Chapter 16
“Natalie Greenway is not Natalie Greenway,” Shelly announced as they made their way into the car and closed the doors.
“Okay, that’s confusing,” Grant said.
“Very, but what happened is this,” Skye told them.
“I was able to bring up the recent past. The woman slipped out of the bed and literally crawled around for a minute, got some clothes from a drawer—a nurse’s green uniform—and then crawled into the bathroom.
She showered and washed out her hair. It’s really a graying blond.
Then she put on the uniform, opened the door just enough to get out, and slipped in with other medical personnel and visitors and headed to the elevator.
Of course, I don’t know beyond that because I just see the scene that’s in front of me. But Shelly has the story from there.”
“Wait. That’s … incredible. How? Is she dead? The real Natalie Greenway?” Grant asked.
“Yes. The real Natalie Greenway is dead,” Shelly told him.
She knew how aggravated he was with himself that he hadn’t even suspected such a thing might be the case.
But why would they have suspected such a thing?
The woman they had met was one hell of an actress—or else she believed that if she carried off her assignment, whatever it might have been, she would meet her real gods and goddesses.
“How did she switch?” Zach asked, completely puzzled.
“She was never at the facility,” Shelly explained.
“It was true that she made her financial arrangements with the legal firm that was handling her payments, had her burial arrangements, and arrangements for what money was left to be dispersed to the animal rescue site. But the paperwork was done through video chats and emails.”
“You saw the real Natalie Greenway?” Grant asked. “But—”
“Briefly, so briefly. A whisper of mist and light, nothing more,” Skye said.
“After Shelly saw what she saw, I tried to reach out, but she was on her way and moving on,” Shelly said.
“What?” Grant exclaimed. “How could that be possible? Oh, my God. As far as we know, that woman has been at that facility a long time. It’s one thing—and sad and amazing—that she pulled that act on us the other day. But to have been in the facility for that kind of time …”
“Someone else at the facility was involved. Perhaps the disappearing Dr. Grigsby,” Shelly suggested.
“How could we have been taken in like that?” Grant groaned.
“We weren’t that stupid,” Shelly said. “The woman we met with is in her sixties, I would say, and she did appear to be amazing for what we supposed her age to be. And we had no reason to suspect anything. Angela sent us out there, remember?”
“Yes, and … yeah. No. Aargh!” He drew out his phone, quickly putting a call through to headquarters, telling them what had occurred.
“Here’s the thing: Whoever this imposter is, she’s a good actress, but no true brain child.
She thought she’d erased all kinds of communications without remembering that once something goes into the internet, it’s still in the ether world somewhere,” Angela said.
“That’s how we know something is going on in the area where you found George Maynard, digging into her files, putting things together.
We didn’t know it wasn’t really Natalie Greenway, that the real Natalie had apparently been killed or …
perhaps she’d even died of natural causes, and someone had thought that one of their disciples, who happened to be a great actress, should take her place.
Shelly, Skye, could you tell what happened to the real Natalie Greenway? ”
“Was the woman killed?” Grant asked, looking back at Shelly before she could answer.
But she had no choice other than to answer honestly. “I don’t know.”
“We’re sorry; you … you know how spirits can be, centered here, gone on, or sometimes, they are already on their way,” Shelly said. “I think she just wanted to help us by letting us see her, the real her, so that we would know the woman we were looking for was an imposter.”
“And that is important,” Zach said.
“Very,” Angela assured them. “The thing is, even knowing we have more people involved in this beyond what I believe to be one person manipulating the rest, I don’t like involving others who aren’t with us. And—”
“We agree, Angela,” Grant said. “Better to be a smaller group of those we trust completely.”
“I do have the McFadden brothers on their way. Contact info sent to your phones; they’ll be there, watchful, and ready for any calls.”
“That’s the best,” Shelly murmured.
“All right then, we’ll get out to the woods,” Zach said.
“And hopefully, ahead of them this time, with them believing we’re going to be concerned, along with the rest of law enforcement, and working on no more than a silver alert,” Zach offered.
“You’ve got me on speed dial; keep in contact,” Angela told them.
Grant was in the driver’s seat. “We do need to keep an eye out that we’re not followed from here. A really good eye.”
