The Curse Keepers Collection (115 page)

I should have told David I was planning to see Collin. And I should also have told him about Claire hearing voices. Why had I felt the need to keep both things to myself? I was afraid to answer my own questions.

Collin’s concern about going too far inland was sobering. What if he was right? What would happen to me if I used energy to send away a demon or god while I was so far away from the water?

I was in the bathroom packing my makeup bag when my phone rang. I raced into my room to grab it before the caller hung up, expecting to see David’s name on the screen. My stomach dropped when I saw that it was Tom Helmsworth.

After taking a deep breath, I answered. “How’s my favorite Manteo police officer?”

“I need to talk to you, Ellie.” He was using his serious voice. The one that told me I was in trouble . . . but for the life of me, I didn’t know why. The spirits had laid low for the past few weeks, which meant that I had done the same.

“Well, I’ve missed you too, Tom, but it’s going to have to wait. I’m about to go out of town for the weekend.”

“Well, then it’s a good thing I caught you before you left.” His tone was far from friendly.

“Actually, Tom, I don’t have time to chat. David’s supposed to be home in less than thirty minutes. I’ll be back on Sunday night, so we can talk on Monday.” I almost added, “before I go to work.” At least that wasn’t an issue anymore. Too bad it didn’t make me feel any better.

“Actually, Ellie, if you leave town before you talk to me, I’ll put out a warrant for your arrest.”

I sank to the edge of the bed, feeling light-headed. “
Why?
What did I do?”

“You didn’t do anything, Ellie.” He sounded exasperated. And tired. “I just need to talk to you.”

“Then why can’t it wait until I get back?”

“Goddamn it, Ellie. Will you just do as I ask for once?”

My irritation was back. “Maybe I would if you asked nicely.”

“We both know
that’s
bullshit,” he grumbled. “You have thirty minutes to get your ass to the Manteo police station or I’m going to send someone to pick you up.”

I started to tell him off, but the dead silence in my ear told me he’d hung up.

Damn it. I didn’t have time for this, for any of it. If Tom wanted to talk to me, it could only mean one thing: the supernatural world was up to some serious shit again. The last time he’d grilled me was when the demon badgers had started ripping out dogs’ hearts before moving on to humans.

I grabbed my weekend bag and took it downstairs with me, setting it by the side door before heading outside. I needed to tell David, but he would be worried. I had to admit that I was more than a little worried myself. But I’d kept enough secrets from him for one day. And if this made me late, I’d have to tell him what was going on anyway. I typed a quick text and hit send.

I need to talk to Tom Helmsworth before we leave. Don’t worry—it’s just a chat. I’ll be home as soon as I can
.

I hoped to God the chat part wasn’t a lie.

I considered driving since it was a hot and humid August afternoon, but the car would have barely started to cool down by the time I pulled into the parking lot of the police station a few blocks away. Ten minutes later, I walked into the building a hot sweaty mess and approached the receptionist’s desk. I lifted my heavy braid off the back of my neck. “I’m here to see Tom Helmsworth.”

The elderly female receptionist eyed me up and down, frowning slightly, as though she found me lacking. I knew I was a mess, but I couldn’t be
that
bad. “
Officer
Helmsworth will be with you in a minute.”

“I’m kind of in a hurry. Could you tell him I’m here?”

Her mouth puckered and she looked down her nose at me while she picked up the phone. “Officer Helmsworth, someone is here to see you. She didn’t give her name.” She paused. “Yes, that’s her.” She hung up and offered me a tight smile. “He’ll be here in a moment.”

A few seconds later, Tom appeared in the doorway holding a stack of files. Tom was a good-looking guy with dark hair and a toned body. We’d gone to high school together, although he was a couple of years older than me—making him twenty-five—but the last month had been hard on him. Dark circles underscored his eyes, and I even noticed a few crow’s-feet. “Come on back, Ellie.” At least he sounded a little less cranky than he had on the phone. He led me to a room and pushed open the door, motioning me inside. “Thanks for showing up so quickly.”

“Well, when you put a time limit on my arrival, I considered walking in twenty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds after your call, but I actually have things to do.”

He scowled and I wondered why I was being so hateful to him. Tom was just trying to do his job, and he wasn’t wrong in thinking that I had some connection to all the odd things that had happened since the reappearance of the colony. I just wasn’t sure how safe it was for him to know about it.

I entered the room and was taken aback when I saw that it was an interview room with a table in the middle and two chairs, one on each side. My heart lurched and my breath stuttered. “Am I in trouble?”

“Ellie, I just need to talk to you, and you haven’t exactly been cooperative in the past. This time we’re going to have an official interview.” He waved to the chair. “Why don’t you take a seat.”

I walked around the table and slid into the metal chair, folding my hands on top of the table. I tried not to look nervous, but I wasn’t sure how effective my strategy was. “What do you want to know?”

Tom sat down across from me, setting the files to the side of the table. His face was devoid of any expression. “Other than the usual public drunkenness, petty theft, and vandalism, things have been quiet on Roanoke Island for several weeks. Until this past week.”

I shifted my weight to the side, keeping my eyes on his face. So far, he wasn’t giving anything away.

“This week there have been four deaths in town—one every night for the last four nights. All four patients were ill, but none of them was in serious condition on the morning that they died.”

Tom was quiet for several seconds and I realized he was waiting for me to respond. “Is this some kind of flu like H1N1? I’m not sure how I can help you with that. Shouldn’t you call the health department?”

“The health department has already been notified. They were the ones who contacted us.”

