She Smells the Dead (4 page)

“That’s probably because she was the one who told me that in the first place,” he said with a laugh. He leaned up against the lab table and shuffled the stack of papers.

Holy heck
. I was so glad there wasn’t anything pertaining to my super-secret snooping in that stack.

Raising one eyebrow he lifted the stack of papers and asked, “Why the maps to the farm? You think I’d forget how to get us there?”

Us
?

“I didn’t know if you’d be busy later so I printed those for Emma,” I said thinking that I wouldn’t have to ask for a ride if I had my license. I was the last of my friends to get a driver’s license, but my inability to drive over bridges wasn’t scoring me any points on that front. Plus, what would I do if I were hit with a smell impression in the middle of driving. It was potentially dangerous and I was beginning to learn that, though it may sound cool,
Danger
was not my middle name.
Speaking of danger
.

“Um, Calvin I was thinking this search might get, you know, dangerous. It might be better if you came along with me instead of Emma,” I said trying not to sound too pleading. I was not going to beg Calvin Miller to drive me to the farm.
No way
.

“I’m surprised you don’t ask Garrett Hamlin,” he said sulkily looking down at his feet.

For a second I couldn’t quite catch my breath.
There was that wet dog smell again too
. He must have taken my non-answer as a rejection because he suddenly tossed the stack of papers on the table next to my keyboard and loped across the room in three easy strides.
Son of a dung beetle
. I quickly shut down the computer and tossed the papers into my open backpack. I ran for the hallway, my chunky boots clomping and squeaking loudly on the linoleum floor. Which way had he gone and how had he moved so silently?
Like a cat…or a wolf
.

I turned left on impulse and started down the hallway towards our lockers. I remembered learning the word left in Italian and how the word sinistra sounded like the word sinister. Emma and I had spent the day looking up old beliefs about left handed people being evil and she went into a major frenzy about human rights abuses in the dark ages. Yup, I was heading along the sinistra path since it seemed to match the direction this day was going.
Maybe I should have turned right
.

As I walked past the boy’s bathroom, just before our row of lockers, I heard a whimpering sound.
Oh no. Please no
. Was that Cal? If it was, did that mean Calvin Miller actually had a crush on me? Taking a deep breath and trying to clear my mind the way the yoga instructor taught us in the class Calvin had taken me to last year, I prepared myself to call his name. “Cal? Um, you in there?” I called tentatively. The sound echoed a bit and I cleared my throat to try again.
Less wimpy this time Yuki
.

“Calvin?” I called a bit louder this time. O.k. that was better but this was still awkward with a capital A.

“Mmm,” he answered.

It was really more of a sound than a word, but now I knew for sure he was in the boy’s bathroom.
Crying over me
.

“So uh, this is probably the most epically bad time to ask this but would you like to go to the homecoming dance with me?” I asked in my wimpy whisper voice. Cal may be a huge pain in my backside, but he was also one of my best friends. I realized that I had been pretty selfish lately focusing on my smell impressions and obsessing over starting senior year and had managed to hurt his feelings. I owed it to Calvin to try to make it up to him. That’s all this was, right?
So why was asking him to the dance so difficult
?

I didn’t want him to think it was just a pity date, though, so I tried to keep talking. “Remember that fab corset dress I found in Salem? The one I’ve been dying to wear?” I said sounding more normal. Keep it up Yuki. It was easier to talk about dresses than about why he was crying in the bathroom. “Well, I was hoping to wear it to the dance. So will you? Go to the dance with me?” I asked hoping he’d say yes.

“You don’t really want to go with me,” he said sniffing a bit, but sounding more like the normal Calvin.

“Of course I do!” I said putting my hands on my hips and suddenly realizing that I did want to go to the dance with Cal. “I want a date that will look just as fantabulous as that dress,” I said.
Now where had that come from
? He would look pretty amazing dressed up for the dance. Maybe I could even talk him into just a teensy bit of eyeliner to show off those gorgeous blue eyes of his.
Probably not
.

