Page 35 of A Song for the Dead

Staring at the misty swirls disappearing through the trees, Jenna’s imagination could easily take hold of reality. Like looking at clouds as a child, she could see dragons, their wings spread wide, flying across the sky. They looked real as well. She dragged her attention back to Blackhawk. “You believe the spirits come to visit over Halloween, don’t you?” She passed her empty cup to Kane to pack away. “Over the years many myths appear to be fact. I’m leaning toward your way of thinking.”

“I find it strange that your version is about death and fear.” Blackhawk mounted his horse and gathered his reins. “You should look back into the origins and see what the truth is behind Halloween. My thought is that it’s been commercialized and lost its true meaning. Not that there’s anything wrong with that because you all seem to enjoy the festival and the children gain special pleasure from trick or treating.”

“I think Jenna likes the thrill of being scared at Halloween.” Kane boosted her into the saddle and patted her on the thigh. “Although, we’ve had cause to be concerned over the last few years. For some reason, Halloween has become the World Series for serial killers. Just look at the reports coming in all over. It gets worse by the year.” He handed Jenna her backpack.

Jenna dragged on her backpack and nodded. “Yeah, they’re like werewolves on a full moon. All fighting to become the alpha.”

“Well, I hope there’s only one you need to catch this year.” Blackhawk turned his horse into the trees. “For now, we follow the ghosts. They lead the way to town and go right past where we left our vehicles.”

Within ten minutes inside the dark forest, the mist had reached her stirrups and all around had become a sea of rolling white waves, and yet ahead, Blackhawk moved forward as normal. His horse cutting a path through the white clouds and sending them rolling into another direction. Mesmerized by the strange and fascinating shapes moving along beside them, Jenna had the weird sensation she’d joined the procession. To each side of her the breeze whistling from the top of the mountain and through the trees, created different ghostly figures, from women in long gowns to men on horseback. She urged her horse forward. Her mind also made hideous shapes in the mist: faces with soulless eyes, beasts from nightmares that came so close she squeezed her eyes shut to push them away. She shook her head. As a mom and a responsible sheriff, she couldn’t allow her imagination to take hold, but she recognized that the Halloween terrors came from her childhood. She had aways enjoyed reading spooky stories and watching scary movies, which remained fixed in her memory. She recalled a comic book she’d once read where a monster with long sharp claws had one hand clutching a bedroom door as if waiting to go inside. The jolt of fear she’d experienced from seeing that one story had imprinted on her to such a degree that she could never sleep with the door ajar, always expecting that clawed hand to creep around the door and a monster to appear. It had taken plenty of convincing from Kane to make her leave the door ajar so they could hear Tauri. Even now, with a special ops machine between her and the door, the image still haunted her and before she turned out the light she’d pull the door wide open, which Kane figured was hilarious.

After unsaddling and tending the horses, they assisted Blackhawk with loading them back into the trailer. Jenna waved him goodbye and they climbed into the Beast. In the back seat, Duke snuggled into his blanket and was asleep before Kane had started the engine. She blew out a long breath and they drove along the fire road, seeing the dust cloud from Blackhawk’s trailer mix with the mist. In the last shafts of sunlight, it looked as if it had been sprinkled with gold. She turned to Kane. “We should have time to drop by the office before we collect Tauri.” She checked her phone. “It seems strange we haven’t heard from Jo and Carter. I hope they’re okay.”

“Call Maggie.” Kane turned onto Stanton and accelerated. “They’d have called in. It’s getting late. They probably went back to the cottage. I’m guessing they’ll need to report in and keep Kalo up to date with their movements. They might be running the field office, but they still need to send reports to the director. When they’re away, Kalo runs the office.” He smiled. “I’m not exactly sure what would happen if something sinister went down in Snakeskin Gully while they were away. I can’t see Kalo charging out to assist the local sheriff.”

Smiling, Jenna shrugged. “They’d jump in the chopper and head home, I guess.” She made the call. “Hi, Maggie. Have Jo and Carter checked in?”

“Yeah, and they’re on their way back to the cottage.”Maggie chuckled.“It must have been a long day for Carter. He said to tell you he’d be buying some prime rib for dinner. Jo said she’d get all the fixings. I figure they’re planning on cooking for you tonight.”

Jenna smiled. “Sounds good. What about Rio and Rowley?”

“They’re here looking over the drone footage.”Maggie sighed.“I don’t figure they’ve found anything yet. Nothing else has happened. It’s been a very quiet day, well, apart from them darn witches in the Halloween display next door. Their cackling is driving me crazy.”

After checking her watch, Jenna took in the heavy mist on Stanton. It was so thick as they entered Main she could only see the Halloween displays by the flashes of light from the automatons. “It’s very foggy tonight. Send the deputies home and shut up shop. We’re not needed, so we’ll go and collect Tauri and head home before it gets any worse.”

“Okay, I’ll tell them now.”Maggie cleared her throat.“The mist is pressing against the glass doors. Most sensible folks would be heading home. I’ll see you in the morning.”

As Jenna disconnected, Kane stopped outside the house close to her office to collect Tauri from Nanny Raya’s home. The mist swirled around the truck, and as Jenna opened her door, across the road a white shape slid into the alleyway. It turned and a hideous face appeared for a second through the mist before it vanished into a cloud. Swallowing the rush of fear, Jenna hurried to Kane’s side and gripped his arm.

