Celeste Files: Unlocked Part 16

Chapter 14.

Two days later...

"WHAT DO YOU think?" Celeste asked John, as he parked in front of Maxine's house.

He killed the ignition. "Beautiful. Too bad it's haunted." John stepped out of the car, then opened the rear driver's side door to take Olivia out of her car seat. "I hope whatever Maxine has in store for us doesn't have anything to do with a seance or a Ouija board."

She grinned and grabbed Olivia's diaper bag. "Would you stop? And please don't say anything to Maxine about her ghosts."

"I won't. But it is kind of creepy. Think about it. You're taking a shower or going to the bathroom, and there could be someone watching you."

She rolled her eyes and knocked on the front door. "Thanks for planting that thought in my head. Now I won't be able to use Maxine's bathroom."

He chuckled. "Glad I can help," he said, as Maxine opened the door.

Maxine quickly pulled Celeste in for a big hug. "Oh, darling, I was so worried about you."

"I'm just glad it's over." The moment the police removed Kelly from her condo, the stress and exhaustion that had weighed Celeste down had disappeared. Until Kelly was arrested, Celeste hadn't realized how much the visions had drained her, as if the black ma.s.s she kept seeing had been sucking the life from her.

"Me, too," John said, drawing Maxine's attention to him.

The older woman turned and stared at John. "Well, aren't you handsome."

John's cheeks and ears reddened as he looked to the floor. "Thank you, ma'am."

"None of this ma'am nonsense, call me Maxine," she said, and took Olivia from his arms. "And you are just too cute for words." She cuddled Olivia and kissed her cheek.

To Celeste's surprise, Olivia hugged Maxine back. Normally, her daughter didn't take to strangers. When Olivia leaned back, she gazed at Maxine, her blue eyes strangely thoughtful for a fourteen-month-old.

"You are something special," Maxine said, never taking her eyes from Olivia's. Then she smiled, and looked to Celeste and John. "Lunch is ready. Come into the kitchen and tell me everything that's been happening."

Although Celeste wanted to ask Maxine what she'd meant when she'd called Olivia special, she decided to wait until she was alone with her. If she saw...something in her daughter, she'd rather John not know just yet. As it was, he still had a hard time coming to terms with how a killer had threatened their baby with a knife.

Celeste hung their coats in the closet. "I thought you wanted me to cook?"

"Another time. But don't worry. I won't be subjecting you to my cooking. I ordered in."

Once they were in the kitchen and seated for lunch, Celeste took Olivia from Maxine and sat her on her lap. "As you know, Kelly was arrested," she said, and dug into her diaper bag for Olivia's Sippy cup and snack.

Maxine poured wine into John's gla.s.s. "Thank G.o.d. I just hope they have enough evidence to convict her."

"They do," Celeste said. "Sandra's autopsy revealed that she did die from an overdose-so nothing new there. But when they examined her body, they found a slight chafing along her wrists, confirming she'd been tied to the office chair. What was more d.a.m.ning was the morphine itself. They found empty vials of the drug in the dumpster behind Kelly's townhouse-with Kelly's fingerprints on the vials."

"How did she get the morphine?" Maxine asked, and, after she finished pouring wine for everyone, took a seat.

"She ordered it online." John picked up his gla.s.s. "Kelly bought a Visa gift card to place the order, and had the morphine delivered to a PO Box."

"Which was dumb because the PO Box was in her name." Celeste sat Olivia on the floor and handed her a toy from the diaper bag. "The Milwaukee police also found Kelly's partial fingerprint in Tracy Saunders' bathroom, along with a foreign hair. They're waiting on DNA results, but they believe it also belongs to Kelly."

"Were they able to find out why she did it?" Maxine asked. "Money seems to be the obvious motivator, but to kill her dying mother?"

Celeste snagged a roll from the basket at the center of the table. "Kelly tried to give me some BS story about needing the money to leave her husband. The police never found any evidence that Kelly planned to divorce Dale. And, unfortunately, other than what Kelly confessed to me, there's no evidence that she murdered her husband. The detectives told George it looked like Dale hung himself. But they suspect she somehow coerced him into taking his own life."

"That would fit with her MO," John said. "She tried to make each murder look like a suicide."

Celeste reached for the b.u.t.ter. "If she hadn't killed Tracy, she could have probably gotten away with her mom's murder."

