Linda Welch - A conspiracy of Demons (24 page)

I watched his gaze flip from mine to Royal’s faces, his furtive gestures as his hands strayed over the desktop, never
still, never
settling on anything.

“And Mel?”

“My
brother’s
wife was the store manager at Smitty’s in Ogden, the one
which
used to be on Fifteenth
. It
was pure coincidence
he
was there to give her a ride home and
overheard
the girl
talking to a friend
on the phone
. She said she found something enormous in
Cla
y Basin
, she’d tell her friend when she l
eft work, before she reported it
.”

Coincidence. How many times had I heard that? Wrong time, wrong place, and an innocent dies.
I b
riefly shut my eyes
before looking back at Mallory.
Maybe Jack
lost track of time and rushed to get home before dark. Mel
collected
samples of native flora.
It’s more likely she
enthused
over
a rare plant and “reporting it
” meant telling her botany professor about her find.
Mallory killed two innocent people for no reason.

Except I didn’t think he did.
I
recognize
a
“tell” when I see it, and Mallory’
s body language was one, big,
tell.
Oh, he knew about the murders and what led up to them, but I thought he got th
e details from the real killer.

“
What did you do with their bodies?”

He hesitated, then said, “Burned them and scattered the ashes. There’s nothing to find.
”

The shock had worn off and
his brain
clicked
back in gear
.
He knew I could point the cops at Hogan’s body, but not that I knew where Jack’s and Mel’s remains were hidden.
He didn’t know I talked to shades
only
at the scenes of their death and
my pals’
bodies were not burned.
To his mind,
no bodies, no
evidence, hence his tale of burning them.
And the victim’s ghosts couldn’t testify in court.

He knew we had him for Taft’s murder, but thought we couldn’t pin the others on him without evidence.

Did he know what happened to my roommates?
In any case, I didn’t think he killed them. Who
did he protect
?
Not his father, the man died four years ago.
A close friend? Another family member?

My mouth popped open.
His
brother
heard Mel talk to her friend.
Tom
, who went to South Africa ten years ago and made a new life there.

I stared at
Mallory
, tapping my chin with
two fingers
, not
actually
seeing him.

What a pickle.

Suppose I went to Mike Warren with this? He and several detectives
kne
w of my interest in Jack’s and Mel’s disappearance. I can’t remember the excuse I gave, maybe that cold cases concerning missing persons intrigued me. I wanted the brother to suffer for what he did, but if they did rake up evidence after all these years, could they get him out of South Africa?
I had
an idea getting extradition for Tom would not be easy, if at all possible, not with the way the S
outh African government operated
.

And everything led back to the same dilemma: nothing could be proven unless I told Mike the
entire
story
. He kn
ew I spoke
to shades where they died,
so
I couldn’t deny I knew wh
ere the bodies were buried.
He’d
have
Jack
’s
and
Mel’s bodies
exhumed from my basement.

I should do it.
Friends do
no
t keep friends in the dark and
my roommates deserved justice, even if I ended up in jail. But would it help them on a personal level?
How would they feel,
knowing Coleman didn’t kill them, they had no say in when they passed over and it could happen
at
any time
?
I
saw
them spending the rest of their
e
arthbound days scared of a big bang coming
from
nowhere, a dazzling light, a tunnel stretching to eternity.

A headache threatened, little pulsing fingers on the side of my brow. Jack and Mel were
not
my children, I couldn’t
decide for them
. I couldn’t hide what
they had the right to know. I had to
tell them, and ask what the
y wanted to do
.

Meanwhile.

“
Mallory,
it’s ten-twenty. I’ll call the cops in
three
hour
s
. Make it easy on yourself. Go to
Clarion PD
and
confess
to manslaughter
.
”
I got to my feet and
joined
Royal. “We’re done here.”

Behind me, Mallory’s chair shifted. “
If I don’t
?”

“I’
m giving you a break. Don’t make them hunt you down and interrogate you, you won’t enjoy their methods.”

Royal and I left the office without a backward glance.
We stood together in the elevator. “
I don’t think he’ll run,” I said quietly.

“
He does not have it in him.
He will take a c
hance on a jury showing leniency
.”

“And they
likely
will
unless the State P
rosecutor decides to go for a murder charge
.
But
Taft Hogan has been underground for twenty-six years. I have no idea if forensic science will find anything.”

