The Hysteria: Book 4, The Eddie McCloskey Paranormal Mystery Series (The Unearthed) (16 page)

I’d been holding back but I saw no point now. Things were moving too fast. We needed to pool our knowledge or we weren’t getting the job done and Megan and everybody else might die.

“Megan’s group is better than the other.”

“Dorothy Young tried to kill Riehl,” Manetti said.

“Because he was one of the knifers, and she knew it somehow. Maybe they can pick each other out of the crowd, that’s why Megan’s group has to hide. More importantly Dorothy didn’t try to kill me.”

“How can you say that?” Manetti stood and stretched.

“Dorothy wasn’t even interested in me. Until I got behind the picnic table and grabbed a pair of shears to defend myself. She was struck by that. She said she thought I was okay—meaning, she didn’t think I’d be the kind who liked blades. After that, she was trying to decide if she had to kill me or not.”

“Not exactly self-defense,” Manetti said.

“Not exactly. More like a preemptive strike. But I have more proof, in the form of Megan and her younger sister, as well as Jamie Witherspoon.”

Pater folded his arms. “How do you mean?”             

“Megan could have killed me, but she didn’t. She didn’t see me as a threat. They incapacitated me and left. What that tells me is Megan’s kind only kills the other group when the other group is a threat.”

I let them think about that for a second, then added:

“The other group doesn’t operate like that. Melanie and her crew were ready to gut me. Jamie Witherspoon came after me even though it was obvious I was on a fishing expedition with my questions.”

Pater and Manetti exchanged a look.

I said, “It’s all a matter of degree. That’s why I’m saying Megan’s group is better than Melanie’s. They don’t want to kill anybody who’s not affected.”

“But they will if they have to,” Pater said. “We have to assume that.”

“You’ll get no argument from me.”

Manetti sat on the edge of the desk. For once, she looked tired. “The disease process affects everybody differently too. Melanie and her group are able to control their impulses, work behind the scenes in concert. Ms. Universe, on the other hand, just couldn’t help sticking a knife in Mobray even though she’d never met him before.”

Pater nodded. “I think Melanie and her friends are farther along in the disease process. The woman Eddie shot in the leg hadn’t grown accustomed to her impulses yet and couldn’t control them.”

“Either way, the behavior falls along a continuum.” I closed my eyes. “Megan and her people are hiding to protect themselves.”

“Continuum…meaning any one of us could already be sick and just not know it yet,” Manetti said.

“You people keep telling me it comes down to a choice. Either we can run or we can push on.”

“It’s a good theory, Eddie.” Pater rubbed his chin. “One group is trying to find and kill the other. But it’s possible they’re both just scheming. Are you willing to bet your life on your theory?”

“I’m hoping I don’t have to.”

“We know Melanie’s group is looking for Megan’s,” Manetti said. “But we don’t know if the reverse is true.”

“Doesn’t seem like it,” I said. “I think Megan and her people just want to disappear till this thing blows over.”

“Will it?” Manetti asked Pater.

“I’m ninety-nine percent certain it will. All MPIs end, just like any other disease. As to when, though, I can only guess. If the cluster murders we’ve seen here over the past several years are symptoms of the same phenomena, then this will be over soon, a week at most, maybe a couple days.”

“How close was Chester Leonard when you scared him away?” I said. “He must have been pretty close to blowing your operation. Where was she going then? Where was she hiding?”

“First places we looked,” Manetti said. “And he wasn’t close. We didn’t have to scare him away.”

“What?”             

Manetti cocked her head. “You said we scared him away. We didn’t. We didn’t even talk to him.”

That was bothering me. All along I’d been thinking that Leonard had been in danger of blowing Megan’s undercover operation and that Pater and company had told him to take a hike, this was federal business. But they hadn’t.

Leonard had just stopped looking for her.

Which didn’t make any sense.

Morgan Turner had hired Leonard to find his daughter. Morgan wouldn’t have taken no for an answer after such a short search—

I stood. The wheels were turning but I didn’t have whatever was stirring my brain up yet.

