The Graves of Plague Canyon (The Downwinders Book 3) Page 16

  “How is he?” Carma asked.

  “Crying himself to sleep,” Winn said. “He asked me to thank you, Carma, for letting him come.”

  “Thinking of courtesy at such a horrible time,” she said. “That child now has my utmost respect. I was telling Deem, you two must take over his tutelage. He needs training, or he’ll wind up making dangerous mistakes.”

  “Oh no, not me,” Winn said. “I’m no trainer. I wouldn’t know the first thing about it.”

  “Nonsense,” Carma said. “You two would make a great team, giving him guidance.”

  “I’d rather find out who killed his parents,” Winn said, “and take them down. There was something strange about the bodies when we uncovered them. I didn’t want to bring it up when David was in the room, because I know it bothered him to see it. There were twigs in their eyes, both of them. You ever heard of anything like that?”

  “It blinds the River part of them along with the physical,” Carma said. “It’s what you do when you want to make it hard for a person to do anything from the other side. Depending on what type of wood was used, it could keep them permanently silent.”

  “We’ve got to take this woman down first,” Deem said. “We know Lizzy killed them, we have a witness. And the same witness tells us she likely killed Claude. We have to find a way to eliminate her.”

  “How about we go back in time and not cure her?” Winn said.

  “I don’t have the right equipment for that,” Carma said.

  “I was being sarcastic,” Winn replied.

  “Well, you’ve a right to be, I suppose,” Carma said. “After all, it is my fault; rushing around, not checking things out. Did I apologize?”

  “Only a hundred times,” Deem replied. “We need a plan, and we need it quick.”

  “Samaria is still tracking her,” Carma said. “We could use her for information.”

  “She checked out?” Deem asked.

  “Brother Jorgensen vouched for everything she said,” Carma replied. “She’s bankable.”

  “Let’s put our heads together and figure this out,” Deem said. “The three of us ought to be able to come up with something.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Deem woke early. She wrapped a robe around her and stepped out into the upstairs hallway, which was cold and silent. Light was just barely beginning to enter the house. She tiptoed to the bathroom, then walked downstairs.

  Everything was quiet there, too. Everyone’s still sleeping, she thought. This is the kind of morning I wish I drank coffee. I’d pour a mug and go out to the back porch and watch the light in the sky behind the hill.

  She walked to the sliding glass doors by the kitchen and went out, planning to lie down in one of the loungers and enjoy the sunrise. She was surprised to see David already out there.

  “Hi,” David said as Deem walked to the lounge chair next to him.

  “I woke up a half hour ago,” Deem said, “and couldn’t get back to sleep. Decided to just get up. Looks like everyone else is still out. Did you sleep at all?”

  “Not really,” David said.

  “Losing a parent is tough, I know,” Deem said. “Losing both at the same time? Well, I can only imagine how hard that is.”

  “I replay in my head things I might have done differently,” David said, “to see if there was something that might have changed things.”

  “I doubt there’s anything you could have done,” Deem said. “Your mom and dad were taken out by an assassin, someone who planned out their deaths.” She saw him turn his head from her as he wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand.

  “Their throats were slit,” David said weakly. “Blood had run down over their clothes. Winn said it was a Mormon thing, which I find hard to believe.”

  “Blood atonement,” Deem replied. “A penalty for violating an oath. Or what the council perceived as an oath.”

  “I don’t understand,” David said. “I don’t recall any of that when I went to church.”

  “Do you still go?” Deem asked.

  “No,” he said. “Haven’t gone since I turned eighteen.”

  “No plans for a mission, then?” Deem asked.

  “There would be worthiness issues,” David replied. “I’m not sure I have any interest belonging to a church that doesn’t want me in the first place, let alone go out and proselytize for it.”

  Deem was intrigued by David’s confession, but she wanted him to feel comfortable talking to her, so she decided not to pry further. She leaned back in the lounger and they sat in silence for a few moments.

  “Winn said you know who did it,” David said. “Who killed my parents.”

  “We believe it was a woman named Lizzy Tait,” Deem replied.

  “You’ve met her?”

  “In a way, yes,” Deem answered. “Winn and I just spent the last week running our asses off, trying to save her. We didn’t realize who she was.”

  “Do you know where she lives?” David asked.

  “Why, so you can go to her house and kill her?”

  “Yes,” David replied.

  “When I first met you, a week ago, you were stuck to a glue trap like a bug,” Deem said. “What makes you think you could take on an experienced killer like Lizzy and survive?”

  “If I don’t survive, I don’t care. As long as she dies.”

  “Tell you what,” Deem replied. “How about we take her down, and we all survive? I think that’s a better approach.”

  “You’d help?”

  “When I inadvertently saved her, it pissed off the person who had poisoned her,” Deem answered. “She made it clear to me that she expected me to fix the problem I created.”

  “So you’re going to kill her? You’re going to kill Lizzy Tait?”

  “With Winn and Carma’s help, yes,” Deem said. “She killed Claude, and she killed your parents. She has to pay.”

  “I want to help.”

  Deem sighed.

