Read Carol Shenold - Tali Cates 02 - Bloody Murder Online

Authors: Carol Shenold

Tags: #Mystery: Paranormal - Ghost - Texas

Carol Shenold - Tali Cates 02 - Bloody Murder (2 page)

BOOK: Carol Shenold - Tali Cates 02 - Bloody Murder
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“I know so. It left trace signatures.”

“It? Why not he or she? And how would you know?”

“If it were a demon, it could be male, female, or bi,” said my sixty-year-old mother.

“Thanks for that image. I suppose Amen Ka and Chung Po have been filling you in?”

“Actually, they went on vacation. I’ve had to use other sources, most inconvenient. I told them in the future they’d have to plan their vacations so they weren’t both gone at the same time. Chung Po returned today.”

I laughed out loud. “Okay, this is beyond anything. Do they go to a Club Med for spirits? Dance and drink umbrella drinks? Sit in the sun in Mexico? Are we really talking about spirits on vacation?”

The look on Mumsie’s face told me it was time to stop talking.

“Talihina Marie Cates, you will not treat me or the spirits with disrespect, especially this time of year. I taught you better than that, even if I didn’t think you were ready for the whole truth.”

“And what is the whole truth, Mumsie?”

She looked at me in silence for an entire minute. “You’re still not ready,” she said as she got up and walked out of the living room.

* * * *

This Halloween promised to be interesting since Sean and his best buddy, Rusty, wanted to shop together for costumes. No telling what they’d come up with. They had plans for taking over the town and having the best Halloween ever. That’s what they told me all the way to the discount store to look for costumes. First, I suggested we look at a thrift store and they could dress up like hobos or something.

Sean nixed the idea first. “Mom, you can’t expect us to show up in some baby, home-made costume. That’s so lame. I’m not nine anymore, you know.”

“He’s right, Mrs. C. We have to have something scary, gory, and none of that dorky pirate stuff either, right, bro?”

“Right? Mom?”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, guys, I don’t care what you wear. But, make sure you can see where you’re going, and people can see you coming so they don’t run you down. Sean, you have a budget, so show me prices before you choose something. Rusty, you know how much your mom gave you.”

I pulled up in front of the Val-U-Mart, let the boys out, and drove around to find a parking spot. The big, sprawling super center was too large, too bright, and too noisy. Sometimes when things were crowded, I got impressions, flashes of memory from people around me. Normally I had to touch an object to get an idea what happened around it. In crowds this intense, my gifts became unpredictable, and I might see something that made no sense, that I didn’t want to see.

I walked into the store. Sensory overload kicked in before I’d passed the checkout stands. I put murder and dead bodies out of my head to concentrate on the living. There was nothing I could do about Marcia except burst into tears, which would upset the kids and me and not help anyone.

Crying children, yelling Moms, recorded music, deli scents combined into a symphony of discord. Finding the Halloween section was not difficult with the ten-foot mummy pointing the way, singing “Monster Mash” and “Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun.” An aisle of candy beckoned—giant-size bags, individually wrapped goodies, and treat bags large enough to double as pillowcases. The next group of shelves displayed little kid costumes like Tigger, Pooh, pumpkins, bumblebees, and all kinds of cute outfits for your baby or toddler to wear long enough to take that darling “First Costume” picture before they pitched a fit to get out of it.

Teen and adult costumes went for the obscene, sacrilegious, gross, or movie knock-off, lots of Scream masks and Captain Sparrow swords. At least my daughter, Cass, wasn’t showing any interest in costumes this year. All the female costumes were cut down to—and up to—areas I’d just as soon she didn’t show in public.

Rusty found a werewolf mask that looked like the Lon Chaney creature from the 1940’s movie. Sean was fascinated by a vampire mask with a pump that made the fangs look like they dripped blood. Being small for his age helped with costumes because he was still in kid sizes. We located a cape with tuxedo to go with the mask.

“Why vampires and werewolves?” I asked, setting myself up for ridicule. “The pirate costumes look really good with the boots and swords. Girls love it.”

Wrong thing to say.

“Girls,” they said together, in a tone of voice indicating they had been hit with a steaming pile of unnamed substance.

“Mom. We want something real. Pirates are all Disney—Captain Hook and Tinker Bell. Vampires are real, I’ve been reading all about them on the internet. They even have… well, they’re cool.”

