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  “Her existence adds a lot of complication.”

  “Lots of new motives for murder, or disappearing,” Elle agreed. “What made you think there was one?”

  “A little pawnshop owner whispered it in my ear.”

  “What?”

  “I’ll explain when we have lots of time. Let’s meet for lunch and then go see the wife and see how she's doing and what she knows.”

  “And then track down Christine Horner.”

  “Exactly.”

  Elle sighed. “I sure hope we can wrap this up soon.”

  “Me too,” Charli said, but it was a lie. She was starting to have some real fun with this. The interesting possibility that the guy had simply run away with his girlfriend took them away from the substance of her dream. That made her feel better. Somehow, the simple act of dreaming of someone suffering a tragic fate made her feel guilty, as if she was somehow complicit. She’d rather the dream turned out to be nothing more than a strange dream and not some kind of communication from what Dorian called “another realm”. Now that idea was spooky.

  Chapter 8

  A Wife's Tale

  Melly Block and her house were of a piece—an odd piece, to be sure, but they went together. Elle had called ahead and Melly greeted them cheerfully enough, dressed in a formless dress. She was a stocky woman with a pinched face. “I assumed there would be some word by now,” she said as she let them in.

  The front door opened into a small entryway. A large mirror hung on the side wall, facing into the house. The combination of the large mirror and small entry made entering the house seem odd. It felt crowded in the entryway with their images accompanying them.

  As they went into the living room, Charli found the house was cluttered with various objects, bric-a-brac of all types. Many were souvenirs from around the United States. Mixed in among them, she recognized several charms from various cultures. The ones she recognized were intended to ward off evil. That made her remember that mirrors and shiny objects were also used that way in many belief systems, including fung shui.

  “I’m afraid we are still asking questions,” Elle said.

  “Not knowing anything is so stressful.”

  Charli didn’t think the woman seemed particularly stressed. In fact, she flowed around, getting them tea as if it was a social occasion.

  “I don't know what in the world I can tell you. I wasn’t there. What could I know?”

  “You know about his life, I’d hope,” Charli said.

  “Oh yes. Carter was never a complicated man. He was easy to read.”

  “Then you knew about his girlfriend?” Elle asked, surprising Charli by being so direct.

  The woman rallied quickly. “Yes. Of course, I did. A wife knows.”

  “Not always,” Elle said.

  “Carter couldn’t keep a secret.”

  “So you didn’t care?”

  “Of course I did. We fought about the bitch. I told him that either he dumped her, or I’d divorce him and take every dime he had. That’s why he took the gamble to quit his regular job and start a car lot.”

  “How was that going?”

  She laughed. “I don’t really know. We were paying the bills. But I think the car lot wasn’t enough of a challenge for him. He needed a fling with that girl.”

  “Do you know her?”

  “No,” she said firmly. “I had no desire to find out which little slut was after Carter. I very simply explained the facts to him.”

  “How did you find out about her?”

  “He had pictures of her on his phone. I found it. He denied he was having an affair at first, so I showed him that he only had three or four women in his contact list. It would be easy enough for me to call them all and find out. He caved in like I knew he would.”

  “How long ago was the fight?”

  She thought. “About a month before he disappeared.”

  “And you didn’t think to mention this in the missing person's report?”

  The woman snorted and touched a crude amulet that hung around her neck. “No need. It was over. She has no bearing on this.”

  “So you think there is no possibility that he didn’t pretend to agree with you and then simply run off with her?”

  That idea seemed to unsettle Melly Block, as if it had never occurred to her. “It’s like I said when I called the other night. It had to be the Lake woman? What happens if she was the one who took my husband?”

  Elle put her hand to her forehead. “Melly, what makes you think...”

  “She might've known he had strayed before. Maybe she thought that would make him easy prey.”

  Given the magic paraphernalia she’d seen throughout the home, Charli shouldn’t have been surprised that Melly Block knew the legend, but she was definitely caught off guard by how convinced the woman was that the legend was fact and that other people would think so too.

  “That’s just a myth,” Elle said.

  “It’s a legend,” Melly Block said. “And it persists because it’s true. How can you live here, practically on Reelfoot Lake and not know the legend? It’s part of this place, its ambiance, its history, the lives of the people who were here before us.”

