The Haunted Bones (12 page)

Well…that was real mature.

Nineteen

Luckily she'd planned ahead and had cash—a
little over three million—stashed away in safe-deposit boxes in
every bank in the city, all under different aliases. After setting
the house on fire, she removed a stash of cash from the nearest
bank. She didn't close the account because that would look too
suspicious. But now she had her car, purchased under an alias, and
she had cash. And no more Auggie to nag at her all the time. Yeah,
the sex had been okay, but after a while he was boring.

And it was time to move on.

She was calm enough now to plan out her next
move. Doubling back and attacking McNally would be suicide. But
moving on, leaving town before the mansion's fire became priority
news, was a much better idea. No plane flights because those could
be searched. A leisurely drive to Vegas was a pleasant idea, and
from there she could hide for a while, once the story about the
bones went away.

She stopped at a diner not far from
McNally's real address. It wasn't a planned location, just
something she noticed after she sat down, pulled out her laptop and
started looking at the things she'd transferred over from the lady
cop's files. There wasn't much there. Apparently she had been
married to a cop who died the same night McNally was shot. McNally
and the dead cop had been partners. And now McNally was shacking up
with the widow.

Meh. Let them fuck all they want. Her plans
to kill him with a tainted prescription had fallen through earlier
that day when her insurance contact reported McNally didn't take
any prescriptions. The ones on record were for pain, given to him
after he was released from the hospital. None of them had ever been
refilled.

It was like the guy had a guardian angel
watching over him.

She was so out of there.

The diner's TV was on the
local news and on closed caption. She glanced up at it and checked
the time just as the headline REMAINS ID REVEALED scrolled sideways
across the bottom of the screen. She froze as the reporter popped
up in front of
The Alley Haunt
bar with lights behind him. His words printed out
on the bottom. White type on a black background. She gripped the
edge of the table as the identity was revealed—

She pushed back and let go of the table.

She expected to see the name Elizabeth
Poulin. That was her mother's name. The name of the woman she'd
shoved in that wall and bricked up.

But…who was Patsy Granger?

Granger.

No…

She felt the blood drain from her face. The
neighbor's last name had been Granger. The wife's name she never
knew, but she'd learned the man's name. George Granger. He and his
wife had lived next door. The wife always baked so the house always
smelled like sugar. At night she could hear them fighting.

How…how could the bones in the wall be the
wife's?

And if they were hers—if this wasn't a
trick—then…

WHERE IS MY MAMA?!

Twenty

Staying in my ex's home was not a slumber
party, even though she and I did stay up talking late into the
morning. I fell asleep on the couch and then woke again when I
heard Julie laughing. I rubbed at my hair and stumbled toward
Susan's kitchen just as my phone and Julie's phone went off. I got
to mine first and looked at the display. "Vale." I put the phone to
my ear. "McNally."

"I could get used to hearing that on a
regular basis."

I smirked and ran my tongue over my teeth. I
needed a toothbrush in the worst way. "I take that to mean you have
good news?"

"Put him on speaker!" Julie said.

"Was that Brenner?" Vale asked.

I ambled into the kitchen and sat at the
breakfast bar beside Julie as Susan dumped pancakes on plates. The
whole scene was so surreal. "Uh, yeah. She and Susan have been
conspiring while I slept." I tapped the speaker button. "You're in
the open, captain."

"Good morning, all. I have two things to
share, so Ms. Lowell, I do hope I can count on you to be
discrete?"

"As always, Captain Vale."
Susan set a plate in front of me and mouthed the word
eat
.

"Talk about the fire first."
Julie squeezed a
lot
of syrup on her pancake.

Susan came around the bar with a bottle of
peroxide, a role of gauze, tape, and a pair of small scissors. I
was more than shocked when she pulled and wrangled my tee-shirt off
and began cutting away the old bandage. That's when I noticed I'd
bled on the gauze.

Once she removed it, I got a good look at
the wound, the blood and the stitches just before Susan reached out
and turned my face away. Good idea. My stomach felt a bit queasy.
It was always easier to see torn skin and blood and muscle on a
body—but I had a hard time seeing it on myself.

