Chapter 27 #2
“The original murders stopped after the fourth victim. The body they found this morning was victim number four. After this, we have no idea whether there are going to be more bodies or if the murderer will go to ground again.”
Unfortunately, Olivia did know. If Theo’s premonition was right, there would be five murders. The last one would have his heart removed, and it would take place after the first snowfall. But there was no way to explain to Captain McCallister how she knew that.
“I’m going to head back in, give you a chance to rest.” Mac turned to Jake. “Deputy Gilbert?”
“Jake,” he corrected him. “I’ll meet you back at the station.”
Mac nodded in agreement before slipping quietly from the room.
“Okay, Olive.” Jake turned back to her. “What didn’t you want to say in front of the captain?”
“Chief Walcott knows how to cross my protection lines. He knows what I am.”
“How?” Theo frowned.
“He knows I’m a witch because my dad is, and my mom was. As for crossing the line, he had a mojo bag. His grandmother was a hoodoo woman. She taught him her secrets, which means he can counteract some of my power. I’m not sure how much, as hoodoo isn’t my specialty. I don’t know enough about it.”
“Fuck,” Jake swore.
“There is something else.” She sighed. “It’s about my father.”
“What is it?”
“He said something to me before they knocked me out,” she hesitated. “I asked him flat out why he killed mom and why the others had to die, and he said that I would understand soon.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.” Jake scowled.
“Neither do I,” Olivia muttered.
“I hate to say it, Olive, but it’s starting to look more and more like your father is the killer.”
“I know.” She stared down at the blanket. “But why would he want to turn a demon loose? That’s the part I just don’t understand.”
“I don’t know,” Jake replied. “Look, I’m going to head back to the station and go back over the case files.”
Olivia nodded quietly.
“There’s one more thing, Olive.” He took a deep breath, bracing himself for her reaction. “I’m going to pull your mom’s file.”
“What?” Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“To see if they missed anything,” he answered. “If your dad is the killer? Maybe she found out?”
“You think that’s why he killed her?”
“I’m not sure yet, but Captain McCallister mentioned that he was there the night your dad was arrested and that he was ranting something about demons and a devil’s trap.
I’m going to check out your dad’s arrest record as well.
It’s all connected. We just need to figure out how.
Now that Chief Walcott is not here to hinder us, we might finally have a chance to do that. ”
She nodded mutely, not trusting her voice.
“I’ll check in on you later.” He leaned over the bed and dropped an affectionate kiss on her head. His eyes met Theo’s for a second, and a silent understanding passed between them. He would not leave her side again, not until Chief Walcott was in custody.
Jake slipped from the room, and Theo stood slowly, stretching his legs and easing the kink in his neck.
He wandered to the window and stared out into the darkness.
The sun had set, and the sky was a great, empty vastness.
There were no stars tonight. It seemed the heavens were as black as his mood.
No matter what he did, he couldn’t shake the images from his dream of Olivia lying on the ground, the crisp white snow deep in the heart of the woods stained crimson with her blood.
They were running out of time; he could feel it.
“What’s wrong?” He heard her ask sleepily.
“Nothing,” he murmured, turning back to her. “You should get some sleep.”
He was just dimming the lights and removing some of the cushions propping her up when they heard a small, polite knock, and a nurse popped her head around the door. “Sorry to disturb you, but I’ve got some more flowers that were delivered to the front desk. Can I bring them in?”
Theo nodded, and she disappeared, reappearing moments later with a vase, which held a bouquet of stunning deep blue tulips.
Olivia forced herself upright in bed, staring at the flowers with wide eyes.
“They’re so unusual.” The nurse settled them on the table at the foot of the bed, directly in Olivia’s line of sight. “I’ve never seen them this color before. They must’ve been dyed. I’m afraid there was no card with them.” She turned and smiled at Olivia. “I’ll just let you get some rest then.”
She disappeared back through the door and clicked it closed behind her.
“What is it?” Theo asked as her face paled.
“They’re from my father,” she murmured.
A memory seared through her mind, white hot and without warning, and for a brief, heart-stopping moment, she was back in the house the night her mother died. She gave a gasp, dragging in a deep lungful of air as Theo watched her with troubled eyes.
“I-I remember… He was holding them, the flowers.” Her voice was so quiet he almost missed the words.
“He came home that night holding them in his arms, a big bouquet of them. They were Mom’s favorite.
He was smiling. I was sitting on the stairs with Truman, and he winked at me and held his finger to his lips. He wanted to surprise her.”
“He didn’t intend to kill her,” Theo spoke quietly, moving closer. “You told me you woke that night because you heard them arguing and you came downstairs.”
“I did wake because I heard arguing, and I crept downstairs.” She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. “But I know I was sitting on the stairs when he came through the door.”
“Then who was she arguing with if it wasn’t your father?”
“I don’t know.” She tried to remember but the more she tried to focus, the more the details slipped away. “I followed him into the kitchen.”
“If you saw him come through the door and you followed him into the kitchen, that means you saw everything.” Theo sat on the bed beside her, taking her hands gently in his. “Olivia... you saw the murder.”
She shook her head, trying to block out the pain. In her mind she could see the flowers strewn across the floor, their stems snapped, and their delicate petals crushed, turning a darker shade as they absorbed the blood that they lay in.
“Olivia,” Theo spoke more firmly as she became lost in the panic of an eight-year-old child. “What happened next?”
“I don’t know.” Her desperate gaze locked on him. “I don’t remember.”
She shut her eyes against the onslaught of images. The blood was everywhere, it was all over her hands and the flowers, and the overwhelming sickly scent of them was choking her, and she couldn’t breathe.
“Get rid of them,” she whispered as her voice broke. “Please… get rid of them.”
He slid off the bed, picked the flowers up and disappeared from the room.
She could still smell them. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she could see her mother lying on the floor in front of her.
All the pain and heat went straight to her hands and with it came a shocking realization.
When Theo came back into the room, the look she gave him was filled with utter devastation.
“The fire…” Her voice was so low he had to step closer. “It was me…”
“What was you?” He sat on the bed next to her.
“The fire was my fault. I couldn’t control it. All the fear and confusion and heat went straight to my hands.” She looked up at him as a tear slid slowly down her cheek. “I started the fire.”
“Olivia,” he whispered, cradling her face gently in his hands as another tear slid down her face. “It wasn’t your fault.’
“I started the fire.” She shook her head.
“Olivia, they were already dead, your mother… your grandmother. It made no difference.” He forced her to look at him, his expression grave. “They were already dead,” he repeated more softly.
The first sob escaped as he pulled her into his arms and drew them both down onto the bed, holding her tightly.
She felt as if she was flying apart at the seams, and the only thing holding her together in that moment was his arms. Unable to hold it in any longer, she buried her face in his chest and cried as though her heart was breaking.
They were so wrapped up in each other that neither noticed when the first few errant flakes of snow descended in the darkness outside her window.