Grave Echoes: A Kate Waters Mystery (21 page)

Ted folded his hands in front of him. “We believe so. The treads we found do not belong to your sister’s car, and though we are still conducting tests to prove its connection with your sister’s accident, we presume someone forced her to speed recklessly, which resulted in her poor control of the vehicle.”

Kate gasped. She couldn’t believe it. Jev was…murdered. Vehicular manslaughter—man—binding him. The events of the past week plummeted down on her like a violent tornado, ripping her life into splintered pieces, and she couldn’t stop the tears. She turned to hide her face. Officer Johnson stood up, retrieving a tissue from his pocket, and handed it to Kate.

“If you need a moment, we can come back later. It’s difficult to deal with this kind of news all at once.”

“No. I’m okay.” Kate wiped her eyes while Ted and Wells waited patiently for her to collect herself. She looked out the window, thinking of her hallucinations of Jev, haunting her like the ghostly whispers in the hallway. In her visions, Jev had been terrified, as though someone chased her. Suddenly, dread burgeoned in her mind—someone had run Jev off the road…The treads were from a pickup…The same pickup that had tried to run her down last night?

She turned around. “I’ve seen that pickup. It’s a black Ford.”

“How do you know that?” Wells asked.

“Someone driving a Ford truck almost ran me down last night.”

Wells glanced at Johnson. “Aren’t those treads from a Ford pickup truck?”

“Yes, either a Ford or a Mercury,” Ted replied.

A sick, dizzying sensation overwhelmed Kate, knowing that the man she encountered last night may have been responsible for her sister’s death.

“Why didn’t you call me?” Wells asked Kate. “Where did this happen?”

“I’m sorry, I haven’t been myself. It happened at a store called Practical Magic and Occult Supplies in northwest Portland. I went to visit Jev’s friend Donna to ask her about the note I found.”

“We were going to question Donna today, after we found more evidence at the accident scene,” Wells mentioned.

Ted reached for a pen in his pocket. “Did you get the license plate number on the truck?”

“Just two letters, W, another letter, and then I think an X. It was a newer model with black tail lights on the back.”

“Was the driver male or female?”

“I think male, but it was dark and the headlights were blinding me. I can’t be certain.”

Wells glanced at Kate’s wrist. “Where’d you get that bracelet?”

She twisted the band around to hide the pentacle, but he’d already seen it, his gaze hot on her. “Donna gave it to me last night.”

“Maybe she gave one to Jev too,” Ted said to Wells.

“Gave one to Jev?” Kate asked. “What do you mean?”

Wells pulled a Ziploc bag from his pocket. Inside was a bracelet just like the one she wore. “We found this today in a tree at the accident scene. We believe it belonged to your sister.”

Kate felt something shift in her, wearing the same bracelet as her sister had when she died strengthened a bond between them, a feeling Kate had yearned for since Jev’s death, a feeling that had been temporarily lost to the discovery of secrets and the infestation of doubt.

She turned the band around on her wrist, exposing the pentacle. “My sister was a witch,” she said. The words rolled off her tongue naturally now. The cringe she usually felt inside was gone. She wondered if her feelings had changed because of this new twist in her sister’s accident—Jev was an innocent victim now, whether she was involved in witchcraft or not. Someone had purposely caused her death. She deserved justice.

The kettle started to whistle and Kate took it off the stove.

“I didn’t mention this before,” Wells said, as she poured hot water into their mugs, “but we did find witchcraft items in your sister’s car.”

She nodded. “Sean told me she was going to do a spell that night after they fought. Can I ask what the items were?”

“Five black candles and a poppet doll,” Wells said. “There was also some dirt in a bucket. I’m not sure if that was part of the spell or not.”

Kate took a sip of her tea and paused when she heard the front door click open. David’s voice called out. “Hello?”

Wells and Ted both stood from their stools at the counter when he walked into the living room. A two-day shadow covered his jaw line, and the bruises around his left eye had deepened into the shade of eggplant.

