Chapter 5

CHAPTER FIVE

W ork was crazy. Maisey had two families who were in danger of losing their children, and most of the problems stemmed from unemployment. After looking for something herself, she called a friend at the state career office and asked if they could help. One couple didn’t even have transportation, so she picked them up and took them to the office, then drove them back. Hopefully at least one of them could get a job and they’d find a way to keep their family together.

But all day long, even though she was busy, she thought about the coat. It felt like she was missing something, but what? All they knew was the victim’s name and that she’d been stabbed. Otherwise, they knew nothing. Could it have been one of the other pageant contestants? Someone who was jealous? But for reasons she couldn’t understand, she got the impression that the murderer was a man.

Her phone pinged just before four thirty and she checked the screen.

Hey, baby, it’s BOGO at the Burger Barn today. Want me to pick up dinner?

Maisey smiled. She had one of the considerate ones, and they were few and far between.

That would be so great. Thanks, babe. Love you.

The dots on the screen wiggled and she smiled even broader.

Anything for my girl. XOXOXO

Three forms later, she was finished with paperwork and started to gather her things up. Her bag was tossed into the passenger seat, and her water bottle fit perfectly in the cup holder. As she drove along, she thought about the game earlier in the week, burgers for dinner, and suddenly realized that she had stopped her car right in front of the coroner’s office. Well, this is weird , she told herself as she sat there for a few seconds. But for some reason, it felt like she should go inside, so she climbed out and headed in through the front door.

“Be right there,” a voice called out, and in less than a minute, Morgan came into view. “Oh! Maisey! Good to see you. Can I help you with something?”

“I don’t know. It feels like…” She wanted to say, It feels like you forgot to tell me something , but instead, she answered, “…there was something I should’ve asked you when I was here the other day.”

Like magic, Morgan said, “You asked if she was stabbed, but when I said she was, you didn’t ask with what.”

No, I didn’t ask. I said she was stabbed and you said I was right. Not the same thing , she thought. “You’re right. I didn’t, and I was hoping you could tell me.”

“I’m no medical examiner, but from what I could tell, it was a large blade. Relatively speaking, that is. Like a hunting knife. Maybe a Bowie knife.”

“Hmmm. That’s interesting.” Maisey hadn’t gotten a look at the knife yet, but she wondered if his theory would be proven right when she did. And she had no doubt she would eventually see it.

“Yes. Use of a knife like that would suggest that it wasn’t an impulsive kind of thing. Whoever did it planned to do it. Either that, or they had some kind of job that required them to carry a knife like that. And since we don’t live near the ocean and don’t work on commercial fishing vessels, I think that’s unlikely. Most likely a hunter, unless it was bought for the express purpose of killing her.”

“I’ll give that some thought. Thanks, Morgan. I appreciate it.”

“Anytime. Glad to help.”

As soon as she sat down in the car, Maisey thought about what he’d said. Every word confirmed what she’d intuited from the beginning. Whoever killed Victoria had set out to do it. It wasn’t just an argument gone wrong. The situation was designed for exactly what had happened―she’d been lured there.

Murielle was sitting on the porch floor, her legs dangling over the front edge, when Maisey pulled up to the house. The little girl had her plastic horses and two potholders. “Hey, honey. You playing with your ponies?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What are the potholders for?”

“They’re the saddle blankets.”

“Oh, well, that’s pretty smart. Daddy has burgers?”

“Uh-huh. Do I have to come in and eat?”

“Yes, ma’am. Let’s go.” Maisey waited until Murielle was standing, then helped her pick up the horses and other things she’d laid out.

They chatted all through dinner, but Maisey was distracted. She had to put on the coat later. That was the only way they’d ever figure out what had happened. The three of them played four rounds of Go Fish and watched a cartoon on a streaming service before time for Murielle to go to bed. With a kiss on the forehead, she told her little stepdaughter good night and let Aaron tuck the child in while she made her way to the bathroom.

Maisey brushed her teeth, brushed her hair, and splashed some water on her face. As she stood there, she gazed at herself in the mirror. “I really am a weirdo,” she whispered to herself. The first time she’d realized she had some kind of strange power was in junior high school. Her best friend, Valerie, had been hit by a car, but the night before, Maisey had told her mother, “I don’t know what to do, Mom. Valerie’s going to get hit by a car.”

She remembered the look her mother had given her. “What? What are you talking about?”

“I can just feel it, Mom. She’s going to get hit by a car.”

MollyKendall had stared at her, frowning the whole time. “Maisey, that’s a horrible thing to say. I hope you don’t say that to her. How awful.” Then she simply walked away and left Maisey standing there, miserable.

I hope you don’t say that to her , Maisey remembered her mother saying. Maybe she shouldn’t. It was probably just a silly thing, right? Nothing to worry about.

Until a little after four the next afternoon, when she, Annie, and Stephanie had been playing basketball in the school gym and heard sirens. A sick feeling grew in the pit of Maisey’s stomach as they ran toward the door. There, in the street, was Valerie, her leg bent at an impossible angle, and a woman standing beside a small car, screaming and crying. She remembered standing there, unable to move, her whole body shaking as she looked at her friend lying on the pavement.

