Whisper of Evil (26 page)

"Yeah. I knew. So I'm glad you never told him that. And I'm still wondering why you helped me."

He hesitated, waited until she met his gaze, and then said slowly, "The look in your eyes that night. I'd never seen anybody look so… desperate. So afraid. I had no business helping you, of course, especially as young as you were. But I was young enough myself that I wasn't thinking in practical terms. Besides, I didn't doubt you were going to leave no matter what I said or did, and it seemed wisest to help you… minimize the fallout."

"You did do that. And I'm grateful."

"Not grateful enough to send me a postcard somewhere along the way and let me know how you were doing."

"Sorry about that. It seemed best to… cut all my ties to Silence."

"And did you?"

Her smile twisted. "I tried, God knows."

He nodded slowly, his gaze fixed on her. "You must have known you'd have to come back here one day."

"Yeah. I just didn't think it would be so hard."

"Hard because of the dead? Or the living?"

"Both."

"Running away never really solves anything, does it?"

A breath of a laugh escaped Nell. "That depends on what you're trying to solve."

"What were you trying to solve, Nell?"

"It hardly matters now."

"Doesn't it?"

She drew a breath and let it out slowly. "Girls run away, Ethan. Especially from domineering fathers."

"And boyfriends?"

"He was never domineering. And I told you then it had nothing to do with Max."

"Nothing—except that you were frantic to make sure he was protected from Adam's anger."

"I just didn't want him to blame Max. Or anybody else. My leaving was my decision."

Ethan nodded. "Yeah. Except that you were scared out of your mind that night, Nell. And I've always wondered why. After all those years with Adam, what was the final straw? What happened to make you believe running away was your only option?"

"It's a long story," Nell said after a moment. "Maybe we'll have time for it later. For now, I think we should concentrate on trying to find this murderer. That is why you came out here today, isn't it?"

Ethan accepted the change of subject, though not without a faint grimace. "Just so you know, I don't believe in this psychic bullshit."

"In that case," Nell said deliberately, "there's obviously nothing I can do to help you."

"Look, don't give me a hard time about this, okay? We've hit one wall after another in this investigation, and I'm getting desperate. Hell, at this point I'd be willing to look at chicken entrails. Maybe you can look into your crystal ball instead and tell me something helpful."

"I don't have a crystal ball, Ethan. As for the chicken entrails, I doubt they'd be helpful. And—yuck."

His mouth twitched, but he didn't actually smile. "Well, do whatever the hell it is you're supposed to do. Can you help me, or can't you?"

Nell didn't push it. "I don't know. But I'm willing to try."

He felt a jab of relief and tried to cover it up by not dwelling on the moment. "Great. So what's the first step?"

"I'd like to see where Peter Lynch and George Cald-well died."

"The first victim and the most recent. Why them?"

Nell had a ready answer. "Lynch because I want to see if I can pick up something after all this time; Cald-well because so far no deep, dark secrets have come to light—have they?"

"No."

"Which makes his murder different from the rest, at least according to everything I've read and heard."

"Okay." Ethan looked at his watch. "We can check out George's apartment anytime, but since Terrie Lynch is away for the afternoon and I have the key to the house, we should probably go there first."

Nell stood up, trying not to betray a few twinges from protesting muscles since she didn't want to have to explain why she was so stiff and sore.

Ethan rose as well but eyed her in sudden concern. "You sure you're up to this? If you don't mind me saying so, you're looking a little fragile."

So much for her ability to hide some things.

Nell smiled. "I've started going through the house, sorting and cleaning, and it's something a lot like work. But I'm okay. Let me lock up the house, and then we can go."

She made a couple of very quick calls while she was inside, but didn't linger. Ethan waited for her on the porch, and when she rejoined him a few minutes later, she said, "I'm assuming you don't want it known you came to the local witch for help."

"Is that a question?"

"No. I'm just wondering if it was wise to bring along a deputy."

