Town Haunts (25 page)

Anna clicked on
her flashlight and clambered down the steps while Tiernay turned
back toward the string. Safely back on the second floor, Anna felt
in her pocket for her cell phone. Only, it wasn’t there. Of course
not. She had put it in her purse before leaving for The Diner this
morning, but she hadn’t brought it along with her tonight. She
heard Tiernay clattering down the steps behind her, and hurried
down the hallway for the stairs leading to the first floor.

“Hey, wait for
me. It’s dark in here,” the young woman protested.

Anna hesitated.
What was she going to do, abandon Tiernay to run out of the house?
The young woman hadn’t done anything to warrant that kind of
behaviour, and Anna didn’t want to feel like an idiot. She slowed
down, allowing Tiernay to catch up with her.

“Come on, let’s
see what Sherman has to drink. I’m thirsty, too,” the young woman
said. They climbed downstairs together. “The kitchen’s at the
back,” she added, letting Anna light the way.

Once in the
kitchen, Tiernay headed straight for the fridge. The light flashed
on as she opened the door and had a quick look inside before
opening the freezer door, too.

“Bingo!” she
said with a grin, pulling out the vodka bottle. “Good old Sherman.
Let’s have a couple of shots.”

“You go ahead.
I’m just going to have some water,” Anna said, opening the cupboard
doors to look for glasses.

Tiernay
shrugged. “More for me.”

Anna handed her
a juice glass and went to the sink. Turning on the faucet, she let
the water run cold for several seconds before filling her glass.
She glanced out the window while raising it to her lips.

The moonlight
had disappeared, replaced by a black, overcast sky that threatened
rain. The wind had come up, too; she could hear it howling outside
the window. The trees were thrashing in the cemetery, and Anna
thought she could see a light glimmering between them.

Tiernay walked
up behind her. “Can I have some water, too?”

“Hey, look over
there,” Anna said, pointing out the window. “Through the trees on
the right. Do you see a light?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you
suppose is going on in there?” Anna asked, exchanging an
apprehensive glance with Tiernay.

Chapter Thirty-Two

They clambered
down the slope toward the cemetery wall with the wind snatching at
their clothes.

“Get out your
tools,” Anna said when they reached the gate and discovered that it
was locked. She waited while Tiernay fiddled with the mechanism,
and winced when the young woman shoved the gate open and the hinges
shrieked.

“Sorry,”
Tiernay whispered. Anna rolled her eyes; too late for whispers now.
They snuck through the gate and paused to get their bearings on the
cemetery road.

“I think the
light was coming from this direction,” Anna said with a nod,
clicking off her flashlight and pocketing it. Tiernay nodded back,
and they followed the ring road as silently as possible, aiming for
the older section of the cemetery.

“Doesn’t she
look familiar?” Anna whispered a few minutes later while studying
the statue of a mourning woman towering four feet above her. “I’m
sure I saw her when we were here on Wednesday night.”

“Yeah, on the
way to Evelyn’s grave,” Tiernay said. They exchanged an uneasy
look.

“Great,” Anna
said. “Let’s hope that Evelyn is otherwise occupied tonight.” She
noticed Tiernay fingering the silver snake in the neckline of her
cloak, and her own fingers reached for the blue obsidian in her
jacket pocket. It was ridiculous, she knew. A blue stone wasn’t
going to protect her from a ghost she was convinced didn’t exist,
but it was easy to believe in ghosts in the middle of a cemetery on
a windy night. If only her gold cross wasn’t at home in her jewelry
box.

Anna switched
her flashlight back on and shone it on the ground where it was less
likely to be noticed by anyone else. Together the two women stepped
off the road and edged across the grass. Anna’s ears were pricked
for any sounds beyond the rustling of the trees and the leaves that
scattered before them, only to be caught up against the tombstones.
The wind gusted against her back, whipping her hair into her face,
and she set the flashlight on the ground and unzipped her jacket to
stuff her hair inside. Bending to retrieve the flashlight, she
could smell the decaying leaves and fancied that it was more than
leaves that she was smelling. Shivering, she was about to share
that observation with Tiernay when she noticed that the young woman
was no longer there.

Anna turned,
shining her light in every direction, but Tiernay had vanished.

