Secrets of the Specter

“No, it’s okay,” I said, but Aunt Linda didn’t seem to hear me. She buried her face in the blanket and sobbed.

I had to shake her shoulders to get her attention back on me.

“What?” Her tearful eyes broke my heart. She was in so much pain. I was, too, but I hadn’t yet had the time to fall apart.

“I grabbed the papers before I left earlier,” I revealed. “They weren’t in the fire. They’re at my house.”

Aunt Linda sagged against me in relief. “Oh, thank goodness. That was the icing on the cake, thinking we wouldn’t be able to ever tell the truth about what was in those papers. That wasn’t just family history. It was national history.” She moaned and folded in on herself.

“Who could have possibly known?” I asked, dropping my voice low since the paramedics were still looming close. “First they tried my house, then the shop, and now yours. I hadn’t even known they were there until this afternoon. And then less than an hour later, your house goes up in flames. That can’t be a coincidence.”

Aunt Linda’s eyes went wide. “Mags, there’s only one person who could have known.”

Ethan? No, he had arrived at the shop after the fire and hadn’t seen the papers when he paid Aunt Linda a visit earlier. We’d managed to hide them before he’d entered.

I checked my phone. Wes had finally texted back to let me know that he was out of town for a work conference and would love to catch up with me once he was back.

A quick visit to his social media profile confirmed that he’d departed early that morning.

So who else did that leave? Who else had such close access to us?

“No.” My heart froze with the realization of who it must have been. The stalker, arsonist, burglar, it had all been the same person. One who was very close to both me and my aunt.

“It was Kim,” I whispered, using a hand to shield my lips from onlookers. “Nobody else knew the papers were here. She had to have heard me on the phone when I called and yelled at you for not telling me about them.”

“And as soon as she knew where they were, she tried to destroy them,” Aunt Linda added with a pained look in her eyes. “Oh, no.”

I turned to wave down Officer Don and Chief Oswald. Now that we knew who’d been targeting us, it was time to put her behind bars.

Both men hurried over, eager to help however they could.

“The fire is contained,” the chief said. “But it’s a total loss. I’m so sorry, ladies. By the time we got the call, it was too late. It had spread too far and too quickly.”

“It happened so fast,” Aunt Linda mumbled, her eyes unfocused. “There was no explosion or catalyst that I could see. Suddenly there were little fires everywhere. I didn’t have time to grab my phone or purse. Thankfully I was in a room close to the door, or I might not have managed to get out at all.”

That explained why she wasn’t answering her phone, then. Had Kim known she might kill my aunt in the process of trying to destroy those darned papers? I hated to think that she could be so reckless and uncaring. Nothing made sense anymore.

“We’re pretty sure we know who did this,” I revealed, setting my mouth in a firm line and clenching my jaw.

Officer Don’s eyebrows flew up. “How could you possibly know that?”

“Okay, so it’s a long story, so buckle up and hang on tight.” I sighed and sat down on the edge of the rig beside Aunt Linda. “We have, in our possession, papers that prove General William Howe was selling British secrets to the Americans during the Revolutionary War.”

Chief Oswald and Officer Don exchanged a glance.

“Why would you have something like that?” the policeman asked.

“It’s been our family’s duty, over the last two hundred plus years, to guard the information. Bringing it to light would cast a shadow over any descendant of General Howe, and as I’m sure you already know, there are several here in town.” Aunt Linda paused to catch her breath, taking several long inhales from the mask.

I decided to pick up where she’d left off.

“Like she said, we have a lot of Howe’s ancestors around here, and that includes our mayor. As a matter of fact, Mayor William Howe is named after the illustrious general himself.”

“But he was a British soldier, right?” Oswald asked. “Why are his descendants here?”

“It’s a common name,” the chief added. “Are you sure of this?”

“A lot has happened in the last two centuries,” I said with a shrug. “And someone is definitely trying to cause us harm in their attempt to get hold of these papers. Based on the timeline, the only person it could have been is Kim Hough. She works for us part-time. Not only was she the only person who might have known the papers were discovered at Aunt Linda’s less than an hour before the fire, but she also had access, both to the shop and my aunt’s home. She was there with us today.”

