Chapter 14 Clues Without Context
CLUES WITHOUT CONTEXT
When they were back in the car, still under the scrutiny of several suspicious neighbors, George started tapping on the steering wheel. “Do you want to check out Suzie’s place as well? Or is that something we shelve for tomorrow?”
Andi suppressed a smile at the roundabout way George was inquiring about his state of mind. It sent a rush of warmth down his spine. “I’d say we do it now then go back to the hotel and look at our evidence. As far as you can call it evidence.”
“Well, we’ve made a step in the right direction. Not a pleasant direction, mind you, but forward.” George started the car. “Can you type the address in?”
“On it.” Andi tapped the touchscreen in the middle of the Escalade’s console, waiting for the GPS to load.
Suzie had lived in another residential area close to Fernwood, about four miles east of downtown Spartanburg.
Like Isabelle’s neighborhood, it was a far cry from the place where Rosalie and Tammy Byrnes lived.
Everything in this part of town seemed to be cleaner, better groomed, there was hardly any litter on the ground, only a piece of food wrapping or a tissue here and there, likely fallen out of bags unnoticed instead of deliberately dropped because here even the litter bins gave the impression of cleanliness.
Suzie’s home was small, quaint, and within the range of what one expected of the salary of a caretaker and a mechanic with no children to care for.
They hadn’t thought of contacting Tucker Monahan, Suzie’s husband, and he wasn’t home.
Again, there were curious neighbors, though not as many as at Isabelle’s place, because there seemed to be more working folk here than retirees.
Since they didn’t need to be in the house, they just stayed at the front door, and Andi opened his connection to the arthropods in the vicinity.
Once he had found the death of Suzie—a major event for the garden dwellers—the by now familiar thought structures of something other invaded his mind.
Evil, evil, must die, stealing bitch, she had no right, evil, meanie, has to go, get rid of her, danger to the nest, the queen, kill, kill, kill, meanie, evil.
“Andi? Dear?” He felt George’s warmth on his shoulder, his breath on his face after it had passed his ear shell.
“I’m here. We can add Suzie to our list. Whoever is doing the killing is straightforward at least. I got the clear intention, same with the others.”
“Still no idea who it could be?”
“No.” Andi wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
The impressions he got didn’t instill hope that the person was sane.
Which was a pity. Even though they were a killer, Andi would have loved talking to somebody who knew what it was like being part of more than one world.
He definitely had no desire whatsoever to witness his own future in the fate of a stranger.
He’d had enough of that when he was in Bavaria with his oma.
So much he wasn’t looking forward to. At least the cantankerous old dragon had never killed anybody as far as Andi knew.
Does that make her better than you? The nagging voice at the back of his mind managed yet again to throw him off balance.
Because Andi had killed with his geschenk.
It had been to save Tyler Norris, an innocent child, from a serial killer, so technically, Andi could claim it had happened in the course of duty, no different from pulling the trigger on a perp, but deep down, he knew it was different.
By instrumentalizing his geschenk, he had opened a door that couldn’t be shut again.
Firearms were another matter because you could put the safety on, store them away in a safe, refuse to use them, even forget about their existence, when you put enough energy into it.
The geschenk had no safety. It couldn’t be stored in a safe.
He couldn’t refuse to use it the same way he couldn’t refuse to breathe, which made forgetting it impossible.
No, he had a debilitating weapon in his hand, and by using it, he had made it even more dangerous to himself and to others.
Perhaps his oma had been on to something after all.
Perhaps her restraint had been the reason for her unpleasantness.
Andi would never know because the dead didn’t talk to him in that way.
“Andi?”
“Huh?”
“Do we think the killer has a connection to the victims or is this random?” George’s eyes were on the street where the Escalade was parked.
“Common sense says it has to be random. The victims have no tangible connection as far as we know. At first glimpse.”
“At first glimpse. My gut says this is more.” George was massaging Andi’s shoulders with soft pressure. It felt so good that Andi wanted to melt into a puddle.
“My gut says the same, which means we have to find out everything we can about them.”