“Where are
you?” she whispered in a low, urgent voice. “Damn it, you must have
eyes like a cat’s.” She waited, but Tiernay didn’t answer.

Anna hesitated,
not wanting to go in search of the young woman in case she came
back, but too afraid to stay there alone. Where was she? She
searched for a landmark. A tall birch shimmied in the wind beside
her, sounding just like whispering. She shifted from foot to foot,
unable to hold still. A coyote howled, and Anna started violently.
She was panting, for heaven’s sake. Enough! Tiernay or not, it was
time to get out of here.

Anna had run a
few steps back toward the road when she thought she heard voices.
Pausing, she held her breath to listen. It was no hallucination;
she was definitely hearing voices, a man and a woman’s. Swallowing
to moisten her bone-dry throat, she shone her light on the ground
and crept toward them. No one must know that she was there until
she found out what was going on.

Raising her
head, Anna spotted the same stand of evergreens she had previously
seen on the way to Evelyn’s grave. One of the trees bent inward in
a weird way, as if cradling a weight. Surprised that she was
already so close, she sidled around them, intent on hearing what
the man and woman were saying.

“I told you,
you can’t stay. I’m waiting for someone.”

“What’s
that?”

“No!”

Anna heard
scuffling noises and dashed forward, snapping off the light as she
emerged from the trees. A Coleman lamp was lit on the ground, and
Tiernay was clutching Greg’s leather satchel to her chest while
Greg tried to wrestle it from her. He let go of the satchel and
wrapped his arms around Tiernay, jerking her off her feet and
throwing her to the ground. She scrambled to her knees and crawled
toward the bag, but Greg snagged the strap and swung it out of her
reach. The bag burst open, and several bundles flew out. Anna
crouched behind the bench as Tiernay pounced on one of them before
Greg could snatch it up.

“Give me that,”
he snarled, advancing toward her, but Tiernay jumped to her feet
and danced out of the way. She was tearing a booklet from the
bundle and flipping it open, pausing to examine it as Greg caught
up with her and snatched it from her hand.

“It’s a
passport,” Tiernay said. “They’re all passports,” she added,
holding up the bundle. “What are you doing with them?”

Brother and
sister glared at each other, panting from their struggle. Without
saying a word, Greg held out his hand, and Tiernay dropped the rest
into it. He turned and hurried back to the lantern beside Evelyn’s
grave, stuffing the passports back into the satchel as Tiernay
trotted after him.

“Greg, what are
you doing? What’s this all about?”

“Stay out of
it, Tiernay. Go home before he gets here.”

“Before who
gets here?” she asked. She grabbed her brother’s arm, forcing him
to look at her.

Someone seized
Anna from behind and dragged her to her feet. She screamed and
struggled to break free, but her assailant wrenched her arm behind
her back and she stopped, gasping in pain. Frogmarched into the
circle of light on Evelyn’s grave, Anna panted as Greg and Tiernay
whirled to look at her.

“Too late,” her
assailant growled.

“Emmanuel,” Greg
said without inflection.

Cabrero shoved
Anna toward them, and she fell onto her knees. She scrambled to her
feet and turned to look at her assailant. The gun in his hand
didn’t waiver as he pointed it straight at her head. Anna could
feel her heart thumping in her chest as she peered into his small,
cold eyes.

“What are your
sister and your lady friend doing here, Greg?” the squat, muscular
man asked.

“It’s a
mistake,” Greg said, starting forward. The gun swung toward him,
and Greg halted, holding up his hands. Anna glanced at him and saw
a nervous smile on his face. Greg’s eyes didn’t waiver from the
gunman’s.

“You have
broken our agreement once again, my friend. Our business was to be
conducted in absolute secrecy.”

“I know, I
know. I can explain.”

“If you are
going to suggest that these ladies should join in our business, I
would urge you to remember how things worked out with Henry
Fellows.”

“Of course not.
I should never have allowed Henry to become involved, but he
threatened to tell the police if I didn’t.”

Cabrero shook
his head. “What a waste he was ‒ not only a snivelling coward, but
a terrible forger, too. Not an artist like you. Your talent is the
only thing keeping you alive right now. But I am running out of
time. The Calgary police are asking a lot of questions about Henry.
It’s getting too dangerous.”