“It depends on the cadaver’s condition.”
Royal touched my elbow.
“What are you up to, Tiff?”

I looked at him from beneath my lashes. “What do you mean?”

“You gave him the option to turn himself
in for
the
manslaughter of
Taft Hogan. You said nothing about Jack and Mel.
A
s if you do not want their murders to come to light.”

I squinched my shoulder
s
together. “It’s not that. I have to talk to them. If they want justice, then I’ll tell Mike everything. I’ll take whatever he throws at me for ke
eping their deaths quiet, letting
their bodies
remain
in the
basement for years. But
I don’t think he killed them. Did you see the body language?”

“He i
s hiding something.”

“Obviously. Jack’s and Mel’s bodies weren’t burned.
He thought since he’d go down for Taft’s murder anyway, he’d take the fall for Jack’s and Mel’s murder and protect whoever killed them. Then he realized he can plead manslaughter for Taft, and if evidence of my friends’ murders doesn’t exist he need not admit to them, hence the story
of burning their bodies. It wasn’t Coleman;
I think
Rusty’s
brother
killed them
.
”

We stepped
from
the elevator and walked past Reception. Royal held the door open for me. We strolled to his pickup.

“I have one question,” he said as we buckled our seat
belts.

I gave him my full attention.

“Was I suitably menacing?”

I laughed through my nose.
“Oh yeah. You scared the heck out of me.”

We drove away from the plant.

“Home?” Royal asked.

I had to talk to Jack and Mel.
“Yeah,” I sighed.

We
drove
through
the industrial estate, headed
to
town and turned
toward the canyon. Traffic going to and from t
he
valley made the canyon busy
. People towing flat
beds loaded with ATVs and camping gear
headed
up to hunt, SUVs and pickups hauled trailers and fifth wheelers, bringing them down from the mountains to stow in storage for the winter. We got stuck behind an ancient pickup which chugged along and ignored the unwritten law of the mountains
,
that if you
are slow and
more than five vehicles
are stuck
behind
you
, you pull
over and let them pass.
Royal couldn’t do anything, the narrow road didn’t allow for passing, but I seethed. I should be used to the holdups,
but there i
s nothing like crawling behind a fume-belching auto for raising your ire.
I am not a patient woman.

The truck continued on at the top of the canyon, while we
took a
left across the spillway. Royal
parked outside my house twenty minutes later.
Jack and Mel stood at the window. They waved as I climbed out of the pickup. My feet felt weighted with lead as I carried Mac inside.

I didn’t want to do this. I wished I didn’t have to.
“You s
ure you want to be here
?” I asked Royal.

He cinched his hands around my back and rested his mouth on my hair.
“Not
at all
. B
ut
from now on, where you go, I go
.”

Not again. This was getting old.
My hands brushed up his spine to his shoulder blades.
My fing
ers dug
in
his shoulders
. “You’re right, w
e should stick together. Where I go, you go.”

I felt his mouth widen in a smile. “Good.”

“And where you go, I go. Right?”

“Right.” His arms stiffened. “Although, there are times when - ”

“
You know you’re
head
ing
into danger,
but go anyway?
I’m right there
with
you.”

“And I am an E
nforcer for the High House. When Bel-Athaer calls
- ”

“I’ll have your back, babe.”

He made a l
ow noise in his throat. “That i
s not what I meant.”

“It is
n’t? Oh.” I pulled my head back and looked
in
his simmering eyes. “No, you
mean
t
it’s one set of rules for you, another for me. It doesn’t work like that, Royal.”

“Ti
ff, you are being unreasonable.
This is different.”

“No it’s not. I don’t like double standard
s
in our relationship.”

“It is different because you mean the world to me.”

Damn
, he had to play that card. But it
would not
work.

Okay, enough.
I
slipped
from
his
arms. “I have to talk to Jack and Mel.”

He
stood
there
looking angry and uncertain, but I couldn’t help that. I
sat at the kitchen table and
directed
my gaze
at
Jack and Mel, who hovered in the corner lapping up the conv
ersation.

“Hey, guys. Come over here, will you?
Take a seat.
”
I indicated the chairs on the other side of the table.

I didn’t like being at od
ds with Royal, seeing him
upset, b
ut honestly, we ha
d been through this so many times before and would never agree.

He watched me a moment longer, then slapped palms to hips, spun on his heel and strode
to
the living room.

My roommates zipped over and lowered
to
chairs
facing me across the table.