"If you hadn't had a vision about Sandra, it might've taken the police a while to connect Tracy back to her mother." John lifted his gla.s.s. "Sandra's body would have been cremated, and the vials of morphine Kelly tossed into the dumpster would've ended up in a landfill. You did right by those women. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you," she said, her cheeks warming from her husband's compliment. "Anyway, after Kelly's arrest, and the detectives dug into her and Dale's credit and bank statements, they did discover that Kelly and Dale were about eighty thousand dollars in debt. She was using credit cards to pay for insurance, car payments, food, pretty much everything."

Maxine frowned. "I don't understand. They both worked. How could they have that much debt?"

She shrugged. "Think about it. All of their income was going to pay the mortgage and the minimum credit card payments. She got in over her head, figured she'd get her inheritance early and make the debt go away."

"So two women died over another woman's greed."

"Or desperation," John suggested. "The police aren't sure how Kelly found out about Tracy, but it's clear she worried her half-sister would get too much of the inheritance."

"Exactly." Celeste said. "And now she'll get nothing, once she's convicted."

Olivia squealed and clapped her toys together.

Maxine smiled and looked to Olivia. "Sounds like someone likes that idea. I know I do."

"Same here." Celeste glanced down at her daughter. "When I talked with George this morning, he said Lea went to see Kelly yesterday. The detectives told him she was furious with Kelly. Lea made it clear Kelly was dead to her, and that Avery would never know Kelly existed. Since Dale is dead, Lea's adopting Avery. She's also working with Sandra's attorney to make sure what would've been Kelly's inheritance is placed in trust for Avery." She shook her head. "In the short months I've known Kelly, she made it sound like she was constantly at her mom's. Turns out, Kelly rarely visited, and Lea was the one who helped Sandra when her nurse couldn't. After Lea spoke to Kelly, she told the detectives that Kelly and Dale were always asking Sandra for money, and almost always denied. Sandra believed you needed to learn from your mistakes. Apparently credit card debt was one mistake Kelly has repeated her entire adult life."

"Murder to pay off credit cards." Maxine set her fork on the table and picked up her gla.s.s. "That woman is beyond despicable."

Although memories of the black malevolent ma.s.s had already begun to fade, Celeste couldn't agree more. She glanced down at Olivia, who played quietly on the floor. Seeing a knife held near her daughter was one memory that would not fade. "She's more than despicable. She killed three people, attempted to kill me and threatened my daughter. She's an evil woman who deserves to rot in prison for the rest of her life."

John cleared his throat and stood, then went to Olivia and lifted her in his arms.

Celeste blinked back the tears. John had been both furious and devastated when he'd arrived home and discovered what had happened. She'd thought he would blow up at her, blame her psychic gift for nearly killing both her and Olivia. Instead, he'd held her and Olivia, then had called Ian and cancelled his trip to Michigan. He hadn't let either of them out of his sight since.

Which was starting to drive her a bit crazy. She and Olivia both needed to put what happened with Kelly behind them. Olivia wouldn't remember, and while she would, Celeste missed her routine and wanted normalcy. She also wanted to resume working on her psychic skills with Maxine. With as powerful as the visions and trances had been this past week, neither she, nor John, could pretend this was a fluke. In her gut, she knew more visions would come. The question remained...could she learn to control them?

"John," Maxine began, "how are you dealing with what happened at your home?"

"I'm fine."

Maxine smiled. "It doesn't take a psychic to know when someone is lying. I, personally, wouldn't have been fine with any of it."

"You're not helping," Celeste said.

"I'd like to." Maxine set her napkin on the table and stood. She touched John's arm. "You know Celeste is special."

He looked at Celeste, his dark-brown eyes holding love. "Of course."

"Olivia is, too."

He closed his eyes and pressed his cheek against their daughters golden curls. "You think she's like Celeste?"

"I wasn't sure until I held her."

John opened his eyes and stared at Maxine. "Meaning?"

"I believe she's an old soul. Mother and daughter have been together for years. Time will tell if Olivia's gift will be as strong as Celeste's, but don't you want to ensure that your daughter has the proper guidance, should that be the case?"

"I told Celeste to meet with you as much as she needed," he said, his tone defensive. "I married Celeste knowing she was psychic. It never occurred to me Olivia could be, only because Celeste hasn't had a vision since she moved to Chicago."

"Does this mean you're willing to open your mind and home to other possibilities?" Maxine asked. "Even if there's no logic or proper science involved?"

John continued to hold Celeste's gaze. "I love my wife and daughter. I couldn't live without them."