“I can
appreciate that.”

“Where is my
merchandise?” Greg eased the satchel from his shoulder and held it
out, keeping his other hand in the air.

“Anna, go stand
beside Tiernay,” Cabrero said. Anna nodded and shifted toward the
young woman, her eyes never leaving the gun.

Cabrero tucked
the weapon into his belt and pulled a slim, powerful flashlight
from his coat pocket, using it to examine each document as Greg
passed it to him. While he was distracted, Anna glanced at Tiernay.
The young woman’s eyes were terrified as she stared at her brother
and Cabrero.

“What are we
going to do?” Tiernay whispered.

“How well do
you know him?” Anna asked, nodding toward Cabrero.

“He’s been to
the house a couple of times. We had a glass of wine together, once.
I had no idea what he and Greg were doing, Anna, I swear it!”

Anna grimaced
and muttered, “Keep your voice down!” Tiernay nodded. “I don’t like
what he said about Henry,” she added.

“Do you think
Emmanuel killed him?”

“Unless you
think it was Greg?”

“No!”

Anna took a
step backward.

“What are you
doing?” Tiernay whispered, her eyes darting to the men and back
again.

“Our only
chance is to run for it while they’re looking through the
stuff.”

“No! We don’t
know what he might do to Greg.”

“I’m willing to
risk it. He’ll keep Greg alive because he’s useful, but what good
are we to him?”

“No!” Tiernay
whispered, grasping Anna’s wrist.

“Ladies,”
Cabrero said as Anna glared at Tiernay. “Time to join us over
here.”

Anna broke from
Tiernay’s grip and looked up. It was too late. The gun was back in
Cabrero’s hand and pointing straight at them. Sick with dread, Anna
headed toward the men with Tiernay shaking at her side.

“We’re going
for a walk. Greg, you will stay here.”

“No!” Greg
shouted. Cabrero raised his eyebrows. “No,” he said in a lower
voice. “There’s got to be some way to fix this.” He smiled at his
partner, but Anna saw his eye twitch. “I swear they’ll never say a
word.” Cabrero glanced at the two women.

“Why would
they?” Greg continued. “If they say anything, it would only
implicate me. Tiernay is my sister, and Anna is my fiancée. They
wouldn’t do that.” Cabrero studied his face while Anna held her
breath, praying that the gunman would listen to Greg and let them
live.

“I have your
assurance?”

“Of course. I
swear it on my life.”

“Very well,”
Cabrero said, removing an envelope from his coat pocket. “Here is
your money. We’ll have to move the operation somewhere else,
though. It’s not safe here anymore.”

“Thank you,”
Greg said, relief flooding his face. Tiernay’s legs gave way, and
Anna had to hold her up to prevent her from falling. “Come on,
girls,” Greg said. He held out his hand, and Tiernay stumbled
forward to grasp it. Greg slid his arm around his sister’s shoulder
and turned to guide them away. As they circled around Cabrero,
however, the gunman seized Anna’s arm. She stared at him with
terrified eyes.

“Not Anna,
though. You lied about her. Her boyfriend is a police sergeant. I
know all about the people close to you, Greg. A pity,” he said, his
merciless eyes appraising her. Anna turned a pleading face to Greg,
who stared miserably back at her.

“If you don’t
go now, I will change my mind about your sister,” Cabrero added,
pressing the gun to Anna’s head. She heard a wheezing noise and
realized it was coming from her own throat. There was a pause as
she waited for Greg to think of something. His expression was
wretched as he looked away.

“I’m so sorry,
Anna,” he said, taking a stronger hold on his sister’s shoulders
and dragging her forward. Anna’s breath caught in a half-sob.

“Greg!” Tiernay
screamed, twisting to look back at Anna as her brother thrust her
into the trees.

Anna, rooted to
the spot with fear, watched them disappear. She glanced back at
Cabrero, only to see his fist flying toward her. Toppling onto
Evelyn’s grave, she blacked out.

Someone slapped
her. Anna cringed, trying to raise her hands to protect her face,
but they were bound behind her back. Wire was cutting into her
wrists, and it hurt. She realized that she was sitting up, leaning
against something cold and hard. As her eyes fluttered open, she
saw Cabrero’s grim face inches from her own.