Bone Island 01 - Ghost Shadow (26 page)

“What?” David said blankly. Her words were so assured and natural. “Katie-”

“You’re going to walk out on me, David. But you have to believe me.”

“Katie, I don’t understand you. Your words about Danny are making sense, but…you had a nightmare.”

“No. It wasn’t just a nightmare. I-I see things that other people don’t, David.”

It was late; she’d been through a lot.

“Katie, we all have nightmares and dreams. And sometimes, they’re good and they help us. You have a lot on your mind. We’re pretty damned sure that the truth is in the past. Your mind was working while you were sleeping, and what you’re saying might be right.”

She took his face between her hands. “David…I’m…I care about you so much. And that’s why I have to say this. You can leave if you think I’m crazy. I see-I see the dead. When they remain. Not all the dead-some do pass on immediately. But I-I see ghosts. And I’m telling you because you have to listen to me and believe me now. I see ghosts.”

He was dismayed by the harshness in his voice, but he was worried about her. “Great. Ask them all who killed them.”

She rose, stepping away from him. “They don’t know. Sean has always warned me to keep my mouth shut. You don’t believe me.”

He couldn’t bear the distance between them. He stood, walking to her. She backed away, but he caught her and pulled her close.

“Katie-”

“You don’t believe me.”

“Katie, that’s a lot to take in suddenly. Please, you have to realize that.”

“It’s all right. I understand. You think I’m…not right.”

“Katie, I think everything about you is right. Do I believe in ghosts? I don’t know-that’s asking a lot. But do I believe in you? My God, yes, Katie, please… Let me digest some of this, huh?”

She was tense. So tense, she was like a piano wire pulled taut.

“Let me just give it all to you then.”

“What?”

“There’s a fellow named Bartholomew. He was a pirate-no, no, a privateer. He’s-he’s been hanging around a long time. He was hanged for something that he didn’t do. It was your ancestor who came back and indignantly saw to it that the real culprit, Eli Smith, was hanged, as well. That’s when Smith cursed the Becketts. David, please, the killer really means to have his revenge on you. I can’t really communicate with all ghosts, but Bartholomew has been around a very long time. He’s very good at being a ghost.”

He didn’t reply. It was crazy.

He’d seen the pages of the ledger move. He’d been drawn to it, as if a force was trying to make him understand, help him.

“Katie, I can’t just…I can’t just…”

“I understand.” She was trying to slip away.

He really didn’t understand, but he didn’t give a damn. He would try.

“Katie…”

She must have heard something in his voice. The words he couldn’t express. Suddenly, she eased, and she fell against him.

He held her with strength and warmth, smoothing her hair back.

“Don’t patronize me?” she pleaded.

“I swear, I’m not. I don’t know what I believe…but…”

She looked up at him.

“Katie, I believe in you,” he whispered again.

Sean was awake, back out at Katie’s desk, working at her computer, when David came downstairs in the morning. He had showered and dressed quietly, not wanting to wake her, although a glance at the bedside clock had informed him that they’d slept until well past two in the afternoon.

That happened, he decided, when you finally had some sleep when the light was coming up.

“Morning,” Sean said, hearing David come down and head over to him. He looked up at David. “Or afternoon,” he said dryly.

“Yeah, it’s late. Have you been up long?”

“Only half an hour,” Sean said. “Did you put the coffee on a timer last night?” he asked. “If you were the one who did it, your timing was perfect.”

“No. Katie seems to have it rigged to start in the morning.”

“Just to be brewed fresh when the first person makes it down the stairs. And I sure didn’t wake up in the morning. Odd,” Sean mused.

“She must have set it. Great plan, in my opinion,” David said. He felt they had a great deal more to worry about than coffee. “I’m going to my place. Danny Zigler had three books on his table when-when I checked out his place. I had Katie get me the same books from the library. I’m going to my place to read. When Katie gets up, want to bring her over?”

