A Timely Vision (12 page)

“All right.” Kevin smiled at Shayla. “Let’s go upstairs. Do you want to take the elevator?”

She giggled. “An elevator? That sounds great! Maybe Tim and Dae would like to take the stairs and meet us up there.”

I knew how to take a hint. Besides, I’d seen the old wrought-iron elevator cage in the lobby. I got the creeps when I looked at it. “We’d
rather
take the stairs,” I told them. “Third floor, right?”

Tim puffed out his chest. Clearly he thought I wanted to be alone with him. “Don’t be scared, Dae. I’ll take care of you, like I always have.”

I could hear the elevator motor pulling the cage up to the third floor as we started up the stairs. The stairwell was dark and probably filled with things I’d rather not see. Every so often, I heard a squeaking sound and wasn’t sure if it was a bat or a rat. In a building that had sat empty for so long, anything was possible.

“This is
some
place.” Tim huffed a little as we climbed to the second floor. “I think we should’ve taken the elevator.”

I looked out the window on the second-floor landing. This side didn’t face the beach. Bushes were spread out along the drive and down to the road. Their shadows seemed to move as the clouds passed through the moonlight. A few cars went by, their headlights fading quickly into the distance.

“I hate elevators. Even the safe ones with music and lights. I wouldn’t go in that elevator for anything.” I stepped on something hard and bent to retrieve it. The feeling of time slowing told me it was something important.

In the dim moonlight, I made out a tiny key. It was too small to open a room. It looked like the kind of key that would open a jewelry box or diary. No matter, it would belong to Kevin like everything else here. My fingers itched to explore everything in the Blue Whale and discover its treasures. I shoved the key in my pocket and started up the last flight of stairs.

“I might be having a heart attack, Dae.” Tim wheezed up behind me. “Slow down. This was supposed to be r omantic.”

“If you got out of that police car and walked like everyone else in Duck, you wouldn’t be having such a hard time on these stairs,” I taunted him. Honestly, the mileage on those cars was incredible considering how small Duck was. More than once, I’d pushed the town council to buy bicycles, but the police had threatened to go on strike.

“Are you two
ever
going to get up here?” Shayla yelled down the stairs. “I don’t even want to think what’s going on down there.”

The fact that she was yelling down at us made me think nothing much was going on with her and Kevin up on the third floor. That lightened my heart a little, but I put it down to jealousy.

“You know,” Tim huffed, “I wanted to ask you something important while we’re alone, Dae.”

I knew it was uncharitable of me, but I couldn’t help but grimace.

“I know I’ve asked you before,” he continued. “I don’t know if you’ve ever taken me seriously. I’m a stable man, Dae. You’ve known me all your life. I’d make a good husband. I cook and clean up after myself. I’ve been doing laundry since I was nine.”

It always went the same way. I wished he’d take no for an answer. I felt cruel having to refuse him over and over again. But better to be alone than with someone I didn’t love.

“And someday, your grandfather will be gone, and you’ll be alone. You should marry me before that happens. We can live with him and take care of him. That house is plenty big for all of us
and
a few kids. So what do you think? Will you marry me, Dae?”

At that moment, a flashlight beam played over us. I realized Kevin had been close by, close enough to hear Tim pop the question. “Sorry. I thought you guys might be lost,” he said.

Kevin’s voice had that strange tone people use when they’re curious about something they’ve heard or seen but they don’t want to pry. I wanted to assure him that there was nothing intimate about the moment, but I couldn’t do that to Tim. It was one thing for me to make fun of him in my own mind but another to help someone else make fun of him.

“No, we’re fine.” Tim’s breathless voice came from behind me.

I couldn’t really see Kevin’s face because the flashlight beam was pointed in my general direction. It was an awkward moment, at least for me. I didn’t want Kevin to get the wrong idea about me and Tim. “Did you open the door yet?”

“Not yet,” Kevin assured me. “We were waiting for you.”

Maybe he’d think I felt embarrassed about him overhearing the proposal and not mention it again. I certainly hoped so as I started up the stairs, without answering Tim’s still-lingering question. Tim followed, a bit more slowly, and we met up with Kevin on the third-floor landing. Here, the window overlooked the ocean. The light rippled on the waves coming in at low tide.

“I’m glad you finally found them,” Shayla said as we approached her. She was standing next to the door of the locked room, one hip resting against the wall. The sarcasm in her tone was obvious, at least to me. She hadn’t wanted Kevin to come back and look for us.

“Well, we’re all here.” I walked up to the door and pretended an excitement I wasn’t really feeling. There was a damp, moldy smell to the place that I hoped Kevin would be able to get rid of before he tried to rent out rooms. It was the smell of decay and neglect, maybe even dust and cobwebs. I wanted to be out walking the beach, trying to find that elusive ghost that Shayla took for granted. “Let’s see what’s inside.”

Kevin stepped up and inserted the key in the lock. It made a grating sound as it turned. The door swung open on stiff old hinges. There was a strange whoosh of air that carried an unpleasant odor. I supposed any room would smell bad after being closed up for thirty years.

This room faced the ocean too. I could see the beach through the dirty panes. The moonlight flowed in like a spotlight, illuminating the room. A desk with an old crook-neck lamp was barely visible in one corner, a simple bed and chest of drawers completing the room.

“Is this it?” Shayla asked in a very quiet voice.

“What were you expecting?” I responded.

“It looks like someone’s sitting at the desk over there.” Tim pointed. “Must be a trick of the light.”

Kevin walked closer to the desk. The beam from the flashlight shone on something I’d hoped never to see again—a dead person. But this time, it was only the skeletal remains. Empty eye sockets stared back at us. Bony fingers rested on the desk.

I heard Shayla gag beside me, and we both stepped back from the grisly scene.