“She has to be one of his descendants. Maybe her family changed the spelling of their name along the way, and the pronunciation changed with it. But it had to be her. I mean, that would explain everything, including the jars of accelerants that were hidden within our candle displays at the shop.”

“Are you sure there’s no one else it could be? A dual arson is a pretty lofty allegation,” Officer Don said, raking a hand through his long, dark hair.

“She’s the only one it could have been. I didn’t realize it earlier, because I thought that the new veterinarian in town—Dr. Wes—was to blame. When we went out for dinner, he told me all about how he was descended from General Howe, and even shared his family tree.”

Officer Don clenched his jaw and growled, “Out for dinner, huh?”

Uh-oh. Was that jealousy I detected?

No, no way.

“The dinner isn’t the point. The point is that I was so sure it was him, I didn’t see all the signs pointing straight to Kim.”

“And Kim insisted on helping us every day since the fire,” Aunt Linda piped up. “I thought she was just being extra caring. What a fool I’ve been.”

I reached around and hugged my aunt from the side. “It’s not your fault you see the good in people,” I reassured her. “Kim had me fooled, too.”

Aunt Linda wiped away a tear, and then added, “Kim was with me at the shop when Mags called to yell at me after she’d discovered the papers in the attic. That was hardly over an hour ago.”

“Are you sure she overheard?” the chief asked, clearly uncomfortable with the emotional tone this conversation had taken.

“Yes, we’re sure.” Aunt Linda huffed in exasperation. “Not only was Kim in the room, I put the darned call on speaker, not knowing what it was about.”

“Just to confirm, Kim heard Mags say the papers were here?” Officer Don asked. “And she knew which papers were being discussed?”

Aunt Linda and I both nodded.

“Where are these papers now?”

“I left them at my house when I heard about the fire,” I said, fear piercing my heart.

Aunt Linda gasped. “We have to get over there. Now.”

Oswald glanced back at her house. “My team will be here for quite a while yet.”

“C’mon,” Officer Don said, motioning with an arm. “I’ll escort you.”

Aunt Linda waved down the paramedics, who took off the air mask and gave her the all clear. Then we were running for my car.

Officer Don pulled out in his cruiser with lights flashing but no sirens, and I revved up behind him.

“Do you think she knows we moved the papers?” Aunt Linda asked, leaning forward with both hands splayed across the dashboard. “What if she set the fire at my house as a distraction, so she could ransack yours?”

And her questions kept on coming. I didn’t have any answers, so I remained quiet as I rode the police cruiser’s tail.

“I hope Shadow is okay,” I whispered when Aunt Linda paused to suck in a fresh lungful of air. I wasn’t sure if Shadow was even a fully real cat, but whatever the case, I’d hate for anything untoward to happen to her.

Not on my watch, and not ever.

We made it to my house in record time, and thankfully no flames were there to greet us. The house was dark, just like I left it.

I rushed to the front door, but Don made Aunt Linda and I wait on the front porch while he did a sweep of the inside.

Now even Aunt Linda had fallen quiet, so we waited arm and arm for whatever news the policeman would bring.

“All clear,” Officer Don informed us after a good five minutes. “But I’d like you ladies to think about staying in a hotel tonight.”

I shook my head. “I can’t leave the cat. We’ll set the alarm, and we can take turns alternating between sleeping and keeping watch.”

He pursed his lips. “Okay. I looked around for any substance that might act as an accelerant, but didn’t find anything. I don’t think anyone has been in here, but until we make an arrest, neither of you are safe.”

I nodded grimly. He was right.

And so far, Kim had done a great job of keeping her cover. What made me think she’d be easy to catch now that we suspected her?

Still, I rattled off Kim’s address and described both her appearance and that of her car. Don was still fairly new to town, so he didn’t have everyone memorized yet. Hopefully one of the other officers would be able to help him bring her in quickly.