Sean nodded at him, studying him. “Sure. I won’t let her come alone. I promise you that!”

David thanked him. Sean locked him out of the house.

The newspaper lay on the front lawn. The headline blazed, Local Found Murdered and Decomposing in Festivity Decoration.

David read the article quickly. There was nothing there, except for the facts he already knew. Danny Zigler had been found, his body in a bad state of decomposition. The body had been removed to the Monroe County Medical Examiner’s office for autopsy.

He started to leave with the newspaper, but then decided not to do so. Danny had been murdered; his body had been discovered. By Katie. Her seeing the story wasn’t going to change what had taken place. They’d both see the bloated remains of Danny Zigler in their minds for years to come, he was certain.

He reached his house and opened the door right when he heard wheels in the drive. He turned around to see that Liam was pulling into the driveway.

David walked to the driver’s side of the car. “Anything?” he asked.

“No answers,” Liam told him. “But we’re getting help. The streets will be filled with our own force tonight, and with officers down from Miami-Dade. The chief is considering canceling a lot of the events, the commissioners are going crazy and Pete has been nuts, prowling the streets.”

“It’s a good force. Your chief is a good guy-he’s been up the ladder, he’s local and he intends to make it the best force in the world, as he says,” David said.

“He put through a call to the FBI. We’re supposed to have a team of agents and profilers down here by the start of next week,” Liam said. He winced. “Some folks aren’t happy about that. We were the Conch Republic, briefly. Some of the guys are convinced we could have solved it all ourselves, but the chief says that pride isn’t worth a life. Anyway, I was actually headed to Katie’s place, looking for you. I’m going up to the M.E.’s office. Danny’s autopsy is scheduled.”

“Is that an invitation?”

“You hitchhiking?” Liam asked.

“Hell, yes.”

He got into the car. “Thanks.”

Katie woke with a start. She had been deeply asleep, but when she woke, she remembered the dream.

And that she had told David that-ghosts came to her.

He hadn’t believed her. Neither had he walked away. She had told him about Bartholomew. He hadn’t said that she was stark, raving mad.

She shivered, remembering herself as the corpse of Elena de Hoyos.

Maybe it meant nothing. No, it meant that two women had already been left that way!

They always came back to the hanging tree.

That was what was important, she thought.

When she came downstairs, she didn’t see David, but Sean was at the computer. She thought that he was working. But he was looking up sites on the Internet. Sites that had to do with Key West.

“Hey. Where’s David?” she asked.

“He went to his place. He wanted to read through the books that Danny Zigler had apparently been reading,” Sean told her. He rose and stretched, pushing away from the computer chair. “You know, just a few years ago, they dug up seven bodies from the cemetery, trying to match them with DNA to missing persons cases.”

“I remember, vaguely.”

“And you know where most of our investigations into unnatural deaths are centered?”

“Accident victims? Drunk drivers?” Katie asked, pouring coffee.

Sean said, “No. Drowning and diving and snorkeling accidents.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Katie said. “Sean, what are you trying to do?”

He shook his head with disgust. “Find anything that we don’t know about Tanya’s murder. Instead, I think I’ve just become a walking encyclopedia of trivia on my hometown.”

“Nothing we learn can ever hurt,” she told him.

Bartholomew took a seat at the computer. “Morning, Katie,” he said.

She ignored him. He was purposely trying to annoy Sean, she thought. He hit a computer key, and pages started flashing by.

“You really have to replace that thing, Katie,” Sean told her irritably. “Or is it the cable company? I think I had better service on the China Sea.”

“The Internet is great-when it works,” she said, staring at Bartholomew with a glare that meant, Behave!

“Sean,” she said to her brother, “I’m going to go on over to David’s.”

“All right. I’ll walk you.”

“It is broad daylight, and the streets are busy.”

“I’ll walk you.”

“All right, thank you.”

