Exousia (Karass Chronicles Book 4) Read online

  Sam shook his head. “Don’t get it. But I am happy that it is real. Otherwise, you two wouldn’t be in our lives anymore, and no one would like that. And Leif, thank you for reminding me to be more aware.”

  Leif and Eric nodded and then faded away. Sometimes it seemed they blinked out, and sometimes it was a slow fade. Sam had no idea why. Just something else he didn’t understand.

  Sam’s phone pinged reminding him that Pete would be picking him up in a few minutes. When Pete heard that Sam was going to speak to Lenny, he asked to go along with Sam. At first, Sam had said no. There was no reason for Pete to get involved. But Pete had assured him that Barbara and Alex could manage the Diner and that Sam needed to be free to think on the drive.

  Pete was right. This whole thing was confusing. Sam was used to having concrete things to pin down. He could track suspects, bug rooms, and follow people. But with this, there were so many pieces of the investigation that Sam didn’t understand, he felt constantly confused. He needed to get the timeline straight. He needed to figure out if it was true that Grant, Frank, and Harold, and maybe Lenny, had known each other in the past. That would help them find the missing person in the scenario. There had to be someone else, but how did they fit in and who were they?

  And then there was the information that Hank and the women’s council had brought to him. Dr. Joe bought the land from his own trust. Why did he do that? Why didn’t he tell them? What about the fact there was a commune on the property in the Seventies. Who went there? Who managed it? Were the women murdered because of the commune or because of something else? Did Dr. Joe know those women even though he said he didn’t? There was evidence he had taught a class or two there. Were those women there at that time?

  How did it all fit together? Did Lenny have an answer for them? Or Frank? All they needed was something that tied all of the pieces together so that it made sense. Sam hoped that by the end of the two meetings, they would have a key to use to unlock the mystery.

  Even he, Sam, Mr. Unaware, could feel the pressure building. He needed to release that pressure before it was too late. The problem was, they had no idea who was causing it.

  On the way to the prison, Sam got a phone call from the local police. They were giving him a heads up. An anonymous tip claimed that it was Valerie and Tina that had killed Harold. There was no proof, but it meant they needed to question them again.

  Sam agreed to bring them into the station on Monday morning. Neither he nor the police thought there was any validity to the claim. But it muddied the water. It built up more pressure. Someone was manipulating him. Sam didn’t like that at all.

  Forty-Seven

  Craig was doing something that made him incredibly uncomfortable. He felt sleazy and dishonest. On the way to pick up Johnny and Manny and take them to the construction site with him, Hank had stopped by to see him and share what Melvin had told him about Dr. Joe.

  Craig knew he was being defensive. But it bugged him that Hank had questions about his friend. No, he hadn’t known that Dr. Joe had been married. Craig didn’t think that it was a big deal. It had been a long time ago, and probably a hard subject for Joe to talk about. Besides, it was none of their business.

  Still, Hank wouldn’t give up the idea that there might be something they needed to know that would help them with the investigation. Craig assured Hank that he had Dr. Joe checked out thoroughly before he bought the practice. Dr. Joe was a highly respected doctor, with no record of any wrongdoing anywhere.

  Hank asked Craig just to do one more check. See if Craig could find out more about Dr. Joe’s wife’s death. Look into her autopsy. How did she die? When exactly was it?

  Out of a long-standing friendship with Sarah and her friends, Craig agreed.

  So that meant Craig was in his office making calls and trying to find out who was the attending physician for Joe’s wife, and could he get a copy of the death certificate? So far he was not getting anywhere, but then it was many years ago. Melvin said it was in the late Seventies that she had died.

  Under any other circumstances, Craig would ask Joe. But Hank told him not to, and Craig hated that even more. Joe was his friend. This sneaking around didn’t seem right. Once he found the information and proved to Hank that Joe was just what he appeared to be, he would feel better.

  He glanced at his watch. He had a patient coming in soon. His client load was growing, and he knew that he would soon need to hire an assistant and a full-time nurse. Craig wondered how Dr. Joe ran his practice by himself all these years.

  Or did he? Craig thought. I never asked him. There must have been assistants and nurses through the years. Who were they? Perhaps they knew about Dr. Joe’s wife.

  Craig felt better already. Perhaps he could solve two problems at one time. Find himself an assistant and get Hank off his back. He knew just who to call to get the answer, Melvin.

  ******

  Mira took the nearest off-ramp, pulled into the back of a Wal-Mart parking lot, and switched off the engine, breathing heavily.

  “Whoa, Mira what was that?” Grace said from the passenger seat.

  Instead of answering, Mira opened her door and practically fell out of the car.

  “Get out. Everyone, get out now,” Mira yelled.

  Within seconds all the women were out of the car. They followed Mira until she sat down on the curb about twenty feet from the vehicle.

  “Something is wrong. I don’t know what it is, but something isn’t right. Sarah always says to follow your internal voice, and I knew I had to stop the car and get out,” Mira said.

  Everyone’s phone pinged. It was Sarah asking if everyone was okay. When Grace texted back “yes” Sarah called.