I heard water running and the paper towel dispenser clanking and the next second Calvin was standing in front of me. His left hand was rubbing his right bicep again and he looked a bit self conscious, but he wasn’t crying. In fact, he looked pretty amazing. When I cry my face goes all puffy and covered in red blotches. Calvin’s face was still tanned and perfect with shiny wet eyelashes and sparkling blue eyes.
I could get lost in those eyes
.

I must have been staring at him a bit too long because he took a shaky breath and raked his hand through his shaggy brown hair. His gorgeous silky, so totally not gelled into a helmet, hair.
Wow, what was up with me
? I suddenly wanted to run my fingers through his hair so bad my hands flexed. I quickly stuffed them into my pockets. Maybe vinegar and wet dog was an aphrodisiac.
Who would have suspected
?

“So do you still want me to pick you up later?” Calvin asked.

Later
? I was having a total brain freeze.
What was later
?

“To go out to the Green farm?” he asked clarifying and helping my brain resume function.

“Oh. Yeah. Totally. That would be great,” I stuttered.
Smooth one Yuki
. Then in one lightening fast move I stepped forward, gave Cal a hug, and ran down the hall to my locker. For once I had left Calvin Miller at a loss for words.

Chapter 9

As soon as I dumped my backpack on my bed after school, I grabbed my phone and called Emma. “I have a date for the homecoming dance,” I blurted out before she could say anything. I was so excited it came out all one word.
Ihaveadateforthehomecomingdance
.

“I should charge you both counseling fees,” she replied dryly.

“What?” I exclaimed wondering what she was talking about. Had Calvin called her already?

“I knew you and Calvin were going to hook up,” she said smugly. “You two are perfect for each other by the way.”

“Uh, well I’m not sure you could say we’ve hooked up, but we are going to the dance together,” I said wondering what Calvin had said to Emma. Maybe she’d spill if I gave her a few details of my own. “I hugged him!” I blurted.

“Yeah girl, I know. You nearly put the poor boy into cardiac arrest,” she said starting to laugh. “Is there a reason though why you suddenly changed your mind and had to ask Calvin to the dance while he was in the bathroom? Some secret toilet fetish I should know about?” she asked teasingly.

Son of a dung beetle
. Calvin had talked to her first and I’m sure he didn’t mention that he was crying in the bathroom. So I had asked a guy out to the dance while he was in the bathroom. It sounded weird even to me
and I was there
.

“O.k. then All Knowing One, what should I wear? Calvin is picking me up in an hour to go do recon at the Green farm and I have no idea how to dress,” I said starting to worry.

“Yuki, he likes you for who you are. Just be yourself. You know, wear lots of black and a pair of your big chunky boots. He’ll be swooning.” The last she said dramatically. “Lip gloss,” she added, “You want to look like you--but kissable.”

With a laugh Emma hung up leaving me staring at my reflection in the mirror and wondering if I even owned lip gloss. I looked down at my hands and decided to touch up my nail polish instead.
Maybe he’d want to at least hold my hand
.

Chapter 10

I ran out to meet Calvin in the driveway as soon as his truck came to a stop. Usually I make him come get me, but I wasn’t quite ready to be alone with him in my bedroom. Things that seemed totally normal yesterday suddenly felt very, very weird. Tingling with excitement, and feeling hopeful that we’d turn up some clues today, I jumped up on the passenger side running board. Calvin was already leaning over to open my door. He stayed leaning towards me as I pulled myself inside the truck. The truck was awash with the wet dog smell again, but I barely noticed. Calvin was looking at me intently through his shaggy bangs.
Intense
. The word just took on a whole new meaning for me. I’d never been looked at that way before. It was thrilling and just a tiny bit scary. I wanted to check how I looked in the mirror but I didn’t dare break his gaze.

“Yuki,” he said as I watched his Adam’s apple rise and lower, “would you like to go out with me?”

His eyes never left my face as I whispered, “Yes.”

His face lit up with a roguish smile and he lifted my chin with one hand and came so close that his next words moved against my lips, “me too,” he said and kissed me on the lips.
I think I’m falling in love with you Calvin Miller
.