  “I know all the stuff about me being inexperienced. Fine. Give me something to do that isn’t critical, something simple I can’t fuck up. I have to be part of it. There’s things I can do to help.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, I’m athletic,” he replied. “I’m very good with electronics. Not just playing with computers, but with gadgets. I’m decent with chemistry.”

  “I’m going to move back to my house in Mesquite for a few days,” Deem said. “And Carma is going to leak information that I’ve been planting more bombs around town, like the one that blew up the old cannery. We’re thinking it’ll draw the attention of the council, and they’ll contract Lizzy to take care of it before the bombs can do any more damage.”

  “Draw her out?” David asked.

  “Exactly.”

  “And then what?”

  “We think she’ll try an attack at my home,” Deem replied. “She wouldn’t be able to get to me here in Leeds, this house has far too much protection.”

  “Really?” David said, looking around. “How?”

  “See that hill right there?” Deem said, pointing to the slope that rose dramatically at the edge of the lawn. “Inside there is a cave, and inside that cave is one of the most powerful ghosts in the area.”

  David’s eyes went wide. “No shit?”

  “No shit,” Deem said. “There were two reasons I wanted you to spend the night here. The first was so you wouldn’t be alone, but the second was so you’d be protected in this house.”

  “So can I help?” David asked. “If you’re going to act as bait in Mesquite, maybe it would be a good idea to have some cameras set up, some surveillance equipment, so Winn and I could keep an eye on you and know if someone came into your house. It’d all be hidden, no one would even know it was there.”

  “Let me talk to them about it,” Deem said. “They need to be on board with the idea before I can say yes.”

  Carma’s head popped out of the sliding glass doors. “You two come in and have some breakfast.” The
n she shut the door.

  “How did you meet her?” David asked.

  “A mutual friend of mine and Winn’s,” she answered. “She’s been a godsend to me getting a foothold on how things work around here. She’s a good person to have as an ally, and she’s been a real friend, letting me stay here and giving me advice. Come on, let’s go in before she comes back out and drags us in.”

  “I’m not sure I can eat anything,” David said.

  “Pretend,” Deem replied. “That’s what I do.”

  ▪ ▪ ▪

  “I don’t like the idea of adding in things that could go wrong,” Winn said over the breakfast table, a large plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of him. “I wait in the basement; if something happens, I come up.”

  “Without cameras, how will you know something is happening?” David asked.

  “Hello, it’s called ‘the River’,” Winn replied.

  “You can’t stay in the River all the time,” Carma said, taking a bite of toast. “You’ll get weak and start to attract things.”

  “I’ll jump in and out,” Winn said.

  “That sounds tiring,” Carma replied.

  “If I helped, we could take shifts,” David replied. “You can’t stay down in the basement forever. You have to sleep sometime.”

  “Who are you to tell me what I can’t do?” Winn replied, pointing his fork at David.

  “You just don’t want me to help because you think I’m inexperienced,” David replied.

  “You are inexperienced!” Winn answered. “Very inexperienced. We’re drawing out an assassin. Your inexperience could get you killed. Could get Deem killed.”

  “When it comes down to it,” Carma said as she refilled her coffee cup, “having an extra set of eyes and hands might be a good thing.”

  Deem watched as Winn became more and more agitated.

  “He’s practically a high school student!” Winn said to Carma.

  “He’s the same age as Deem!” Carma replied.

  “With a fraction of her knowledge!” Winn shouted.

  “If he acted as an assistant to you, took instructions from you, he could help you keep an eye on me and learn some things in the process,” Deem offered.

  “You too?” Winn said with more irritation, turning to Deem. “I don’t want to babysit.”

  “I’m not a baby,” David said. “I’m nineteen. I can do this.”

  “You didn’t know about protection before Deem came along,” Winn said. “You had no idea how dangerous zombighosts were, and you have no idea what this assassin is capable of. What makes you think you have any tiny speck of something that would be helpful to me?”

  David glared at Winn angrily. Then he took a breath, lowered his head, and stared at the table. “They killed my parents,” he said. “That’s reason enough.”

  “Arrgh!” Winn cried, pushing his chair back from the table and storming out of the room.

  “Again with not asking to be excused,” Carma said.

  ‘Let me go talk to him,” Deem said, starting to rise, but David stopped her.

  “No, I will,” David said. “He’s got to believe that I’m serious, that I can do it without being a distraction or a problem. May I be excused, Carma?”

  “You may,” she said, smiling at David. They watched as he left the room.

  “That kid deserves a chance,” Carma said. “And I’m not just saying that because he has excellent manners. I’m a good reader of people, Deem, and I’m telling you, he’s a good egg.”

  “I think you’re right,” Deem replied. “But Winn is entitled to his opinion. Winn’s saved my ass more than once. David is untested.”

  “Do you think setting up a bunch of cameras and helping Winn monitor things would add too much complexity, as Winn suggested?”

  “No,” Deem replied. “It all sounds pretty low-risk to me.”

  “Then convince Winn, if David can’t,” Carma said. “That boy is full of a desire for justice right now, and it’s a powerful anger that needs to be channeled.”