“What?” Kane looked both ways and then down at her.

Ignoring the prickling of her skin, Jenna shook her head. She had a vivid imagination is all and would just have to deal with it. “Nothing, let’s go.”

The gate to the house whined as she followed Kane through it but as they reached the porch, she turned and searched the misty sidewalk. Her heart pounded in her chest. Someone was watching her, someone in the mist.

FORTY-ONE

After visiting her dog at the vet, Wendy drove home. She spent time with the little dog before and after work. The long-acting poison was slowly working its way out of the dog’s system and hopefully a few more days in the care of the veterinary surgeon would see her coming home. She pulled up outside her house, opened the glovebox, and pulled out the Glock. Since the scare, she never walked inside her house without the pistol in her hand.

Even after taking an earlier shift, she still arrived home in the dark, and with the river so close, the front door was obscured by heavy mist. Swallowing her fear, she swung her purse over one shoulder, and with her keys in her right hand and gun in her left, took a deep breath and dashed for the front door. Inside with the door bolted, she reached for the light. It was warm inside and the smell of smoke tainted the air. She pushed her keys into her pocket and holding her Glock out in front of her, moved slowly into the family room. In the hearth, the embers, which she’d swear she’d left cold, glowed red. Agreed, she’d used large logs the previous evening to save on the heating bills, but she’d been sure there’d only been gray ashes there this morning. Fear rose the hairs on her arms and goosebumps prickled over her. Momentarily frozen, she kept her back to the wall and, switching on lights as she went, moved along the passageway and into the kitchen. Her gaze swept over the kitchen table and to the neat stack of mail. She blinked and keeping the kitchen door in sight, eased her way to the back door and turned the knob. It was just as she’d left it, with the key in the lock.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she went back to the kitchen. Had she collected the mail before leaving for work? She had been in a rush to see Lola, so maybe it had slipped her mind. She sorted through the mail, finding the usual bills and flyers. She narrowed her gaze at a flyer for the Halloween Ball and smiled. This year would be fun. It would be good to meet up with all the people she’d gotten close to in town. The house creaked and the sound of nails running down a chalkboard spun her around. She moved swiftly from the window. If anyone planned to frighten her tonight, they’d picked the wrong girl. Gathering her courage, she retraced her steps and headed for the bedrooms. She went into each one, checking all around to make sure no one was hiding. When she reached her own bedroom, she opened the closet doors and peered inside. Feeling a little stupid, she went into the bathroom. It looked just as she’d left it. She’d wiped down the vanity and placed her makeup bag into the cabinet above the sink. Something touched her toe, and she glanced down to see a lipstick on the tile. It wasn’t one she usually used and frowned, wondering how it had gotten there. She bent to pick it up and opening the cabinet placed it back into the makeup bag. A chill went through her—the fire, the mail, and now the lipstick. Had someone been inside her home? It wasn’t possible, was it? She’d taken every precaution by locking all the doors and windows. The scary guy in the Halloween mask had really upset her and after hearing Sheriff Alton tell Susie about an actor scaring people, she’d realized she’d become the brunt of a joke. She closed the cabinet and looked at her reflection in the mirror. “Wendy. You need to get a grip.”

FORTY-TWO

FRIDAY

The morning was eerily still as Jenna walked from the kindergarten with Kane at her side. The mist still swirled along the sidewalk as people walked by. The sinister laughs and chuckles of the Halloween displays drifted toward her and she turned and scanned Main. It appeared so different in the daylight. It was festive with all the brightly colored bunting hanging over every available space. She turned to look back at the kindergarten. It gave her a pang of regret parting with Tauri each morning and she wondered how she’d cope if they ever had a baby and with her working full-time. She climbed into the Beast and waited for Kane to slide behind the wheel. “It’s hard walking away and leaving Tauri, but if I have a baby, how can I leave and rush off on a case?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll work it out together. We have Nanny Raya and room to build a nursery suite in the office. It’s not like you’d be away for hours at a time. I figure we’d work it out fine, most parents do.” Kane looked at her and raised one eyebrow. “Is there something I should know?”

Jenna shook her head. “I wish, but no.”

“Tauri loves playing with the other kids and he looks forward to going to kindergarten.” Kane turned the Beast toward the office. “It’s tough for him at the weekends if we need to work, but Blackhawk has been using those times to spend with him at Nanny Raya’s. Tauri is smart enough to understand we have weeks like this when we’re busy and weeks when we have time as a family. It’s the mothering instinct, Jenna. No one is good enough to care for your child. I figure it’s normal because I feel the same way.” He pulled into his parking space at the office. “It looks like the gang’s all here.”

Not wanting to discuss the case with Jo and Carter over dinner the previous evening, when Tauri was awake they’d eaten, and Jo and Carter had gone back to the cottage. It had been a relaxed evening after days of stress. Rested and alert, Jenna bounded up the steps and pushed into the office. The smell of fresh coffee filled the room and she smiled at Maggie behind the counter. “Where is everyone?”

“They’ve set up the conference room, seeing that there’s so many of you on this case.” Maggie pointed toward the stairs. “Have you made any headway?”

---