Page 65 of Rotten Apple

Chapter 30

Cassie was on the phone when I barged into her house. Her confused look held mine while she spoke. “Your keys are in the crockpot.”

“Crockpot?” I mouthed the words.

Cassie shrugged, and I heard the woman scream in joy. Cassie lifted the phone away from her ear to save her hearing. When the celebration at the opposite end of the phone call stopped, she placed the phone back to her ear. “Yes, Maureen. I gather from the screaming that you’ve found them.”

Cassie rolled her eyes. “Yes, Maureen, you should put child locks on your cabinets. Little Tommy probably put them in there.”

Cassie circled her hand in a hurry motion, her face filled with impatience. “Yes, Maureen, you’re welcome.”

Cassie hung up the phone and set it on the kitchen table, where she liked to keep her map and the crystal.

“How did you know they were in the crockpot?”

Cassie grinned. “I sensed it.”

“No, really,” I asked, crossing the room. I set the hand-drawn picture and the photo of the lake with Petunia and Robin at the lake house, which I’d taken from Johnny’s home.

“I had a premonition before she even called.”

“Those aren’t typical for you,” I said, resting my hand on her arm. “Is everything okay.”

“I’m fine,”Cassie answered and rubbed her temples. “Just a few more headaches than normal. I’m sure it’s just an adjusting phase. I mean Nina normally has premonitions.It could just be a new turn of events for me.”

Our other sister did have premonitions, but this was the first I’d heard that Cassie had started to have them too. I think I needed to check in more often with my sisters. We were all busy normally doing our own thing, but it was stuff like this that worried me. If Cassie was having headaches, were the others having any other types of issues? I pushed that thought to the side to deal with later.

“I need to find this little girl. Can you scry?”

“Sure,” she answered, as if sensing my desperation.

“She was kidnapped, and the woman who I believe has her also killed a man and poisoned several others.”

“Oh, no, that poor child,” Cassie said and picked up her crystal. “I’ll try just with the framed picture first.”

She rested her hand on the picture, closed her eyes, and took several deep breaths, letting the crystal dangle over the map.

The crystal started to sway, slow at first and then in a strong arc until it dropped hard onto the table. We each leaned in. “Lake Tremor.”

I sighed and picked up the picture. “That was where the picture was taken. Try with the coloring page.”

“Right.” Cassie repeated the process, and it landed in the same place. She met my gaze. “Any reason they would have gone back to that lake?”

I glanced at both pictures. It was a familiar place to both of them, and if I had to guess, it was the same lake where Robin’s daughter had died. “Yeah, there’s a reason.”

I grabbed my things and ran for the door. “I owe you one.”

“Wait,” she yelled and chased me. “There’s more.” She caught up with me as I was throwing the items into my trunk. “I had a premonition about you this morning too. You’re going to need this.”

She pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket with a phone number written on it and handed it to me. “Whose number?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t try and call it.”

“Thanks.” I climbed behind the wheel and took out my phone, dialing the number and leaving it on speaker.

“Fillpot,” a voice said.

“Fillpot?” I asked.

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