I said, “Start from the beginning. Your team came out here. The plan was for Megan to pretend like she was home, taking time off from her important job in D.C. She was looking for affecteds, though. What is she doing in that time?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Pater said. “She’s frequenting her usual places and looking for signs.”

“What makes her start fainting? Was that an act or was it real the entire time?”

“We don’t know. But at some point it became real. Then one day she stopped checking in.”

“Then Chester Leonard is hired and starts looking for her.”             

“Right.” Pater watched me.

“And he couldn’t find her so he just…” I kept running into a roadblock with that fact. “She pulls a Houdini, then comes back later for her youngest sister…wait, how are Megan and her people communicating?”

Nobody said anything. They could tell I was on a roll and didn’t want to stop me.

I asked the room, “Megan’s people. How do they find each other, how does she bring them to safety?”

Pater shook his head. “We don’t know.”

“You scrubbed her laptop. Did you get into her email?”

“We did. We found nothing, not even any correspondence that could have been coded. There was nothing out of the ordinary. She even sent her typical blank email to her father. She always sent him one when—”

I stopped pacing. “When she was about to go away for a job she couldn’t discuss.”

Pater’s eyes went wide.

Manetti sat forward in her chair. “What?”

“That’s not what Morgan told me,” I said.

“Interesting,” Pater said.

I had an idea. “We might be able to stop this whole thing from going down.”

“We’re not separating at this point,” Patterson said. “Everyone stays together.”

I looked past Patterson to Eamon’s door. “With things about to go downhill, you wanna let him out?”

“We need all hands on deck,” Patterson said.

“I agree,” Manetti said. “You’re always telling me to put my personal feelings aside. This is the right call, Eddie.”

“Ignoring that the kid knifed my brother, we can’t play any wild cards now.”

“Patterson played
you
.”

“Except I’m no wild card. And things weren’t as dire twenty-four hours ago.”

“You need to give Eamon a chance, Eddie. He can rise and be a good man,” Patterson said. “It will help you get past this.”

I didn’t want to get past this. I wanted to settle my account with my brother’s murderer. I’d lived two lifetimes since Tim’s passing, the first as a convict, the second as an ex-addict trying to start a career and make a name for himself. But never had Eamon strayed far from my thoughts.

“Where’s your other agent?” I said. “If we’re all going to be together I want to meet them right now, not later.”

“There is no one else,” Pater said. “I lied.”

“Why?”

“To keep you on your toes.”

I watched him for a good five seconds. There was no lie hiding on his face. Manetti met my gaze with no problem.

“Eddie,” Eamon said through the earpiece. “I won’t let you down.”

“Don’t worry about letting me down. Because I’m not and will never be in your corner. Think about your team, these people that have given you a second chance.”

I let that sink in before adding, “I’ll be looking for a reason, Eamon. Any reason. Give me one and I’ll shoot first and not bother to ask questions later. Nobody’s going to miss you.”

***

It was 5:00, just a little bit of day left and the clouds were heavy and the sky dark. The closeness in the air anticipating a violent thunderstorm.

I called Stan from the road.

“Eddie, how goes it?”

It was 8:00 back home. I wondered if he and Moira had put the baby down for the night. If she was fussing. If they’d stay up late now that their child was down for the night and could enjoy just being a couple for a few quiet hours and not worry about being parents. Or if they’d go straight to bed, exhausted from the day’s work.

Our lives couldn’t have been any different.

“Busy. What’s up with you?”

He lowered his voice. “I’d hate to bother you with my shit right now.”

“Go ahead.” It’d be nice to hear about someone else’s problems.

“It’s Moira’s brother again. This time he’s joined some cult. Some occult group. He hasn’t been in touch with anyone for a week. Fucking guy…”

Eddie hadn’t known Moira’s brother. The kid was a few years younger so they’d never had occasion growing up to be around each other.

Stan was still talking. “…says he doesn’t want any part of the family. It’s a paranormal cult, communing with the dead. You believe that?”

I wanted to keep making small-talk, but all of a sudden I just couldn’t. This desperate situation was catching up to me and I needed to decompress with somebody I trusted.