“What’s going on?” Water dripped from David’s dark, blue parka onto the floor, something that normally would have bothered him.

“Detective Wells and Officer Johnson have new information on Jev’s case,” Kate said. She held his puzzled stare for a moment.

Wells stepped up to David. “This is my partner, Ted Johnson.”

“Hi.” David shook Ted’s hand. “So what’s going on?”

“We have evidence suggesting foul play was involved in Jevanna Waters’ accident,” Wells told David. “We believe someone ran her off the road.” David looked at Kate, shock registering across his face. “That’s a nasty bump on your head?” Wells commented.

Shadows from the living room darkened his bruises even more, giving him a monstrous guise. “I fell off a ladder.”

Wells leaned to look out the window. “What kind of vehicle do you drive?”

Kate came around the counter, uncomfortable about the direction of Wells’ questioning.

“A 2005 Ford pickup,” David replied.

“It definitely wasn’t David’s truck I saw last night,” Kate interjected.

Ted kept his vision locked on David. “You mind if we take some photos of your tires?”

David crossed his arms curtly. “No.” He waved his hand for them to lead the way. “Go right ahead.” He shot Kate a hard look and then led everyone outside to Mr. Burton’s driveway where he’d parked his truck. Mr. Burton, noticing the company in his driveway, came back out to join them.

While Ted snapped photos of the tires on David’s midnight blue truck, David, Wells, Kate, and Mr. Burton made small talk in the garage next to a 1968 Thunderbird. The garage reeked of something putrid and Kate looked around, discovering the shelves along the walls were propped with stuffed raccoons, owls, marmots, and a coyote, their glass eyeballs mimicking the frozen state of shock they must have endured before their unfortunate encounter with Mr. Burton’s rifle. The large head of a deer hung above the garage door, and although it was cold and wet outside, Kate moved toward the opening in the garage, preferring cool, night air to the stares of dead critters.

“You’re wasting your time,” Mr. Burton snapped at Wells. “David is as good as you can get!”

Wells seemed unbothered by his comments and smiled politely, folding his arms across his midriff and rocking back and forth on the heels of his boots.

“It’s okay, Mr. Burton,” David said, glancing at Wells and then to Kate. “I have nothing to hide.”

“I appreciate your cooperation,” Wells said to David. He gave Mr. Burton a stern look. Turning to Kate, Wells said, “What’s your schedule like this week?” She frowned at him, prompting an explanation. “It might be a good idea to get out of town or at least stay with a friend.”

She looked over to David, who watched their house across the driveway. A light was on in one of the rooms upstairs. Kate didn’t remember having turned it on.

“Do you have anywhere that you can stay for a few days?” Wells asked Kate.

“Maybe.” But Kate didn’t want to put anyone else in danger, or widen the distance already growing between her and David.

“She’s safe with me, Detective.”

Wells turned to David. “You can’t protect twenty-four-seven.” He looked back to Kate. “I hope you’ll consider it. Anything you can do to alter your routine, the better. This person obviously knows where you live. You’d be a lot safer doing things at different times and at different places.”

Kate felt exposed, like a deer in headlights, oblivious to the dangers stalking her—the hunter, hunting her.

“You think Kate’s life is in danger?” David asked Wells.

“I’ve learned the hard way not to take chances.” Wells pulled his shirt up, revealing a large semi-circular scar in his side where a bullet had once threatened his life. “I assumed innocence in the wrong person.”

“You’re a lucky man,” David said. “Looks like it sliced through your subclavian arteries. Bleed a lot?”

Wells’ face lit up, perhaps having temporarily forgotten about David’s profession. “Oh yeah, everywhere. Lost my heartbeat on the way to the hospital.”

“Those aren’t the good nights.”

Mr. Burton slapped David on the shoulder. “He’s a true life saver, this one here.” He shuffled closer and pointed a shaky finger at Wells.

“Just last month, he saved some young boy down at the river. Would have drowned if it weren’t for David.”