  “What’s going on, Sarah?” Grace said. “Mira scared the crap out of us all. She decided that something was wrong, pulled the car into a parking lot, and then made us all get out.”

  Grace put Sarah on speaker so everyone could hear the answer. “Good girl, Mira. You knew something was wrong, and you did what needed to be done. Although you gave me a bit of a fright when you pulled off the road.”

  Valerie mouthed, “How did she know that?” to Grace, but Grace just shook her head and whispered, “Later.”

  “It was scary,” Mira said.

  “Yes, I know it was. But before we talk about that, I need to tell you something else. It’s about Frank and Lenny,” Sarah said.

  “What about Frank?” Tina yelled.

  “I’m sorry to tell you this way, Tina. But it is best that all of you know this right away.

  “At the same time, in their different prisons, Lenny and Frank attacked a guard, and in defense, the guards shot and killed them.” Sarah paused and added, “I’m so sorry, Tina.”

  Tina gasped and fell back against Valerie who put her arms around her.

  “Wait,” Ava said. “They both were shot and killed? At the same time? Isn’t that impossible?”

  “Yes, it would seem to be—except that it happened. And yes, at the same time, and in the same way. Sam got a call from both prisons and then called me to get in touch with you. He wants you to all turn around and come home. Carefully. Do you know why I am saying this, Mira?”

  “Yes. I understand,” Mira answered.

  “There is someone working hard to make people do things they would normally never do. Sam told me that before he died Lenny kept whispering, ‘He said they were coming for me.’ So, what was it that you heard, Mira?” Sarah asked.

  “I kept hearing a loud voice telling me to ram the car in front of me. When I didn’t do that it became an insistent whisper that kept saying, ‘Do it, just do it, you’ll be glad you did.’ Instead, I paid attention to that other voice inside of me that told me to stop the car safely and get out.”

  Everyone stared at Mira, and then slowly sat down on the curb besid
e her, Grace still holding the phone.

  “Mira, thank you,” everyone said at once.

  “I was never going to pay attention to it, but it was really scary,” Mira answered.

  “Shows what a wise woman you are, Mira. Please come back. We’ll meet at Ava’s. Everyone will be there,” Sarah said.

  “On the way home, each of you say thank you for every good thing you can think of. That will keep that voice away. We’ll deal with what happened when we are together. Once again, I am sorry, Tina,” Sarah said.

  Tina nodded and put her head on Valerie’s shoulder, tears streaming down her face. After Grace hung up with Sarah, Tina said, “I have no idea why I am crying, I hated him for so long.”

  “But you loved him before that,” Valerie said, understanding exactly how Tina felt.

  On the way home, they sang, laughed, and took turns talking about all the beautiful things in their life. It was a ride filled with joy. Exactly the opposite of what was intended by whoever meant for them to be harmed.

  At her home, Sarah stood outside and let the sun shine down on her face. As she looked up to the sky she said over and over again, “Thank you. Thank you.”

  Forty-Eight

  “Intention is the key.” Sarah said. “Ask yourself, what is the intent behind this request or demand? Is it intended to hurt and harm, or help everyone? And that’s the tricky part. Is it couched in a way that looks like it is meant to help, but it would only be for a few people, and other people would be hurt? What is the long-term damage of the request?

  “Sometimes it looks just like something good. That’s a dangerous resemblance because that is when we can be fooled. We think we are doing the right thing, when in reality we are working against the good of ourselves and others. However, if we check the intent we can spot if it comes from love, or from something else.”

  Sarah was answering the question of how to tell if what they heard, thought about, or planned was something they should listen to, or not.

  “Mira did what she did instinctively. She knew that hitting the car in front of her, or driving the car into a tree, was wrong because of the intention. Someone who is less aware might have been tempted, or distracted enough to do what that voice was saying. We can see this in our society now. People are flipping out and doing something terrible or nothing, or entire groups of people are committing acts of terror and horror against fellow humans. Mental manipulation has become more and more sophisticated, subtle, and dangerous. And it is always invisible. To find it, we have to look at the result, and the intent.

  “For us, right now. Someone is attacking this group. On purpose. To make us stop looking into what they have hidden. However, they have now discovered that they can’t be so blatant about what they want you to do. You know too much. You are defended against any authority other than good. Now, they will try more subtle things. Now they will go after the most vulnerable, and the most distracted.”

  “The children,” Ava said and looked around in terror.

  “Yes, the children are vulnerable. But you just made yourself vulnerable too, Ava, because you became afraid, and distracted. Understandably. So forgive yourselves right now for anything you think you have or will do wrong. Once again, it leaves a door open.”

  “This is so hard to do,” Valerie said. Tina nodded, holding Valerie’s hand. The two of them sat together on the couch looking as if their whole world had flipped upside down, which in many ways it had.

  Everyone was there, except Pete and Barbara who were on their way and bringing Johnny with them. The rest of the children were once again in the family room. But this time they were told that they would be included in the meeting later on because they needed to know what was happening.

  Leif and Eric were also present, leaning against the back wall. Tina and Valerie were told about Leif and Eric being there so that it wouldn’t seem as strange that people were talking to what looked like air. But it had added to their perception that perhaps they had entered another world of some kind.

