Carol Shenold - Tali Cates 02 - Bloody Murder Page 4

  I touched the denim and saw—nothing. Dark slammed into me, pushed at me. Red tinged the edges. Emotions flew through my mind—envy, fear, desire. Black emotions threatened to take over and I jerked back.

  I saw no concrete images, only colors, feelings, and strong evil. After slamming closed the casket, I ran out of the room and down the hall, ran into a dead end. Wrong way—dark hall—panic—shouldn’t have come.

  Trying to see what happened was dangerous, frightening, and if wicked energy touches you, it could stay with you. Whatever did this to Marcia was purely malevolent, and I felt as if it had touched me. I stumbled back the other way to find my way out before anyone came. I sought sunshine and light—well, at least light.

  I burst through the front doors into—a downpour.

  Chapter Four

  I’d stopped shaking by the time I reached the school to pick up Sean. I still didn’t know what the vision meant. I hadn’t learned anything new. I could have guessed “something wicked this way” came without having to be touched by it.

  Sean and Rusty ran to the car and piled in, filling the car with the scent wet puppies and wet boys have in common.

  Sean turned to me, shaking his wet head. “Hey, Mom, did you get Halloween candy yet?

  “No. It’s over a week away and if I get it now, you will eat it.”

  “I wanted to make sure you got the right kind. I wouldn’t get into it or anything.”

  “Right and I got voted mother-of-the-year.”

  “Really, that’s cool.” Both boys said at once.

  “That was sarcasm, boys.” I turned the opposite way from our house since I’d promised Rusty’s mother I’d pick both boys up after school and bring them over to work on homework and then she’d pick up Rusty.

  “Oh. Well anyway, can you get those big bags of candy with Tootsie Rolls and Dots and stuff?

  “When it’s time, I will.”

  “Did you know we have a new guy living next door? At least, I hear we do. I haven’t seen him. Have you seen him?”

  “Actually I have seen him.”

  Sean looked at me closely and in a somber tone said, “But, have you seen him in the daytime?”

  “Not that I noticed, but then I just found out he moved in and hadn’t been looking for him.”

  Rusty spoke up. “I heard he comes out at night. We ought to check him out.”

  “You guys will not check Aiden out. You don’t disturb our neighbors. He may work long hours, leave before light, get home after dark, especially if he commutes to Plano or Dallas.” I pulled into Rusty’s driveway for the boys to get out.

  Sean grinned. “You mean you know his name?”

  “I do and he’s nice, unlike you, Mister Smart Mouth. Don’t bug him, seriously.” I yelled after the boys as they clambered out. “Behave yourself and don’t drive Rusty’s mom nuts. Be home by nine or earlier.”

  Sean came back. “Come on, Mom. After we finish homework, we were going to ride some rides at the fair. It is Friday and you’ll be there for that stupid contest.”

  “Come check in with me at the amphitheatre when you get there. After the incident yesterday, I don’t feel comfortable with you running around alone.”

  “Oh, you mean the murder. I’ll be careful and I’ll be with Rusty.” Sean pushed out his chest. “We have our gold belts in karate, you know, and Sam says we’re nearly ready for the green ones. We’re good. We can take care of ourselves.”

  “Come by and see me anyway. Promise.”

  “Okay, okay. I promise. I’ll see you later.”

  When I got home, Mumsie met me at the door. “Where have you been? The phone is ringing off the hook. Mothers want to know what’s going to happen tonight.”

  “How on earth do I know what will happen tonight? I did get a promise that we’d have reserve officers as extra security but I can’t provide metal detectors and I don’t think that kind of thing will help. I feel like something is happening that technology won’t cure.” I headed straight for the kitchen and the espresso machine. “I had a bagel this morning but no lunch. I have to have caffeine and real food before I can face the Princess Contest with all the baby divas and moms. Actually, it’s the moms who are the worst, not the kids.”

  “Hey, I won money. I had fun at the casino and I didn’t cheat—much.”

