Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“Really?” My lips curve into a smile. “Thank you.”
“If you’re right, then I’m just doing my job.”
“I am right, and then I hope you believe that Stuart Brown was a dangerous man while alive and an even more dangerous one while dead. Which is why we really have to act fast. Not just tonight, but there’s an event in Paradise Valley in a few days that will be swarming with people who consider themselves witches. It’ll be like an all you can eat buffet for him.”
“I’m gonna stop you right there. Psychic visions…they’re not unheard of. But mention a ghost-murderer one more time and I’m going to feel obligated to take you to the ER for a psych check.”
“Not funny.”
“Well, then, kid…prove me wrong.”
“Most times I’d jump on the chance to.” I bite my lip and shake my head, looking out the window. The rain has let up and the air is hazy. “But this time, I really hope I don’t.”
Chapter
Twenty-Five
I drum my fingers on my steering wheel, listening to the phone ring. Once. Twice. Three times.
“Come on, Keith,” I whisper, surprised he didn’t answer right away. Finally, on the last ring, he answers.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
“Good, I think. How fast can you meet me at the house?”
“Your house or the house-house.”
“The house. I’m on my way there with a cop and a CSI team in tow.”
“Holy shit, you did it!” he exclaims.
“I did. I think. There’s a good chance Officer Maxwell thinks I’m fifty shades of crazy.”
“He didn’t buy the whole psychic thing?”
“Oh, he did, but I went on to tell him that instead of making sexy pottery from beyond the grave, Stuart is still killing.”
“Please tell me you said exactly that.”
“I regret that I didn’t. You might want to call your aunt and give her a heads up that the police will be contacting her. And if she’s already on her way there, tell her to stay in the car and don’t hate me for being the one to call in the tip.”
“I can’t promise she won’t hate you. Especially if she has to put the renovation on pause because of this.”
“I can live with that. What’s your ETA?”
“Probably twenty minutes. I’ll drive fast. You?”
“A little longer. I’m coming from downtown Thorne Hill.”
“Why are you—it doesn’t matter. See you soon.”
The call ends and I call Ethan, filling him in on everything. We talk the rest of the way to the bed and breakfast. Then it’s a bit of a waiting game again, and the daylight is fading fast. Keith and I hang back while the police talk to Lauren, and instead of getting upset, she seems relieved, thinking that it would be good for business if this unsolved mystery finally got solved.
We all go around to the backyard and Officer Maxwell tells the CSI unit where “the caller” told them to look. Keith loops his arm through mine as they set up lights, both of us eager to see what happens.
“You’re sure it’s there?” Keith asks. “I don’t mean to doubt you or anything.”
“I know you don’t. And yeah, I’m sure. If I was just going off my vision, I might be doubtful, but Hunter could smell the hair and the faint scent of coffee. It’s there.”
Time crawls, watching the team take photos before they start removing the wooden step. It’s rotted and stuck to the ground and they’re slow and careful removing it. Lauren comes over by us.
“I should have brought popcorn,” she jokes and turns to look at me. “You called in the tip, didn’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“Impressive. Keith told me how you were able to pick up on some really accurate details. Sounds like you’re the real deal.”
This is not the place to be talking about this. “Yeah,” I say again and wonder if I can cast a small protective circle around us without angering Stuart. Though, having him come out and attack us would be one way to get the law on my side.
We watch the team painstakingly remove little shovels full of dirt at a time until—finally—they find it. It’s rusted and dirty but looks exactly like it did in my head.
“Holy shit.” Lauren grips my arm. “You were right.”
“You just said she was the real deal,” Keith quips.
“Yeah, but…I just…holy shit.” Lauren looks from me to the CSI team again. A few more photos are taken and then the lid is carefully removed. I can’t see what’s inside, so Keith and I crowd forward as much as we can. Several items are removed and bagged but it’s not until Maxwell comes over that I learn exactly what was in the coffee tin. He waves me to step aside, not wanting the others to hear us talking.
“I was right, wasn’t I?” I can’t help but ask.
“You were.” Maxwell blinks a few times and then rubs his forehead, looking at me in disbelief. “Not just about the two women murdered here, but about the 1986 and 1990 murders too. Sara Clayton’s student ID card was in there with a lock of her hair wrapped around it. And Natalie Pérez’s bank card was in there as well.” He slowly shakes his head, eyes still drilling into me. “Stuart Brown killed all four of those women.”