  Sam looked at the two of them and said, “I know how you feel about how strange this is, but after a while it becomes more normal. I couldn’t see Leif and Eric until recently. Just know that everything about this group is here to help. Even if they are all a little weird,” he added, looking slyly at Mira.

  Mira gave Sam a playful punch and said, “It’s actually fairly new to all of us. But, Sam is right. We are a group of people who want to do what’s right.”

  Looking at Sam, she asked, “I understand how much we need to pay attention, so could we talk about what we know so far? We need to stop this person. Like now.”

  Sam nodded and then told them about what happened with Lenny and Frank, saying, “Obviously it was to stop them from talking to us.”

  Hank looked over at Craig sitting in a chair by himself looking very unhappy.

  “You look like you lost your best friend, Craig,” Hank said.

  Craig straightened up and cleared his throat. “Well, thankfully I haven’t lost any of you, even though I may have screwed this whole thing up, and you may all change your mind about me after this.”

  “What did Sarah just say about forgiveness and non-judgment, Craig?” Grace said. “I think she was serious about that.”

  Craig looked around the room at all the friendly faces, gave them all a weak smile, and continued. “Hank asked me to look up how Dr. Joe’s wife died. It pissed me off that he asked me. I reacted in a way I would never think I could.

  “I started hating Hank for the asking, and almost didn’t do it. But because of my loyalty and love for all of you, I did it anyway. Now I recognize that I wasn’t behaving like myself because someone didn’t want me to start researching anything to do with Joe. My friend. A respected colleague.”

  Craig sighed and waited until he felt he could talk again. Everyone did their best to be patient and send him love, but there was an unspoken question. They wanted to know if he had found anything of use to them.

  Finally, Craig found his voice again. “No. I couldn’t find anything at all about Joe’s wife’s death. Nothing. Anywhere. None of my contacts could either. That was weird, of course. There should have been a trail or breadcrumb somewhere. But, no. Nothing.

  “Since I couldn’t find anything about his wife, I started searching for people that worked with Dr. Joe to see if I could track them down and get answers from them.”

  Sam smiled at Melvin sitting in his favorite chair beside Hank. “Melvin pointed me towards Joe’s first assistant. He also gave me names of other assistants, or nurses, Dr. Joe had employed through the years. Melvin remembered them because he was a patient of Dr. Joe, and his wife Sally had kept their numbers in a little book that Melvin still had, in his kitchen drawer.”

  “That’s my Sally,” Melvin said proudly, and everyone smiled at him. Hank gave him a fist bump.

  “Yes, thank you, Sally,” Sam said.

  Valerie and Tina looked at each other, and Tina asked, “Is Sally here too?”

  Melvin shook his head, “I only hear her voice sometimes. I don’t see her, yet.”

  Sam nodded at Melvin who motioned for Sam to go on. “The first assistant was a woman named Wanda James. She is no longer alive. Nor are any of the other assistants, or nurses that worked with Joe. None of them.

  “Yes, that’s telling, I know. I was quite distressed by then. It was my friend I was researching, someone I trusted. But I kept on going. I gave Sam Wanda’s name to run by the people who are researching Grant’s past. Turns out that she was Grant’s aunt. Grant Hinkey was really John James. Now that we know his real name Sam says that information is starting to flow about his early childhood.”

  The room became deathly silent as everyone brought all the pieces together.

  The driveway beeper went off announcing the arrival of Pete, B
arbara, and Johnny. Valerie stood up to hug her son, but when Pete and Barbara came through the door they were breathless, white as a ghost, and Johnny wasn’t with them.

  “It’s Johnny,” Pete gasped. “We can’t find him. He’s gone!”

  Forty-Nine

  At that moment, Hannah rushed into the living room and grabbed her mom’s hand and pulled her down so she could whisper in her ear. “Mom, I know we are supposed to wait, but I had to come get you. Everyone started getting a headache, and now they all say they don’t feel well.”

  Ava grabbed her husband’s hand and rushed out of the living room. Once she saw what was happening, a room full of children looking ill and complaining about a headache, she sent Evan to get everyone to help.

  Within a few minutes, every child had someone holding them while cold cloths were pressed to their foreheads. Ben was quietly sobbing while being rocked by Evan. Valerie clutched Lex to her, trying not to cry. She had one child not well, and another missing.

  Sarah looked out over the scene of adults in a panic and children crying, and walked out of the room, motioning for Grace to join her. Leif had already followed her. Outside in the hall, Sarah asked Grace to go back in the room and get everyone to start singing. Something uplifting. “Make everyone sing. Make it as loud as possible. I’ll be back in a minute,” she said.

  Back in the room, Grace had to get Melvin to whistle for her to get everyone’s attention. “Sarah said she would be back in a minute. In the meantime, she wants us to sing. Something happy. Something loud.”

  Eric stood next to Grace and said to those that could hear him, “Let’s sing If You’re Happy And You Know It.” Everyone looked at him as if he had lost his mind. “She was serious about this. Let’s do it,” Eric said and started singing. Within seconds everyone joined him, even Tina and Valerie who thought everyone had lost their minds.