"I can trust Steve Critcher to keep his mouth shut, or else I never would have brought him along."

"Oh. I thought you might have brought him along to make sure nobody seeing us together could get the idea your interest in me was personal. You're sort of between a rock and a hard place, aren't you? If anybody sees us together, that is. Either they think their sheriff has gone to the local witch for a bit of psychic help in solving these murders, or else they believe they're seeing a fascinating little romantic triangle."

Ethan scowled at her. "And you're so sure I give a shit what people think?"

"People? No. Max—yes. I think that at the end of the day, Max is the last man in the world you want to take on when it really matters. Which is exactly the same way he feels about you."

Ethan stared at her, cleared his throat, and very carefully said, "I've questioned him about these murders, you know."

"I know. I also know you've never seriously suspected him. When are you going to make peace with him, Ethan? Don't you think it's long past time?"

"I think this is something we don't need to talk about right now." Deliberately, he added, "Maybe we'll have time for it later."

"Maybe we will," Nell agreed with a faint, rueful smile.

Galen watched the sheriff's cruiser pull out of Nell's driveway, and said into the phone, "The problem with this whole thing is that there are too many threads we have to weave into place."

"I've noticed that. Any sign of our watcher?"

"Just the thing with the doll. Which, God knows, is creepy enough to keep all of us awake from now on."

"I'll second that. And Nell's beginning to believe it might be Hailey?"

"Well, it makes sense, especially if we admit the possibility she could have inherited the family curse, after all. She's connected to two of the victims for sure, plus Adam Gallagher. If Nell can link her up with Lynch and Caldwell…" He sighed. "I checked in with Bishop. He's not backing off the profile."

"Backing off is hardly his style."

"Agreed. Neither is being wrong. But if Hailey is the one we're looking for—"

"Then he's wrong. Wouldn't be the first time. Won't be the last."

"And here I was thinking he was Super Fed."

"Say that to his face."

Galen grinned, even though he wasn't feeling particularly amused. "Not on your life. Or, more to the point, on mine. Listen, Nell acted very calm about this doll thing, but I think she's seriously freaked by it. She looked like death this morning, and what we found out at her grandmother's place sure as hell didn't improve the situation."

"Did she tell the sheriff?"

"Not yet. I think she means to take him out there later and show him. Maybe Tanner too. I guess she figures it'll explain a few things."

"Doesn't it?"

"Well, it ties up some loose ends in the past. But the present? Damned if I know." He paused. "You said last night there'd be another murder. Anything on that?"

"Officially, no. Not a whisper I've heard anywhere in town."

"But?"

"But I think it happened sometime during the night."

"You don't know who? Where?"

"No. And since it's Saturday, we can't count on the victim being reported missing because he didn't show up for work. If he lived alone… it may be some time before the body is found."

"Shit."

"I'll let you know if I find out anything. In the meantime, keep a close watch on Nell. Aside from everything else, Sheriff Cole is a long way from being in the clear."

"We need to figure out where he stands, and pronto."

"Agreed. If you have any suggestions—"

Galen sighed. "No. Nell seems to think if she spends some time with him she'll know. I'm not so sure. She isn't a telepath, after all. Or a clairvoyant."

"No, but she is able to get a sense of things, of people. Maybe it'll be enough."

"Want to bet her life on that?"

"No. But we may have to."

The Lynch home was an older house that sprawled a bit on its five-acre lot, somewhat isolated in a neighborhood where cultivated fields and pastures tended to separate houses. So as far as Nell could tell, no one in the area took any notice when the sheriff's cruiser pulled up in the drive.

Leaving his silent deputy leaning against the cruiser, Ethan led the way to the front door. "Just what is it you do?" he asked as he unlocked it. "I mean, if you don't have a crystal ball."

Nell gave him an abbreviated explanation of how she was able to tap into the energy of a place, and she was hardly surprised when he looked disbelieving.

But all he said was, "And that's going to help me… how?"

