Deadly Touch Page 14

  She let out a little sigh.

  “I don’t think I can give you more than I’ve given you.”

  “Nigel was checking to see if he can find any cameras that might give us an image of the man Jennifer met. He’ll be meeting up with us at Andrew’s house.”

  Raina leaned back. She really wasn’t going to be any help that day. But she hadn’t wanted to be home. She loved her work, but she hadn’t wanted to work. Restless, she needed to be with Axel. She needed to be busy. Or something.

  “Maybe I can spend some time with that horse of his.”

  “I’m sure that will be fine.”

  He glanced her way again, seeming to be worried about her. “I shouldn’t have involved you so deeply,” he said quietly.

  “You didn’t involve me. The dress did.” She shook her head. “Last night...”

  “Last night?”

  “I think the whole thing is making me a little crazy. I kept thinking someone was by my place in the night.”

  “And you didn’t call me?”

  “I was afraid I was being paranoid.”

  “Paranoid or not—promise you’ll call me in the future if something worrisome happens, no matter what.”

  “Okay. I will.”

  She closed her eyes. Her lack of sleep through the night must have gotten to her; when she opened her eyes, Axel was touching her shoulder gently and looking into her face. He was smiling.

  “Sorry. You were resting. But we’re here. Don’t want to just leave you sitting in the car.”

  “Oh!” She sat up straight, almost smacking into his face. His reflexes were good and he moved back quickly, still smiling. “Sorry! I’m so sorry,” she murmured.

  “Don’t be sorry. You evidently needed sleep.”

  She saw Andrew was outside, waiting for them. Titan bounded out of the car and raced happily to see him.

  Andrew ducked down with the dog. “I love this mutt!” he called to Raina.

  Then he straightened. “Nigel called. He should be here in thirty minutes to an hour.”

  “Raina wants to see Wild Thing,” Axel said.

  “Come on, then,” Andrew told her. “I’ve been busy. He needs much more attention than he’s gotten from me. Jacob is in there, too. You said you work with horses, as well, right?”

  “On occasion,” she said.

  “You ride, don’t you?”

  “I do.”

  “Want to take him around the paddock?”

  “Love to. And I’ll talk to him first, bridle him myself, if that’s all right?” she asked.

  “I heard about Titan harmonizing. If you can pull that off, I’m sure you’re going to be okay with Wild Thing. He may try to throw you, though.”

  “He may try.”

  Andrew smiled. “Go on, then. He’s in the stables.”

  Raina hurried along, Titan following.

  She passed Jacob’s stall. The old quarter horse was munching on some hay. He seemed to say hello with a soft whinny and then returned to his munching.

  Wild Thing was in his stall, snorting, pawing and kicking his door. Raina hurried to him and began speaking in a soft tone. She saw his bridle on a hook and took it down, telling him she was coming in. The horse looked at her mistrustfully. She just continued talking and stroking his nose.

  Andrew didn’t come in and she noted that Axel had shifted his position. He was still outside the stables with Andrew, but he could see her.

  She smiled. He was worried. That was nice.

  She wondered what might have happened if they’d met under different circumstances. Not at a police station where she was trying to defend herself because she knew where a body could be found.

  Wild Thing snorted; she gave her full attention to the horse and bridled him without incident.

  Titan was a help. She always wondered about the way different animals seemed to communicate. Titan met Wild Thing’s nose with his own, wagging his tail. They were introduced. They seemed to like one another.

  Opening the gate, she led Wild Thing out of his stall and, while still inside, asked him politely if she could ride him, then caught up the reins and leaped onto his back. When he started to shy backward, she leaned forward, stroking his long soft neck and whispering her thanks again.

  She was able to lead him calmly out of the stables.

  “Told you,” Andrew said to Axel.

  She grinned at Axel. “Nice. You doubted me.”

  “Not for a minute,” he said, and then shrugged. “Okay, maybe I worried. Just a little.”

  Smiling, she led him toward the paddock and then paused, looking back at Andrew.

  “There’s a path. Where does it lead?”

  “Through reservation land. You take it far enough, you reach the village,” Andrew told her.

  “Could we ride the trail for a bit?”

  Andrew shrugged. “As long as you don’t come along any snakes on the way. Wild Thing is not fond of snakes. He’s big for a mustang, and any alligators in the ponds will just stare at you. And Titan—he won’t go after a snake or a gator or anything, right?”

  “He will not.”

  “Sure, take the path a bit. Don’t go too far, though, okay? We’ve been having torrential thunderstorms out here lately. The landscape is always changing,” Andrew warned.

  “I won’t go far, and I’ll be careful.”

  “And if anything—”

  “Trust me. I can scream like a banshee.”

  Andrew grinned. Axel still looked worried.

  “Wonderful!” Raina said. “I’ll just go for a bit. Wild Thing and I can get to know one another.”

  “Wait—” Axel began.

  But she smiled and trotted on before he could stop her. Titan followed.