“I’ll walk you, too,” Bartholomew said. He stood up and fluffed her brother’s hair. Sean spun around, eyes narrowed.

“It’s just Bartholomew,” Katie said.

“What?” Sean demanded sharply.

She inhaled deeply. “Sean, for the love of God! You’re not blind, you’re not an idiot. I know you’ve spent your life afraid that people will think I’m crazy, and I get that! But you have to feel it, you have to have seen things move. Please, Sean, right now, it’s important that you believe in me!”

He rose. He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I don’t want to believe!” he whispered.

“Admit that there’s something!” she told him.

He held his breath; he let out a sigh. Bartholomew laughed, and tousled Sean’s hair again. Sean jumped.

“It’s Bartholomew, and-” Katie winced. “He’s my friend. He wants to help us, and maybe he can. Please, Sean, for once, and now, believe in me!”

Sean was still for a long moment. “Yes, there’s something in this house,” he said.

“Someone. It’s Bartholomew. He’s real, Sean.”

Her brother’s face was hard. Then he grated his teeth, and let out a long breath. “Bartholomew. All right. Bartholomew the ghost. Tell him that I have to be in love-and that I am heterosexual-to enjoy anyone messing with my hair,” Sean said.

“I’ve told you. He can hear you,” Katie said.

Bartholomew proudly made a mess of Sean’s hair again.

“Eh! Tell him to stop that,” Sean said. His eyes narrowed. “If he’s a damned ghost, why can’t he help us solve the killings?”

“He doesn’t know,” Katie said.

“Why doesn’t he just ask the other ghosts?”

“Sean, I’ve tried to explain. They don’t know.” She turned away from him. “I’m just going to grab a cup of coffee quickly, all right?”

“Sure. Then I’ll get you over there. I’m running up to my room for a minute. I’ll be right back down.”

She went to pour herself coffee. Bartholomew leaned against the counter casually. “So?”

“So what?”

“Danny Zigler has nothing?” he asked.

“Bartholomew, if I knew who the killer was, I’d be announcing it to the world.”

Bartholomew was thoughtful. “So, Danny was taken by surprise, from the back, just like the others. Odd, though. I have a feeling that Danny knows something.”

“He’s not a talkative ghost. Except for…”

“For?”

“Last night, I had a dream, or a nightmare, whichever way you want to look at it. Danny was in it, and so were Tanya and Stella. First, I asked him about the books and the money. He received a threatening call-to drop looking into the books. Then, he found the money under his doormat. I don’t think that the killer wanted to kill him, but finally felt that he had to. Oh! He saw Stella before she died. Maybe the killer thought that he might have seen something.”

“But he didn’t.”

“No.”

“Then?”

“I begged them to help me.”

“And?”

“We went on a ghost tour together.”

“Danny did enjoy giving a ghost tour,” Bartholomew said.

“The dream ended at the hanging tree. Bartholomew, you must know something more. Let’s say that we’re figuring this thing correctly. The killer is an islander. Someone with an old grudge, trying to relive a past they don’t even really know. Can you think of anything?”

“Hey, it’s not a descendant of mine!” Bartholomew said defensively. “I was avenged.”

“By David Beckett’s ancestor. But what about Smith?” she asked.

“Do you know a Smith?” he asked.

“No,” she said with a sigh. “But decades-almost two centuries-have gone by.”

“You don’t think that the ghost of Eli Smith has come back, do you? I’m telling you, I’m a dammed good ghost, and I couldn’t sneak up behind someone, smother them and then strangle them.”

“There’s no ghost. There’s a human being out there doing all this,” Katie said.

Sean came quickly back down the stairs. His hair had been brushed. “Ready?” he asked his sister.

She nodded.

Bartholomew followed as they left the house, waiting patiently as Sean made sure that he locked the door. Katie picked up the newspaper and read the headline.

“Anything?” Bartholomew asked.

“No. Just the facts we already know.”