He thanked us and then tipped his hat at the door. “I’m not saying it’s her,” he said with one arm resting on the doorjamb. “But, regardless, she’s a person of interest. We’ll track her down and bring her in for questioning.”

“Thank you,” I whispered as I closed the door.

“I’m making some tea,” Aunt Linda announced, drifting toward the kitchen.

This left me free to hunt down my missing cat.

And it didn’t take long for me to find Shadow curled up on my bed and staring contentedly. I still didn’t know how she appeared and disappeared at will. I guess it was a ghost cat thing. The documents were exactly where I’d left them, tucked snug in my big duffle bag beside the bed.

I let out a huge sigh of relief.

Once the tea was ready, Aunt Linda and I sat close together on the sofa and discussed the events of that day, still in complete disbelief.

I picked up with my sandwich and made one for Aunt Linda, too. Then she went off to bed while I remained up so that I could take first watch.

Nothing would hurt us or those papers tonight.

Not unless it was over my dead body.

I gulped, realizing that, unless Kim was caught soon, this was a very real possibility.

CHAPTER TWENTY

My phone rang early the next morning. I was pretty sure I’d only just gotten to sleep after a very long night of being too anxious to drift off.

“Good morning,” Officer Don said on the other end of the line. “I hope you both slept well.”

I groaned in response as Aunt Linda floated into the room and took a spot at the end of the bed.

“I have good news,” Officer Don said just as I switched the phone over to speaker. “We picked up Kim a couple of hours ago. One of my officers pulled her over while she was driving down your street.”

I gasped and reached for the comforter so I had something to squeeze in my fist and help allay the freshly mounting anxiety. “What? She was coming here?”

“Yes. We took her to the station, presented the evidence you and your aunt shared last night, and you’ll be very pleased to know, Kim admitted to everything.”

I glanced toward Aunt Linda. “What?” She sucked in a deep breath and held it inside her chest.

“They caught Kim. And she confessed,” I reiterated, still hardly able to believe it was true.

Aunt Linda sat back and gaped at me. “I can’t believe it,” she mumbled, mimicking my own thoughts exactly.

“Can we see her?” I asked Officer Don. “Can we talk to her?”

“I don’t see why not,” he said. “I’ll let her explain her motives. They make no sense to me. But maybe they will make sense to you.”

“We’ll be right down,” I said, then cut off the phone. “Get ready fast. I want answers, and I want them now.”

Five minutes later, we hopped in the car and made the short drive over to the police station.

Officer Don sat at a desk near the front door, waiting for us. “Morning, ladies.”

I hadn’t wanted to waste a single second in getting here, which meant that I had skipped coffee. The pot in the corner of the station beckoned me, and I made a beeline straight for it. “Please say that’s fresh.”

Officer Don chuckled. “Just made it myself. Enjoy.”

Once that first sip of coffee hit my soul, I sighed in relief. “Okay. Where is she?” I demanded, hoping I wasn’t being too pushy. Officer Don had been nothing but helpful to my aunt and I.

“I’m going to wring her neck,” Aunt Linda seethed, her face a mask of thinly concealed rage.

Don opened a big, heavy door. “Well, please don’t do that. I’d have to arrest you and that would create a lot of extra paperwork. I hate paperwork.” He nodded toward a bench. “Now don’t get close to the bars. And yell if you need me, I’ll be right outside the door.”

I patted his arm. “Thank you for letting us speak with her. We both need closure, and we’re hoping she’ll be able to give it to us.”

We filed into the room. It was basically a big containment area that held three barred cells. Along the outer wall, benches sat, I supposed for people like us—people who wanted to speak to the prisoners.

Kim looked like a tiny mouse caught inside a big trap as she waited in the middle cell. She looked up at us with round, terrified eyes.

“Hello,” she mumbled, casting her gaze back toward the cement floor.

I sat on the other bench and just looked at her for a moment. Aunt Linda was a huge bundle of nerves beside me, radiating anxiety. She needed me. I had to be the one to do this.

After several seconds of silence, I sucked in a deep breath, then just came right out with it. “Why? Why would you do this to us?”

