Part 35 (1/2)
Ben had only been in San Pico for about three years, two before he'd been injured on the job and forced to retire, which, Zach had earlier proclaimed, was probably the reason he'd agreed to talk to them.
”He doesn't know much about me or my brother. So far, he's still got an open mind.”
Which Donahue proved by listening to the wildest tale any two people ever told. Together Elizabeth and Zach explained, step by step, how they had come to the conclusion that nine-year-old Carrie Ann Whitt might be buried under the little yellow house at Harcourt Farms.
”We worked backward,” Zach told him. ”We figured, if there really was a ghost like Maria Santiago claimedwhich, of course, neither of us actually believedit must be someone who had died in the house. In this case a little girl, since that was the vision Maria described.”
”We didn't find any children who had died,” Elizabeth put in, ”but we found out that thirty-some years ago, a married couple who had lived in the old house that existed on the very same spot had murdered a little girl up in Fresno a couple of years after they moved away.”
”It was a really brutal murder,” Zach added, ”and both the husband and wife were convicted. In fact, the guy was executed for the crime.”
”Wow ”
Elizabeth took a drink of her iced tea. ”Unfortunately, the little girl in FresnoHolly Ivesdidn't match the description of the ghost in the house on the farm and of course Holly was killed a hundred miles away.”
”But you still thought you were onto something,” Ben said.
”Exactly.” Zach took a drink from his tall, frosty gla.s.s. ”After reading about the pair and talking to some of the people involved in the case, we got to thinking that maybe someone as evil as these twomaybe they had killed before. Maybe they killed another little girl while they were here in San Pico.”
Donahue leaned forward in his chair. ”A serial couple?”
”The cops we talked to all agreed they were likely candidates, but they were never able to link them to any other murders in the valley.”
”Still, you figured it was worth checking out.”
Zach nodded. ”I hired a private detective named Ian Murphy to canvas the L.A. basin. We figured if they kidnapped another child and she wasn't from the valley, the next closest place was L.A.”
Ben set his beer bottle down on the table. ”Don't tell me Murphy actually found a victim who matched the description of the ghost?”
”Incredible, isn't it? And the girl disappeared during the years the Martinez couple lived in the house.”
”I can't believe this.”
Zach leaned back in his chair. ”Who the h.e.l.l in his right mind would?”
Elizabeth stared into Ben's face. ”I saw her, too, Benjust like Maria Santiago. The ghost of a little girl.”
Ben held up a hand. ”Okay, okay. At this point you a.s.sume your ghost really was this little girl who went missing in L.A. What'd you do next?”
”We talked to the detective who worked on the abduction,” Zach told him. ”He's retired now, a guy named Danny McKay. McKay remembered Carrie Ann Whitt. He even recalled what she was wearing the day she disappeared.”
”Good memory. So what did she have on?”
”A party dress,” Elizabeth answered. ”A pink pinafore, just like the one the little girl who appeared in the house was wearing. You see, the day she disappeared was Carrie Ann's birthday. That's why he remembered.”
Donahue pushed up from his chair, beer bottle in hand. ”This is nuts.”
”You're telling us?” Elizabeth said.
”There are things going on in that house,” Zach continued. ”Dangerous things. We need to find out if she's there, if that's what all this is about.”
”Why are you so convinced you'll find her there? Even if these people actually murdered the girl, they could have buried her anywhere around here.”
”True enough.” Zach finished his iced tea and set the gla.s.s back down on the table. ”But the Martinezes buried Holly Ives in the bas.e.m.e.nt of their house in Fresno. So ”
”Jesus!”
”Exactly,” Zach said. ”Holly was tortured, raped and strangled. It was a terrible, brutal murder, the kind of violent death that, according to what we've been reading, might result in the spirit remaining in the house.”
”But you said yourself Holly wasn't killed in San Pico.”
”No, but we think Carrie Ann Whitt might have been,” Elizabeth said. ”That's why we need your help.”
Ben sank back down in his chair. The knuckles wrapped around his beer bottle looked pale. ”Who the h.e.l.l would believe a wild-a.s.s story like this?”
”I don't even believe it,” Zach grumbled.
Elizabeth reached over and touched Ben's hand. ”We have to find out if it's true, Ben.”
He looked at her and then at Zach. ”Crazy as it sounds, I'm beginning to see why you think it might be.”
”So you'll help us?”
”Like Sam said, you sure can't go to the police. Which means you got no choice but to look for her yourself.”
”No choice at all,” Zach said.
Ben began a slow grin. ”In that case, I guess we're going to have to dig.”
Sam grinned, too.
The corner of Zach's lips barely lifted.
Elizabeth thought of the little blond girl who looked like an angel and what might have happened to her and didn't smile at all.
Twenty-Nine.
Elizabeth went into the office early Tuesday morning while Zach stayed home and made calls from her apartment. He was growing more and more distant, as though he had never been frightened for her, as though they had never talked about love, as though they were friends and nothing more.
They hadn't made love last night, though she had hoped they would. Zach had hardly touched her since the attack. She told herself he was waiting for her to heal, but she knew it wasn't the truth. He was afraid of his feelings for her.
Afraid of what might happen if he gave in to them.
She was determined to talk to him, to get things out in the open, but couldn't seem to find the right time. When the phone on her desk rang just before noon, she was surprised to hear Zach's deep voice on the line. It rolled over her like a caress, sent her nerve endings into high gear, and she thought again how much she had come to love him.
Lately, she'd had plenty of time to think and whenever she did, she remembered the look on Zach's face when she had opened her eyes in the emergency room and seen him standing there in the room.