Celeste used her napkin to wipe the tears from her cheek. She quickly stood, then rushed to John and Olivia, and hugged them. The doorbell rang as John embraced her with his free arm.

"Remember what I said about opening your mind and home to other possibilities," Maxine said, as she moved past them.

John kissed Celeste's cheek. "What do you think she's talking about?"

"I have no idea."

"Dog," Olivia said.

Stunned, she looked to John. "Did she just say 'dog'?" Olivia's vocabulary consisted of Mama and Dada, and everything else was babble.

"Sure sounded like it. Has she ever-"

"Dog," Olivia repeated, and pointed a finger over John's shoulder.

They both turned, just as Maxine and a man, leading an adorable black Lab, made their way into the kitchen.

Olivia wriggled in John's arms. "Dog," she said louder.

"It's okay," the man said. "Ruth's a good girl and well-trained."

John set Olivia on the floor and held their daughter's hand toward the dog. She giggled when Ruth licked her hand.

"This is Jim Compton. He trains service dogs," Maxine said.

"You mean like Seeing Eye dogs?" Celeste asked.

"Yes," Jim said. "Only Ruth is special. She's trained to detect seizures."

Celeste looked to Maxine, who shrugged. "Jim has trained Ruth to be a companion to people with epilepsy. She will detect a change in her person fifteen to thirty minutes before a seizure. I know you're not p.r.o.ne to seizures, but I spoke to Jim about what you do experience."

"That's right," Jim said. "Ruth's trained to detect abnormal electro-magnetic energy changes. She knows the difference between normal and abnormal movement and can even hear changes in her owner's breathing patterns."

"Are you telling us that this dog would know when Celeste is slipping into a trance?" John asked.

"I'm telling you what she can do for epileptic patients," Jim said. "Based on what Maxine described, I don't see why Ruth couldn't detect a s.h.i.+ft in Celeste. I'll be honest, this will require a bit of training for all of you. But once we get Ruth acclimated to Celeste, we'll find out for sure if she'll be suitable for your family."

"Done," John said. "How much?"

Celeste grabbed John's arm. "Don't you think we should discuss this?"

"What's to discuss? If this dog can help you and Olivia-"

"Olivia?" Celeste asked.

He turned to her and took her hand. "If this dog can do what Jim claims, think about how different things would've been the day Kelly came to the house. And if Olivia has your gift, she might need Ruth, too."

Celeste looked to Olivia, who was hugging the Lab. The dog's tail thumped against the hardwood, her tongue hung out and her eyes were closed as if she were loving the embrace. "I'm game, but it sounds expensive."

"Don't worry about the cost." Maxine smiled. "Ruth is my gift to you."

Celeste went to Maxine and hugged her. "Thank you." As she held the woman, she wasn't sure if Ruth was the answer to her trances, but prayed the dog would help. If she didn't, at least they had added protection in the condo and a new friend for Olivia.

Later that night, Celeste and John stood in the doorway of their daughter's bedroom, watching Ruth doze in front of Olivia's crib.

"I thought Ruth was supposed to be your dog," John said, and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"If you think about it, our main concern is Olivia's safety should I slip into a trance. Maybe it's not such a bad idea that Ruth has taken to Olivia. I like the idea that she has someone to look out for her."

"Me, too." He kissed her temple. "Come on, let's go to bed."

When they entered their room, Celeste slipped out of her robe, then crawled onto the mattress. John met her in the middle and snuggled her close. "I can't believe we own a dog," she said, thinking about how tomorrow she'd have to go to the pet store and buy doggie supplies. Jim had given them food, but only enough for a couple of days.

"I know a dog wasn't your idea of how we'd expand our family," he said, settling his hand on her hip. "And I know we haven't finished discussing having another baby."

She turned in his arms and wished the room wasn't dark so she could read his eyes. "After everything that's been going on, that's the last subject I wanted to bring up."

He pressed his forehead against hers. "Please don't ever be afraid to talk to me about anything," he began, "but there is something we should consider."

"What's that?"

"We live in a two-bedroom condo and have no yard for a seventy-pound dog."

"You want to move?" she asked, both excited and nervous. She loved John's condo, but it wasn't a house, and it still had that bachelor pad feel to it. They could afford to move. Only that would place a hold on the second bakery she'd hoped to open at some point during the next few years. Besides, the Sugar Shack made her money and she'd sacrifice her business plans for a new house and baby.