The Lost: Book Two, The Eddie McCloskey Series (The Unearthed 2) (13 page)

Eddi
e
woke to the smell of bacon sizzling on a stove. It took him a moment to remember he was at Elsie’s.

He yawned, stretched, and climbed out of Elsie’s king-sized bed. He retrieved his boxer briefs off the floor and padded toward the kitchen. It was early. Felt like eight or nine. He had to get to Vic’s by ten for a short shift, then he and Ana could continue their work.

The sight of Elsie in a short, white cotton robe stopped him cold in the threshold of the kitchen.

“Good morning, sunshine,” he said.

She smiled back at him sleepily. “Hungry?”

“You bet.”

“I meant for food.”

“Damn.”

They shared a laugh and Elsie told him to sit. A few minutes later, she was putting eggs, bacon, and coffee in front of him. She took nothing for herself, just sat down across from him.

“Aren’t you eating?” he asked.

“Already did.” She held up a glass filled with green liquid. “Motherhood has not been kind.”

“Could have fooled me.” Eddie dug in and hurried through his food.

“So how did it go last night? You never told me.”

Eddie forked the last egg into his mouth and noticed how she’d put her foot up on an empty chair, revealing a long, naked leg.

He winked at her. “That’s right. I didn’t tell you.”

“Oh, come on. As a single mother of two young boys, I have to live vicariously. It’s the least you could do.”

Her insistence was putting a bad taste in his mouth. She was pushing just a little too hard. But he could see no ulterior motive to her asking him for information.

She put her hand on his wrist. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to add a little spice to my dull, suburban life.”

“I’ll bet your life is anything but dull.” He saw the time on the microwave, and it reminded him of Colin’s last night when they’d reset the clocks. No client had ever asked him to do that before. It seemed a reasonable enough request but it was striking him as odd.

“What is it?” Her lilting voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“Nothing.” He smiled. “I’ve gotta get to work soon.”

“Oh, I see.” She stood and opened her robe. “Guess you don’t have time for a shower.”

“I’ve got time for more than a shower.”

* * * *

Elsie gave him a kiss and a parting look before shutting the front door. She went to the bay window and waved goodbye to him as he pulled out of the driveway. He flipped her a salute and drove off.

She laid down on the couch and stretched out. She wanted to slip under her covers and sleep for a few hours before the boys came home, but she had to make a call first.

“Elsie, my dear, how’s it going?” Marty Kindler said.

“It’s going.”

“Do you have any news for me?”

“He wouldn’t talk.”

“Not one word? Did you put on the full court press?”

“Believe me, Marty, I plied my feminine wares on the man but they didn’t unseal his lips.”

“I see.” Kindler sounded more intrigued than disappointed. “I hope you enjoyed yourself at least.”

She smiled at the memories of last night and the still fresh ones of this morning. “The man knows his way around the bedroom, Marty.”

“How does he compare to me?” Kindler asked.

“Now, now, Marty. A lady never kisses and tells.”

Kindler chuckled. “Elsie, you’re no lady.”

She hung up, pissed off. Truth was, Kindler was right. He hadn’t paid her to sleep with Eddie. She’d decided that was what she wanted when she saw Eddie in the grocery store. She liked the bad boys. All too well.

Kindler had only paid her to get information out of the guy. For what reason, she didn’t know. And she didn’t care. Money was money, especially when her dead-beat ex-husband didn’t send her or the kids any.

Vic’
s
store was busier than an Atlantic City strip joint. Little old ladies and stay-at-homes with kids in tow negotiated the tiny aisles of the store, preparing perhaps for the coming nor’easter or maybe just to catch a glimpse of Eddie, the town’s newest and certainly one of the few celebrities to grace this berg in a long time.

Eddie felt all the looks, heard all the whispering. It didn’t excite so much as embarrass him as he was a private person, not given to attention.

