The Haunted Bones (9 page)

"He could have switched it and left us
nothing. We've been good; the executor is satisfied. In twenty-five
days we'll be forty million richer." She joined him at the bar with
the tablet she'd stolen in her hand. "Then we can sell this house
and go to Costa Rica."

"I wanted to go to England."

"Why would you want rain and fog when we can
own a tropical hut on the beach, eat crab cakes all day, and sun."
With a big sigh, she turned the tablet on and started working on
the password.

"You steal that, too?" Auggie downed half
his drink.

"Yeah. And I'm not on the Internet, so no
freaking out." After six attempts it locked her out, so she handed
it to Auggie. "Here. You're better at this shit."

She only half watched him as he examined the
tablet and then punched a few side buttons. The thing restarted and
he waited for the password prompt. "You got a spec sheet on
her?"

"It's on the desk." She was not going to
interrupt her own cocktail time to get the girl's life highlights.
"But I don't think you need it. Come to think of it," she said as
she poured the Dewar's, "she seemed pretty chummy with McNally and
he was staying at her house. Even though I thought it was his."

After a few attempts, Auggie took the tablet
to the computer and booted the computer up. "Aren't you afraid of
being caught?" she said as she sauntered back to her desk and
Auggie.

"I'm not connected to the internet." He
moved through a terminal prompt and typed in a few codes she didn't
recognize. " Is she married to McNally?"

"No."

He rattled off an address. "Is that where
you got this?"

"Yeah."

Auggie nearly smacked his head on the
monitor. "That's Brenner's address. But she does have McNally's
address here in her address book." He scooted back and pointed.

She peered at it for a second before the
anger resurfaced. "Good. Now I know where to go off the
bastard."

"Idiot. You broke into a cop's house.
They're going to tear that place apart looking for whoever you are.
Don't you think they'll be watching McNally's house now that you've
'effed up?." He clicked a few windows and then laughed. "I figured
I'd find this."

"What is it?"

"A password list in her notes. And there's
the password for her tablet."

"You're serious?"

He picked up the tablet again, entered the
password, and the screen came right up on the very photograph she
was most terrified of.

"What the hell is that?"

She grabbed the tablet from his hand and
took it to the bar. After a few seconds, Auggie joined her and
stared down at it. "Is that a ghost or just some cool Photoshop
effect?"

"Shut up," she hissed. "Just…shut the fuck
up."

"Do you know who that is?" He stepped back.
"Wait a minute. Is this the picture you wanted deleted? A picture
of an old bar and a ghost?"

"You don't want to go there, Auggie. Just
walk away." Her hands curled into fists as she stared down at the
face. It wasn't a clear image of her mother, but she knew it was
her, mocking her, teasing her, haunting her from the grave. And
somehow that bastard had resurrected her.

Auggie did as he was told. In fact, he
grabbed his things and headed to the door. "Mary, just stay away
from McNally for a while. If you approach him now, they'll be all
over you like stink on shit." With that, he left the room.

She had McNally's address now. And after
subjecting him and the cop to theatrics, it was time for a more
subtle approach. It was time to do a little more research on Devan
McNally and slip in through the front door.

Fourteen

I wanted Julie to get a hotel room, check in
under an assumed name, and get some rest. But apparently, my want
didn't count. And Captain Vale going to argue with her. Who could
blame him? Julie could be scary. And now that some nut job broke
into her house and stole her stuff?

Armageddon.

As per what
she
wanted, we were at the
station for most of the night. I got a lot of strange looks, a few
pats on the back and hugs, with questions about me being back on
the squad. I avoided all of them, glad most of the old team wasn't
on duty.

Once they brought Randall Cahan in, though,
I was front and center. I wasn't in interrogation with him, but
Vale did let me watch behind the mirror. Julie stayed by my side,
and I had to admit, knowing this was the guy who almost put a hole
through me and Julie made me a little twitchy.

I was a little surprised at how young he
was. I mean, it made sense that he was only thirty-six, since the
crime he committed happened a year and a half ago. Dude slung a
bullet pretty good.

Lt. Russ Meehan was doing the interrogation.
He was good at questioning suspects. Even when they confess before
they're brought in.

