Chapter Twelve
At the clinic, Myka, Valerie and Shayne were gathered around Ronnie as she lay unconscious on a hospital bed and breathing from a tube. Valerie—with tears rolling down both cheeks—held Ronnie's hand and was pleading with her not to go away. Shayne's right hand was on Valerie's shoulder in a comforting manner. Myka stood back slightly with her arms wrapped around her waist and remained mostly quiet as she sadly watched.
Their attention was then drawn to Claire when she lightly knocked on the door frame.
"The nurse at the reception desk told me that I can come up here," Claire said.
"It's fine, Claire," Shayne replied as Valerie wiped the tears from her eyes. "Claire, this is my wife Valerie; Valerie, meet Deputy Claire Spiros."
"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Mendes," Claire told her.
"You can call me Valerie, and it's nice to meet you, Deputy Spiros," she replied.
"And you can call me Claire," she replied. She then glanced at Ronnie for a brief moment before turning her full focus to Shayne. "Anyway, Shayne, I just came by to tell you that the snake is back where it belongs."
"You could have called to tell me that," Shayne told Claire.
"Okay I lied; I didn't just come by to tell you that the snake is back where it belongs," Claire replied. "I came by to also give you my support during this uncertain crisis, and yes, I know we just recently met, but we're fellow officers and co-workers. So it doesn't matter to me if we just met or not."
"Claire," Shayne uttered slightly when Claire was saying her final four words. When Claire was quiet, Shayne continued to say, "Thanks for coming. I appreciate your sentiments."
Claire nodded before gesturing towards Ronnie and asking, "So what did the doctor say about her condition?"
"He says that it's too soon to even say," Valerie replied.
"Shayne, I can continue as acting sheriff tomorrow, if you need to take tomorrow off," Claire told him.
Shayne thought for a moment before saying, "Yes. You should plan for me to be out tomorrow. I'll call you and let you know if that changes."
"Okay," Claire replied with an understanding nod. "Anyway, I guess I should get going."
"I'll see you later," Shayne told her. "And thanks again for stopping by."
Myka, Valerie and Claire said their departing pleasantries before Claire turned and walked out.
Brody saw Claire leaving the ICU room and shot her a curious look. A sudden awareness came to Brody and before Claire could get more than ten steps from Ronnie's room, Brody caught up with her and said, "Hey, sparky."
Claire glanced at Brody and saw that he was looking at her.
"I'm sorry, are you speaking to me?" Claire asked.
"I am," Brody said as Claire looked upon him as if he was a complete stranger. "You don't recognize me, do you?"
Claire read his name badge before saying, "Dr. Cahill, I don't believe we have met."
Brody looked at Claire's name badge, as if for verification, before saying, "Claire, I'm Brody. Michelle's brother."
"I actually know several girls and women who are named Michelle," Claire pointed out. "So telling me that you're Michelle's brother doesn't help."
"You and my sister used to swim together, skate together, fish together… share a tent together," Brody said.
"Oh my god, you're Micki's brother," Claire replied as she stopped walking and took a better look at Brody's appearance.
"Yes, that's right," Brody said to himself while lightly thumping his forehead with his palm. "You and Tabitha had called her Micki."
"Several of us had," Claire replied. "And I haven't seen you or Micki in… wow, it has to be going on fifteen years since we saw each other last."
"Let's see, I had just gotten my driver's license, so yeah," Brody replied. "It had been about fifteen years since we had last seen each other."
"I was thirteen the last time we had seen each other, so I'm surprised you had even recognized me after all these years," Claire replied.
"I almost didn't," Brody admitted.
"Brody, I called your house immediately after I heard that Micki was in some kind of accident, but no one would tell me what kind of accident or anything," Claire pointed out. "And then Micki had cut me out of her life completely without a word or an explanation."
"Don't take it personally," Brody quickly told Claire. "Micki wouldn't have anything to do with anyone after her accident."
"Micki and I were best friends," Claire replied as if it meant a lot. "So, yes, I did take it personally. For years I wondered if she had blamed me for whatever had happened to her. Which was what by the way? What happened to Micki?"