Because of the overflow, Vic called in all favors and had his entire staff present. Ana got in at noon. Eddie smiled when he saw her get-up: loose khaki pants with a white button-down shirt, the otherwise conservative ensemble completed with a garish scarf from the thrift store. Her eyes were puffy.

“Get any sleep last night?” he asked during a lull. “We’ll be up late tonight.”

She stifled a yawn. “About five hours.”

“Everything okay between you and—”

“Let’s not go there, Eddie.” She removed her scarf and hung it on a nail in the wall behind her. “How’d you sleep, Eddie?”

He had the sinking feeling that she knew about him and Elsie. “Slept like a baby.”

Marty Kindler entered the store with an unleashed golden retriever. The dog sat obediently by the exit and basked in the gushing attention of all the kids in the store.

Kindler glad-handed everybody as he slowly made his way to Eddie.

“Nice dog, Kindler. Are you running for mayor?”

Kindler laughed like they were old friends, took Eddie’s arm, and guided him to the back of the store. Eddie shrugged out of Kindler’s grip.

“Better run on a liberal ticket or go the independent route,” Eddie said. “Conservatives won’t like a man who has two live-in girlfriends.”

Nor would they like a failed businessman.

Kindler ignored the comment. “So how’d it go last night?”

“Fine.”

“Anything to report?”

“You’ll have my full report when it’s over.”

“Look around you, Eddie.”

“What am I looking at?”

“Look at the people, Eddie. They’re excited about their town again. First time in a long time.”

Eddie nodded. He’d felt it all morning. They were excited to be part of something.

Kindler continued. “They want to hold a gathering Saturday night at the lake. You believe that?”

“How does Tessa’s dad feel about that?”

“I haven’t asked him.”

“Or Ana?”

“Haven’t asked her either.”

“You should.”

“Eddie.” Kindler leaned in and for once, his breath didn’t stink. “Between me and you, I think the whole thing is nuts, but you need to throw some crumbs to the masses every now and then. Give them the illusion they’re in control.”

Eddie didn’t bother digesting Kindler’s Nietzschean philosophy. “Gathering?”

Kindler said, “Saturday night is fourteen years to the day.”

“What are they gonna do at this gathering?”

“Whatever they want. Maybe they’ll pray. Or say goodbye. Or say hello. The point, my dear friend, is that it’s growing into something huge. I need you there.”

“I can’t conduct an investigation at the lake with hundreds of people running around.”

“Not as part of your investigation. I want you there to be part of the community. The people around here are ready to welcome you. It would mean a lot if you were there. They want to meet the man who’s going to give them the answers.”

“They might not like my answers.”

“It would mean a lot to me if you went.”

Then Eddie understood. Kindler had probably promised someone Eddie would be there. “How much would it mean to you?”

Kindler grinned and touched the side of his nose like they were in on some con together. “You’re sharper than a serpent’s tooth. Should we call it another grand?”

Eddie wanted the money but there was a problem. “Hold on. I wanted to go dark at your place tomorrow night. I can’t be at your house and the lake at the same time.”

“You have to do my place tonight.”

“I’m going to Bernard’s tonight.”

“You can do both houses.”

“No effing way.” Twofers were not uncommon, but Eddie was tired and didn’t want to rush this, his biggest job to date.

“Eddie, we need you at the lake tomorrow night. The people will want answers.”

Eddie looked away. He could use the money. And he could sleep in tomorrow. He’d worked on less sleep before.

Kindler said, “Tomorrow night is fourteen years. It’s fate, Eddie.”

He was tired of being pushed to follow somebody else’s schedule, and he was real tired of Kindler’s talk of fate.

“Enough of the bullshit, Kindler. You lied.”

Kindler backed up a step. “What do you mean?”

“Colin’s been hearing those noises for a long time, long before I showed up. At the bar, you said everything had started happening around the time I got here. And why did Tessa wait fourteen years? Why not five, or ten?”