"They did find human remains in what was
left of the house, but it was in so many pieces they're not sure
yet if it was male or female. Could be Ms. Smith or not. We won't
know 'til they perform DNA testing or reconstruct the body."

Susan always was the best cook. I cut off a
bite of pancake while Susan worked on my shoulder. I even managed
not to scream like a girl when she poked at it with peroxide. I did
suck in some sharp breaths of air, though. "That just means the
crazy bitch might or might not be in the wind. You have any idea
what you're looking for?"

"Meehan and Rosenberg are working on
it."

"Jeebers." I chewed before I spoke again.
"Does Meehan sleep?"

"Barely. And we know it was Mrs. Smith who
hacked your computer. We're keeping an eye out for any activity
using that IP in case she is out there and tries to hack in again
to your computer or anyone else's. The more interesting news is
what the surveillance picked up on Llse Wallace."

"Oh?" Julie and I exchanged glances.

Susan finally stopped torturing me with the
peroxide and started wrapping a new bandage around my shoulder and
chest. "Llse Wallace? The COD's ex?"

"Discretion, Susan." Vale warned. "She drove
straight home and never came out again. But one of the team
watching saw someone in the backyard, and then about a half hour
after that, a Lexus pulled up and a woman in a trench coat and
scarf went inside."

"Any ID on the driver?"

"Car's registered to a rental service.
They'll call when they get the name.

I looked at Susan as she finished taping the
bandage in place on the back, then started on the one in front. I
barely noticed it when she pulled the gauze away. "That doesn't get
us any closer to why she was so freaked out about my pictures."

Vale spoke. "True… I'm keeping the
surveillance on her until tonight. Then I'm going to have to cut
her lose. Budget concerns and no justifiable reason. You still plan
on heading over to the warehouse?"

"Yeah. I have to go by my house to get my
camera, though, or get to my car to get the spare."

"No, you don't," Susan spoke up, and went to
the side door next to the pantry. Before I moved out, that closet
had served as storage for all my cop gear. Now it looked like she'd
moved in her own things. One of those things was a camera bag. She
handed it to me over the breakfast counter. "This is my camera. Do
not break it, understand? I don't want you going out there alone,
though. I'd go with you, but I have court again in two hours."

"I agree with Susan." Vale said something to
someone near him before he spoke again. "Brenner, go with Devan.
Once Meehan and Rosenberg finish, I'll sent Rosenberg over and let
Meehan get sleep."

"I don't need a babysitter, Captain." And I
really didn't want to be around Rosenberg at all. The guy hadn't
liked me when I was a cop. He sure as hell didn't like me now.
After Julie and I reconnected after I got out of the hospital, she
told me about how Theo Rosenberg was sure I was the shooter and not
Ferrell. Made jokes about Ferrell and I being gay lovers.

Yeah…Rosenberg was an ass.

"No, you don't. But you don't need to be
dead, either. It cost too much money to save you the first time.
Give me a call when you're finished there, or if the pictures show
anything." He disconnected.

Susan had a very strange look on her face. I
had already confessed everything to her while we talked so I didn't
know why she looked like that. "Dev…Llse Wallace…"

"Please, no. I really want to keep my
appetite." I held up my hand before I opened the bag and did a
quick inventory. Nice camera—digital. Several lenses, batteries,
smart cards, and a flash. "You like to take pictures?" I looked up
at her.

"Just…put the bag down, okay? Hear me out.
I'm using your case as a sort of brain cleanser for my own. And I
want to get it straight in my head on what I read over and over in
that report and what you told me this morning. You found Jimmy
already dead, walked in and saw Ferrell dead, and then you were
shot. You can't remember anything after that."

"That's it in a nutshell. All blank."

"Llse claims she heard all three of you
arguing, but if you're right, that's impossible."

"Right."

"Llse said she was in the park to meet Chad
and saw Chad get killed by Ferrell."

"Right."

"There's something not right about all
this."

I sighed. "Finally noticed, huh?"