“Yay, Shireen is going to be so happy.”
“Yeah. We need to tell Officer Kaustrowitz to ask Tucker Monahan to talk to us.”
George kept on massaging. “Perhaps it’s time to invite Randy for coffee. We’re going to need him a lot more than we anticipated.”
“Coffee with a stranger. Now I know what the massage is for.” Andi chuckled.
“I’m sure you’re going to live through it, dear.” George gave his shoulders one last squeeze before he released him. “Let’s go back to the hotel, line everything up, and decide if we’re going to have that coffee today or tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow.”
“You’re just procrastinating.”
“I’m being mindful of Kaustrowitz’s time. He may not be available on such short notice.” Andi went for a haughty tone, which had George snorting in amusement.
“You’re rather cute when you try to be polite.”
“You wound me.”
“I’m just teasing you. Come on. In the car you go.” George pressed his key to unlock the Escalade and then proceeded to open the passenger door for Andi, waving him in with a grand gesture. Andi smiled and slid onto the seat, leaning his head back. “Do you need some Tylenol?”
“I’d rather try to go without. I’m using it too often as it is.
” Another harsh truth. Andi knew he should be grateful that he could counter his headaches mostly with Tylenol, at least for now.
The more often he took it, the more likely it was that he’d need something stronger and even less healthy in the future.
It was a delicate rope he was walking, gauging how long he could wait before the headaches turned into full-blown migraines, which would knock him out for days.
“I can give your neck a real massage once we’re at the hotel.”
“That would be great.” Andi smiled at George, who put one hand on his thigh, letting his warmth seep into Andi’s cold skin. His man gave great massages and usually found the worst knots.
They arrived at the Best Western about thirty minutes later.
Luckily for them, it wasn’t fully booked, and the lady at the reception had told them, albeit with a scorching look, that she could reserve the same room for the coming weeks.
Andi flopped down on one of the queen-size beds with a groan, as George texted Kaustrowitz, asking for a meeting and to contact Tucker Monahan for an interview.
Then he took care of Andi’s neck, loosening the hard muscles with sure movements of his big, warm hands.
Andi was close to falling asleep when his cell started ringing.
George kept him on the bed by pressing his left hand between Andi’s shoulder blades.
With his right hand, he fumbled the cell out of the back pocket of Andi’s jeans, a great feat of coordination since his partner was straddling him.
“It’s Tyler.”
“Take it.” Andi would have preferred to have some peace, and anyone else would have had to wait until he was feeling better, but Tyler was the exception. He reminded Andi so much of himself at that age, he just couldn’t bring himself to ignore the boy—or young man, rather.
“Hi, Tyler. It’s me, George. Andi is here as well. How are you?”
“Hi, George, Andi, I’m fine. Mostly. The ghosts are here.” Tyler’s tone suggested this wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
“Are they back or were they with you all the time?” George held the cell closer to the bed so Andi could hear Tyler more clearly.
“They’re back. After our last call, they were gone for a bit, and I thought maybe that was it.”
“What do they want?” Andi’s voice sounded a bit muffled because he was still on his belly. Above him, George shifted to let him up.
“I’m not sure. I told Dad about them, and he drew them. Then we gave the pictures to Shireen, but so far, she hasn’t found anything. I get a feeling of urgency as if they want this to come to an end.”
“Are they threatening you?” This was always Andi’s core concern.
He didn’t know anything about ghosts and interacting with them, didn’t know if they could be a danger to Tyler aside from making him an outcast and perhaps driving him mad.
On closer inspection, Andi couldn’t say which was worse, physical or psychic wounds.
Both carried their own horrors, though he felt he was better equipped to help Tyler with the latter.
“No. They swamp me with a sense of urgency. I don’t think they could harm me.”
“And they’re still not talking to you?”
“No, I—”
“What, Tyler?” Andi gentled his tone, feeling instinctively that this was an important moment, a step forward for Tyler.
“They don’t talk, but I think I can feel their emotions. It’s totally different from Izzy and the others.”
“Do you want to feel their emotions? Do you think it would help?”