  “I have a life of my own,” Elle said, sounding a little snotty but probably just feeling defensive.

  “The thing is...” Charli told Melly, “while you have your reasons to think that’s what happened, from a practical perspective, you better hope you are wrong. You better be hoping the Lake Woman didn’t take him.”

  “Why?” Melly asked.

  Charli considered her words. Dorian had done his research into the previous disappearances. What he’d learned hadn’t been all that helpful. “Because the history of the disappearances attributed to that legend tells us that the bodies of the missing men are never found.”

  Elle caught the drift of Charli’s logic. “What she is saying is that, if this ghost of yours got him, he stays missing. That means you’ll have to wait seven years until the courts declare him dead and you can collect on his insurance.”

  “But that’s not fair. He’s gone now,” Melly said.

  “He wasn’t insured against disappearing,” Elle said. “And without a body, you can’t get a death certificate, which the insurance company needs to pay off.”

  “I’ll get a lawyer,” she said. “Everyone knows what happened.”

  “I’m afraid you’d have a tough time getting a court to accept the notion that it was a paranormal death. Even if they bought that, the company probably has some loophole that excludes death by ghostly means.”

  Charli saw Melly’s bravado wilt. “But he’s gone,” she said. Charli thought about the fetish and wondered how it fit into things. The Lake Woman wanted Melly to have it, but somehow giving it to her in front of Elle didn’t seem right. Either she’d need to talk to Melly again, and could give it to her then, or she’d make a special trip to return it. Later it would offer some closure.

  “We're going to check with this girlfriend of his,” Elle said. “If you're lucky, she’ll know where he is.”

  Melly gave her an odd look. “She won’t know where he is. I told you what happened. He never came back.”

  As they left the dejected Melly sitting on the couch and let themselves out, Charli nodded toward the charms on the wall. “She’s a believer,” she said. “She’s got all sorts of talismans and charms.”

  “I don’t care what her religion is,” Elle said. “That’s a distraction. I got a feeling she knows where her husband is.”

  “I agree that she thinks she knows, but I think she is certain that the Lake Woman got him.”

  As they got to the car, Elle sighed. “Spill it. Why are you so sure she really thinks that legend is real?”

  “Did you see the crude pendant Melly was wearing around her neck?”

  “Yes. I assumed a child made it and gave it to her.”

  “It’s a homemade love charm,” Charli said. “It’s made of salt dough.”

&n
bsp; “And what does that tell us?”

  “It could mean that she wasn’t so certain that Carter was actually giving up his girlfriend. She was using magic to aid her cause, make sure he didn’t waiver. If that’s the case, she easily would think that his disappearance was also related to a magic spell.”

  “Or it could mean she tried, it didn’t work and she killed him.”

  “I don’t buy that,” Charli said. “Why keep wearing the love charm if she knew he was dead.”

  “Okay. But, assuming he is dead, who else had a reason to kill him? And why? A jealous wife I could understand.”

  “Those are the big questions. We seem to have a cast to choose from. The two fishing buddies could have done it, the girlfriend could’ve done it, or it might have been the poachers.”

  “Or someone else,” Elle said. “The inevitable person we don’t know about yet.”

  “So let’s go see what we can learn from this Christine Horner who works at the auto place,” Charli suggested. “I’m still hoping Melly is wrong and Carter ran off.”

  “I’d say you have decent odds on that one.” Elle shrugged. “If Carter was a regular outdoorsman, the idea that he got spooked by a panther and ran headlong into the swamp doesn’t sit well with me. If it is that easy, you’d think there would be guys disappearing left and right.”

  “I see your point,” Charli said. “And since you don’t believe the Lake Woman grabbed him...”

  “Nope. And I really hope before this day is over we have some other juicy options.”

  “I know what you mean,” Charli said. “My wine budget is totaled for the month already.”

  “You are finally getting an appreciation for the stresses of my job,” Elle said. “And it’s about time.”

  Chapter 9

  The Missing Woman

  The office that Christine worked in wasn’t far from Melly Block’s house, but then Union City is pretty small, so nothing is very far away. It's the curse and blessing of small-town life. When they reached the auto place, they found the manager in the office. He was a tall, thin, man with oddly twisted spectacles.