“And a really good eye out for the woman who had been pretending to be Natalie Greenway,” Zach added.
“I’m wondering if she isn’t already in the woods,” Shelly murmured.
“And … Skye, when we get there, you can do a sketch of her as you saw her when she left the room. That could help us, and the three not drawing will be intensely watching!” she promised.
“We can switch around to make sure we stay attentive.”
“Not a bad idea,” Zach agreed.
Then they were moving again, ready to rotate all the way round. They started out with Grant driving and Shelly next to him. They kept an eye on all vehicles around them as they left the city. Maybe they were being a bit on the side of paranoid, but paranoid beat getting a surprise attack any day.
Just outside the main city, they switched drivers. The streets grew clearer. They switched again, and each of them who were not driving were watching, scouring the roads for any cars that might be on their tail.
But there were none.
Zach was driving as they were nearing their destination. Looking at the navigation that had been set to avoid the general parking lot, he pulled around until he found the small lot that was little more than a dirt clearing in the midst of heavy foliage.
“We’ve a bit of a walk to our cabin; I’ll take front,” Grant said.
“Rear guard,” Zach put in quickly.
“You know, guys—” Shelly began, but it was Skye who interrupted her.
“Shelly, you’re the one with a very pointed curse against them,” she reminded her. “We’re going to move slow and quiet and get where we need to be, especially since we’re dragging our things along with us.”
The precise location of their “truly in the woods and isolated” cabin was a red ping on their phones. They did a lot of winding through the trees, dragging their luggage and a cooler, but the day was beautiful and bright, with the trees providing just the right amount of shade.
“Just ahead,” Grant called to them.
And in a minute, they wound through the last tangle of trees to reach the cabin.
The cabin had recently been outfitted with cameras. Their arrival would be seen only by those at Krewe headquarters, while the work on the cabin had been done by specially selected members of a team not just approved by the local Bureau, but by those Jackson knew personally and trusted completely.
They were inside in a matter of minutes. The first thing Grant noted was the bank of screens that clearly showed the front and the back and both sides of the cabin. Dark drapes covered the windows, and when the door was closed, there was no way to see in.
And there was no back door. Just a small dining room, main room, kitchen, small hallway, and two bedrooms.
“Skye and I will take the front room, if that’s all right,” Zach said. “That would mean someone would need to go farther back to get to the two of you.”
Grant wondered what he had done or said that might have suggested to anyone other than themselves that he and Shelly had become a pair in every way.
But then …
He hadn’t known Zach and Skye were a pair.
He lowered his head to keep from smiling. They were put where they were put for a reason, evidently.
“That’s fine,” he said.
“Shelly?” Zach asked.
“Sure, great, I’ll get you guys killed because someone wants to kill me,” she said dryly.
“None of us is going to get killed,” Skye assured her. “Rather, we’re going to get them.”
“It really is perfect; we can see all around and make sure we exit only when no one else is around and slip through the trees to watch others without being seen. I wish …”
“That we knew who we were looking for?” Zach asked. “Yeah. That would be nice, but no matter.”
Grant’s phone rang.
Angela.
He answered it quickly, setting it on speaker so they could all hear.
“I see that you’re in,” Angela said.
“We’re in, setting stuff down, and then we’ll take some careful walks through the trees,” Grant told her. “Oh! Skye is going to do a quick sketch for us so that we all know how our imposter transformed.”
“I’ll be in touch instantly if anyone goes near the cabin,” Angela promised.
“And just make sure your phones are on when you go to sleep tonight. We’ll call the instant anyone comes anywhere near the cabin.
Jackson and I and a few others are tag-teaming up here.
There’s always someone on those cameras. ”
“And not to worry; we’ll probably tag-team sleep, too,” Grant said.
Angela laughed softly. “We are on it; rest enough to be useful!” she warned. “I’ll let you go. But never forget that communication is critical, and we’re right here!”
She ended the call. For a few seconds, the four of them in the cabin looked at one another.
“Sketch!” Skye said, digging into her bag and producing a sheaf of paper, tossing it on the table and sitting down with it. “Hmm. I do have some colored pencils,” she murmured, digging into her bag again.