Wicked Tempest: A Kate Waters Mystery (Kate Waters Mysteries Book 2) (32 page)

Kate inhaled air, cool, night air. It flowed through her with a groan. Her body starved for oxygen, she gasped and took in as much as possible. When she opened her eyes, she wasn’t in the grass fields with her sister anymore. She lay on the hard surface of a boat with the gentle rock of the waves. A few bright stars twinkled above. A silhouette of people leaned over her. She recognized the closest one. David’s hands cupped her face. His eyes wet with tears of joy. One dropped and splashed on her cheek.

“I love you,” Kate said to him with a rasp in her voice.

He buried his face into her neck and cried. It was the first time she had ever seen him cry. His body shook. She enfolded her arms around him and gazed up at the stars again. They had never looked so bright.

A circle of ambulances and police cars clustered in a parking lot between the river and Interstate Avenue. Lights flashed continuously, both on land and in the water, drawing the attention of cars on the bridge and a few nearby boats. River Patrol guarded the Dawn Maiden and kept onlookers from getting too close. Even at midnight on a Sunday in downtown Portland, the city gleamed with lights and whirred with traffic.

The Dawn Maiden had drifted close enough to the shoreline that officers set up a ramp to board at the side. The owner of the smaller boat David and Thea had used to pull Kate and Nick from the water belonged to a middle-aged man from Ohio named Leo Rogers. He had been cleaning his boat when Thea and David approached him. David had shown Leo his medical card and told him a highly condensed version of what had happened. Believing in their story, Leo gave them his boat. Without his cooperation, Kate and Nick would have drowned, officers told him. Beneath a graying nest of hair, Leo’s blue eyes beamed bright, and he began telling them of another time when he had rescued two teenagers and their dog along the shoreline up north.

Kate shivered beneath a wool blanket given to her by paramedics. She watched Wells and Thea at the edge of the river. Thea held a bundle of white cloth in her hand. She unwrapped it. It was the statue. Another shudder racked Kate at the familiarity of the vision. It was the one she had seen of Thea at the river during the spell, of her holding the statue, but this vision portrayed her handing over the statue, not stealing it. A tinge of guilt worked into her at the conclusion she had jumped to, something, that in the future, she would be more aware of.

Kate turned her attention to where officers held Andre. Two officials handcuffed him and led him away. He suffered a broken nose and a black eye from the burly fist of Detective Wells. Kate noticed the skin on Wells’ knuckles had split open. He dabbed at the blood with a towel.

Nick lay on a stretcher surrounded by four paramedics. They worked to carry him up the river embankment. An oxygen mask covered his face. The cuffs still bound around his wrists, but they had broken the chain connecting them so he could at least lay flat on his back.

Paramedics moved Kate to a stretcher where they took her pulse and inserted an IV into her arm. David, Thea, and Wells stood by her, questioning her about what had happened. David squeezed her hand, still carrying the lines of worry and fear in his face. Kate looked over at Thea whose red eyes peered back at her.

“Are you okay?” Kate asked.

Thea nodded. “I am now. I almost lost two people I care very much about.” Wells moved to her side and clasped her hand in his.

Something special had grown between them, Kate thought. She could see it in the way they looked at each other, the glimmer in their eyes. She had never imagined Thea with anyone, but she and Wells looked so natural together, as if they had always been together.

“Have you heard anything about Keith?” Kate asked Wells.

David rubbed her shoulder. “I’m sorry. I tried to save him, but he suffered too much blood loss.”

Kate looked over to Nick. Paramedics loaded him into the back of the ambulance. “Does he know?”

“Not yet. We’ll tell him at the hospital.”

“Mind if I ride with you?” David said to her.

“I’d mind if you didn’t,” Kate replied.

He leaned over and kissed her forehead. The paramedics lifted Kate on the stretcher and up the embankment.

Everything was over now, she thought. Rán’s wrath traveled its course, and she and Thea had escaped her path. The spell had played out—Keith died from a bullet, the fourth victim of Rán’s curse. The divine pattern of four achieved. Kate reached for the bracelet at her wrist and noticed it was gone. She felt strangely vulnerable without the bracelet, but imagined she didn’t need it anymore.

