Caterpillar, a Paranormal Romance With a Touch of Horror (33 page)

I was stunned into silence for several reasons.  My first thought was that I had no desire to spend
any
time with that man, let alone being
alone
with him.  My second thought was that Audrey would likely kill me if she found out.  Then again, she might kill me if I didn’t cater to the mayor just because of who he is.  Then I remembered what Rainn had said.

“I didn’t realize you were in the market for something so…large,” I said casually.

“There is one house that is of particular interest to me,” he said, an answer but not an answer.

I couldn’t think of one good excuse, not one good reason that I couldn’t go.  “What time did you have in mind?”  I was hoping he’d choose a time during which I had unalterable plans, even fake ones if I could dream some up in the next thirty seconds.  No such luck, though.

“How about seven.  We could meet there if that’s alright with you.”

“That’s perfect,” I said enthusiastically, thrilled that I wouldn’t be forced to spend even more time alone with him.  The drive to Alpharetta, just outside Atlanta, would’ve been a torturous one if he’d ridden with me.

“Wonderful.  Seven then,” he said as they began to walk away.

“Seven,” I agreed with a nod of my head.

When I returned my attention to Scott, he looked so sad; I’d forgotten what we’d been talking about before the mayor’s appearance.  “What’s wrong?”

“I just hate things have to end this way.”

“Well, it’s not like we’re going to be sworn enemies.  We can still—“ I was going to say “be friends”, but he was already shaking his head and I knew how demeaning that sounded.

“You’re such a great guy, Scott, you won’t have a bit of trouble finding the perfect woman,” I said.

“I thought I had.”

What was I supposed to say to that?  Anyway,
he
was breaking up with
me
, right?

We looked at each other for a few long, tense seconds then Scott redirected the conversation to polite chit chat.  We spent the rest of the meal engaged in sidestepping.  We avoided talking about anything of importance.  We were already like strangers.  It was as disconcerting as it was heartbreaking.

By the time our late lunch was over, I was once again exhausted.  The whole ordeal with Scott had been emotionally draining and I hadn’t started the day with that much to begin with.

I checked my watch and realized I really didn’t have that long until it would be time to drive out to meet the mayor.  I decided to go by the office and catch up on a few things, print some information about the house the mayor wanted to see then work on getting someone from my insurance agency to go out and look at my house.

I managed to accomplish all that in short order (partly because Rainn wasn’t at work) and was back in my vehicle and driving to Bethel by five.  I was going to meet an insurance adjustor there before I left for Alpharetta.

When I pulled up at the curb, the cool winter sun was setting and I saw the house in a little better light.  A painful knot of sadness lodged in my throat and I felt the sting of tears burning my eyes.

The outside wasn’t as badly damaged as it could have been, but it would still need considerable repair.  When I got out, the smell of smoke and the stink of burned chemicals still lingered in the air. 

I walked through the gate and the hinges creaked as it shut behind me.  From the bushes, I heard a rustling and the cat jumped up onto the railing to welcome me back.  I could hear his loud purring long before I made my way onto the porch.  When I got close enough to touch him, I stretched my hand out to pet him and he jumped up and butted his head against my palm, as if he couldn’t wait one more second to be stroked.

I was overwhelmed with the sensation that he was glad I was alright.  I bent to look into his beautiful gem-like eyes.  He stopped moving and watched me intently.  He stared straight into my eyes, as if he knew what I was thinking.  I leaned down and whispered into his tiny pointed ear, “Thank you.”  He let out a small meow and purred even more loudly then rubbed his head against my cheek.

“Come on.  Let’s go see if we can find something for you to eat inside.”  I was hoping the milk would still be good.  I hadn’t checked inside, but it didn’t seem to be too damaged when Tegan and I had walked the house the night before.

I unlocked the door and let it fall open and shed the dying light of day into the dark interior.  It didn’t illuminate very well, but enough so that I could see flickers of movement all over, as if the floor and walls had come alive.  The cat hissed as a spider crawled across my foot and I screamed, unable to stifle the automatic reaction.  As my eyes adjusted, I could see them scurrying every which way
.

 Spiders are carriers of evil…they do their master’s will.
  I remembered what Tegan had said.  At the time I was so caught up in everything else that was going on, I didn’t put two and two together.  But as I stood there, looking at the dozens and dozens of spiders scattering in every direction, I thought back to when I’d first started seeing them so often.  My birthday. 

They found you,
he’d said. 

At the sound of a motor stopping outside, I snapped out of my rumination.  I turned to see a small car marked with my insurance carrier’s name pull up behind mine at the curb.  That began a meeting that I found very disappointing.  After we walked through and he poked and prodded, he did all but pronounce my house dead, listing things that would have to be repaired and things that would have to be replaced.  I knew it would be bad, but I really had no idea.

It was full dark by the time we left my house and I headed northeast toward Alpharetta.  I had very little trouble finding the house, even though I didn’t have much professional activity in that area.  I had navigation, which I felt was a must in real estate, and it had turned out to be a lifesaver on more than one occasion.