  ▪ ▪ ▪

  David took her around to each of the hidden cameras, showing her how their images looked on an iPad. He arranged a camera in every room, and two in her bedroom. One was inside a stuffed orange giraffe that he’d placed on her dresser.

  “That’s cute!” Deem said, picking up the giraffe.

  “My parents gave that to me when I was little,” David replied. “They used it to calm me when I was scared. They said it would protect me, and I always believed that it did. I thought you could use the extra help.”

  “That’s sweet of you,” Deem said.

  “The cameras will pick up motion, and send us an alert,” David said, leading her back through the house and down to the basement. A series of monitors sat on a cheap plastic table.

  “Stay here and watch what happens when I trip one of the cameras,” he said, then he activated the system and ran upstairs. As she saw him appear in the monitor tracking activity in the hallway, a yellow light began to flash and a motor on the ground next to a cot began to gyrate, pulling the cot back and forth. David ran back downstairs to Deem.

  “See?” he said. “Even if we happen to fall asleep on the cot, the alarm will wake us up.”

  “Brilliant!” Deem said, smiling. “Now, about these cameras in my room…”

  “Uh, yeah, well, you’ll just have to know they’re there and not do anything you wouldn’t want us to see.”

  “Tell me you didn’t put any cameras in my bathroom,” she said.

  “None in the bathrooms, no,” David replied. “What do you think? Will Winn like it?”

  “There’s no knowing what Winn will say,” Deem replied, turning to him, “but I love it. Thank you.”

  David beamed back at her. “No problem,” he answered.

  “Winn should be here any minute with a supply of food, and we’ll officially start. How did you convince him to let you do all this?”

  “We argued for a while,” David said. “But I wouldn’t let up. I think he caved in just to get me to shut up.”

  “I’ve used that technique on him too,” Deem replied. “Well done.”

  “What’s his story?” David asked. “How did you two come to work together? Were you a couple?”

  “God, no!” Deem replied. “Winn and I could never be a couple.”

  “Why not? He’s handsome.”

  “Our approach to relationships is at opposite ends of the scale,” Deem replied. “I’ve not known the guy to see the same person twice in a month, let alone make a commitment to anyone.”

  “He seems committed to you,” David said.

  Good point, she thought. He’s right about that.

  “Not the same thing,” she replied. “I trust him with my life, but it’s a work thing. We’re not involved.”

  “What about Warren?”

  “How did you know about Warren?”

  “I saw you with a guy at the Bear Paw the other day,” David answered. “I asked Winn about it. He told me.”

  “This town is too fucking small,” Deem said.

  “Winn says you two are a thing.”

  “A thing? Did he say anything else?”

  “Only that he was happy for you. He was glad you’d met someone. Warren sure looked into you, from what I could see at the Bear Paw.”

  “He did? How could you tell?”

  “The way he looked at you,” David replied. “Most guys, a pretty woman walks by, like the waitress, they can’t help but turn their head. He never did, he only looked at you.”

  “Maybe he’s just smart enough to know that’s death on a date,” Deem replied.

  “It’s hard not to do. It’s almost involuntary with guys.”

  “He’s got great self-control then.”

  “And there was something about the way he looked at you, too,” David said.

  “God, what were you doing, stalking me?” Deem asked. “Sounds like you watched us for a long time!”


  “It didn’t take more than a second to see it,” David said.

  They heard the basement door open in the next room.

  “Sounds like Winn’s back,” Deem said.

  Winn came through the doorway holding grocery bags. “Oh,” he said, seeing the laptops. “I guess we’re all NSA now.”

  “David was just showing me how it all works,” Deem said. “Pretty impressive.”

  Winn walked behind the monitors and looked at the images. “That’s a lot of cameras,” he said.

  “True,” Deem replied. “This must have cost you a lot, David.”

  “Not really,” he said. “I took down the ones in our house. Didn’t cost anything.”

  “Your parents had this many cameras in their house?” Winn asked. “Seems excessive.”

  “Well, it is a big house,” David said. “I installed them with my dad about a year ago. I just assumed he was turning into a paranoid old man who wanted to keep an eye on things, but now I think he had more specific reasons.”

  “Well, I appreciate you going to all the work to take them down and put them back up here,” Deem said. “Carma started leaking the information an hour ago. She seems to think they’ll react to it quickly, so we need to start following the plan as of now. She’ll surveil the place before she attacks, and we want it to look like it’s only me in the house, so you’ll have to stay down here. Don’t go upstairs from this point, unless something happens. You can come and go by the basement door if you need to, and cut through the Andersons’ yard. There are enough bushes there to hide you coming and going.”

  “You think an attack could come as soon as tonight?” David asked.

  “If Carma says to be ready for it, I intend to be ready,” Deem replied.

  Winn pulled a handgun from his belt and handed it to Deem. “I want you to keep this somewhere close,” he said. “Just in case. They’d expect you to be armed; it would probably look strange if you weren’t.”

  Deem looked at the gun. Normally she’d reject the offer, but this time she took it from him. “Thanks,” she said. “Thank you both. I’m going upstairs now… so keep an eye on me?”

  “We will,” David replied.

  ▪ ▪ ▪