“I heard there was some trouble there, too. Sara told me she and Gary had a custody battle over the dog.”
“His name is Tuffy,” Seth said, and grabbed the meat platter from my mother. Tuffy’s collar jingled as he lifted his head in response to Seth’s voice.
“Tuffy. They fought over him, and they were seen fighting recently in town.”
“Are you involved in the investigation?” My father had perked up a bit now that Vi was done talking. He swirled his wineglass and allowed my mother to take his plate.
“Only in the sense that I discovered the body and they’ve been asking me questions,” I said, but I didn’t meet his eye. My father could always tell when I was hiding something.
“When I heard on the scanner that you had found a 10-100, I thought maybe you could help them with the case, get back into the swing of things,” he said, studying the tablecloth. We had been over this ground before. My family tiptoed around the question of why I was living with them again. They knew I had been involved in a shooting incident while on duty. But they also knew I was keeping something from them. My “administrative leave” excuse was wearing thin.
“I don’t know that they want my help,” I lied.
“What’s a 10-100?” Seth said through a mouthful of potatoes.
“Dead body,” Dad and I said together.
“I wish we could help somehow,” my mother said.
“If only mother were still alive,” Vi said with a heavy sigh.
My father rolled his eyes. Vi brought most crises back to wishing my grandmother were alive. Agnes Greer had left her mark on Crystal Haven and on her two daughters, who wanted nothing more than to continue her work. Aunt Vi had always been jealous that my mother had snagged a guy named Fortune. Not for any love of my father, just that his name was such good advertising. Her only compensation was that Greer carried its own weighty heritage in Crystal Haven. Greer’s Woods, one of the largest public parks in the area, was named after my grandparents. Agnes’s work as a psychic had brought fame to Crystal Haven and her donation of a large parcel of land meant that she had put Crystal Haven and the name “Greer” literally “on the map.”
“I wish I could have met her,” said Seth.
“Oh, she would have loved you, Seth,” my mother said. Her eyes welled up.
“She could have helped with this situation,” said Vi. “She could have contacted Sara for us and found out what happened. No problem.” She snapped her fingers to demonstrate how quickly we would have had our answer. “Sometimes I sense her here with us.” She looked up to the ceiling.
“Mother has never come back to us. We’ve tried so many times,” Mom said, and wiped a tear from her cheek.
“Maybe we could get Sara to come,” whispered Vi. “You could do it, Clyde, if you wanted to.”
So this was the reason for the pot roast.
“I don’t . . . ,” I began.
The lights flickered as lightning flashed outside.
“Did you see that? It’s a sign!” said Vi.
“A sign?” asked Seth.
“I think that was the storm,” I said.
“Can’t you feel it? Sara could be here right now, trying to tell us who killed her,” said Vi.
“Cut it out, Vi. You’ll scare the boy,” said my father. He chugged the last of his wine, and glanced at the ceiling.
I couldn’t help but look up, too. The room glowed with lightning. We all sat there for a moment, looking at the ceiling. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. A loud crash of thunder shook the house. And then the lights went out.
7
“Wicked,” said Seth.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, not again,” said Dad. Despite his complaints, he loved it when the lights went out. He imagined himself as Mr. Fixit and had the whole electrical system in the house rigged with his own brand of circuit breakers. The fact that the house was almost one hundred years old and had switches that hadn’t worked since his mother-in-law and her family moved in didn’t bother him one bit. Between the wiring of the house and his police scanner, he was always off somewhere puttering, which conveniently kept him out of Vi’s way. He jumped up and went to find one of the emergency flashlights he had stashed all over the house.
It was gloomy in the dining room with the storm outside and night approaching, but not completely dark.
Taking a stack of plates, I followed Vi to the kitchen and hoped that would be the end of the plea for spirit contact. But persistence ran in the family.
“Why won’t you even try, Clyde?” Vi said as she took the plates from me and rinsed them.
“She’s always been stubborn,” said Mom, as if I wasn’t standing right there.
“Well, she’ll come around someday, Rose. Don’t you worry.” Vi patted my mother’s hand with her own wet, soapy one.
I opened my mouth to reply, but they weren’t done.