Whatever Sean had been about to tell me, Rusty shut down with a glance and shake of the head. I’d have to get Sean alone to pry it out of him. The good-old-boy network was alive and well at ten and eleven. God help us when they grew up. Once again, I wished Sean hadn’t latched onto Rusty as a best friend. He wasn’t a truly bad kid but he was the one who’d talked Sean into trying to steal a gumball machine from the Laundromat last summer. I didn’t trust the kid. He reminded me of the one on “Leave it to Beaver” who always told the mom how nice she looked. Where Sean was all bones and angles, Rusty was stocky and redheaded. Somehow, the brains and brawn thing worked with them.

I waited in the checkout line while the boys went ahead to check out something in the sports logos specialty shop. I reached forward to push a costume farther down the conveyor belt as the person in front of me reached back, and we touched hands. It was like touching ice. I had a flash of cold red so strong I staggered, grabbed the edge of the counter, and waited for the black spots to clear. My ears roared, drowning out all sound. What the hell was that? I looked around. The person in front of me gathered his sacks to go and still had his back to me. Maybe I hadn’t touched the guy after all.

“Miss. Are you okay? You look pale. Should you sit down?”

I shook my head at the checkout girl, who looked at me as if I’d grown horns or something, and shoved the packages forward, straining to watch the person I’d touched. He left the store before I got a good look.

My knees shook as we walked to the PT Cruiser I’d just bought to replace my old car. That car had never recovered from ending up in the ditch during a flash flood a couple of months earlier.

I couldn’t figure out what I’d touched that affected me so strongly. How weird was that? Another strange part of the long day, and it wouldn’t be over for hours, since I now had to go to the Country Club for the blood drive.

 

Chapter Two

I’d organized the food and everything with Renée. The ballroom had become the blood donor center with several stations for blood draws, testing, vital signs, and actual donation. All I had to do was look like a vampire to go along with the theme “Blood with a Bite.” The tee shirt every donor would receive had a picture of a vampire on a cot donating blood, with the theme in red, dripping letters. In the reception area, our long table groaned with gourmet snacks so all the donors could build up their strength before and after giving their all, or at least a pint. We had a DJ, in case a few people wanted to dance in the dining room or sit at the tables instead of balancing food on small plates.

My costume, a Morticia Adams long black dress with a high slit, clung all the way down, trailing sleeves, trailing skirt, deep v-cut neck. A long black wig covered my kinky auburn hair, and pale makeup turned my olive skin white. Eyeliner, red lipstick, and I was ready. The red spike heels were actually comfortable and looked sexy. The split skirt allowed me to walk and even drive in comfort.

I slinked my way through the donor room to the food table. Renée and Cherilyn Masters—my other best friend from high school—were already there, finishing the arrangement of snacks on the trays. We’d assembled the usual suspects—tortilla rolls, chips with hot queso dip and guacamole, cheese and cracker assortments. Another table held fresh fruit, taquitos, fresh salsa, sopapillas, pita sandwiches, and on to the sweets like fruit pizza and chocolate tarts. No one would faint away after this spread. Renée had outdone herself again.

“Very sexy,” Cherilyn said. “I like you in black and white.”

“Well, look at you, Misses Vampiras.”

Cherilyn wore her long blonde hair straight to her waist. Her red dress dipped to the waist in the back and plunged not quite as far in front, while Renée wore a red-and-black laced Victorian dress complete with choker. Her curly red hair framed her head and set off the exotic makeup she wore.

Renée moved behind a smaller table full of wines with exotic Vampyre Blood labels we had specially made. “A little blood with that cheese?” She giggled, pouring the red wine in glasses. We toasted each other.

“Now what happened at the amphitheatre?” Cherilyn asked. “No one is making sense. Mrs. Litchen, one of the librarians, talked about vampires. I told her she had the blood drive on the brain. There’s no such thing as a vampire, except at this function. That woman is so bizarre. Why do we let her around our kids? Oh yeah, she’s the only one who wants the job.”

Renée shivered. “I heard Marcia’s body was drained of blood and there were marks on her neck.”

