The Ghost in the Grove, Marcia [ebook pc reader txt] 📗

just finished with a lecture and was packing his notes away.
“Detective LaRain?” she asked tentatively.

“I haven’t been called Detective in a long time, but yes I am David LaRain.” He turned and looked at her, “I have not seen you in any of my classes.”

“No sir I am not a student here. This is going to be a most strange request but I would like to pick your brain about a very old case.” Maria crossed her fingers behind her back.

David stared at her long and hard and eventually with a slight shrug he told her, “sure, why not? We can talk in my office. This way please.”

They walked in silence to his office and when they arrived there LaRain opened the door and indicated a chair in front of a highly polished desk. Maria sat down and looked about her. The office was spacious and tastefully decorated. Book shelves and framed photographs lined the wall.

“Okay, miss?” he asked.

“Sorry, my name is Maria, Maria Conrad.”

“Hi Maria, please call me David. Now what is the purpose of this visit?” he asked after he had settled himself into his chair.

“I work at the library and I came across an article the other day. It was about a serial killer here in Meenrall’s Hill. A killer that was called The Lover.” Maria stopped and looked at the detective. He had turned pale and beads of sweat dotted his forehead.

“Are you okay?” she asked in concern.

“Yes I am fine,” he returned shakily, “it’s just that it’s been a long time since anyone has mentioned that case to me.”

“You were one of the leads on the case right” she asked leaning forward.
“I worked under the lead but I know the case inside and out. It haunted me Miss Conrad. There were times I did not know where I ended and The Lover began. Why are you bringing this up now?” he asked wearily.

Maria had been expecting the question and yet she still had no answer for it. How do you explain to someone that a ghost had been intruding on her dreams and she had promised him that she would help him find out how he died and who had killed him?

“Detective I realise that this case is particularly difficult for you but I stumbled across an archive at the library and it had articles relating to the case. I know that the murders were never solved and you have given up on finding the killer. But what if you received new information now, information that would shed a whole new light on the case and maybe just help you solve it?” she finished weakly because David was glaring at her with his piercing blue eyes.

“Do you realise what you are asking of me? Everything humanly possible was done on this case; hundreds of man hours and we even called in the experts from all over the country. We still came up with nothing. So many families were destroyed by this case and you want to re-open it because of some old articles you have read?” he heaved.

She stared at him and anger bubbled inside her, “it’s more than that sir. I made a promise to someone that I would try and find out as much as I could about the murders. I would think that the families of the victims would like some sort of closure. No matter how small it might be and if the killer gets caught, well then even better.”

David leaned forward; his brow furrowed “you know I never got over that case. It still keeps me awake at night.”

“Well then Detective, it looks like both you and I have some ghosts that we need to lay to rest. What do you say? Will you help me?”

The question hung in the air and Maria held her breath as she searched his face.
He looked down at his desk and spoke slowly, “I will only do this on two conditions.”

She almost clapped her hands in delight but caught herself in time, “Anything, anything at all.”

“Condition one; you share all the information you have with me, don’t keep anything to yourself, it’s not that I want any glory, it’s just that if you are in danger because of information that you withheld and anything happens to you, well I don’t want that hanging over my head.” He glared at her again and she swallowed uncomfortably and nodded her assent.

“Condition two,” he continued, “you will not go off anywhere by yourself. You will call me and I will accompany you at all times. If I am not available you will wait. This is for the same reason as condition one. Do we have an understanding?”

Once again Maria nodded her head acknowledging LaRain’s terms.

“Good. Now I have a class starting in 30 minutes. I am assuming you have a job that you need to get back to now.”

“Yes sir, I need to get back to the library.” Maria was eager to get started but something told her David LaRain was not the type of man that could be pushed.

“Excellent, I think I will meet you at the library at 6PM tomorrow night. I think I will call and give Eleanor a subtle heads up and just let her know I am coming through.”

“Sure that will be great.” Maria rose to leave and held her hand out to him. He stood up and shook her hand.

“Thank you for this, I know it’s not easy going back to such a dark place.” Maria said.

“No problem Maria, there is nothing like an unsolved mystery to get the creative juices flowing. There is one thing though. For now I would like to keep this between us. I don’t want to give people false hope.”

“Certainly. I agree with you completely.” Maria turned and left the office.

David sat and stared at the closed door. Forty years had passed since that night Vincent Lawder had identified his son’s body in the crypt and for forty years David felt that he had been chasing a ghost. Now this young woman walks into his life and asks him to bring into the light something that chased him in the shadows. Closing his eyes he inhaled deeply and slowly released the breath. He did not know what Maria expected to find now or what made her think new evidence would surface that would lead them to the killer
Personally he would be ecstatic if they found out that the killer was dead and had expired in a brutal way.
“Well we are certainly up for a great adventure,” he remarked dryly to himself as he gathered his notes for his next class.

That evening Maria walked her familiar path slowly. She was in two minds about the day’s events. True, she managed to get LaRain to help her but his conditions made her uncomfortable. It was if though he was anticipating some sort of trouble and worse was that she was lying to him off the bat. Not lying, she told herself, just leaving out some information. She looked up at the willow tree and smiling to herself she blew a kiss at the tree.
Tucked under her arm was a file with all the information the archives held on the murders. Maria hoped to read through everything in preparation for her meeting with David the next night. Earlier that day, after she had returned from lunch, he had called under the pretence of looking for a book that the university libraries did not have. Mrs Hodgson had remarked how coincidental it was that he had called because she had just been talking about him with one of her assistants. He said that he would come by tomorrow at about 6PM which made Eleanor anxious as she was hosting a dinner party and was due to leave early. Maria having over heard the conversation offered to wait until the gentleman came and collected his book and lock up thereafter. The relief was evident in her voice as the librarian confirmed with David that he could come and fetch the book after all.

Maria thought about the grim task ahead of her and wondered if she really had the stomach for this. However then she thought about Aaron and his quirky face and knew that she had to do something.
Suddenly she wondered what would happen if they did end up catching the killer. Would he move on, just disappear in a puff of smoke as he said? A worry gnawed at her. What would she do if he left? Her attachment to him was starting to feel real and she shook her head in confusion. Aaron had only ever come to her in her dreams and now she was afraid of the feelings he had stirred in her. Stopping she turned and look back at Willow Grove, she had made a promise to the ghost boy and she had to keep it, even if it meant that she lost her heart to a dream.


Imprint

Publication Date: 01-14-2011

All Rights Reserved