  Mumsie pulled chicken salad ingredients out of the refrigerator while I made shots of espresso for us both. We had croissants in the breadbasket. Yay. I chopped and mixed the ingredients together. I had grapes to put in it, one of my favorites.

  Mumsie watched me. “You don’t do well without food. What were you out doing, anyway?

  I arranged croissants full of chicken salad on plates, with sliced avocadoes on the side, and put them on the dining room table so we could see out the sliding glass door. “I went to the funeral home. I touched Marcia.”

  Mumsie’s expression was grave, no pun intended. “Maybe that wasn’t a good idea.”

  “You said I should use my gifts. Why do you look like I committed a crime?”

  She took a deep breath. “I got distracted by the casino scene but you really shouldn’t read a dead body, especially when it looks as if magic was involved.”

  “Magic?” I squeaked. “What are you talking about?”

  “I heard about how the body looked. There’s only one thing I can think of that would do that to anyone.”

  “What? What?”

  “I think we’re dealing with a practitioner.”

  “Pardon me?”

  “Someone who practices the dark arts. A witch or wizard.”

  “Like the Wizard of Oz or Harry Potter? You’ve got to be kidding. This is Love, Texas, in Love County. We don’t have witches and wizards, except maybe a few wicked personalities.”

  “You scoffed at the idea of ghosts and spirit guides also. You have gifts of your own that other people might view as magic. I’ve been called a witch for what I do. What makes you think other powers aren’t present in this town? I’ve told you before that this town attracts unusual things. Once again you failed to listen to me. Amen Ka warned me you weren’t really ready to know what’s going on. They were right. But some of the black magic could still be around and might have stayed with you. Be careful.”

  I struggled to put the idea of magic and spells out of my mind, goose bumps erupting everywhere at the thought. “I don’t have time for this. The Princess Contest is tonight. We have a record number of entrants plus stage moms who will be showing up. I can’t deal with anything else.”

  After I finished my dinner and took Mumsie up on her offer to clean up, I filled her in on Sean and Rusty and their interest in our neighbor.

  “They don’t want to be sticking their noses into adult business. I’ll keep an eye on them. They can be such troublemakers.”

  * * * *

  I had to be at the fairgrounds at five p.m. I’d gotten permission to use the amphitheatre after all. The reserve officers would be on duty, six of them, no metal detectors but we could deal. The pre-contest entertainment would begin at six-thirty, giving the girls time to get into dresses. One perk of winning or placing in previous contests was the ability to perform for the entire county again the next year. Lyn Peacock, my contest assistant, had helped line up previous Queen, Duchess and Princess talent winners and contest winners. Local clog dancers and other groups also helped with the show. We used the variety acts to fill time while girls changed costumes and the judges tallied scores. No one had called to cancel but I expected some no-shows. Lyn was brand new in town but had done a wonderful job and was a great organizer.

  When I arrived, someone had already taken down the yellow tape. The sun shone as if the earlier thunderstorm never happened, giving us a muggy start to the evening. It would cool down later, I hoped. Enterprising families staked out prime viewing spots by spreading colorful blankets along the cement bleacher seats, daring others to move them. Young contestant wannabes, already looking forward to next year’s contest,
formed a half-circle in front of the lawn chairs. Kyle Parker, a local videographer, had his camera ready to record the entire contest. He’d sell those DVDs to anyone who wanted them, and the parents would.

  Lyn raced over as I walked down the hill next to the theatre. “Have you heard? The basketball kids cancelled and so did the Candy Corn Cloggers. Misty Green has the mumps but her mom thinks she should perform anyway, and the flowers and trophies haven’t arrived yet.” Her up-do quivered as she rattled off every disaster she could think of. She glowed in gold lamé capris and a bright red shirt that wouldn’t be warm enough later. The red pendant she always wore around her neck glowed in the late afternoon sun. She had one daughter in the Princess Contest and her older daughter, SueAnn, was in the Queen Contest.