“She was waiting for someone good to come along, who could look at these things and know they weren’t phony. She needed someone people would believe. You’re not from here. Think about it. If we locals ranted about our town being haunted, who’d believe us? But if it’s coming from an outsider, someone without an angle, someone credible with paranormal experience, then people will believe.”

“And why would Tessa care whether anybody outside town knew it was real?”

Kinder didn’t know how to answer that. “She was waiting for you, Eddie.”

Twofers were about as much fun as a root canal without novacaine. The tail end of the second job could get messy. You had to fight sleep the whole way. Had to keep your brain humming and wait for the big show.

But another grand would be nice too.

Tim would never have allowed the client to dictate the schedule like that, but Tim had never been hard up for cash.

Also, it was better to get the job done quickly and slip out of town.

“Look, Eddie.” Kindler lowered his voice. “I’m a little nuts when it comes to home security. Ms. Anders and Lori are not to let anybody in the house when I’m not there. And tomorrow night I’ll be at the lake, so you see, you can’t come to my house tomorrow night. It’s impossible. It has to be—”

“Alright, alright. A grand for me and five honey for Ana for the added inconvenience.”

Th
e
customers cleaned out the store. Eddie overheard their gossip without trying, because they tended to raise their voices when he was near, like they wanted him to hear.

“There were footprints in the snow.”

“No way.”

“Yes way.”

“We saw something that one night, looked like a young woman.”

“I was ice skating out there—”

“Wait, you were ice skating out there?”

“Yeah, yeah, and I swear—I swear—I saw something under the ice looking up at me.”

Talk of the hauntings was taking over the town. Eddie imagined all the Me Too claims multiplying as people tried to outdo each other.

“This was five nights in a row.”

“That’s nothing. Mine was over a week.”

“Screaming, just like in Winspear’s house.”

“They’re called cold zones—”

“That’s not what they’re called.”

“I’m telling you, I heard it on the Discovery Channel.”

“Cold spots. Spots, you dumbass.”

“Spots, zones, same difference. I don’t care just as long as I’m not looking up at the roots tomorrow.”

“Just like that, one-two-tree of them.”

Eddie smiled at the Northeastern Pennsylvania slang, which people either lovingly or condescendingly referred to as heynabonics. Today was the perfect opportunity to brush up on it with all the locals poking around the store.

“Dem perogies are good, heyna? Wait, is that the guy?”

They made outrageous claims like they’d seen their great-grandma in the shower or their dog had spoken. They all spoke with grave concern about the coming nor’easter, like they planned to be shut in for a week.

It was three-thirty when Eddie punched out and motioned for Ana to meet him in the back.

“You heard about the gathering?” Eddie asked. With all the customers, they hadn’t had a chance to catch up.

She pushed her pixie glasses farther up the bridge of her nose. “You mean the vigil?”

“Whatever they’re calling it. Kindler wants us there so that changes our schedule. We’re doing both houses tonight.”

“I’m crapped out as is.”

“Get home and take a long nap. You’ll be alright. It’s only one more night and we’ll be done.”

She folded her arms. “I thought we didn’t let the client dictate the investigation.”

“I have to get this wrapped up by Saturday night.”

“Why? So you can blow out of town? You know what? Tim wouldn’t have done it this way. He would have—”

Eddie snapped. “He would have what? Done the job right?”

She seemed to shrink six inches. “He would have done Sunday night is all I’m saying.”

Eddie wanted to say more but her ego was so delicate. He didn’t want to bruise it. “Anyway, that’s the plan.”

“I know where you were last night.”

“What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?”

Her whole face reddened. “Forget it. I’ll see you at Bernie’s house later, I guess.” She stormed off.

He gave her a few minutes to get in her car and drive off, then he said bye to Vic and walked out to his car.

Three news crews were in the parking lot, sticking mikes in people’s faces and asking questions. Eddie hurried to his car, hoping to avoid them but one of the reporters noticed him.

“Mr. McCloskey?”

He no commented his way to the car and got in.