“No what?” Sean asked.

“No, there’s nothing new on Danny,” Katie said.

“Bartholomew asked first, right?” Sean asked with a groan.

“Sean, he’s real,” she said softly.

Sean squeezed her arm. “I believe you. Well, I believe something, anyway. Let’s get this straight then. You’re there, Bartholomew? Quit being a horse’s ass! Flipping my hair around is really beneath your dignity.”

Bartholomew puffed himself up. Katie thought that he was going to explode with anger.

He didn’t. He laughed. “Tell Sean that he’s all right.”

Katie did so.

Sean lowered his head, hiding a smile. “Let’s go.”

They walked the few blocks to David’s house.

Sean knocked on the door, stepped back, frowned and rang the bell.

Katie did the same.

“He’s not here,” she said with dismay. “Or, he’s not opening the door if he is!”

“Katie, there’s this modern invention. It’s called a cell phone,” Sean reminded her.

“Funny,” she told her brother. She pulled her phone out and dialed David’s number. He answered before it seemed to ring.

“Katie,” he said, sounding as if he were aggravated with himself.

“Hey. Where are you?” she asked him.

“With Liam,” he said briefly. He groaned. “I should have gotten those books out and given them to you.”

“I can go back to the library. They might have more copies,” she said.

Sean nudged her, glaring at her. “Well? Where is he?” he asked.

“Indeed, where the hell is he?” Bartholomew asked.

She covered the phone. “With Liam.”

“Great,” Sean said.

“Katie, Danny had the books-and you found them for me at the library. I’m not sure how many more the library will have. They’re research books. Look, I probably won’t be more than a few hours.”

“I want to start reading now. It’s worth a try. I’ll go to the library.”

“Wait. You don’t need to do that. You still have keys to the family museum, right?”

“Yes.”

“You know the desk where you buy tickets and go through the stiles?” he asked her.

“Yes.”

“Third drawer down, under guidebooks with old prices. You’ll find house keys there. I’m really sorry, Katie. And don’t go anywhere alone.”

“It’s all right. Sean is with me,” she said.

“Sure. Sean loves walking around town when the sun is beating down like a mother!” Sean said.

She nudged him with an elbow. “Stop!”

“All right,” Sean told her. “Let’s go get the keys. And walk around some more.”

“We could have taken the car,” Katie said.

“Wonderful. Take the car to drive three blocks here and there-and spend an hour looking for parking.”

Katie laughed. “Bitch, bitch, bitch! David’s house has a driveway. We wouldn’t have had any trouble parking, but we’re not going far! Anyway, walking is good. Let’s go get the keys.”

“Katie? Katie?” David’s voice called to her from the other end of the line.

“I’m here, and as I said, I’m with Sean, and we’re going to go and get the keys to your house. What are you doing-exactly?” she asked.

There was silence for a minute.

Katie waited, but then she thought that she had lost him.

Then he answered.

“Autopsy,” he said briefly. “Be careful, Katie.”

“I’m with my brother. Everything will be fine,” she assured him.

David knew that sometimes people thought of the Keys as being backwoods. Laid-back meant slow.

But the facilities in the Keys were state-of-the-art. The department was small, and like most other agencies in the world, when faced with an anthropological question, human remains might be sent out across the country. But the autopsy facilities were sterling.

David was offered a mask by an assistant.

“Take it,” Liam advised him.

He wasn’t a cop, and so David kept his place in the background and remained silent.

The mask didn’t help much.

Danny’s body had been washed and cooled, but he still barely resembled a human. Gases had exploded through bloated skin and crevices, and his flesh was horribly mottled and discolored.

The medical examiner had a good, clear voice, and he offered facts and figures of the body’s appearance to Liam and two other officers who attended, and to the microphone above his head. He stated that due to lividity, the body was certainly left at an unknown location for some time; blood had pooled to the buttocks, shoulders, back, thighs and calves.