Page 65 of The Aura Answer
“You’re the reason he fled. Otherwise, he had us trapped,” Jax admitted. “Evie’s ghost killed all our phones. We couldn’t call out. The sniper had no way of knowing that, so I don’t know what his plan was. To shoot us all?”
No wonder he hadn’t been able to reach anyone. Ghosts killed phones? Nick didn’t attempt to puzzle that out. “I’ll stick my neck out here and assume if the mayor was his target, then he was making certain she was down for good or trying to get a better shot at her.”
That brought a moment of silence. Nick glanced over his shoulder. Evie and Gracie listened with looks of horror. He swallowed hard. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so blunt?
Jax nodded agreement. “If Reuben hadn’t gone out, Larraine would have stood up just to prove she was alive. Or climbed in the car and gone after the shooter. Or she could have bled out waiting.”
“Give us what description you have,” the sheriff said in resignation. “I have men tracking the scooter he escaped on, but he’s long gone.”
“I couldn’t really see anything.” Nick summoned what he could of his memory. “Small black motorbikes look alike to me. This one could have been the same as the thief at the art gallery used. I couldn’t swear to it. I assume the shooter stood behind the wall, so he’d have to be tall enough to see over it. He was some distance away when he jumped on the bike, but I’d guess he was male. He was wearing a white helmet and a navy nylon coat. But I was concentrating more on whether I should take Jax’s bike after him and not on what he was wearing.”
“The Harley was too heavy, so good thing you didn’t,” Jax said. “At best, you’d have been bogged down. At worst, he would have shot you too.”
That didn’t make him feel a great deal better. If a killer was stalking the town, he should have gone after them somehow.
The sheriff’s phone rang, and he gestured for them to wait. Listening, he nodded, grimaced, and rang off again. “Found the scooter covered in mud down in the old creek. It was reported stolen last week. I doubt we’ll find prints, but they’ll check.”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure he was wearing gloves.”
“Footprints?” Jax asked.
Sheriff shook his head. “Creek bed is all rock. All he had to do was walk down the creek and over to the sewer line, climb back to the road, and he’s gone. I have men knocking on doors, but that’s mostly empty warehouses back there.”
The barn door slammed open.
“Merry, merry Christmas!” cried a jolly old elf, ringing a brass bell. “Is the party over? I just saw the mayor’s car leaving.”
“You should have seen your faces!”Evie cried, not for the first time, as she rolled on the floor, laughing. “Admit it, you were all about to dive for cover when Santa entered!”
After Santa’s interruption, she’d used Nick’s phone to notify everyone that all was well. Then Jax had run out for hot drinks and snacks. Now her guests were hunkered down, working through Sammy’s filing system—not Evie’s idea of fun, so she leaned toward distraction.
Her sister grumpily flung another ledger on the discard stack. “We have a Christmas paradetomorrow. Mayor Larraine is supposed to ride in Judge Satterwhite’s big white Cadillac convertible as Santa’s helper, while the judge plays Santa. We could have snipers shooting at them! This is not funny, Evangeline.”
Evie bit back a snicker. “But he was so obvious! The judge plays Santa every year. Even if you can’t see his aura, you had to know it was him.” She sobered at the mention of the parade, though. The sheriff had warned them earlier. “Reuben will have to tie up Larraine to keep her out of that car.”
Attempting to fix voting machines and demanding recounts to keep a flaming liberal out of office were one thing. Shooting at Larraine... was quite another. But that didn’t add up with shooting Block, who had been one of the world’s most traditional office holders. Maybe the killer just didn’t like government.
Jax had reported that Roark was searching for cameras in the warehouse area where the sniper had escaped. Reuben was tracking the cell phones of their various suspects, without results. Now that Sammy’s ghost had passed on, Jax and Nick had their phones charging and were pounding at the screens. Evie hoped they had plans to keep everyone safe tomorrow. Disappointing a town full of kids—and Larraine was the biggest kid of all—would be a real bad start for the holiday.
“Nick’s right,” Gracie said in disgust. “We have no idea what we’re looking for. Did Sammy specifically say his proof was in these books?”
“Sammy said he offered to buy his brother’s unsold sketches after he learned that Bertie was following theturds. He thought the Turlocks were after his mother’s home, and he wanted evidence, but what he meant to do with it, he didn’t say. But Sammy specifically said he was blackmailing his killer, andthe proof is in his books. But I’m not seeing any sketches in here.”
Evie pushed around the debris they’d ferreted out so far, all the bits and pieces Sammy had shoved in between the pages in some filing system they’d never sort out. Once his spirit had communicated his fury, and been satisfied that his killer would be caught, he’d been persuaded into departing this plane. Evie thought the only reason he’d lingered was that he’d been too shocked and confused to move on. Sammy really hadn’t had a purpose—like Bertie and Block.
Looking at this mess she’d hoped would solve the mystery, she wished she hadn’t been so hasty, but Sammy had never been a smart man. As a ghost, he’d just been angry. He wouldn’t have provided much help. She hoped he’d passed on to better things.
And as usual, he couldn’t name names, only that he’d been blackmailing his killer. So maybe this had no relation to Block or this latest shooting. Blackmailers seldom came to a happy end.
“Here’s a sketch of Sammy that Bertie drew as a young boy. It’s old and probably not evidence.” Gracie held up a small pencil sketch lacking the maturity of later ones.
Evie shook her head and studied fading photographs of the Walker siblings in various school poses. Invoices for the more expensive inventory he’d bought or sold. Invitations to a wedding from ten years ago. A certificate as runner-up in some gun show. High school report cards! Lordy, the things people thought important.
Gracie started on file folders. “I don’t think he ever pitched an invoice. I’m guessing he couldn’t remember costs, and he obviously had no bookkeeping system, so this was how he decided how much to sell something for. And then he’d forget he sold the item and never threw out the invoice. This is madness.”
Nick clicked off his phone and reached for the file. “Let me see. I love knowing what things cost, and I have a steel trap memory.”
“Have you and Jax talked Larraine out of the parade?” Evie knew that’s what they’d been working on.