"Okay, first off, you definitely weren't to blame," Brody began. "In fact, my parents blame themselves for not taking your warning seriously."
"What did I warn them about?" Claire quickly asked.
"The last time you had slept over at our house, you had warned my parents about Micki's sleepwalking," Brody replied.
"Okay, yeah, I do remember saying something to your parents about how Micki had sleepwalked outside, and how she could get hit by a car if precautions weren't taken," Claire replied.
"Yes, well, she didn't get hit by a car, but she did fall off of the roof of the house," Brody informed.
"Micki sleepwalked onto the roof and fell off it?" Claire quickly asked, as if only for verification.
"She did," Brody replied. "She had broken her back in three places and has been paralyzed from the waist down for the past fifteen years."
"Oh my God," Claire replied. "I wished I had known that. I would have visited her."
"Michelle didn't want any visits from anyone," Brody replied. "But that was fifteen years ago and Michelle is now doing well and have a better outlook on life."
"That's good," Claire replied. "Is she still in Rapid City?"
"She lives in Featherhead," Brody replied.
"Featherhead is not all that far away," Claire pointed out. "Would she accept a visit from me if I go to her?"
"I think she would," Brody replied. "I know she had mentioned you a few times throughout the years; wondering what you are like now and what you are up to. So now, when I talk to her again, I can tell her that you had gone into law enforcement and is looking absolutely stunning."
Claire delightfully smiled while saying, "I doubt that I look all that stunning in my deputy uniform…"
"I have no doubts on how absolutely stunning you look," Brody quickly said.
Claire held her smile while saying, "Thanks for believing that I look stunning, and you look absolutely stunning as well, by the way. In fact, I don't remember you looking like a McHotty."
"You think I'm a McHotty?" Brody quickly asked.
"Very much so," Claire agreed verbally and through her facial expression. "The woman who's dating you, or is married to you, is a lucky girl… assuming that you're straight, that is."
"Yes, I'm straight," Brody replied in a slightly amused tone. "And single. What about you? Are you single, or do you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend or a significant other?"
"Currently, I'm single as well," Claire replied in a tone as if there was more to say.
"You're recently single though, aren't you?" Brody guessed.
Claire thought of her answer before saying, "He ended things with me four months ago."
"Unless you went from the sweet, caring and considerate person I remember you being to not being sweet, caring and considerate within the past fifteen years, your ex-boyfriend is a fool," Brody replied.
"Actually, who I turned into four months ago was why he ended things with me," Claire replied.
"And who did you turn into four months ago?" Brody quickly asked.
"An acting mom and an acting sheriff within days apart of each other," Claire replied.
"Yes, I did hear that the town had been missing a sheriff for a few months prior to today," Brody began. "But what do you mean that you had turned into an acting mom?"
"My sister Delphina and her husband died in an automobile accident just before I became acting sheriff, and my niece and nephew came here to live with me," Claire informed.
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Brody replied sympathetically.
"Thanks," Claire replied.
"I'm a bit surprised that your niece and nephew didn't go live with your parents though… unless they had passed away as well," Brody replied. "Oh God, did your parents pass away as well?"
"No-no," Claire quickly replied. "My parents are very much alive and well and living in Greece."
"They live in the country Greece?" Brody curiously questioned. Claire simply nodded for a response. "Did they retire there?"
"Brody, both of my parents were born and raised in Greece," Claire informed. "They were only in the United States on work visas and twelve years ago, when their visas expired, they moved back to Greece."
"I didn't know that," Brody replied. "But you're a U. S. citizen, aren't you?"
"I have a dual citizenship between the U.S. and Greece and so does my brother Nikolos; although Nikolos prefers to live in Greece," Claire shared.
"Don't you have another brother?" Brody asked.
"I do; his name is Felix and he also lives in Greece," Claire replied.
"Does he have a dual citizenship as well?" Brody asked.
"No, he was actually born in Greece," Claire replied. "In fact, Nikolos and I are the only two among my two brothers and my sister and I who were born in the United States, and Delphina had gained her U. S. citizenship after she got married."
