You don’t know me, Felipe wanted to say but couldn’t.
“He’s making you soft, but trust me when I say, that’s a good thing,” Mr. Allen said gently. “If you’re already softening, you’re less likely to shatter when you crash.”
Felipe swallowed hard, focusing on Oliver’s steady heartbeat on the other end of the tether instead of answering. When he crashed— He had too many people relying on him to crash or show weakness now. Heneededto keep Oliver and Gwen safe while they were in Aldorhaven; he promised he would protect them with his life, and he would.
Clapping Felipe on the shoulder, Mr. Allen gave it a firm squeeze. “My apologies for talking your ear off, Inspector Galvan. I worked with my local branch of the Grand Army of the Republic for years, paranormal and not, and you come to recognize these things. Anyway, you wanted to know about the dead, right?”
“Yes, sir, if you’re willing.” Felipe hated how unmoored he suddenly felt as he stuffed the empty wrapper back into his pocket and turned to a clean page in his notepad. He had already received one ominous prophecy that day; he didn’t need another. “Can you tell me about each of the deceased and who they went after?”
“I’ll go in order since it’s easier for me to remember them that way. I rehearsed all this for the first set of investigators, but they didn’t even stay long enough to listen. Truthfully, they didn’t do much of anything.” Clearing his throat, Mr. Allen set his cane against the grave and got more comfortable. “Sarah Lindstrom was first. She died not long after her wedding to William Lindstrom, maybe six months or so after.”
“What was her cause of death?”
“I’m not certain and neither was Dr. Miller. It was tragic for herto die so suddenly and so young. I assumed she had an illness or accident. When sheawoke, she went after her husband and nearly scared the life out of his second wife. The next was John Fleming, another tragic accident. He somehow got his arm caught in a piece of equipment at the mill and died from his injuries. He went after Henry Stevenson, the foreman at the mill, and he would have gotten him too if Henry hadn’t shot him. That seemed to knock him back out. Fleming returning got the town worried, but Roger Ekland coming to life really scared people. He owned the mill along with his business partner, Andrew Hogarth. Ekland was in his sixties, so him having a heart attack wasn’t surprising. When he broke into Hogarth’s house and strangled him in his bed, everyone was shocked. They had been in business together for nearly forty years.”
Felipe narrowed his eyes at his notes. “Are they certain Ekland strangled Hogarth? Could it have been someone in the house who blamed his dead partner after what happened with the man from the mill?”
“Trust me, inspector, I know how it sounds, but they caught him red-handed. Mrs. Hogarth awoke to Ekland killing her husband. He had already been dead for several months, and he left… evidence behind. She started screaming, her housekeeper summoned the sheriff, and by the time he got there, Ekland had finished the job and was already walking back to the graveyard. Multiple eyewitnesses confirmed it was him, and he collapsed not far from his grave.”
“I see, and Mr. Hogarth hasn’t risen from his grave?”
“No, he’s resting peacefully, thank the Lord, and it was quiet for a few months before Annabelle Harrison returned from the dead. I didn’t really know her at all; I don’t think anyone did. She was quite ill for her entire life. Her parents kept her in the house, doted on her, constantly had Dr. Miller over, but it did little good. She died during a cold snap last year.”
“Who did she go after?”
“Her mother. She got her good too. She managed to break Mrs. Harrison’s hand and tear out her eye along with a chunk of her hair.”
“But she didn’t kill her?”
“No, her younger sister reported seeing Annabelle standing over their mother with a pair of scissors whispering. Her mother said something, and Annabelle dropped her and retreated to the graveyard without killing her or hurting anyone else. The strange thing is that her younger sister had become ill not long after her death, like whatever Annabelle had passed from her to her sister when she died, but since Annabelle awoke, she’s recovered. It’s like she took the disease back to the grave with her.”
“And the sister wasn’t involved in maiming Mrs. Harrison?”
“No, the mother and the house were covered in blood, but she was clean.”
Strange, very strange, Felipe thought as he made a note to revisit that and talk to Dr. Miller. “You said there was another rising recently?”
Mr. Allen released a tired sigh. “Horace Ridder. He— Well, we’re not sure how or where he died. He disappeared one day and reappeared as a walking corpse, and yes, he was definitely very dead when he attacked the mayor’s wife. He disappeared not long after I wrote to the Paranormal Society, so about three weeks ago. Horace had a temper. Sometimes, he would get into moods and leave town for a few days to spite everyone. He always came back, so no one worried until after the first set of investigators disappeared too. By then, Horace still hadn’t turned up.”
“Do you have any idea why he went after the mayor’s wife?”
“No. He was chummy with the Stills as far as I know. He had been married to her niece after all, and as sheriff, he had been Luther’s righthand man. If you’re asking if he and Daphne Stills had an affair, no, I don’t think she would stoop that low, though stranger things have happened.”
“Could you show me where—”
Before Felipe could finish, a scream ripped through the air. Launching off the grave, Felipe ran into the church with his gun drawn and his heart in his throat. He swept his gaze and weapon across the tiny church, but it was empty save for Gwen frantically stomping andOliver scrambling up onto the stone altar. Felipe bit back a gag as the smell hit him at the same moment he spotted a legion of bugs racing out of Horace Ridder’s corpse.
“Ew, ew, ew, ew,” Gwen cried as she frantically stomped the bugs at her feet and squashed a swath of insects with her powers.
“Gwen, you are going to fall through the floor,” Oliver said as he wrapped his arms around her and hauled her away from the corpses and onto the altar. “Just let them settle down.”
Beetles, maggots, flies, and what looked like leeches roiled inside the man’s decaying flesh, on the wooden floor beside him, and in the air above the corpse.
“Are you all right?” Felipe called, trying to sidestep the swarm and not breathe.
“We will be. Mr. Ridder came with an infestation.”
Gwen frantically brushed at the hem of her dress. “I can do many things, but I cannot do corpse bugs.”