  “Hold on. We have plenty of talent lined up. Don’t worry. I’ll talk to Misty’s mother about how the health department would never let her daughter expose the rest of the county. I see the reserve officers coming down the other side of the theatre. Why don’t you show them where to go? I’d have them spread out with four of them strategically placed around the stage and two milling around in the audience.”

  “But, what are we going to do without flowers and trophies?”

  “Trust me, Blooms and More always comes through. They know the entire county would lynch them if anything went wrong when it involved their little darling’s moment in the spotlight.”

  Lyn’s attention wandered when she saw a couple of cute reserve officers coming their way. The reserve officers were not full-time police officers but added an unpaid resource to an extremely small sheriff’s department. As a rule, the reserve group consisted of older men who needed a hobby and single young men enamored by the prospect of playing police officer without going through the entire licensing course.

  As the audience grew, so did the noise. The teen parade had begun. Boys and girls, dressed for success, paraded up and down on important business—to be seen and to see others. Many of the girls had the excuse of having to help their little sisters with hair and makeup.

  Between the two dressing rooms, hay bales with colorful foil stars pinned to them dressed up the concrete stage. Directly in front of the audience a long table was set up for the judges, supplied with water, pads of paper, pens and a small gift basket. The fair board had found the judges. One was my friend Cherilyn. The other two were women who had run or judged pageants in the past, not my favorite, as they would hold the girls to professional pageant standards, whereas most of these kids were simply little girls having fun. Some of our contestants were talented but had no professional pageant experience.

  Girls and mothers flowed between the two dressing rooms. More contestants queued up in the one small area. Friends shared areas to be with other friends. As traffic continued to build between these buildings, I noticed a pattern developing. People started in a straight line from one side of the stage to the other, but veered several feet off the space around the dressing room in which the body had been found. Unconsciously they avoided that one area.

  I went to see what was going on. I prayed we didn’t have to dispose of some dead animal or kick out some smooching teens hiding in the dressing room to make out. I made my way past the emcee before I found myself pushed to the side instead of moving straight. What was up with that? I had to make myself go in a straight line. Every instinct I had told me not to. It was as if a physical force pushed me away from that end of the stage. It was the area in which the body had been found; a physical presence pushed everyone away.

  It pushed me harder to keep me from entering. I made it to the door and into the room, but nothing was there. No animals, no smoochers, no bodies, just me being paranoid. I stuck my head out of the building and yelled at Lyn.

  “Come here a minute, would you?

  She reluctantly left the reserve officer she was flirting with, checked to make certain her older daughter was helping her little one, and came toward me. She didn’t have any trouble coming in that I could see.

  “Do you feel it?”

  She looked at me with the clueless gaze she can do so well at times. “Feel what?”

  “The negative energy that pushes people away. We are going to have so many fights for space if no one uses this dressing room. They can’t possibly all fit in the other one.”

  “I don’t feel anything. I do need to get back outside and start shooing people back over here. Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that all the moms were ignoring the assignment. I think they all want access to the extra outlets in there. I’ll get tough.”

  “You really didn’t feel anything when you walked up?”

  She touched the necklace she always wore. “Nope. Sorry. Or did you mean that this room is a little warmer? I think that’s because it was closed up all day with the investigation team.”

  I turned around to go back into the dressing room and I didn’t feel anything either. My senses must have been tricking me, a residual from earlier today maybe. I was feeling evil everywhere. I would have sworn…

  Lyn must have worked her magic because I was abruptly swarmed by little girls ready to set up mirrors and tables and get ready.

  Losing it, Cates. No evil demons hiding out. You’re spooking yourself. But I knew I hadn’t imagined it. What was going on?

  Chapter Five

  “Mom. Mom. Where are you?” Sean’s voice pierced the fog filling my brain.

  “Sean. What are you doing here this early and why are you yelling so loud when the show is about to start?”

  “We finished our homework and we’re going to eat here and then ride rides. I yelled because I couldn’t see you and you said to tell you as soon as we got here so we wouldn’t be caught by some killer, so here I am.”