  Axle might know criminals, but she knew animals. And she loved horses. Wild Thing had personality, and it could be a sweet one.

  And riding away—from people, murder and bodies. That was wonderful.

  * * *

  Axel watched Raina go, and while he didn’t possess her ability to touch things and feel anything from them, he did have an inner warning system. Intuition? He didn’t know. He couldn’t stop her from moving. She clearly loved horses. This property was off any known byway unless you were a member of Andrew’s family, his circle of friends or among those living in the village.

  She wasn’t stupid enough to want a picture of an alligator, and she would avoid any snakes. She might get some mosquito bites.

  “That path is pretty safe,” Andrew reminded Axel. “She’s okay.”

  “I know.”

  “She’s an adult, a talented one. An unusual one,” Andrew added softly, and then he turned, hearing tires on the track leading to his house.

  “Nigel is here,” he said.

  Nigel pulled in and exited his car, frowning at the two of them.

  “What are you doing out here? Did something happen?”

  “Nope. We’re just waiting for you. Raina took Wild Thing for a ride,” Andrew said.

  “Oh,” Nigel said simply, looking at Axel. “So, I have officers asking all the local businesses for any security footage they might have. I’ll be able to see whatever they get in a few hours. Then, I assume you’re going to a pub with me tonight to see if anyone is hanging around looking for his date?”

  Axel nodded.

  “Do you have anything else?” Nigel asked him.

  “Let’s go in,” Andrew suggested. “You have a lot to say, Axel, don’t you?”

  “Well, we should have kept Raina here. I can only tell you what I know, but I’ll try to do so. And who knows if it will really get us anywhere or not?”

  “You can’t keep staring down that path,” Andrew said.

  “Yeah, I can,” Axel said.

  Both men were sile
nt.

  Axel looked at them and spoke quickly, telling them everything he could regarding the fundraiser, his take on the interviews they had done that morning at Dr. Wong’s and then what Raina had said about her longtime friend Jordan Rivera that morning.

  Then he said, “Excuse me. Jacob could use a little attention, too, you know.”

  He headed straight to the stables and bridled Jacob.

  Then he started down the path Raina had taken.

  * * *

  There was no safe place along the trail to allow Wild Thing to break into a good run. But she let him canter and trot, loving the feel of the air, the redolent smell of the earth and the feel of the animal beneath her.

  Titan was happy, too, running ahead of her, then running behind.

  She saw a few alligators drifting just off the embankment when she crossed a pond; they didn’t move. She hadn’t expected them to. They weren’t beasts she felt particularly warm and cuddly about, but they were creatures of the Everglades and she was on their land.

  It was a good ride and she was about to head back—she didn’t want to worry Axel—when Titan suddenly ran ahead, barking vociferously.

  “Hey, Titan!” she called.

  He was by a mangrove tree with deep roots that stretched out into one of the narrow, grassy waterways.

  “Titan!” she called, but he barked again and then looked back at her, whining.

  Almost as if he were afraid but insistent.

  She paused, thinking she just needed to head back. But Titan, always obedient, ignored her call.

  She wasn’t leaving her dog.

  Sliding from Wild Thing’s back but keeping her grip firmly on the reins, she moved forward.

  There was something just under one of the thick mangrove roots. Something that appeared to be white and shiny beneath the afternoon sun.

  Wild Thing didn’t want to come forward. She held on the very tip of the reins and bent to stoop down and see what was making Titan act up.

  She stretched out her free hand, dusting a splash of mud from the large root.

  The object became clearer. For a moment, she froze.

  It was as if she were in a theme park, one with a section in the deep, dank swamp. Because she was certain the thing she was seeing was a skull.

  A human skull.

  She stared, blinked and looked up. She wasn’t alone. A man stood there, and yet he didn’t. He wasn’t real. Couldn’t be real.

  He had long gray hair and a grizzly beard to match. He was bowlegged and wearing breeches, a puffy-sleeved shirt and a worn vest.

  “You’re all right, lass. There’s no one out here now. This I’ve never seen before. Time and nature...they hide sins, and sometimes reveal them.”

  She stared; she wasn’t seeing the man. She couldn’t be seeing the man. It was just that there was a skull in the earth, and she’d heard all the tales about the pirate ship.

  She’d seen the pirate ship on a foggy night. Seen it in her mind’s eye, at any rate.

  Titan whined. She looked quickly at the dog.

  Titan, too, was staring at the pirate. He was seated right by her side. Her protector, no matter what his own fear.

  “Dear lass, it’s all right. I’m trying to help, to watch over you!”

  The pirate came over and knelt down before her. He seemed so real. “I know they come, those who do evil. We try to watch. We try to atone. We can’t see all. We can’t stop all. Maybe not any. We try,” he said.

  She stared back at him, still silent. Astounded.

  Maybe she shouldn’t have been so eager to ride off alone.