Kate glanced down at the Willamette River as paramedics neared the top of the hill. She thought she heard Jev’s laughter and her mother’s voice again.
You are always with us, Kate.
It was true, she thought. She could feel them both with her and sensed they always would be. For the first time since Jev’s death, Kate didn’t feel abandoned or alone. A beat of hope softened inside her and filled her with a quiet peace.

***

Detective Wells and four other officers led Andre Singer, cuffed and crowded into a tight huddle, toward the interrogation room. Officers lined the hallways, each giving Andre their own private glare. He had killed one of their own, and whether or not officers knew or even liked Officer Keith Davidson, they were family.

Wells led Andre into the same interrogation room as before, except this time, he knew Andre was guilty. This time he didn’t have to decipher his mannerisms or question him about an alibi or bruised arm or in fear he might hurt someone else. Andre was going to jail.

Wells and another officer, Scott Riley, sat across from Andre, garbed in orange Multnomah County jailhouse attire and nose stuffed with cotton. A red arc formed below his right eye where Wells’ fist made contact. Andre bent his head down, seemingly at a loss about where or when things had gone wrong.

Officer Riley began. “We know you weren’t responsible for Brooke’s and Suzanne’s deaths.”

“However coincidental they were,” Wells added.

Officer Riley folded his hands on the table. “But we do know you were the one who broke into Kate Waters’ home.”

“Officer Keith Davidson admitted to Nick Bratton he stole the statue from you, which I’d bet my left pinky, you stole from Kate Waters,” Wells said.

“Prove it.”

Officer Riley smiled like a fat cat. “You took your gloves off to use the john in the utility room,” he said. “Forgot to wipe the handle clean.”

Andre dipped his head, not saying a word.

“I’m also aware that Officer Keith Davidson took some money from you,” Wells said.

Andre lifted his head and met Wells’ gaze.

“I was there that night. I watched him take it, and right now, officers are tracing that money. Even if we don’t find who it belongs to or what your role in it was, a bag full of cash will make an impression on the jury.”

Officer Riley shook his head. “You killed a police officer. I think you’ll get something close to life. You’ve never been in this kind of jail before. You’re going to find it a little rough. The few bruises Detective Wells gave you will be nothing. Cooperating with us is something you might want to reconsider.”

Andre sat back. “Okay. I’ll cooperate.”

“Tell me everything,” Wells said, “beginning with your trip to the beach with Brooke.”

Andre began, telling them everything he knew, while seemingly still avoiding certain details of his past, which Wells and the other officers kept drilling him on. He swore he hadn’t left the dead snakes on Brooke’s, Kate’s, and Suzanne’s doorsteps; it was a coincidence. Wells didn’t see any reason why he would lie about something as trivial as the snakes when he was booked for murder.

Wells taped Andre’s account in its entirety and spent the rest of the afternoon putting together the report. He needed to research a few more details for prosecution, but from Andre’s testimony, the events transpired logically and filled in most of the missing evidence.

As for the statue, because Nick found it in international waters, he wouldn’t be charged with theft, but common law required the statue be returned to its rightful country in Spain. Nick referred Wells to the officer he had spoken with the next day regarding Jim’s disappearance and the report they had filed, where their coordinates had been the night Jim drowned, and how Keith had come into possession of the statue. He told Wells he didn’t know anything about the duffle bag of cash, which Wells believed since he had witnessed what he now knew was Keith stealing it from the boat shed.

Wells opened his office door, ready to go home and fall on the couch when he spotted Thea standing in the hallway.

“I never did get an official statement from you,” he said, gesturing for her to come inside. “I could also write you up for theft. Stealing a cursed, expensive statue is worth at least a few years behind bars.”

A grin crossed over Thea’s face. “I had every intention of returning it to proper authorities, but unfortunately, I never had the chance.”

“And the snakes?” Wells asked.

Thea’s grin faded. “You couldn’t force me to go near a snake. You can ask my neighbor; he helped me with that one.”

Wells believed her and pulled her into his office. He shut the door behind him.

“All things aside, I owe you an apology,” Wells said before she could speak.

“For doing your job?” Thea replied.