"Did Michelle know that your parents were from Greece?" Brody asked.
"She did. I had even taught her a few Greek words and phrases," Claire replied.
"Okay, yeah, I did know that Michelle was able to say a few things in Greek, but I didn't realize that you were the one who had taught her," Brody replied. "Anyway, besides your niece and nephew, are all your relatives live in Greece?"
"I have an aunt and uncle and cousins in Italy, and I haven't met them, but supposedly I have second cousins in Chicago," Claire shared.
"But most of your relatives are in Greece?" Brody asked as if only for verification. Claire simply nodded with a polite grin. "Do you ever get the urge to pack up and move to Greece?"
"I do not," Claire replied. "I was raised to be independent and I don't have the urge to follow my family to Greece. Don't get me wrong. I do miss my family and I have the long distant phone bills to prove it."
Brody slightly chuckled before seeing a nurse twenty steps past Claire and walking his way with documents in her hand.
Claire turned to look at who Brody was looking at as Brody said, "I believe the results to one of my patients are in. So could we finish this discussion later? Perhaps over lunch or dinner?"
Claire turned back towards Brody with a slight amused expression on her face before asking, "Are you asking me out on a date?"
"I am," Brody replied. "May I buy you lunch or dinner?"
Claire considered Brody's date proposal for a brief moment, before pulling out her small notepad and pen from her breast pocket and saying, "You may." As Claire began to write, she continued to say, "Let me give you my cellphone number."
"Okay," Brody replied.
Claire wrote down her number, ripped out the page from her small notepad and handed it to Brody.
"Call me," Claire replied with a pleasant expression on her face.
"I will," Brody replied in an assuring tone. "I'll see you later."
"I'll see you later," Claire echoed before continuing towards the exit.
Claire and the nurse exchanged nods when they passed each other and before Claire got three steps past the nurse, she glanced back at Brody and saw that Brody was watching her.
Claire and Brody exchanged waves before Claire faced forward and continued towards the exit without looking back again.
Once the nurse handed Brody the results to one of his patients, he read them and then went to share the results with his patient.
Several minutes later, as Valerie, Shayne and Myka lightly talked in Ronnie's hospital room, Artie and Mrs. Frederic walked in.
"Pete called and filled me in," Artie told them when all eyes turned towards him and Mrs. Frederic. "How's she doing?"
"She is stable, and the swelling in her face and hands seems to be receding," Valerie replied as Shayne casually walked towards Mrs. Frederic.
"That's a positive sign," Artie replied.
"It is, but I would love it if she would wake up," Valerie replied.
"This town might be small, but I assure you that the medical staff here is quite capable," Mrs. Frederic replied. "Your daughter is in excellent hands."
"I believe you," Valerie replied with a weak grin.
"Mrs. Frederic, can we talk out in the hall for a moment?" Shayne requested.
Mrs. Frederic stared skeptically at Shayne long enough for Shayne to see it before gesturing and saying, "After you."
Shayne nodded before leading the way into the hall.
Once in the hall and out of earshot from the others, Mrs. Frederic said, "Shayne, if you are going to ask about an artifact that would assure Ronnie's recovery, I'm afraid that I will be disappointing you."
"It's not that, and truthfully, Ronnie wouldn't want that anyway," Shayne replied.
"So what is it that you want to talk about, Shayne?" Mrs. Frederic asked.
"Earlier today, Deputy Spiros and I responded to a call about a confused Alzheimer patient. The patient's name is Dustin Webster and today was Deputy Spiros's fourth time being called to deal with Dustin. Dustin was agitated to our mere presence. He was calling his grandson by his deceased brother's name, and telling Deputy Spiros and me that he and his brother Zachariah didn't know where Alice Cooper, Renee Busch and Carol Gerard were at. This was Deputy Spiros's second time hearing those three names from him and she decided that it was time to look up those names, and so she and I did.
"To make a long story short, Mrs. Frederic, I know that forty-five years ago Dustin and Zachariah Webster were warehouse agents, and before Zachariah was killed in a house fire, he became Sheriff Bronwyn's only suspect to five missing cheerleaders."