“The coroner is going to have to decide how Marcia was killed. I couldn’t tell much from looking except it was awful.” It was my turn for the willies when I thought about the shriveled, mummy-like look of the body. “All I know is she is dead, one of the Queen contestants is now without a mom, and part of the blood we donate tonight will be given in memoriam of Marcia.”

Renée looked at me. “Ewww. That’s kind of gross, isn’t it?”

“Not any more gross than donating an organ. People do that all the time.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to establish a fund for Kimmie?” Renée suggested. “For her education or something?”

“That would be good too. Cherilyn, what if you put something in the paper about it?”

“I’d better check with Don Baker first. He might consider it interfering or charity. He’s a little stiff-necked, you know. Remember when he was in the hospital after the accident, after he fell off the roof? A bunch of us got a collection together for food. He was livid. He thought we considered him a charity case.”

“Right. Good thinking. But speaking of Don, the argument Marcia had with Karin this afternoon made it sound as if Marcia was cheating on him. When she fought with Karin, it sounded as if they were fighting over the same guy. I don’t get it.”

I looked around the room to see what was going on. People had come in droves, more for snacks than anything. They all gave blood and signed the card for Marcia on the small table that also held her picture.

Cherilyn shook her head. “Small town gossip, who knows who was cheating on whom and if any of that had to do with the murder? I suppose we’ll find out in time but I’m not sure I want to know—not how my fearless leader will feel. Laurel will want all the dirt.”

Oh, yeah, Laurel McIntyre, editor of the local paper, President of the County Fair board—and a rival for JT’s attention. She’d be on my case for sure, as if
I
caused the murder to happen on the fairgrounds.

I felt someone next to me and turned to say something to Cherilyn. Instead, I stood still, looking into the deepest golden brown eyes I’d ever seen. The face wasn’t bad either, once I tore my gaze away from his eyes and assessed the rest of the man standing next to me. He stood taller than I did with a wiry build that said strength without showing muscle. His eyes were kind but guarded. You couldn’t say that about his mouth, which looked ready to be kissed, and his shoulder-length hair screamed to have fingers run through it.

That thought alone sent such strong waves of anticipation through me, I came close to cracking my knees on the back of the table.

He held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Aiden.”

“Um… I’m Tali.” I thrust a plate in his hand, my eyes never leaving his face.
What is wrong with me
, I thought, ripping my eyes away from his and focusing somewhere above his head. “Did you give already? Have some snacks.” He took the plate and seemed amused by my reaction.

I
was not. My God, you’d think I was some giddy, hormonal teen-ager the way I’d reacted to an attractive man.

A crowd of people attacked the table and I lost track of him. Renée and Cherilyn both tried to catch my eye. I concentrated on putting everyone, especially the mesmerizing man, out of my mind. I focused on food and all the people building up their strength from giving blood or in anticipation of giving.

An hour later, I took a break and went to find a soft drink. My stomach hadn’t recovered enough to drink or eat anything solid. I still saw the body if I let my mind wander unchecked.

“Tali.”

Oh, shit. “Laurel.”

“I thought you were working the food table.” She looked at my soft drink as if to say,
get back to work
.

“I am, was. I’m taking a short break.”

Laurel wore the typical long black vampire dress and white makeup accented with a long shaggy wig. “Don’t wait too long. Things could get backed up. Also, we need to talk about what happened at the fairgrounds later.”

“I’ll watch it.” What was she going to do, fire me if I look too long a break?

Once Laurel saw I wasn’t going to respond or fight, she wandered off.

I finished my soda and went back to the food area, ready to let the rest of the girls take breaks.

I gasped and came to a screeching halt when Aiden suddenly and silently appeared at my side. “Hi, you startled me.”

“I sometimes have that affect.” His eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. “I wanted to talk to you. You are the most beautiful woman. Are you attached to someone?”

“Not like permanently. Thank you for the compliment.”

“It’s true. Can you come and talk to me?”

“I have to help in the other room. Maybe I could find you later?” I looked up into his eyes—an interesting experience, looking up, since so many guys were shorter than I was. Trouble was, when I looked into
his
eyes I wanted to follow him anywhere.

Right now.

I shook my head and waved before I moved away toward the other girls. I looked back. He was watching me walk away, a small smile on his face.

BOOK: Carol Shenold - Tali Cates 02 - Bloody Murder
2.48Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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