A moment later, Gina’s face appeared above him. “You’ve found it, Aidan,” she said excitedly. “We couldn’t see it from up here. The entry’s kind of a stone square, just like the other ones on the floor.”
Aidan turned to Van Camp. “The killer went to Sondra’s office, knocked her out and...” He paused, looking at Mo. “He strangled her there. Well, the M.E. hasn’t said so yet, but I’m willing to bet he will. Then the murderer carried the corpse right through the mortuary and down to the basement without being stopped or questioned. The guests, the tour groups, would’ve thought it was part of the show, and I’m assuming the actors were so busy with their own parts they didn’t notice. He came through the tunnel with her and somehow got her body up there. But then how did he get the body out of there to put it in the coffin—just after the real actor who’d stepped out of the coffin had left?”
“He must’ve come back through here, with, um, both body parts,” Mo said.
“We’ll be talking to every performer who works here,” Aidan muttered, “in case anyone was aware of an extra ‘actor.’”
“There are a few employees who wear black with Haunted Mausoleum insignias on their shirts. They direct people and keep them moving, and they know where the exits are if there’s an emergency,” Mo explained.
“We’ll be talking to them, too,” he said. “We’re reaching out to every single employee.”
When they’d exited the basement, he hunkered down beside Rollo, petting him and praising him. “Rollo, you are the best. You’re a very smart dog.”
Rollo woofed his appreciation.
Aidan stood up and saw that Mo was almost as pale as the Woman in White she’d played.
“Mo? What’s the matter?” Besides the obvious, he could have added.
“I was there. I was right there while it was happening,” she said. “I should’ve known something. I should’ve heard something. Sondra was killed, and I was there and did nothing,” Mo said.
“She was killed in the office, Mo. You couldn’t have done anything.”
She turned to him with glazed eyes. “You don’t know that, Aidan. He knocks them out—but we aren’t sure yet where he kills them.”
“The evidence is that he kills them right away, Mo. She was knocked out and strangled, and then brought here. You couldn’t have done a thing.”
Aidan was reasonably certain of that, but there was room for doubt. Still, it was important now for Mo to believe it—true or not.
“I’ll get you home,” he said.
She shook her head stubbornly. “No. We’re going to find...the rest of Sondra. She was a friend, and she was Grace’s boss for years. We’re not to let her head be a bizarre spectacle on the street somewhere.”
Van Camp had been listening. “I have officers out looking at all the horsemen we know about,” he said.
She nodded. “It might not be a headless horseman that’s always up, always visible. It could be like part of someone’s Halloween display.”
“Do you have any ideas?” Aidan asked.
She stood for a minute, unmoving, her eyes closed. He started to fear that she might pass out. Van Camp placed a hand on Aidan’s shoulder as they waited.
“There’s one near the dry cleaners where we found Wendy Appleby’s head, which is down the street from Tommy Jensen’s. This horseman is part of a display in front of a big local retailer with a massive parking lot. They also have witches and goblins and pumpkins and other stuff. The headless horseman is the centerpiece,” Mo said, opening her eyes.
“Let’s go. Let’s get there quickly before someone else discovers it,” Aidan said.
“It’s just my...theory. I may be wrong.”
“But it is a logical conclusion,” Aidan told her.
He didn’t really think it was simply a logical conclusion. Mo had a gift, an ability he’d never seen before. She could close her eyes, it seemed, and somehow watch what had happened, watch it in her mind. She could envision what they were looking for.
She and Rollo made one heck of a team.
“I’ll follow you,” Van Camp said. He walked over to Gina Mason. “Have your team ready to go when I call you.”
“My team only stretches so far,” Gina responded in a tired voice.
“Get the county to send out another team,” Van Camp said.
“Okay, I’ll get in touch with them now.”
Aidan took Mo’s hand. Her eyes met his, and for a moment, he felt as if his heart had stopped. She was so stricken by what had happened. And he realized, looking into her eyes, that he was involved with her.
He’d hardly touched her yet—but he was involved with her as he’d never been with anyone else in his life.
Because he’d never dared so much before. He hadn’t let women get close. He’d preferred one-night stands and affairs that he could easily escape. He’d believed that he deserved nothing but a life alone, a life with his own fears and...unusual abilities.