“Stan.” I didn’t know how to say it. Words were always an approximation. “Things are moving fast out here.”

“Too fast for you?”

The corvette was eating up road. Manetti, Pater, and Eamon were behind me in the van. The more I thought about it, the more I liked Eamon being out of his cage. I could keep an eye on him. We had just a few minutes till we reached Turner’s estate.

“No easy way to say this so I’ll just say it. We’re stretched too thin, I’m in over my head, and people are dying.”

“Whoa, Eddie. Slow the hell down,” Stan said. “Who’s we? Who’s dying?”

Did I have enough time to tell him? And if I did, would it make sense?

“The locals out here are suffering from mass psychogenic illness. They have a compulsion to kill each other. We’re caught dead in the middle of it.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t even know what that means.”

“There’s no time to explain.”

“You took the time to call. Explain.”

“M-P-I, look it up. These people out here have it, and they’re killing each other. There is no making any sense of it.”

“Eddie. Just leave.”

A bigger part of me than I cared to admit wanted him to say that. “That’s not the answer.”

“The hell it isn’t. You don’t owe those people anything. It’s highway time.”

“I have to stay.”

“Why?”

“I’ll tell you but it sounds crazy. Hokey. Maybe even too noble.”

“You fell in love.”

“No. But there is a woman.”

“Break it down for me.”

“There’s a mess out here and nobody else can clean it up. Maybe I can’t either. But I’ve got a shot. Maybe I can save some lives. And the woman I’m looking for, she’s worth it. She’s worth it, Stan.”

“Your client’s daughter?”

“Megan. She’s a millionaire’s kid, she’d never have to worry about working a day in her life. Her children’s children are taken care of. But she went to school and applied herself and then signed up for dangerous, behind-the-scenes work for the government. She could have spent the rest of her days sipping margaritas out by the infinity pool but instead she chose to put her life on the line for people who’d probably never even know it. While I was busy smoking up and getting arrested and serving time. And now she’s sick, now she’s in trouble, now she needs help. And maybe I can help her.”

“Sounds like it’s more about you than it is her.”

“Maybe it is. That doesn’t change it for me. Maybe that’s all the more reason.”

“If it’s redemption you’re looking for, you already have it. Think of all the people you’ve helped of late.”

“I’m staying.”

Stan sighed. “M-P-what?”

“Mass psychogenic illness. It affects a population—”

“Maybe it’s affecting you too.”

I’d thought about that. Was that why I wanted to stay? Because I
couldn’t
leave?

How would I know if I was affected? How did they know? I already had an aversion to knives ever since Eamon had put one in Tim and me. That hadn’t gone away, which meant at least I wasn’t part of Melanie’s group. But did that mean I was sick like Megan’s people?

Stan said, “If it’s touched you, you’re not thinking straight.”

“It’s possible.” The madman doesn’t know he’s lost it until well after he’s lost it. “But there’s nobody else. If I go I leave behind two good people to clean up the mess. I’ll feel a coward.”

“Feelings can get you killed. You need to shut them off and think with your head.”

“I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry, Stan. For all those years when I was a shit friend, and for missing your wedding and for not meeting your daughter yet.” My voice was thick. “For how bad I was to Moira. Just in case.”

“Don’t talk like that.”

“I mean it.”

“All that shit’s water under the bridge,” he said.

“It’s not to me.” I looked in the rearview, wondering how much I should tell him. “I found Eamon too. He’s with me now.”

“
What?
Eamon Moriarty?
How?”

“It’s too long a story, but I want you to know he’s out. He’s working with this team of federal agents. Just…I wanted you to be aware.”

“He won’t come after me or Moira.”

“I know.” I wasn’t so sure of that. Anything was possible with that kid. We were getting close to Turner’s place. One more bend in the road then I’d see it, crested on the hill.

“Stan, I gotta go.”

“Eddie.”

“Yeah.”

“I want you to meet my daughter. Promise me that happens.”

“When this is over, I’ll come out.”