Mrs. Frederic pursed her lips for a moment before asking, "And what does Deputy Spiros know?"
"All she knows is what is in Sheriff Bronwyn's report," Shayne replied. "And she believes that Dustin and Zachariah were IRS agents and everyone at the bed and breakfast is currently an IRS agent. The detective in her wants to do a little digging at the bed and breakfast though, to see if she could dig up anything about those missing cheerleaders. I told her that I don't believe that there's anything else that we can add to the case, but to keep her from investigating that cold case herself, I told her that I will look into it."
"Will she accept your word if you go back to her and tell her that there's nothing to find?" Mrs. Frederic asked.
"Since Sheriff Bronwyn's only suspect had died during his initial investigation and the suspect's brother is currently mentally incapacitated, I'm very certain that I can convince her that this case is too old to obtain new evidence," Shayne replied.
"Good," Mrs. Frederic replied.
"Mrs. Frederic, those five girls went missing because of an artifact, didn't they?" Shayne directly asked. When Mrs. Frederic stared expressionlessly at Shayne, he continued to say, "Yes, right, I don't have the clearance for you to verify my strong suspicions. Rest assured that I do know the importance about not sharing what I know about artifacts or my suspicions about what had happened to those cheerleaders with anyone other than you."
"Yes, I believe you do know the importance of it, Sheriff Mendes," Mrs. Frederic began. "So I will answer your question. Yes, an artifact was involved."
"Can you tell me if those five girls are actually missing or are they dead?" Shayne asked.
"They're dead, Sheriff Mendes; the artifact had killed them," Mrs. Frederic replied.
"The artifact must have done a number on their bodies for the warehouse agents to hide the bodies from their love ones," Shayne assumed.
"The artifact that had killed those girls doesn't leave bodies behind to be found," Mrs. Frederic replied.
"No bodies?" Shayne questioned in a curious tone. "But the artifact has to leave some evidence behind; otherwise your agents wouldn't have even known about it."
"That is true," Mrs. Frederic replied before taking a brief moment to consider on how much information to share. "Sheriff Mendes, the artifact was an artist paintbrush."
Shayne nodded in a thoughtful manner, as if a puzzle piece had clicked in place just before he asked, "What did the paintbrush do?"
"To understand what the paintbrush does, you first need to know its history," Mrs. Frederic replied.
"Okay," Shayne replied. "What is its history?"
"The paintbrush had originally belonged to an eighteenth century artist named Casper Woods," Mrs. Frederic began. "Casper had the talent of making his portraits appear very realistic looking. In fact, Casper's wife wrote in her journal that when Casper painted a person's portrait, not only did he capture the person's realistic likeness and put it down on the canvas, but he also captured the person's soul. Most of his subjects had left in a daze once the portraits were finished. The people's daze would of course fade within twenty-four hours, but whatever talent he had that had captured a person's soul, had also imbued his paintbrush. The paintbrush was harmless in Casper's hands… well, mostly harmless anyway, but in another artist's hands, on the completion of the painting, the subject of the portrait would get turned into a fine mist, and that mist would get absorbed by the painting."
"So those five cheerleaders were supernaturally turned into paintings?" Shayne questioned as if only for verification.
"Essentially," Mrs. Frederic replied.
Shayne nodded in a thoughtful manner before saying, "I'm certain that Sheriff Bronwyn was right and Zachariah was the one responsible for those cheerleaders' deaths, but he was also a warehouse agent. So why would a warehouse agent do that to people?"
"Casper and all of his portraits were burned by witch hunters soon after Casper's eightieth birthday, and the witch hunters did this because Casper had stopped aging at the age of thirty-five," Mrs. Frederic replied. "Now no one knows if Casper was knowingly taking a year or two of his subjects' youth, but he was. Whoever uses Casper's paintbrush now will not only turn people into paintings, but will also take their remaining years that they would have had left if they would have died from old age."
"So Zachariah used Casper's paintbrush and killed innocent people only to remain young," Shayne guessed.