Cal was the first to break away and running his hand through his hair he moved back behind the wheel. He started the truck and we headed out to the Green farm. I sat there a little stunned, with a big stupid grin on my face. It was all I could do to not bounce up and down in the seat. I looked out the window as the trees spun by and thought I might actually be in Heaven. For once in my life things seemed to be going in the right direction.

As we pulled onto the gravel road that led to the farm, we talked about the information we had found on the internet. So far we didn’t have a lot to go on, but we both thought it was notable that none of Jackson Green’s sons had worked for the farm. They had all gone on to work professional jobs in Portland and Boston. The death of all three sons in a boating accident also seemed suspicious and we speculated that they may have been cut out of their father’s will and trying to steal the inheritance money. Calvin had also found that Jackson Green and his wife Grace had been very active with environmental charities and had donated large portions of the farm’s recent profits to organizations that promoted organic farming and environmental awareness. Perhaps the sons were afraid that all of the money they longed for would be given away to charity? It was all just wild conjecture, but it did provide possible motive. Motive for what was the big question.

“Do you think Mr. Green could have been murdered?” feeling a bit queasy as I said it. The thought of smelling a dead man was bad enough, but to think he might be the spirit of someone who was murdered was almost too horrible to consider.

Calvin nodded slowly. “It’s a possibility, but it may not have been like that. It could have been an accident or he may just have passed away of old age. But don’t worry. We’ll find out what happened and help his spirit find peace.”

I looked out over the beautiful orchards and farm fields and for the first time I really believed it. How could we not find peace for him in this beautiful place?

I pulled out the satellite maps and colored pencils. My plan was to mark in red places on the map that differed from what we could see, since the images were taken over a year ago and any differences might indicate recent changes to the landscape. We were also going to mark in green places that looked suspicious or that might be a good hiding place for the inheritance. My hope was to find a location that had potential for a hiding spot and had been recently changed. If we could find such a spot, we would then mark it with an X.
Like hunting for buried treasure
.

There was a smell to the west, out by the orchard, that smelled like rotting garbage and manure. At first I wondered if it might be another smell impression, but when I looked over at Calvin his nose was wrinkled in disgust. Good. If he smelled it too, then it must be some kind of fertilizer or something.
Thank goodness
. I didn’t think I could deal with another haunting right now. I followed Cal as he headed away from the smell.

After two hours of hiking around the property, we both had maps covered in red and green pencil but not one mark that overlapped. Grabbing water bottles from the truck, we started again in the opposite field. Calvin was definitely grossed out by the smell and after a few minutes of searching went back to his truck. When he returned a minute later, he had a handkerchief over the lower half of his face.

“About to raid a stage coach?” I asked trying not to laugh since that would make me taste the garbage manure smell.

“Calvin the Bandit at your service,” he replied bowing low at the waist.

I started to laugh again and had to bite my lip to keep my mouth closed. “I think I’m actually glad that everything smells like vinegar,” I quipped. In fact the vinegar smell was suddenly getting stronger. “Uh Cal, I think we’re heading in the right direction,” I said. Goosebumps raised on my arms and neck and my head was flooded with the smell of vinegar. I suddenly felt light headed and a buzzing sound started whirring in my ears. I went to take a step and suddenly didn’t know where my feet were.

“Yuki? Yuki! Are you alright? Can you hear me?” Calvin asked worriedly. He was kneeling on the ground holding me sitting upright.

I must have fallen or passed out. “Mmm, yeah. I think so,” I mumbled feeling fuzzy. His blue eyes suddenly came into focus and I felt like I could breathe. “Can you help me up? I think we’re really close,” I said as he carefully helped me to my feet. Calvin was hovering as I turned in a slow circle to get a reading. The smell and the new tingling sensation seemed to be coming from the northwest. “That way,” I pointed and we started up the hill.

We finally came to a heap of refuse that I guess was the Green farm compost pile. I looked at the satellite map to confirm my suspicion. This compost heap wasn’t on the satellite map.
It was new
. My excitement was dimmed only when I realized what that meant. We were going to have to dig in this thing for clues. I turned to Cal to see that he had come to the same conclusion. I could have sworn I heard a whimper escape his lips. This sucks eggs.
What else is new
?