"So…" I pointed to Cahan as Meehan spoke
behind the glass. "You guys found him and he confessed to killing
his daughter? Just like that?"

"According to the arresting officers, he
simply said, 'I figured you'd find me sooner or later,'" Vale
said.

"He had to have known if he shot at us like
that, we were definitely going to come after him." Julie sounded as
incredulous as I felt.

"Honestly," Vale said, "I haven't figured
this guy out yet."

And that was about the time the whole
interview went sideways.

Cahan started getting excited when Meehan
brought up the shooting. "Yeah, yeah…that tall, lanky guy. See, the
angel told me he was the one wanting to buy the old bar, and I
couldn't let that happen."

Meehan kept a straight face. "Why not?"

"Because I hadn't found it yet."

"Found what?"

Cahan looked from side to
side. "The diary. See, that's how I know my daughter was fucking
that bitch next door. All those times that bitch was so nice, I
thought she liked
me
. But she…" The guy looked genuinely upset. "She took
advantage of my little girl and made her into one of those
homos."

Julie snorted.

"And you couldn't let that continue?" Meehan
asked.

"No, no…" Cahan kept fidgeting. "And
Birch—well, he liked to watch. So he just let it happen again and
again. When I found the diary behind the fireplace, I knew I had
the evidence I needed to justify what needed to be done. But then
the diary disappeared."

I frowned. "Fireplace?" I looked at Vale. "I
don't remember a fireplace. That building doesn't meet the code for
one."

Vale looked over at the
uniformed officer by the door. "Yarrow, take McPherson and Hemdale
and check out the store next to
The Alley
Haunt
."

"Here." I reached into my pocket for my keys
and handed Vale the right set. "I got those from the bank."

Vale gave them to Yarrow before he left.

"…had to dig pretty deep," Cahan was saying.
"That's when I found all them bones."

Bones?

Meehan stopped writing. "Bones? You found
bones in the wall between the two businesses?"

Cahan nodded. "Yes. Most of that wall is
cinder block, except for this one spot where the fireplace was. But
see the fireplace never worked because it never had a flue, so I
just bricked it up and covered it in wallpaper. But on the other
side of the wall is that bar and the damned mirror."

"That's why I could reach my hand through."
Julie said. "There's just a brick wall between the two rooms."

"Or a double-bricked wall," Vale
interjected. "If he found bones in there, we have to find out where
he put them."

"Did you know who the bones belonged to,
Randall?" Meehan said in a gentle voice.

"No…" Cahan shook his head. "They'd been
there a long time 'cause they were mostly just dust and bits of
hair."

Meehan paused. "Where did you put these
bones, Randall?"

"They're still there." He looked wild-eyed.
"Someone was buried there, so I didn't want to disturb them."

"Oh fuck, that's creepy—" Julie's eyes
widened as she looked up at me. "Wait—you don't think the odd
picture of that woman is…?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah. I do." I looked down
at her. "I think that's where he found the bones."

The interrogation went
pretty much the same to the end, with a few more questions. Cahan
said someone called him and told him I was the one stirring up
trouble to buy the place. Cahan had canceled his lease to the
adjoining place after
The Alley
Haunt
closed down, mainly because he knew
the place couldn't continue because he killed everyone.

What Vale wanted to know was who called
Randall. "Because it seems to me they wanted to make trouble for
you, Devan."

"It sounds like that." I told him about
sending the image to my friend at the GBI.

"We solved this murder using your pictures,"
Vale commented as the three of us walked down the hall. "And if we
find the bones, maybe we can solve a murder of a missing woman?" He
smiled. "I'd just like to keep the use of your…pictures…out of the
media, if you don't mind."

My shoulder was really starting to throb.
Reconsidering painkillers was now back on the agenda. "Got no
problem here."

We walked a few feet. "You think if you took
pictures of other places, the same thing would turn up?" Julie
said.

I shrugged as a familiar set of legs turned
the corner ahead of us. The legs were attached to a statuesque
body, wrapped lavishly in a tight-fitting black business suit. Her
blond hair was pulled up to reveal a perfect neck.

Llse Wallace.

Julie made a rude noise as Llse approached
us.

"Ms. Wallace," Vale said. "Why are you here
so late?"