"Shayne, I'm much older than I look, and I knew Zachariah," Mrs. Frederic began. "He was a good agent, and I understand that he did what he did because he had inadvertently come into direct contact with another artifact that sped up a person's aging. Also I don't believe that he knew that the painting would absorb whoever he paints. I believe he thought that he would only take a year or two from the person, so his own aging process would return to normal."
"Okay, his plan to take only a year or two from Alice Cooper, Renee Busch and Carol Gerard might be true, but after knowing what he had done to them, he still repeated what he did with Bethany Black and Cynthia Black," Shayne pointed out.
"The stages to the aging artifact follow a similar course to Alzheimer disease," Mrs. Frederic began. "The first stage is forgetfulness. The second stage is the inability to establish new memories. The third stage is complete memory loss. The fourth stage is looking several years older than what he or she should look and the final stage is death. These five stages will come within days apart of each other. So I'm very certain that Zachariah had completely forgotten to what he had done to Alice Cooper, Renee Busch and Carol Gerard and that was why he had repeated what he had done with Bethany Black and Cynthia Black."
"Okay," Shayne replied in an accepting tone. "Since Zachariah was killed in a house fire, what he did and why he did it is mute anyway."
"Since you know most of Zachariah's incident, I might as well tell you all of it," Mrs. Frederic replied. "Besides, I can use your help."
Shayne gave Mrs. Frederic a curious look before commenting, "I get the feeling that you are going to tell me that Zachariah didn't die in the house fire."
"Your feeling is correct," Mrs. Frederic began. "Agent McCormick and I realized that Casper's paintbrush was missing from the warehouse the day that Bethany Black and Cynthia Black had gone missing. I was hoping that I was wrong, but I was certain that Zachariah had taken it. As Agent McCormick and I were entering Zachariah's home, the two agents that were looking for the aging artifact had found it. Unfortunately for Bethany and Cynthia we were all too late to save them. They were being absorbed by the painting when Agent McCormick and I stepped into the room. Agent McCormick pulled out his Tesla to subdue Zachariah, but before Agent McCormick could even aim his Tesla, Zachariah transformed from a forty-six year old man to a six year old boy before our eyes."
"Since this incident took place forty-five years ago, am I right to assume that Zachariah is now fifty-one years old?" Shayne questioned.
"You didn't allow me to finish, Shayne," Mrs. Frederic informed.
"I'm sorry, please continue," Shayne replied with a hand gesture.
"Zachariah had no memory of who he was or even on how to communicate with us, and once Agent McCormick and I had gotten him to the warehouse he had regressed in age by another three years," Mrs. Frederic continued. "In fact, by midnight of that night, he had regressed to the point that he looked like a newborn. Before Zachariah could regress further, the regents stepped in and did something to halt his age regression. Zachariah then remained an infant for slightly more than five years before he began to age normally again."
"William Webster II—AKA Willie—is in fact Zachariah, isn't he?" Shayne asked.
"Yes, he is," Mrs. Frederic began. "You also should be aware that we had altered Dustin's memories. Dustin never had a son named William, but he believes otherwise… or at least he did before he began showing signs that he had Alzheimer." Shayne nodded to what was said. "Anyway, Willie actually lives about three miles from the sheriff's station and I would like for you to check up on him from time to time."
"May I ask as to why I am to check on him from time to time?" Shayne asked.
"Willie's memories were never altered by us, and we fear… well, actually I fear that his memories of being Zachariah could return," Mrs. Frederic replied.
"And you want me to inform you if and when it does," Shayne assumed aloud.
"Yes," Mrs. Frederic replied. "Would you have a problem with that?"
"Not at all," Shayne replied. "If Willie begins to remember his past life, he might react badly for losing forty-five years of his life and that could be bad for everyone."
"I couldn't agree with you more, Shayne," Mrs. Frederic replied.
"Okay, there's one more thing that I would like to know if I could," Shayne informed.
"And what would that be?" Mrs. Frederic asked.
"Whose body did Sheriff Bronwyn find after the fire to Zachariah's home?" Shayne asked.