  “So you are. Are you sure you finished all your homework and won’t be suddenly remembering a math page or six on Sunday evening.”

  “Promise. We didn’t have much for a change. And you know what? We decided if we put a mirror on the side of the shed we could check and see if the guy next door has a reflection and then we’d know for sure. So after we eat and ride, we’re going back home to check it out and I promise we won’t go on any of the rides you said you don’t trust, except maybe the roller coaster because everyone rides it, and you don’t ever trust any coasters.”

  He said the entire paragraph without taking a breath. Listening to him exhausted me. I opened my mouth to ask him what the deal was with the mirror when a scream distracted me and he bolted toward the midway to catch up with Rusty.

  Now what?

  A knot of people congregated by the dressing room on the right, the one Charlice’s mother had insisted on. I detoured behind the hay bales to avoid running into the basketball kids who were dancing with their balls as a before-the-show act. How can there be a fight already? Modeling hasn’t even begun yet. Damn. I glanced at the judges but they were intent on the dancing and music, not the present drama.

  “We didn’t do anything to Charlice’s costume,” SueAnn Peacock shouted, putting herself between her little sister and Charlice’s mom, Theresa.

  Theresa pointed at Lori. “That little witch stole my daughter’s Red Queen costume and I want it back. Her entire talent number is based on Alice in Wonderland. This is sabotage so the Peacocks can win the entire contest. Don’t think I’m not aware of what’s going on here. It’s all about favoritism because that Peacock woman is helping with the contest.”

  SueAnn’s chin went up. “You can’t talk about my sister or my mother. You watch out or you’ll be in so much trouble.”

  Theresa shook her red manicured fingernail in SueAnn’s face. “What do you mean, I’ll be in trouble? Back off, chickadee. You’re playing with grown-ups.”

  I walked up to stand in front of Theresa. “I’m sorry if you’ve misplaced Charlice’s costume but now’s not the time to argue and you have no proof. Calling a first-grader a witch is a little strong for my taste, so back off. You have enough to do to find something for the kid to wea
r when she does her number. There’s no time to sort this out now.”

  Before Theresa stomped off she threatened, “I’ll go to the fair board about this. Laurel isn’t happy with the way you all are running the contest anyway.”

  Lyn walked up. “What in the name of the Gods is going on here? SueAnn, explain?”

  There is no way I’d have wanted to be on the business end of Lyn’s angry eyes. I hadn’t seen this side of her before, but SueAnn stood right up and told her what Theresa had said.

  Lyn said to her oldest daughter, “Honey, don’t worry your pretty head about this. I’ll take care of it. I’ve dealt with jealous bitches before. I know just what to do. You go help your sister get ready and I’m going to line the girls up for modeling.” She turned to me. “We just about have time to get everyone organized before last year’s winner finishes singing ‘I am a promise’.” She sent out a blinding smile. “Isn’t that the cutest song ever? I love these kids.”

  I shook myself. Arguments, split personalities, missing costumes, just what I needed. And the chicken salad hadn’t done it. I smelled popcorn and funnel cakes. I’d sell my soul for a funnel cake. I looked around. If only Sean hadn’t run off so fast. Who could I browbeat into getting me some food? I stood off to the side of the stage watching proud moms, grandpas, and schoolmates cheering for each child as they walked across the stage. Some of the girls had a natural look with no makeup and a Sunday school dress. Others wore full war paint and two-hundred-dollar dresses a first grader would never wear again.

  First graders wearing makeup. What message does that send to the kids? And we wonder why junior high girls dress like high school girls and so on. It’s the parents and television and role model “stars” like Brittany Spears. Let’s see how close our kids can get to the streetwalker image.

  Tali, you agreed to coordinate this event, stop bad-mouthing it, even in your head. I knew the pageant gave parents and kids a chance to show off their talent and improve skills, but for kids in third grade and under, a lot of pressure.