Didn’t hurt to make the promise. If I lived I’d keep it. If I died, I’d never know Stan was mad at me.

***

Turner’s door was ajar. We were past the point of knocking. I pushed it open and went in. I had my gun in my pocket, safety off, fully loaded. I had my micro vest on underneath a fresh t-shirt Pater had given me. I’d ungauzed and regauzed my nose but it looked like hell. My right eye was turning black.

“Morgan?”

The lights were on. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Nobody was in the foyer. I hadn’t seen Melanie’s car in the garage but that meant nothing. She might have left it wherever and was now slumming it in the Saab. I had to assume she was here.

And that Strongbow was here. And that he too was affected.

The wrong way.

I crept through the foyer, checked the study and found nobody. I went through the downstairs, every few moments whispering my position so Manetti and company knew where I was in the house.

I found two place settings of chicken and peas in the dining room. The food was half-eaten and lukewarm. The knives were still on the table. No drinks though. They must have taken them somewhere.

If I was a rich millionaire and wanted to enjoy a glass of fine wine, I’d set up shop by one of my pools.

I tracked my way to the natatorium. The pool lights were on but that was it. The room opened to the backyard. In the distance the sky sparked with lightning. Thunder came about five seconds later.

“Storm’s finally coming,” Turner said.

He was lounging in a reclining deck chair. He wore a suit and white dress shirt with no tie. A glass of wine sat on the end table next to him. He was shoeless and had one ankle crossed over the other.

“I’d say it’s been here awhile.”

“It doesn’t storm here much,” he said. “There’s a—”

“Rain shadow. I know.”

I watched him. He watched me. We were separated by about twenty feet of space. I came into the pool room and closed the door behind me.

I was acutely aware of the blade sitting next to his glass of wine. It looked like a hunting knife.

“Interesting meteorological phenomenon,” he said.

“Yeah, that’s right. A rain shadow. Strongbow told me all about that.” Outside the sky grew darker. Thunder continued to rattle and hum. Lightning flashed along the horizon. “Speaking of which, where is Strongbow?”

He put his hands behind his head. Not a care in the world.

He said, “Have you seen Melanie? She never came home from work.”

“You know I have.”

He frowned but it was all an act. “It’s not uncommon for her to go out after work. She exercises a lot, has a group of runner friends, and she’s…let’s just say she has a lot of friends. The social butterfly out of my three daughters. She loves shopping as well. That girl takes after her mother. Always bringing some new outfit home.”

“About her mother. How did she die?”

He looked away from me. My eyes followed his but all I saw was the pool extending into the backyard and the sheltering sky. No Strongbow.

“She died in a terrible accident.”

“Car wreck? Or something more terrible?”

He went quiet.

“Did you kill her?”

He said nothing.

I let him see my gun but I didn’t point it at him. “Mr. Turner.
Morgan
. You’re not well.”

“I feel great.” His eyes roved back toward me and they twinkled with mischief. “You have no idea.”

“You don’t look well. You look ten years older than you are. So did Chester Leonard when I met him. So does Melanie.” So did Riehl but I didn’t mention him. Always good to have something in your back pocket, like your alliance with a deep cover team of highly-skilled federal agents.

“Some people don’t age well.”

“You’re my client, Morgan. You put your trust in me. It goes beyond money. It means I have a duty to protect you. That includes from yourself.”

He said nothing.

“You’re not well. You need help. You need
my
help. You don’t want to do anything you’ll regret for the rest of your life.”

He swung his feet off the recliner and put them flush on the ground so he was sitting sideways in the deck chair. He ran his fingers along the blade.

I said, “Leave it.”

He rested his palm on the handle.

I still had my gun out. Each heartbeat sent a fresh sliver of pain through my nose.

Morgan put the back of his head on the rest. “Have you found my daughter yet? It is why I’m paying you handsomely, after all.”

“I’m glad to say I have no idea where she is.”

“I will find her. If you’re not up to the task I’ll hire someone else.”

“I’m not looking for her anymore.”

“You don’t want to be paid?”

“I’m looking for other people now.”

“Why would you look for other people?”