Page 94 of Secrets in the Dark
“I just talked to Edmund. He’s been following Rick Fields all day and Bisset has been at headquarters, going through the many, many sightings of Jesse Miller—which we were going to get after the press conference—but nothing came of that. The people who called in seemed to be well-meaning, but they saw him, and he was gone. A few of these sightings were checked out—one man turned out to be a history professor, another a plumber, both not Jesse Miller and both married with children and neighbors who vouched for him. Now, neighbors vouching for someone may not always be the truth, but...the men that were seen were not Jesse Miller.”
“Well, I want to hear everyone’s opinion on my belief that there’s something underground near us—and not even the people who live and/or work in the buildings have any clue.”
“We’ll figure it out—those guys are headed there and I’m back any minute.”
“Great.”
Della ended the call and walked into the kitchen to heat the teakettle. She set her bag down on the counter, but, as she reached for the kettle, she turned and looked at the door to the house’s basement.
The house had been utilized by Scotland Yard before their unit had moved in. Della knew that it had certainly been thoroughly checked out.
And yet, she’d been in basements all day.
Curious, she left the teakettle where it was and headed down to the basement.
Sixteen
Mason was let off directly in front of the house. But before he could enter, he saw that the ghost of Abigail Scott was standing across the street, anxiously watching for him.
He waved to her and walked over to her.
“I’ve seen him,” she said anxiously. “I saw him today, he was lurking...just watching the house, walking around, looking different in the afternoon than from the morning, and changing again as the evening came on. But he’s been watching the house, watching you...and then he’s gone again! Maybe...just maybe, one of you needs to be here. I can watch...and when I see him, let you know. You don’t have to worry about me getting in the house—I can manage just fine. What terrifies me so is that when he disappears—he disappears! I try to race after him, but... He’s here, and then he’s gone!”
“Della believes he’s hiding underground somewhere—we just have to find out how he’s accessing his hideout,” Mason told her. “But we will. And I believe you’re right—one of us must stay at the house tomorrow. And wait. And when you see him, let us know immediately and we’ll be out there and... Well, hopefully we’ll manage to get him before he hides again.”
“You’ll be out again tonight?”
“Indeed. Yes. We’ll be out there because he’s out there.”
“I’ll be watching, too,” she promised. “I’m so distraught that... I just wasn’t fast enough.”
“He’s smart, but he’s angry, Abigail. We did manage to stop him from getting to Stacey. He wrote a missive about his murder, and he couldn’t carry it out so he wrote in another threat.”
His phone was ringing as they spoke. He picked it up when he saw that Edmund was calling.
“Edmund, anything?”
“Well, it’s nothing crucial, unless you’re really hungry. We’re going to order Indian food—a place that Sean knows well, though he won’t be with us. Best curry in town, he tells me. That okay?”
“Indian is good with me,” he said. “Best curry in town sounds fine.” Mason thanked the detective inspector before hanging up.
He grimaced at Abigail and said, “We’ll be back out in a few hours. He’s dangerous now.”
“And an officer is with that young lady—”
“Stacey, yes. Sean is concerned. He’s afraid that the killer won’t be dissuaded, that she’ll be his target. Other officers are working, guarding her and, of course, we have the young man who lured her out under guard, too. We’re afraid that Jesse Miller will go after him, too. Miller knows that we brought Rick Fields in, so...”
She nodded worriedly. “All right, please, go ahead then. Your dinner will be coming and, as you say, we’ll all be back, walking the night. Please, know that I’m here, that I’m out here, that I’m working with you.”
He smiled. “I feel like Della. I wish I could hug you, though I’m not sure if that was proper in your day.”
“Well, Special Agent Carter, it is your day. And I will do my best to hug you.”
She came forward, her ghostly arms surrounding him. He felt the strange warmth that came with the chill and did his best to hug her back. Then, of course, he realized that he was on a public street and carefully straightened, smiling at her all the while.
She laughed. “Ah, we must take care! It will not do if the man who might stop a murderer is locked up instead!”
She turned and headed down the street. Smiling and shaking his head, Mason headed toward the house.