  “You have to tell them. They have to know,” the pirate said. “Lass, there’s a body here. Bones, but once a living and breathing human being. Lass, come now. You know you’re all right, that you see me because you have the power, because I choose to be seen. Please. You mustn’t be weak and afraid—”

  “I am not weak!” she said. Yes, she was. “Or afraid!” She was terrified.

  But then she wasn’t. As she kept staring at him, it slowly became okay. She wasn’t at all sure she was happy about this, but after everything else...

  Why the hell not see the ghost of a long-dead pirate, roaming the Everglades, praying that one day he might atone for his sins?

  “What is going on out here?” she asked him.

  Her ghost was truly distressed.

  “I don’t know. These bones, this death, it was long ago and time has taken its toll. But this was someone’s beloved son or daughter, father or mother. Justice, as well we’ve learned, can be slow and hard. And yet it’s never out of order. You must bring them out here.”

  “Raina!”

  She heard her name and she realized that Axel was calling to her.

  Wild Thing grew skittish, fighting her hold.

  “It’s all right,” she said, soothing the horse. She stood again. Titan ran back along the trail, ready to greet Axel, to bring him to her.

  She waited. The pirate waited. And to Raina’s surprise, she was calm.

  Titan came running back, Axel, on old Jacob, right behind him. He stopped a few feet away, dismounting, and raising a hand gently as Wild Thing pranced and pawed the ground.

  “Raina—” he began.

  “Hey, glad you’re here. Your pirate friend and I have found the remains of someone. I’m thinking that we’re going to need to call this in.”

  He frowned and turned to look at the pirate. The pirate shrugged.

  He looked back at Raina.

  “Raina, I see you’ve met Peg-legged Pete. Pete, Miss Raina Hamish.”

  Raina smiled at the pirate. “Peg-legged Pete? For real?”

  “Aye, lass. Peter MacIver in full dress, but as you might note, I managed to get my leg mangled taking a galleon in the gulf. Therefore, Peg-legged Pete.”

  “Nice to meet you, Pete,” Raina said, looking at Axel, glad he hadn’t been there to see her when she’d been frozen with fear. “Axel, I’m glad you’re here. I think maybe Pete was worried I couldn’t get this information to you, or that I might forget exactly where I’d been.” She hesitated. “There are bones here, Axel. Or, at least, a skull.”

  “A skull?” he said, frowning.

  “Yes, a human skull. I haven’t touched it, though I imagine it’s been here a long time.”

  “Rain might have hidden it years ago. Rain might have dredged it up now,” Pete said.

  There was something odd in Axel’s expression. He wasn’t worried about Jacob taking off on him; he let the horse’s reins dangle as he stepped forward, past her and Pete, hunching down to look at the object.

  He still looked a little off as he rose.

  “All right. Let’s get back. We’ll have to get a coroner out here. And maybe some experts from the university.”

  “Axel?” Raina said softly.

  “Pete, keep an eye out, huh?”

  “Sure,” Pete said. “But no one is coming back on this one. This happened long ago. A decade or more, I’d say. Maybe longer.”

  Axel was already heading back to Jacob and leaping up on his back.

  “Raina?” he said softly. “Please. Let’s get someone out here. Quickly.”

  She nodded, turned to smile at Pete and was grateful that Wild Thing stood like a lamb for her to swing up on his back.

  They rode back in silence.

  * * *

  Raina seemed to be fine. Absolutely fine.

  Maybe having seen the body of a woman so recently killed had inured her.

  Maybe it had been the trip to the morgue.

  She had discovered a skull, and taken it in stride.

  When they returned to Andrew’s, they unbridled the horses and left them in their stalls. Raina promised to return with apples or carrots. Titan was quiet but trotted along close besid
e Raina.

  Striding into Andrew’s, he told them what Raina had discovered, letting Nigel get busy bringing out the proper authorities and experts to unearth the skull and hopefully discover the bones that went with it.

  He excused himself, then went to make a phone call.

  “Andrew, do you have any apples or carrots?” Raina asked. She shrugged a little awkwardly. “I promised the horses. I mean, I know we’re dealing with an urgent situation here, but I don’t think I can help and I did promise treats.”

  Andrew was watching Nigel, who was already on the phone, but he told Raina, “Sure. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen.”

  Raina headed to the kitchen with a quick, “Thanks.”

  Axel stepped into Andrew’s bedroom to make his call; he wasn’t worried about Nigel or Andrew hearing him. He just didn’t want him and Nigel talking over one another.

  He was glad he was able to reach Angela Hawkins quickly. He’d already reported the unusual abilities of Raina Hamish; but he hadn’t had a chance to speak with Angela or Jackson Crow since the fundraiser, so he went through the evening before telling her, “And thirty minutes back, Raina went out riding. She stumbled upon an old friend, Peg-legged Pete—”

  “Living or dead?” Angela asked.

  He glanced at the phone, remembering why it was so good to be a member of the Krewe of Hunters.