Kim looked from my aunt to me and back. “I tried to make sure that neither of you would get hurt.” She looked so sad like she’d never meant to do any of this. Half of me wanted to wrap her in a hug and tell her it would all be all right.

The other half remembered exactly what she’d done, all the pain she’d caused for both me and my aunt.

“And we didn’t get hurt,” Aunt Linda said, her voice shaky. “At least not physically.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, keeping my expression stern. “Emotionally is a different story, though.”

“I just wanted the papers,” she ground out. “They’re important. My family has been trying to find them for two centuries.”

“But why? Why was it so important? The Revolutionary War is practically ancient history at this point,” I reminded her.

She shrugged and folded her hands in her lap. “General Howe was my great grandfather, many times back. The money he made gave my family their start. Our wealth would be tainted if everyone found out that we got it by selling secrets.”

“What wealth?” I asked, deadpan. “You work for me in a candle store.”

“That was just to get close to you.” She stopped and licked her lips. “My family took the money he made and put it into some very good investments. We’re worth billions. But if those papers got out, we might be required to make reparations. We could lose it all. I was working for you because I had heard a rumor that your family was involved and thought you might have the papers stashed somewhere safe. I thought if I worked for you long enough, I might be able to find them or get you to trust me enough that you would tell me about them.”

“So, you were willing to burn down my house,” Linda whispered. “Hurt us. Take away our livelihood…for papers that might cause your family a little embarrassment?”

Kim shrugged. “My family has been trying to find those papers for as long as I can remember, longer even. I had an uncle come close once, but he died in a car crash trying.”

She shot me a surreptitious look that made my stomach gurgle with dread. “What car crash?” I asked in a flat voice.

“The one that killed your parents,” she whispered. “I’m so sorry.”

I focused on my breathing so I wouldn’t lose my mind.

“Your uncle was the reason my sister and brother-in-law died?” Aunt Linda asked, aghast. She sobbed and stood, shaking with rage, her eyes filled with unshed tears. “I can’t look at you another second, let alone talk to you.”

I didn’t blame her. Anger and pain filled me to the brim as well. “I know it wasn’t you who caused my parents’ deaths. I don’t blame you for that, but, Kim… You got close to us. We considered you a friend, a part of the family even.”

She said nothing, so I shook my head and walked closer.

“Tell your family it’s over. I’m going to take the papers to a museum today. Everything will be exposed.”

We had the papers stashed in the car and planned to head to the museum straight after this.

I collected Aunt Linda and looked at Officer Don. “Did she tell you about her uncle and my parents?”

He nodded. “We’re investigating the entire family. An FBI specialist is on his way. Don’t you worry. We’ll make sure justice is served.”

The museum curator practically quivered in delight when we turned over the papers. He put on cotton gloves and reading glasses and pored over the papers for several minutes.

“There is no doubt they’re genuine,” he said. “It will be a matter of official authentication, which can take a few weeks.” He gave us a broad smile. “Thank you for bringing these to us. We will make sure everyone is notified and the papers are put on display as soon as possible.”

Well, at least one person was happy about all this, I supposed.

Aunt Linda’s and my drive home was quiet. Solemn. We still hadn’t helped Maggie with what she’d really wanted.

We’d asked, but the museum curator hadn’t known a thing about her. And Maggie’s journals had been lost for good in the fire that had consumed Aunt Linda’s house the day before.

It looked like she’d be living with me for a while, and that was something we both needed.

Back at home, I was unable to fall asleep despite how badly I needed the rest. Later that day, when Aunt Linda and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating steaming bowls of instant pasta for lunch, her phone rang.

She immediately put it on speaker so that I could hear, too.

“It’s the most curious thing,” Fire Chief Oswald said. “The main floors of your house were totaled, but somehow the attic was spared. Almost like a protective bubble was wrapped around it. You’ll have to get the stairs reinforced so you can go in and empty it. The rest of the house is lost. You’ll have to tear it down. But the attic is full of what looks like your family history and… I can’t explain it, but there’s not even the smell of smoke up there. I’ve never seen anything like it, not once in all my years.”