“Someone’s sitting at the desk, all right,” Kevin said. “I think he or she has been here for a long time.”

Tim and Kevin hustled Shayla and me out of the room before calling the police. When Chief Michaels finally arrived, he came trudging up the stairs rather than using the elevator. Who knew the chief and I had a fear of elevators in common? Not that he’d admit it.

“I don’t understand why we couldn’t look around a bit,” Shayla complained from the floor where she’d plopped down at least half an hour earlier. “You both have police training. They wouldn’t have known we were in there.”

“It’s about crime-scene preservation,” Tim began. He paced up and down the dark hall ranting about people who disturb crime scenes and how difficult it makes life for police officers. “Don’t you agree, Brickman?”

“Yes. Otherwise I’d be in there cleaning out that mess.”

“Imagine whoever it is being in there all this time,” I added. “We
thought
Duck had a low homicide rate. Instead, dead people are lurking everywhere.”

“I’m sure that’s not the case, Mayor.” The chief came out of the room as another man came up behind him. “This is Agent Brooks Walker of the SBI. He’s here to check this out with us.”

Agent Walker shook my hand briefly. He was a short man, barely five feet. I could see his graying brown hair in the flashlight beams as several other Duck police officers joined us. “Mayor O’Donnell. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I wish it were under better circumstances. You seem to have a knack for finding dead people.”

I was about to vigorously defend myself when Kevin stepped in and shook hands with him. “It looks like we meet again, Agent Walker. Whatever bad luck Mayor O’Donnell is going through right now, I seem to be part of it too.”

Agent Walker looked up at Kevin, and a small smile appeared on his mouth. “Yes, that much is evident. Who are these people?”

Tim introduced Shayla, then said, “We already met, Agent Walker. I’m Officer Mabry, the chief’s assistant.”

“That’s right. I knew I recognized you.” Walker shook his hand, then glanced around the crowded hall as he put on some latex gloves. “Let’s take a look at what we’ve got here, gentlemen.”

Two hours later, Shayla and I were still waiting to find out what was going on. The chief had informed us as delicately as he could that he didn’t want us to leave the Blue Whale until they’d had a look at the crime scene, in case he had any questions. Kevin and Tim had become part of the group investigating upstairs while we waited downstairs in the bar.

“You think they like us for the murder?” Shayla asked as she sipped a Coke.

“You watch too much TV.”

“There’s nothing else to do out here in the winter. I’m lucky if I have one or two tarot readings a week. What do
you
do?”

“I read. Books, not palms or cards. Once in a while, I watch TV or help Gramps work on the boat. Last winter, I painted the house. You
know
that.”

“Sounds to me like your life is as boring as mine. Without tourists, we’re nothing.”

It was a depressing thought but one I knew many permanent residents (especially those with businesses) agreed with. People talked all the time about ways to bring tourists down to the Outer Banks in the winter. It never quite seemed to happen. I was glad I didn’t make it a campaign promise.

“How long does it take to do this anyway?” Shayla whined.

I heard the squeak of the old elevator. “Sounds like it must be done. Quit slumping over that drink and sit up straight.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Kevin, Tim and Agent Walker entered the bar as we heard the elevator heading back up to the third floor. “Where did you say you found that gun, Brickman?” Agent Walker asked.

“It was behind the old cash register.” Kevin showed him the secret drawer. “I was fooling around and found it.”

I started to speak but managed to catch myself. This might be one time where showing off
wasn’t
to my advantage. Kevin seemed all right with the idea of me telling the SBI the full truth about finding Miss Elizabeth. Why was he protecting me now?

“We’ll have to keep the gun until ballistics has a look at it.” Agent Walker barely glanced at the secret drawer. “I expect there are plenty of secret passages and places in here. My granddad used to help raid these old hotels regularly during the twenties and thirties. Probably found a still or two out here too.”

“I haven’t done much on the upper floors,” Kevin said. “This is the only secret compartment I’ve found so far.”

Agent Walker nodded, obviously beginning to get bored with the conversation. “Well, it’s a nice place, Brickman. I don’t know why anyone would give up your position with the FBI for this, but to each his own, I always say.”

Shayla and I were apparently not to be questioned by the SBI. Probably because we were with Kevin and Tim when we found the dead person. It probably helped that the person had been dead for a long time. I shuddered, thinking about the skeletal form at the desk.

When Agent Walker had left the bar, Shayla pounced on Kevin. “What happened? Who’s dead now?”

“A man by the name of John Simpson, according to his wallet,” he said. “It looked like he’d been shot once in the back of the head. Whoever did it was secure about leaving his personal possessions with him. All his personal effects were intact.”

Tim frowned. “Why didn’t Agent Walker tell
me
? You’re not even a
real
FBI agent anymore.”

“Are you saying that’s Wild Johnny Simpson up there?” I demanded in disbelief. How often is it that you come face-to-face with a legend?

“You mean, you know that guy?” Shayla seemed amazed. Of course, she wasn’t from Duck and hadn’t grown up with all of the stories I’d heard about the two sisters and their lover.

“Not personally,” I explained. “It’s like folklore around here. Everyone knows about Miss Elizabeth and Wild Johnny Simpson.”

“Well, I don’t know about it, and Kevin probably doesn’t either. I think we should go get a drink and discuss it.” Shayla smiled at her date.

“I could make us a drink right here,” he said.

“
Please!
There’s a dead guy upstairs. It was bad enough that I had to
see
him.
And
smell him.” Shayla grabbed her purse. “Let’s get out of here.”

We decided to walk back to Wild Stallions since it would be the only place open this late. Somehow as we walked down the narrow road between the heavy bushes, Shayla ended up in front with Tim, and I found myself in back with Kevin. Except for the sound of the ocean, the night was quiet. Most of the traffic on Duck Road was already gone.