She stepped closer to him. Heat rushed to Wells’ face. He checked to make sure no one peered in through the blinds. “No. For looking at your tush the other night.”

Thea’s grin turned into a smile.

“Do you want to press charges?” Wells asked, moving closer to her.

She nodded, her lips just inches from his. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”

The two of them remained close, savoring the moment that led up to their long-awaited kiss. A long kiss it was.

***

Bagpipes and gunfire saluted Officer Keith Davidson on the morning of Saturday, April 4th. The wind kicked up as the storms continued to push across the valley, but the lightning dissipated, more proof to Thea that Rán and the curse were real. Rán had taken life by the elements four, and now that the statue was in the hands of the Museum of European Archeology and Artifacts, her curse had lifted.

Kate stood in the back with David and Thea. Nick and Wells sat near the front. A procession of patrol cars lined the Calvary Cemetery lane. Men and women in uniform marched Officer Davidson’s coffin up the grassy slope to a green tent surrounded by colorful flower bouquets. Even though the bag of money and the statue had been found in Officer Davidson’s possession, his intentions with it remained unknown. He might have planned to use the money to lure Andre into custody. Subsequently, officials cleared his name of criminal activity.

David held onto Kate’s hand, a frequent occurrence lately. She realized now how much he loved her and how scared he had been at the thought of losing her that night on the boat. Kate recollected the moments when she was with her mother and sister, and Jev had wanted her to go down the hill. Kate believed now the hill represented the way back to life. Jev wanted her to live, wanted her to return and do the things she herself couldn’t. Kate knew she was right, and even though she hated leaving Jev and her mother, she understood that one day, she would see them again, a thought that restored her hope and eased the pain of her grief.

David’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He checked the display. Kate saw the name, Robyn. David looked at her. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

She nodded. He kissed her cheek.

Thea turned to Kate after David left. “You’re okay with that?”

“Yes,” Kate whispered. “I know where he stands now. I know how much he loves me.”

Thea smiled in agreement.

“What about you? What’s going on between you and Wells?”

“I don’t know,” Thea said. Her eyes searched for him in the crowd. “We’re just having fun for now.”

“Does Wells realize how dangerous that can be with you?”

Thea gave a quiet laugh. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“May I remind you that you were caught by him in your underwear trying to break into Andre’s boatshed?”

“That’s actually not my idea of fun.”

Kate wrapped her arm around her shoulder. “I think you two have a lot in common.”

“Maybe too much,” Thea replied.

The funeral ended with more bagpipe music and gunfire. When the session was over, Kate found Nick standing off to the side talking to an officer who shook his hands. When they finished, she walked over to him.

He reached his hand out to grasp hers. “Thanks for saving my life, again.”

“I guess we’re even now,” Kate said with a smile.

“Yeah, look,” he said, then paused and shifted on his feet. “I…”

“You don’t have to go there, Nick. I know it wasn’t you who took the statue.”

“I still feel to blame. After everything that happened to you.”

“I believe everything had to happen, for some reason or another.”

Nick nodded. “I hope you’re happy, Kate.”

She glanced at David. “I am. What about you? How are you doing?”

“I’m seeing Matt later on today. I was told this morning that the museum is going to donate money for his final surgery.”

“That’s great news.”

“He’s a good kid. I owe him everything.”

Kate squeezed his hand. “He’s got a great father. I know you wrestle with guilt, but things happen that are sometimes out of our control. Believe me, I know.” Kate saw Thea and David walking toward the cemetery’s exit. They stopped to wait for her at the gate. She gave Nick a hug. “I better go. Take care, Nick.”

“You too,” he said with a wink.

Kate walked over to the cemetery gate. Sunlight slipped in between bright, white clouds, and the breeze carried the scent of fresh cut grass. She gazed out over the cemetery hill, at all the gravestones. Recent events seemed nothing short of a miracle, the fact that she and Nick hadn’t been run over by the boat, electrocuted in the storm or eaten by a shark. Something had pulled them from Rán’s grasp. She didn’t understand why she and Nick were saved and not Brooke, Jim, Suzanne, and Keith, but she knew one thing for sure. Something otherworldly had happened, and it was as real as the hillside in front of her.