Chapter 27 #2
Hoping my expression was neutral, I sat there innocently and awaited Sal’s response.
Instead of immediately responding, she looked towards the window and chewed at her lip, deep in thought.
I didn’t rush her, afraid I’d appear suspicious.
There was one thing the unhoused population of Sage Grove hated—people treating them suspiciously.
“I’m worried about that, too,” she said. “I haven’t seen him in two days.”
“Oh?”
She looked at me and frowned, though she wasn’t really looking at me, but through me.
“He took off the other night. Didn’t say anything to anyone. Hasn’t been back,” Sal explained. “I’ve checked with everyone, but no one has heard anything. I hope he didn’t take off to hell knows where to try and find Marcella. Before you know it, we’ll all be disappearing.”
I gave her an empathetic look and reached up to pat her shoulder.
“I’m sure he’ll turn back up soon, Sal,” I said, reassuring her. “You know Gary.”
She nodded.
“I do know Gary,” she said with a chuckle. “He wanders off sometimes. This isn’t the longest he’s been gone.”
“With Marcella missing it probably just makes him being gone seem worse this time,” I said.
She gave me a look that told me she agreed. She wiggled her arm holding the bag at me and headed to the door.
“Thanks, Si,” she said as she reached for the handle. “For the food. Gary. Doc Stephens.”
Bowing my head, I said nothing, and she disappeared out the door, an icy blast of wind replacing her.
My eyes shifted to the window and I watched Sal walked down the sidewalk, right through the ghost, shivering as she passed through, though taking no other notice of it.
My eyes went back to the ghost and I stared into its eyes.
“She left already?” Ginny asked.
Startled, I nearly fell from the stool. When I whipped around to look at her, she was grinning evilly and tying her apron string back around her waist. A thought that I’d been trying to pin down all morning entered my head and I righted myself on the stool.
“I forgot to ask Sal,” I said calmly, “but did she ever mention that girl’s last name? Marcella’s?”
Ginny turned up the corner of her mouth, deep in thought as she began to gather up the cooking supplies to take to the sink. Finally, she perked up and turned to me.
“Washington,” Ginny said. “Marcella Washington. Of course, you never know with the camp folk. The name they go by might not be the one on record with the government.”
I nodded, standing from the stool.
“Do you think you can finish up today again?” I asked.
Ginny growled at me, her mouth twisting up in a frown.
“You can pick the menu tomorrow,” I said.
She brightened. “Deal!”
Laughing, I headed to the door. I shrugged on my coat and scarf and checked to make sure my keys, wallet, and phone were still in my pockets.
“You’re a peach!’ I shot over my shoulder to Ginny and breezed out the front door.
Practically leaping into my car, I buckled in and pulled out from in front of the diner.
A quick minute later, I was in the Gas & Go, buying an energy drink.
I made sure to thank Caleb on behalf of the camp folks for the tip about Doc Stephens’ place, and left, cracking the can open as I slid back into the car.
I was no fool. At least not as big a fool as I could have been.
I knew exactly where to find Marcella. But now, with a few pieces of the puzzle falling into place in my brain, and her full name, I knew what could be done.
I chugged the drink as I made my way home, not bothering to abide the laws of the road.
County officers rarely patrolled the streets from town out to my house.
By the time I was parking in the driveway in front of my house, I was tossing the empty can into the back floorboard. I didn’t bother locking my car as I leapt out and headed into the house. My coat and scarf got put on the coat rack inside and I made my way into the bedroom.
In my bedroom, I retrieved the humidifier from the closet and dug around until I found my bundle of sage.
I made a trip to the kitchen and filled the humidifier up with water and then took it and placed it on the coffee table in the living room.
It took a while, digging around in the chest of supplies I had out in the atrium, but I finally found the sage essential oil and an old cigarette lighter I kept on hand.
Back in the living room, I deposited a few teaspoons of the liquid into the water in the humidifier.
Throwing myself down on the sofa, I heaved out a breath, laying the sage bundle on the coffee table.
The sun was halfway to the horizon outside after what seemed like forever, but I continued to wait, playing a game on my phone as the minutes ticked by.
My stomach grumbled, so I made a sandwich with a side of chips and had a quick bite in the kitchen before returning to my spot on the sofa in the living room.
Night seemed to take forever to arrive, especially with watching the clock and not much else.
However, when the sun dipped below the horizon, and the light ceased to peek through the blinds in the living room, the time had come.
I rose from the sofa and looked around cautiously.
Knowing that there was no turning back, not if I wanted to solve more than one problem, I opened my mouth to speak.
“Marcella Washington!”