“I’m still not sure why I’m here, Tom.” For once, I was genuinely confused. I had no idea how or why he was connecting this problem to me.

“The patients were all ill with some minor condition.” Tom slid the stack of files to the center of the table. “One had strep throat, another had bronchitis.” He spread out the stack as he spoke, four manila folders with a note paper-clipped to each file. “The third victim had food poisoning and the fourth an abscessed tooth. They were ill during the day, but not deathly so, at least not until the sun went down.”

A chill started at the back of my neck and crawled slowly down my spine. It didn’t escape my notice that he’d called the third patient a victim. “Then what happened?”

“Then they deteriorated quite rapidly, hallucinating and screaming and thrashing in pain. Within two hours they were dead.”

I sucked in a breath. If there was some kind of deadly virus going around, I was glad David and I were leaving town. “I’m still not sure what this has to do with me, Tom.”

“After the second patient died, the coroner became concerned and did an autopsy.” Tom leaned his forearm on the table, leveling his gaze with mine. “And what he found is the reason why you’re here.”

I resisted the urge to ask. Tom would tell me soon enough, and he seemed to be making a production out of it.

He waited for a long moment, a flicker of disappointment flashing in his eyes when he didn’t get a reaction from me. “The patients had no hearts.”

All the blood in my body instantly pooled at my feet. Could the demonic badgers be back? They had eaten out their victims’ hearts after ripping their abdomens open. Collin had assured me they were gone forever, earning us each a new title: destroyers of life. “Did they leave their houses? Were their abdomens ripped open?”

He pressed his lips together as he fingered the edge of one of the files. “No. That’s the strange part. Two of them never even left their houses. Two went to the hospital. One died on the way; the other died in the ER.” He opened one of the folders, exposing a photo of the naked body of a little boy.

I gasped, choking back a sob. “A kid?”

“Yeah, a kid.” He pushed the file closer to me. “Notice anything?”

“Are they all kids?”

“No. Just this one. One was a middle-aged woman and the other two were elderly.”

I looked away. “I don’t want to look at that, Tom.”

Tom banged the table and I jumped.

“Look at it, Ellie. This kid’s heart is missing.
Gone.
Do you notice anything strange?”

I forced myself to look at the five-by-seven photo, trying not to focus on the boy’s face. I couldn’t stop myself. He was seven or eight at most, with dark brown hair and freckles scattered across his face. He had a tan line at his waist and his lower thighs, most likely from a swimming suit. “What am I looking for?” I started to cry. “I don’t know, Tom.”

His voice softened. “Ellie, I’m sorry. But look at the photo. His heart is gone.” He asked again: “Do you notice anything strange?”

I forced myself to look again, which is when it hit me. “There’s no wound where it was removed. Is there one on the back?”

“No.”

I shook my head, my tears drying up. “But how . . . ?”

“Exactly.
How
.”

I lifted my face and stared into his eyes. “Tom, I swear to you. I have no idea what’s going on. I didn’t even know anything about it until you just told me.” But if something evil was killing children, I didn’t know what it was or how to stop it.

He closed the file. “It’s okay, Ellie. I believe you.”

The image of the little boy was burned into my brain, and I knew I was about to lose it. “Can I go now?”

“In a minute. I want to ask you a few more things.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

“One of the deaths, the elderly woman, happened two blocks from your house.”

“Two nights ago?” I asked.

Tom jerked upright. “Yeah, how did you know?”

Crap. I couldn’t tell him about the old woman who’d told me my future. Was she the one who had died? Could she have been a ghost rather than a demon? “I was walking home from work. I saw the ambulance.”

He sighed in disappointment. I’d guessed about the ambulance.

“What else do you want to know?”

His voice lowered. “Ellie, I’m begging you. If you have any idea what might be doing this or how to stop it, either tell me what to do or make sure it’s taken care of.”

My head jerked up in surprise. “
What?
”

“Whatever was ripping out people’s hearts before suddenly stopped, the exact same night when we found some strange things out at Festival Park. There were circles with candles, salt, and markings very much like the ones you make on your doors. We also found gigantic claw marks on a tree that had been knocked over, along with extensive damage to the
Elizabeth II
.”

We’d been sloppy to leave so many signs of our fight in Festival Park, the re-creation of the first English settlement in Roanoke, that night. We’d been sloppy about a lot of things. David had been certain I was a conjurer and could send the demons back to hell on my own. We’d made a temple of sorts for me, creating seven circles consisting of tribal markings, candles, and salt. I had stood inside the circles and recited the Cherokee chant David had been so sure would end the lives of the badgers. He had been mistaken. I had lured the demons away from David and onto the replica ship. We would probably both be dead if Collin hadn’t shown up to save us.

“I think you did something that night. I don’t know how you managed it, but I think you made that wild animal go away. I’d prefer if you would tell me what’s going on so trained professionals can deal with the situation. But I also know how stubborn you are. So if you refuse to tell me, but you can make this thing go away, please do what you can.”

My mouth dropped open in shock.

He gave me a wry smile. “Not what you expected?”

I took a deep breath and released it. “No.”

“I have to warn you, this isn’t officially sanctioned by the Manteo Police Department. It’s off the books.”

I shook my head, wiping the tears from my cheeks. I was both shocked by his change of attitude and grateful for it, but there was one problem. “I swear to you, Tom. I have no idea what this thing is.”

He leaned across the table, his eyes piercing mine. “Then find out. And take care of it.”

C
HAPTER
S
IX