"Forty-five years ago, one of the regents was a doctor who had access to cadavers," Mrs. Frederic began. "So once Agent McCormick and I returned to the warehouse with Zachariah, a couple of other agents were staging Zachariah's death."
"In case Dustin's memory rears its head at the wrong time, how much of this did Dustin know?" Shayne asked.
"Dustin wasn't an actual warehouse agent," Mrs. Frederic began as she spotted Claudia and Steve walking towards them from down the hall. Shayne saw that Mrs. Frederic was focused on something behind him and turned to look. "In fact, his job for us was driving trucks. He drove supplies in and out of the warehouse, along with the occasional artifact that needed to be hauled by a truck. So Dustin honestly believed that his brother was killed in the house fire."
"Okay," Shayne replied in an accepting tone.
Shayne and Mrs. Frederic were quiet for the few seconds that it took for Claudia and Steve to step up to them.
"Shayne; Jinksy and I just heard about what happened to Ronnie," Claudia said while stepping up. "I'm so sorry."
"Thanks," Shayne replied with an appreciative nod.
"How is she doing?" Steve asked.
"She's stable, but unconscious," Shayne replied.
"Can we see her?" Claudia asked.
"Of course," Shayne replied before gesturing towards the room. "Let's go in."
Mrs. Frederic made a gesture for Shayne to walk while telling him, "After you."
Shayne nodded with a slight grin before leading the way into Ronnie's room.
At the bed and breakfast, Pete was leaving through the front door as Carmelita and her husband Ray were approaching the door.
"Carmelita… and Carmelita's husband," Pete began as he was shutting the door behind him.
"It's Ray," he replied in a patient tone. "My name is Ray."
"Right, sorry," Pete replied. "I can be lousy with names."
"We had only met once so I get it that you can't remember," Ray told Pete.
"I have it locked in now, so the next time we meet, I'm certain I'll remember… hopefully," Pete replied. "Anyway, what can I do for you two?"
"Actually we are here to see Shayne," Carmelita replied.
"Currently, he isn't here. In fact, I'm the only one here, and I'm heading out as well," Pete replied.
"Would you know when Shayne will be back?" Carmelita asked.
"Most likely, it will be tomorrow before he will return," Pete informed.
"Shayne, why in hell would you invite Ray and me over and not be here when we show up?" Carmelita questioned rhetorically to the open air.
Pete shot Carmelita a curious look before asking, "Do you and Ray know Shayne?"
"Ray has never met Shayne, but I grew up with him," Carmelita replied.
"Oh," Pete said in a slightly surprised tone. "Were you and Shayne neighbors?"
"Pete, Shayne is my younger brother," Carmelita informed.
"If you're his sister, then why wouldn't he have mentioned you to us?" Pete questioned while making a hand gesture that encompass the bed and breakfast.
Carmelita took a breath before saying, "I left my family and my hometown of Carlsbad, New Mexico, and moved to El Paso, Texas, with my boyfriend when I was twenty. My family didn't know where I had moved to. Then five years later my boyfriend was killed by a drug dealer, and I tried to return home, but by that time, my family had moved and the owners to the house at the time didn't know where. So today was the first time I have seen Shayne in thirty-one years. And then Shayne told me that the reason why that they had moved was because twenty-nine years ago, he and my entire family had mistakenly thought that I had been killed in a house fire and that our mom had to get away from Carlsbad."
"Oh, wow," Pete could only think to say. "So today was in fact a surprise reunion."
"A pleasant surprise reunion," Carmelita replied. "And Shayne told me to come by and bring my family so he can introduce us to his wife and daughter."
"Yes, about that," Pete began. "One of the snakes from the snake farm had gotten out and Ronnie—Shayne's daughter—was the unlucky one to find it first."
"My God, was the snake poisonous?" Carmelita quickly asked.
"It was… and still is," Pete replied. "The snake was recaptured alive. Anyway, everyone is at the clinic and that is where I am heading now."
"We'll meet you at the clinic," Carmelita replied while indicating to Ray and herself.
"I'm sure Shayne will appreciate you being there," Pete replied before the three went to their respective vehicles.