But when she got home, her mother met her at the door. “Maisey, where were you when Valerie was hit by the car?”

Word travels fast , she’d thought in that moment, then turned to her mother. “Why? Do you think I pushed her or something so I would be right?”

“Maisey! You go to your room right now and don’t you ever say anything like that again!” Maisey turned to drag herself down the hallway when her mother called out, “And you didn’t answer me. Where were you?”

“I was in the gym. With Annie and Stephanie. You can ask them. They’ll tell you.” She wanted to ask how Valerie was and how her mother had found out, but she was too angry, afraid, and sad. She might’ve been able to help Valerie if she hadn’t listened to her mother and had told her friend what she thought was about to happen. Maisey vowed to herself that it would be the last time she didn’t warn someone when she had a chance.

That had been twenty-five years earlier, and she still felt the pain of that criticism from her mother, even though Molly had acquiesced later on and acknowledged that Maisey did indeed have a gift. As for Valerie, she’d spent three weeks in the hospital and another six months in therapy and secondary surgeries before she was finally able to walk. Even then, her gait was never the same. When she’d limped down the aisle at graduation, it broke Maisey’s heart. She could’ve stopped that, and she hadn’t.

This time, the horrible thing had already happened, and VictoriaHunt seemed to be reaching out to her from the grave, begging her to find the man responsible for her murder. At least Maisey thought it was a man. She supposed it could be a woman, but she didn’t think so.

A voice cut through her silent ruminations and a pair of strong arms wrapped around her from behind. “Hey, you okay?”

“Yeah. Just thinking about stuff.”

“Planning to put on the coat tonight?”

“Yes. If that’s okay with you.”

She let Aaron spin her, and he smiled down into her face. “Of course it’s okay with me. Hell, I know you well enough to know that you’d do it anyway even if it wasn’t okay with me. But I want you to do what you think you need to do.”

“Then I need to put on that coat.”

“Okay. Let’s go out on the deck like before. That seemed to work well.” She let him take her hand and lead her toward the back door, stopping to pick up the coat on the way out.

The ottoman was right where they’d left it the time before, so she sat down, making a mental note that the outdoor furniture needed new cushions. Maisey reached for the coat but before he turned it loose, Aaron sighed and looked down into her eyes. “I know this is scary for you. I hate that you feel like you have to do this.”

“But I do, and you know I do.”

“Right.” He loosened his grip on the coat, and Maisey took it from his hands.

She slipped it onto her arms, then waited until he was in front of her and ready to grab her if anything happened. A couple of deep breaths and she was ready. “Okay. Here we go.” Hesitantly, she pulled the coat forward by its lapels and let it settle on her shoulders.

Total darkness. No, wait―there were lights off in the distance. Security lights maybe? The figure was in front of her, pushing her, yelling at her, and she caught the same phrases as before, with a few more words. Concentrate! she told herself through her panic, the panic she felt from Victoria. Just as the blade disappeared into her flesh, she took a good, long look.

The blade was bigger, just as Morgan had guessed. She made note of its length and shape so she could look for it later. The hand holding it was obviously male. It was bonier than most women’s fingers and had knobby knuckles. There was something else she noticed too.

It was not an old hand. It was someone young.

Just as she felt herself sinking, the roughness of the tree stump riding up her back, she whispered out, “Why?”

And the figure growled back, “If you do the right thing, you’ll ruin everything.”

Suddenly, there was light from the vintage bulbs shining in her eyes and Aaron was right there in front of her. “You okay, babe?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Did you see anything else?”

Maisey took a deep breath and let it out slowly before she answered. “I think I need to go inside. Sit down. Get some water.”

“No problem. Let’s go.” Aaron helped her to her feet and kept an arm around her waist until they got to the sofa. Once she was settled there, he grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator, twisted off its cap, and held it out to her. “There ya go.”

“Thanks.” Maisey took a long, deep swig and felt some kind of normalcy creeping into her being. “That’s much better.”

“So you saw something else?”

“Yeah. The knife. Morgan said he thought it was a pretty good-sized blade and―”

“When did you talk to Morgan?”

“I stopped by there today.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. He said he’s no medical examiner, but it wasn’t a pen knife or a pocketknife. It was something a lot larger.”

“Gotcha. And could you hear anything else?”

“Yeah. Just as Victoria was dying, she asked why it was happening.”

“And?”

“It was definitely a male voice. It was definitely a male hand on the handle of the knife. And it was definitely young. He said, ‘If you do the right thing, you’ll ruin everything.’

“What does that mean?” Aaron pondered aloud.

“I have no idea. But that makes me ask… Did Victoria have a boyfriend?”

“Yeah. She did. But he had an ironclad alibi for that evening.”

Maisey let out a frustrated sigh. “Do you think we could talk to him anyway?”

“Sure. I think he’s still around here.”

“Good.” Maybe the boyfriend could shed some light on what had happened, because at the rate she was going, it would take the rest of her life to piece it together.