"Hello, Captain, Detective Brenner." Her
eyes didn't linger on me. "McNally."

I didn't respond.

"I'm here because I have something for Mr.
McNally." She handed me an envelope.

It was sort of purple and someone had
scrawled my full name on the front with a calligraphy pen. Cute. I
took the envelope and opened it. It was an invitation to the
wedding—the Chief Of Detective's daughter's wedding on Wednesday
evening. "So…I'm officially invited?"

"Yes, but we would like for
you to take pictures, just not the standard posed shots. We've
hired a
professional
for that. We want someone to move about the place and take
candid photos of the guests, reception, and wedding."

I ignored the dig about me not being a
professional. Actually, that didn't sound like a bad gig. I had
been dreading the idea of trying to corral an entire wedding party
for pictures. "Can I bring a date?"

Llse nodded. "Of course."

Julie bumped me and I grinned down at her. I
started to give Llse my answer that second, but my phone rang.
"Excuse me," I said and looked at the ID.

"Hey Danielle, you're not working late are
you?" I said when I answered

"No. I moved to the second shift because it
had a higher pay scale." Danielle laughed. "And I'm swamped. But I
did get a possible hit on that image you sent me. It was sort of
creepy."

"You got an ID?" I looked at Vale who was
looking intently at me. "Already?"

So was Llse.

"Yep. Patsy Claudette Granger. Went missing
about twenty-five years ago. Reported missing by her husband,
George Granger."

I grinned. "You are a dream come true,
Danielle."

"Uh huh. Buy me dinner."

"Any time after Wednesday."

She laughed. Once I hung up, I repeated what
she said to Vale. He pulled out his own phone, called someone, and
ordered them to pull up a missing person's report. I knew why he
was doing it—just in case they did find the bones Cahan spoke of,
they could test them for a DNA match.

"Who are you two talking about?" Llse
asked.

"Missing person," Julie volunteered. "But
the rest is police business. So you can run along now."

Llse bristled, but she didn't move
immediately. Instead she put a hand on my arm. "May I talk to
you?"

Vale was still talking on the phone, and
Julie glared at me. "Just a sec," I said to Jewels. "Stay with
Vale." I followed Llse back around the corner. She walked down
another hallway before she stopped and faced me, all smiles gone.
She crossed her arms over her chest. "Why are you here?"

It wasn't the worst thing she'd ever said to
me. "Why are you asking?"

"Because when my ex-husband calls me up at
night and asks me to hand deliver an invitation to you of all
people, I get curious."

I shrugged. "Then you'll have to ask him.
'Night, Llse." I turned to go.

She grabbed my wounded shoulder and
squeezed. Apparently she knew which one got the bullet. I jerked
away and glared at her. "Are you rejoining the squad?" she
asked.

"Why is this so important to you?" I
searched her face. It was a face I didn't like. A face that
reminded me of that night in the warehouse.

"Did you remember something? Is that
it?"

Oh damn. I
had
remembered something
but I hadn't told Vale. I needed to share with him the images of me
finding Jim by the door, already dead, when I got to the warehouse.
I was so lost in making myself a mental note I hadn't noticed what
my face was doing. But apparently Llse had.

She took a step back. "You have….you
remembered."

Her reaction was odd. "Is that a bad thing?
I mean…you said you were tied up in a room."

She was looking at me like a hungry bear
looks at picnic basket. "That's exactly right. The case is closed,
Devan. No more poking into dead things."

Llse Wallace didn't like me because I
rejected her. I never told anyone and I never admitted she came on
to me. But while I was in that coma, she made damn sure people
believed we'd been having an affair, and that meddling cost me my
relationship with Susan. "Ms. Wallace, I am a detective. I
investigate. And you might call this case dead, but I don't." My
shoulder hurt, but I schooled my features into something akin to a
poker face. Or, at least I hoped that's what I was doing as I took
a step closer to her. "Let's just say I remember that Jim was
already dead when I got there. He was at the entrance to that
warehouse. And when I walked further in, that's when I saw Ferrell.
Dead." I locked my eyes with hers. "You said you heard us arguing.
Not true. There was no one to argue with because that's when
someone else shot me in the head."