"Huh?"

"Can't let her," said Simms.

"But she doesn't know anything."

"She knows enough."

I huffed my impatience. "Will someone please tell me what the heck is going on?"

The detective smirked, an expression made scary by the facial shadows his flashlight deepened. "Your boyfriend just figured out who killed those Chinks. Or was Mia lying when she said your powers were compromised? Bet you've known it was me all along."

It took a second for Simms's words to sink in and even when they did, I wasn't sure I'd gotten them right. "But you're one of the good guys."

"Or not," said Cooper, raising his voice over the din of the hail now pelting the tin roof. "Think about it Mia. He's got the motive, the strength, and the authority. Nobody's scared of a cop, are they? Bet that badge got you almost as much action as that Jag."