Wells tipped a salute to him.

“I think I have all we need,” Ted said, walking back to the group.

Wells turned to Kate. “I’ll be in touch. If you need anything, or think of anything else, don’t hesitate to call.” He shook her and David’s hands, thanked Mr. Burton for his time, and then he and Ted walked back to the patrol car. Mr. Burton thanked Kate for helping him the other night before he ventured back inside to finish watching his news program.

Alone in the garage, David moved closer to Kate. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah. I’m upset, but for some reason, after all that we’ve discovered lately, it makes more sense to me now.” She remembered what time it was, having been surprised by David’s early arrival. “You came home early.”

“We had an extra guy tonight, so I took some time off.”

Something seemed to weigh on him. “What is it?” Kate asked.

“I’ve been doing a little research,” he said, putting his hands into his pocket and shifting slightly away from her. “I went to the library and found out someone died in our house.”

“What? Why?”

“If we’re being haunted, then it only makes sense that it’s probably because someone died in the house. Maybe unjustly.” He handed her a piece of paper from his pocket.

Cautiously, Kate opened it, a picture of a young girl with long brown hair, approximately late twenties. She sat on a bench, smiling, wearing a green dress. “Who is this?”

“Her name was Mary Stevens. She died in the upstairs room of our house, the one where the window keeps opening.”

A chill swept over Kate and the eyes of the dead animals in Mr. Burton’s garage seemed to blink at her, with a lifeless, vacant gaze, like the girl in the photo. Kate stuffed the paper back in David’s hand.

“This is crazy, David.”

“I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve learned that spirits can enter a house through windows and doors. That window upstairs keeps opening up on its own, despite what we do to keep it closed.”

“What about a real person? Jesus, David! The police were over here tonight to tell me someone ran Jev off the road. Someone killed my sister.”

He looked outside at the rain drumming on the hood of his truck. It seemed like he never looked her in the eye anymore.

“I’m sorry, Kate. I really am. But this girl is the same girl I saw walking up the stairs last week.” He threw his hands in the air. “I’m not denying that someone may be following you, and I’m deeply concerned for you, Kate. But I’m telling you, I think the paranormal activity in our house is related to your sister’s death, somehow.”

Kate stepped back. The rain splattered at the back of her head.

“What if it is the same person who killed Mary Stevens?” David asked her.

“Even so, David, what does she have to do with Jev? How would Jev even know about her?”

“Maybe she discovered the woman’s killer?”

Kate shook her head. It wasn’t right. She couldn’t listen anymore. It was senseless to argue with him. She remembered what Jev had said to her about moving in with him, ‘You’ve only known him a short while, Kate. Do you really know him well enough to move in with him?’ At the time, Kate thought Jev was just being overly protective of her little sister. Now, she questioned if she had been right.

“I can’t do this anymore, David. I’m dealing with something I don’t know how to make sense of, and your talk of ghosts is only making it worse for me.” She stepped fully into the rain. “Maybe we moved in together too soon. I thought we knew each other well enough. I thought there was a connection between us, but I don’t know anymore.”

“Kate, we both want the same thing,” David urged. “We can work this out.”

Deep down, she wanted to believe him. She wanted to run into his arms, but how could she open up to him when he didn’t even understand the real threat she faced—that someone who’d murdered her sister was now after her? “I’m sorry, David.” She turned and ran into the house to get her purse. When she came back out, David was gone. The rain drenched her face, hiding sour tears of regret.

***

The night loomed dark and cold, swallowing Kate into its blackness. Once out of the neighborhood, she headed for town. The beat of the windshield wipers gave her thoughts order, basic like a pulse, as she drove through the desolate streets of the city. The blurry beads of rain on the windshield were similar to the ruminations in her mind, the fear that her sister’s murder was following her, but she didn’t know where or who to turn to. David wasn’t a reliable source of security anymore, as he focused on poltergeists, instead of the stalker who followed her.