"I might be able to tell you what happened in this house." Nell shrugged. "It's the most intense events I tend to tap into, so if there was any violence here, any threat, that's what I'm likely to see."

"This wasn't a violent murder."

"No, but according to what I've heard, you guys believe poison was put into Lynch's vitamins, right?"

"There is way too much gossip in this town," Ethan muttered half under his breath.

"Not much fun when it works against you, is it?" Without giving him a chance to answer, she added, "The poison had to be put into the bottles, which means the killer might have been here in the house.

Planning a murder is a fairly intense experience even without the actual killing."

As they stepped into the foyer, Ethan eyed her with lifted brows. "You spend a lot of time tapping into murders?"

Silently berating herself for slipping up, Nell replied calmly, "It's a bad world. Amazing how many places hold the memories of bad things happening."

It was Ethan's turn to shrug. "Okay. I guess you want to wander around, maybe touch things. Check out the vibes."

"The vibes?"

"I asked you not to give me a hard time about this."

Nell smiled, but as she walked into the living room and began looking around, she said, "Actually, I don't have to touch anything. Where did he die?"

"Master bedroom, upstairs."

"Was he alone when he died?"

"Yeah. Terrie had left earlier for an appointment in town. Peter's usual routine was to down some kind of breakfast drink with his vitamins, make a few calls from the home office across the hall, then work out for an hour or so in the exercise room off the master bedroom. He was in workout clothes when his body was found. Looked like he had been on his way to shower afterward when his heart gave out."

"Not all that uncommon, I guess. A man his age to have a heart attack after exercising."

"So the doc said. We were satisfied. Until Terrie had a fit and demanded an autopsy."

"Which turned up evidence of poison."

"Yeah. And by then we didn't exactly have what you'd call an uncontaminated crime scene. But we searched the place anyway. And I guess you heard what we found hidden in his closet."

"Porn."

"Very sick pom. Also evidence of the very young mistress he kept in New Orleans."

Without emotion, Nell asked, "Any signs of other abnormal… tastes?"

"Just the pedophilia," Ethan replied dryly. He was about to add that he considered that quite enough abnormality for one man when he saw Nell's face change almost imperceptibly. She turned her head slightly, looking toward the front of the house with what Ethan read as uneasiness in her eyes.

Thinking she might be having one of those visions, he said, "What? Do you see something?"

"Not yet." She sighed, and when she met his eyes her own were definitely uneasy. "Better tell your deputy to let Max come in. He's not likely to stay outside willingly."

Ethan's surprise was brief. "I didn't hear his truck. You sure he's outside?"

"Just turning into the drive."

"A vision?"

"No."

Ethan decided not to try and figure that one out. "So he really is playing watchdog, huh? Or is it because you're with me?"

"Six of one and half a dozen of the other, I'd say."

Ethan couldn't tell how she felt about that. He wasn't sure how he felt about it either. "Okay. And I'm supposed to let him tag along during an official investigation?"

Nell sighed again. "Look, the last thing I want to do is worsen the tension between you two, but we both know how stubborn Max can be. He knows I'll be trying to use my abilities here, and he knows I pay a price for that, so short of arresting him you are not going to be able to keep him out of this."

"Price? What kind of price?"

Nell kept it simple. "Headaches, blackouts. It takes a lot of energy, Ethan, and sometimes my body rebels. Max knows that. He… worries." She shook her head. "It's my risk to take, and I want to help if I can. As for Max sticking close, that's something you don't have to like, but you do have a murder investigation very much at the top of your priority list, so I think we can all be grown-ups about it. Don't you?"

"Think that'll work on Max?"

"It will if you tell your deputy to let him pass before he's stopped at the door and loses his temper."

After a moment, Ethan nodded and reached for the radio clipped to his belt. He issued a brief order to Deputy Critcher to allow Max into the house, then turned the volume back down so they wouldn't be disturbed by radio calls but he could hear it if any were directed specifically at him.