“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.”
“Just as I said. He’s a serial killer and he’s going to strike again.”
“Trusting your…your psychic instincts is one thing. Thinking a ghost is still out there murdering people.” He shakes his head again. “Come on, kid, you don’t really believe that, do you?”
“The spirits have spoken,” I say, doing my best not to cringe at myself, feeling like I’m back at the little round table, dressed in a black Victorian dress, working as a medium-for-hire. “Sorry. And I do. I told you, I’ve seen his spirit and I know it’s bound to this place because he followed me home.”
“I’ve watched those ghost adventuring shows. That happens sometimes, and it doesn’t make the ghosts capable of murder. They walk through walls. How can they strangle—never mind.”
“That event…he’ll find it. Unless…” I trail off, not finishing that sentence withwe’re able to hack into a bird cam and burn a corpseand look up at the house. Chaotic, angry energy radiates from it, making me shiver. For years, Stuart guarded this place, scaring off anyone who could reveal his secret.
“The event has rented space at Central Park in Paradise Valley,” Officer Maxwell says. “It’s standard to have officers at any events that take place downtown. Best I can do is say we’ve heard of some threats by religious zealots. How’s that? In this day and age, those kinds of things are taken seriously.”
“Yeah, I know. But you can’t shoot a ghost.”
“But a ghost can strangle someone?”
“It’s complicated, but yes,” I sigh. “I don’t want to see people get hurt. This event is a disaster waiting to happen.”
“Look, say I bought your crazy theory. But we can’t cancel something like this without reason.”