Julie put a hand on my arm. "Dev, be nice.
She believes you and Llse never had any kind of affair."

"I've been saying that since I woke up."

"And I'm sorry." Susan said. "Llse had
everyone believing it. Except for Julie, here—she never did. And I
don't think a lot of your colleagues did, either. We knew she was
lying, but we didn't know why."

"Yeah, it's that motive thing. Nasty little
fuck." I finished my pancake and slammed back a glass of OJ. "I'm
getting a shower and changing. Julie, I suggest you do the same. I
wanna be out of here by ten and get this over with." I left the two
of them at the counter. Susan looked lost in thought and Julie
looked miserable. It had to be hard on her, listening to us talk
about finding Jim dead as if we were discussing luggage. As I
jogged up the steps, I made a pact with myself never to be that
insensitive again.

Julie was ready before me and Susan had
already left by the time I grabbed the camera bag. Susan trusted
Julie with the alarm code and the keys to her old Honda. Well…my
old Honda. I was okay with letting Julie have the wheel. I was a
nervous wreck during the whole drive. I think I checked the camera
and smart card a dozen times just to do something with my
hands.

The warehouse was just outside of Atlanta in
the northern tip of Fulton County, so it was still in our
jurisdiction. It was one of those industrial parks that from the
air looked like bars of Legos laid out side by side in rows. One
end of the third building had its offices gutted, and had been used
at one point to store road-construction vehicles.

There wasn't a car in the parking lot and
the sign on the front was long gone, as was the inventory I
remembered scattered along the fence separating the park from what
looked like a vacant lot. Something had been there before, but I
couldn't remember what, and it was long torn down. A white pickup
pulled up beside the car and the driver handed Julie the key. She
told him she would call him when we were done.

"Awright. I already turned the lights on, so
just flick 'em off when you lock up." He drove off.

My phone buzzed. It was my sister, probably
reminding me about Pink's birthday. I said as much as I let
voicemail answer.

"You talk to her since Thursday?"

"No." I wrenched my arm back and forth.
Susan had done a good job. "Been a bit preoccupied. But I
will."

Julie unlocked the front glass doors. "I'm
going to stand out of the way and you need to start taking
pictures." I was shocked when she pulled out her gun and held it
barrel down with her good hand. "I'm just watching your back, Dev.
Go ahead."

I didn't know if her behavior was because of
the other night at her place or if Vale had said something to her.
Either way, I didn't want to stay any longer than I had to. I
readied the camera and started shooting the entrance. I stepped
inside, focused, and shot where I remembered seeing Jim. I took
pictures of every step, from moving through the narrow corridor by
the front office, to the back where they'd found the three of us,
two dead and one barely alive.

I thought I would feel different, standing
in the empty building with its bare girders. But the truth was, I
didn't feel anything. I saw brown stains everywhere and a piece of
police tape. The outline of the two bodies was still visible after
two years. "No one's been in here to clean up?" My voice echoed
inside the building.

"Just the owners. After the shooting, they
moved locations while we conducted our investigation." She looked
at the floor. "You want to know where you were?"

"No," I answered quickly. It was the truth.
But not for the reasons I figure she thought. I wanted to stay
blank. I wanted the pictures to tell me.

I hoped they would.

"You know Susan still loves you. She knows
she made a mistake."

"Jewels—" I focused on a corner near the
mark where Ferrell's body had been. "Not now. I don't want to
discuss Susan with you." I continued to take shots. Standing,
kneeling, sitting.

"But she also knows she missed her chance
with you."

Click
. "Julie…not
now
." I really didn't want to have this conversation.

"I figured that would make you happy."

After the last click I turned to face her.
"I woke up in a strange bed, unable to move or see. I couldn't talk
because there were a dozen tubes down my throat and nose. The first
face I saw was Susan's. I saw her eyes and her expression and I
knew something had changed." I turned the camera off. "And I knew
that something wasn't me. It was weeks before I got the whole
story…before she told me Llse had let it slip that I was supposed
to meet her later that night but Ferrell showed up here, inside.
And how Llse told everyone she and I had…had an affair."