Chapter 23 #3
“No, it’s not,” Jerry noted, “but the old lady with her tarot cards? She was of the opinion that this certain astrological alignment had been made. Thus, all kinds of shit happened. I’ve never forgotten what she told me about it because it was just damn spooky.
She told us something about, when there’s some T-squares or crosses or whatever, that alignment repeated.
So, it happened often, and it was important, how certain people would be more affected than others.
I wrote it down way back when because she told us the exact years where it would repeat, and this is one of them,” he declared.
“I’ll be interested to see if anything happens. ”
“When does it repeat this year?” Devon asked curiously.
He smiled at her, a little bit grim, as he told her, “Tomorrow night. So, if you’ve got any ghosts over your way, they’re likely to be more active than usual.
” And, with that, he rubbed his hands in excitement.
“Anyway, have a good night, you two.” And, with that, he turned and headed back to his house.
He never once turned to look back as she just stared behind him, until Camden wrapped an arm around her and whispered, “Hey, it’s okay.”
She turned to him. “I don’t know that it’s okay at all,” she argued. “I still can’t figure out what any of this has to do with Tabitha, if anything even does. Maybe she was under some delusion that she could make some magic happen over this time period.”
“An awful lot of amateur astrologers are out there,” he noted. “Still, that doesn’t mean that they know shit.”
She frowned at him, adding, “I won’t sleep a wink tonight.”
He offered, “I’ll come over and sleep on the couch if you want.”
She closed her eyes. “I really, really don’t want to put you through that,” she began, “but I know that this will just go from bad to worse. Also I’m pretty damn sure that Jerry is the killer,” she stated, turning to look back where their neighbor had walked away.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure he is too,” Camden concurred. “The question is, how far will he go at this point to keep all of this under wraps?”
“You already know the answer to that,” she muttered.
“Yeah, I was just thinking I should put a guard on Mark tonight.”
She grimaced and then nodded. “Not a bad idea.”
He pointed to her home. “Go on into your place. I’ll come over in a little bit, and we can talk about arrangements for the next couple nights.”
“Do you think it’ll be safe after that?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Like you, I feel as if things are coming to a head. Let’s try to get through the next few days. Once we see how bad things get, hopefully Stefan can help, and we’ll come to some semblance of normality after that.” He asked her, “You good with that?”
“Sure. Why not?” And, with that, she headed inside.
He contacted his partner and then contacted the retirement home. Nobody was really interested in having any special security added, and, as far as they were concerned, there was no need. Once the captain heard what Camden was going on about, he was more shocked than anything.
“If you think Jerry is responsible, we need to just bring him in.”
“I know,” Camden replied, “but I’m trying not to jump the gun on this because I don’t have any proof. It’ll take a confession from him, and he won’t do that willingly.”
“No, he won’t, not after all this time,” the captain barked. “Jesus Christ, why the hell would that kid say that?”
“That kid is now seventy-something years old and living in a retirement home. Mark’s spent his entire life hating himself for what he did—or didn’t do. Yet he was also getting a ton of attention and support for it, emotionally, medically, financially. He’s terrified to lose all that now.”
“Yeah, duh,” the captain muttered. “Jesus Christ. Just get some sleep tonight, and we’ll talk in the morning on how to proceed with this. Can you get Mark to write this down?”
“He was supposed to be writing it all out now, but, if he dies overnight, I’m not sure that’s something I can get from him.”
“Then you need to head your ass back to the retirement home tonight,” the captain snapped, his tone sharp. “And make sure you get that statement.”
“Yeah, I was just thinking that.” He groaned.
“I know that Devon is pretty freaked out over what we heard from Jerry, plus the fact that he’s our neighbor, right here beside us.
She’s counting on me to be there for her, and, no, I can’t take her back to the retirement home with me because she’s got the kids.
She won’t leave them, not with this guy right next door. ”
“Of course not,” the captain muttered, an odd note in his tone. “I’ll get some patrols to run past her place, and we’ll just beef up security in that area, but you need to get back to that retirement home and get the statement. Then you can head over to her place. You’re sure about her, right?”
“Yes, I’m sure about her,” Camden stated. “What I’m not sure about is some really woo-woo stuff here that is definitely convoluted. Stefan’s involved and—”
“Oh, Christ,” the captain grumbled. “Anything involving Stefan and that … stuff? I don’t even want to hear about.”
“I know,” Camden replied, “which is why I haven’t involved you, but I’m just telling you that it’s coming to a head, and that’ll probably be tomorrow night.
I’ll try to explain it to you in the morning, but, yeah, get a patrol out here in my neighborhood, have them keep an eye on Devon and the twins, and I’m heading back to the retirement home now.
” And with that, he hung up and hopped back into his truck and took off.