After I passed through the gate using the pass code I’d gotten from the listing agent, I pulled up to the beautiful home and parked at the top of the circular drive behind a sleek black Mercedes I knew to be Mayor Scruggs’. 

I got out and walked to the driver’s side and bent to address the mayor, but he wasn’t in the car.  I thought maybe he’d gotten here much earlier and had gone around to look at the pool with its view of the golf course. 

I retrieved the key from the lockbox and then went around to the back of the house, knowing it would open all the exterior doors.  As I suspected, the mayor was lounging in a chair by the pool.  I got a whiff of something burning and wondered if he’d been out there smoking.

When he saw me he stood.  “I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t wait to see the pool.  Chris told me it was spectacular.”

“Chris?”

“Yes.  Chris Matthews, the owner.  I spoke with him earlier today.  He left me a key before he caught a flight to Chicago.”

I swallowed my irritation and the question
what do you need me for then.
  Instead, I smiled and said, “Shall we then?”  And I turned and walked to the French doors that led into the finished daylight basement.

The huge area that ran the entire length of the house was finished in a series of recreational rooms, several of which you could see from the central living area that looked out over the pool.  Since the mayor had apparently already seen the house and I had not, I had nothing to offer in the way of a guided tour.  It was more like I was discovering as we went.

It was a very pricey custom home and even the ceilings there in the basement were finished with flair, all of the ones that I could see having a tray ceiling.  We walked through the living area into an exercise room and then back into a small spa area that had a bathroom portion with a sauna behind it.

We were going back through the living area to see the other half of the basement when my phone rang.  “Excuse me,” I said, stepping away to answer my phone.  Normally, I would never answer my phone when I’m with a client, but he had already irritated me.  Plus he’d already seen the house.  There wasn’t anything I could show him that he didn’t already know was there.

“Cat Deen,” I said, wanting to kick myself for not checking the caller’s identity before answering.

Tegan’s voice greeted me and relief washed over me along with all the other warm fluttery feelings he always incited in me.  “I think I’m onto something.”

“Like what?”  I asked vaguely, mindful of my company.

“When I got to the scene today, something about that Wade guy bothered me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.  Then I started thinking back to the other murders and slowly one common denominator appeared.” 

He paused and I waited for him to continue, but he didn’t.  “What?  What was it?”

“Megan Bounty.”

“Ohmigod!  You think Megan Bounty killed all those people?”

“Well, no.  In fact, I’m sure she didn’t.  She had alibis for several of them. 
Good
alibis.”

“Then who?”

“Well, I think it’s a two fold motive.  Once I started looking at Megan, I realized how much she could benefit from a spree like this one.  She’s been the one to get almost exclusive coverage, always being one of the first to hear about the murders.  Then she lined up an exclusive interview with you, an interview which
just happened
to be at a house where another victim was found.  And guess what.”

“She got the exclusive, raw footage.”  My mind whirled with what I’d seen in Megan’s head.  Although not pleasant, I saw nothing would’ve led me to her being the killer.  But according to Tegan she wasn’t. 

“Exactly.”

“But if she’s not the…you know…then who?”

“Well, that’s where things get a little hairy.  Obviously she didn’t commit them herself, but I’m fully convinced she was complicit.  I mean, Wade being there with you was no coincidence.”

“I agree.  But who then?”  I heard the mayor walking around behind me, but I was so caught up in what Tegan was saying I paid him no attention.

“Well, I found out through some digging that Megan’s been dabbling in the dark arts.  She actually knew Mistee Long, Ken Wallace and Jessica Nolan from a Wiccan group here in Atlanta.  I think she intended to summon the spirit Amon, but saw that she could advance her career in the meantime.  So she got someone else to do her killing for her, to complete the ritual.”

“Who?”

 “A djinn, I think.”

“What’s a djinn?”

“It’s where the idea of a genie comes from.  They’re evil spirits that are born out of hell’s fire and travel in smoke.  They can possess humans or animals, they can shape shift and they can work dark and dangerous magic.”

“So people get wishes?  Is that it?”

“Sort of.  The unwary witch or warlock summons them for assistance, usually something that includes lots of death and bloodshed.  Djinn get off on stuff like that.  The Wiccans take a big risk, though, because djinn are known for their deception.  They’ll promise one thing, but when you get it, chances are you won’t like how it comes.”

“Sort of the be-careful-what-you-wish-for thing?”

“Exactly.”

“So how do we find the djinn?”

“I’m gonna get Hemi and a couple of the others to help me, see what we can dig up to track it.”

“What will you do then?”

“There’s only one way a djinn can be killed and that is to be trapped inside a human body and then burned.”

“How do you trap—”

My words died in my throat when the mayor jerked the phone out of my hand and threw it out the door and into the pool.  At first I was confused, but that quickly morphed into something else when I realized I was alone with him, no one knew exactly where I was, and he’d just destroyed my cell phone.