Page 40 of A Song for the Dead

Excitement shimmered through her as she reached into the glovebox and pulled out the comms, fitted hers, and then turned to look at Carter. “I have spares.”

“I have my own. I just need to change it to your frequency.” Carter adjusted the control on his battery pack and clipped it to his belt. “I’m good to go.”

“People are used to seeing us in Aunt Betty’s.” Kane glanced at Jenna. “I figure we wait there and let Rio and Rowley track Stark’s movements. If we’re seen holed up in the Beast, Stark will know he’s under surveillance.”

“Well, best we keep our jackets zipped.” Carter barked a laugh. “The liquid Kevlar vests are a dead giveaway something’s up.”

Startled by the waves of white mist rolling across the blacktop and almost obliterating the traffic, she glanced at Kane. “I’ve never seen it this bad. How are we going to get through that and see Stark in a white van? He’ll be invisible.”

“I have fog lights.” Kane shrugged. “We’ll be fine. It’s probably patchy, and with five of us searching for him, he won’t slip by.”

As Kane pulled up some ways from where Rowley had parked, his gray vehicle hardly visible in the white cloud surrounding it, Jenna tapped her comm. “We’re behind you. We’ll take a walk and take in the displays nice and casual and then go into Aunt Betty’s. Have you had eyes on Stark yet?”

“Nope. I can’t see much at all, but if he drives by, I’ll see him.”Rowley sounded as if he were standing beside her.

“He’s just driven past me.”Rio’s engine rumbled.“I’m taking Maple. If he stops in town, I’ll park somewhere and come in on foot. I’m not in uniform, so he won’t notice me.”

Jenna nodded. “Copy.” She climbed out of the truck and as the mist swirled around her legs, she waited for Kane and Carter to join her on the sidewalk. The foggy night distorted the view and played tricks with her mind. Things moved and people seemed to emerge out of nowhere. She swallowed hard. She had a job to do and straightened her spine. For a few seconds the swirling clouds swallowed up Kane and Carter. Weird noises from the displays drifted to her as people walked by. Heart thumping, Jenna turned around as screeches and sinister laughter surrounded her. Taking a firm grip on her nerves, she fought hard to push back her Halloween jitters. As Kane and Carter came to her side, she took a deep breath but blinked hard. Not a stone’s throw away from her, as people strolled along the sidewalk swirling the mist, they became almost transparent at times as rolling clouds engulfed them. Even with so many people milling around, Jenna couldn’t shake off the surreal creepy feeling that something malevolent was out there, waiting to strike. She ignored the icy chill slithering down her spine and smiled at Kane. “Look interested in the displays. Laughing is good.” She took Kane’s hand and squeezed. “Don’t look so serious.”

“I’m finding it difficult to see anything.” Kane peered into the fog.

As they moved closer to Aunt Betty’s Café, Wendy stepped out pulling her hoodie over her long hair. Jenna smiled at her. “Heading home?”

“If I can find my ride. It’s not far but I can’t see a foot in front of my face.” Wendy smiled at her. “They said the fog would be bad this week. Apparently the river is warmer than usual and the nights are colder, and that causes the mist to rise thick like this.” She looked around nervously and shivered. “It’s darn right spooky out here tonight. I had planned on being home by now, watching TV in front of the fire.”

“I’ll walk you to your ride.” Carter smiled at her. “I can’t have a lovely lady being spooked now, can I?”

“Oh, who could say no to an FBI agent?” Wendy smiled. “Thank you, Ty, that’s very kind of you.”

Jenna turned to look at them walk away. “We’ll wait here for you.”

“Okay.” Carter’s voice came out of the fog.

“Come and look at the display over here.” Kane tugged at her hand. “The severed heads look so real apart from the eyes moving back and forth.”

Swallowing hard, Jenna stared at a blood-soaked table with four severed heads, each with a hand of cards before them and a stack of chips. Their eyes moved back and forth as if contemplating a bet. “I don’t know where people come up with his stuff.”

“My favorite is the one with the Wild West cowboy skeletons playing cards and smoking cigars. One of them has eyebrows and they go up and down.” Kane chuckled. “The honkytonk saloon music is great.”

“I see him.”Rowley’s voice came through Jenna’s earpiece.“He’s heading into the pizzeria.”

Jenna tapped her earpiece. “Copy, just watch him. Rio, do you copy?”

“Yeah, I’m parked in an alleyway. Want me to go and buy a slice and eat it there?”He cleared his throat.“I do drop by there often on Friday nights, so I won’t look out of place.”

Jenna looked at Kane and he nodded. “Yeah, good idea. We’ll be inside Aunt Betty’s. Let me know the second he makes a move to leave.” She noticed Carter emerging from the mist and they headed toward Aunt Betty’s Café. “Rowley, are you in uniform?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, join Carter in the pizzeria. People see you around together all the time. Buy a pie and take a table. No good sitting out in your truck when it’s so foggy.”

“Copy.”

Breathing a sigh of relief that they had everything under control, she looked at Kane. “Now we wait.”

FORTY-SEVEN

As Wendy’s headlights pierced the thick white cloud engulfing her home, her first instinct was to turn the Jeep around and head for a friend’s place and beg a bed for the night. After being spooked twice, the last thing she needed was to walk from her vehicle to the shadow-shrouded house. Darn it, she should cut down the trees around her home, but in daytime they made the place look so pretty. At night they cast twisted shadows, like long gnarled fingers in all directions, scratched at her walls at the slightest breeze, and could hide any type of malignancy hiding there just waiting to do her harm. After taking out her Glock—it had become her constant companion of late—she stared at the swirling mist getting thicker by the second. She needed to get inside and pushed open the door. Cold seeped through her clothes, raising goosebumps all over her flesh the moment she stepped outside. The fog closed around her and the tiny water droplets brushed against her cheeks in an icy caress. Did the kiss from a ghost feel the same?

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