  When she asked about Christine, Elle’s explanation was nicely vague. Charli thought it rather artful, not telling him too much. She showed her insurance company ID and told him, a Mr. Toomy, that she was investigating a disappearance, for insurance purposes.

  Mr. Toomy looked shocked. “Christine has disappeared?”

  “She isn’t here?”

  “No. We, her coworkers and I here at the office, have been wondering what happened to her,” he said. “Did someone report her missing?”

  “No. We were hoping to talk to her in connection with the disappearance of a friend of hers, a Carter Block.”

  He shook his head. “I was worried about her, not even calling in sick.”

  “So you haven’t seen her?”

  He shook his head. “No, Christine hasn’t been in for several weeks.”

  Charli wanted to make certain. “And she didn’t call, she just disappeared.”

  “Not a word. That surprised us. She hadn’t been here all that long, but she was quite reliable. A very good worker. After a couple of days, we called her and got no answer. After a week with no word, well, we’d assumed she quit,” he said. The man sounded perplexed. “She didn’t even come in for her last paycheck. I hope she’s all right.”

  “Me too,” Elle said.

  “Does the name Carter Block ring a bell?” Charli asked.

  “Why yes. Of course, it does. He has the car dealership in Martin, but because he lives here in Union City, he buys parts for cars being repaired from us.” He touched his nose. “As a matter of fact, I have noticed that he always said hello to Christine when he came in.”

  Charli noticed three people working behind a parts counter. “So she worked at the counter?” she asked.

  “No,” the manager said. “That’s for people dealing with the public. She worked behind the scenes, doing ordering and inventory management. That’s why I noticed Carter making a point of going over to talk to her.”

  Charli suddenly had hope they might find a clue. “So she worked in a cubicle?”

  “That’s right. She needed her own desk.”

  Elle nodded. “Have you cleaned out her things yet?”

  He considered that. “No. I was leaving it until the home office gave me permission. There are legal ramifications because employees have personal items that we might be responsible for.”

  “Could we take a peek at her desk?” Elle asked. “We might learn something.”

  “I suppose that would be all right,” he said uncertainly. He led the women to a gray cubicle with a cork board on a gray wall and a gray computer.

  Elle touched his arm. “You’ve been so sweet, already Mr. Toomy, would you do one other little favor for me?”

  “Of course,” he said. “I have my life insurance policy with your insurance company after all.”

  “Wonderful. And of course, we want to do everything we can to keep those premiums down, don’t we?”

  “Yes. Absolutely.”

  “Well, it would save me lots of time and the company’s money if you could find out the actual date of the last day she worked.”

  “I can do that easily enough,” he said.

  She stopped him before he could leave. “And if you got me her home address, that would be a big help too.”

  He seemed a little taken aback. “You don’t have it?”

  “As I said, she isn’t the client in this case, but we think she can help us find the client.”

  He put his hand to his mouth. “Oh dear. Is she in trouble? Do you suspect...”

  “We don’t know much of anything,” Elle said with a kind smile. “We came here solely because we are talking to everyone who knew Carter Block. We hoped that she could tell us something. Her disappearance is a remarkable coincidence, however. So... well, maybe we better find her as quickly as possible.”

  “Should I notify the police?”

  “That’s premature. If we can’t locate her quickly, then I’ll do that. It’s entirely possible that something unthreatening happened. Perhaps she was called away on a family emergency and her phone got stolen. We don’t want to alarm her family or friends just because we don’t know where she is.”

  “Oh,” he said. “Of course. That’s considerate. I’ll go get you that information.”

  As he wandered off, Charli and Elle took a look at the woman’s workspace. As Elle opened the desk drawer, Charli scanned the cork board. “I wonder what BNA-LAX-MEX-ACA means?” Charli asked, reading a note she saw out loud. “Whatever it is, it seems to be around $350.”

  Elle looked at it and grabbed the note off the board. “Don’t you ever fly anywhere? That’s a flight itinerary with airport codes. Nashville to Acapulco Mexico, via Los Angeles and Mexico City.” She grinned. “I was looking at taking that flight myself. Lester promised I could pick our next vacation spot. This cheap it must be a one-way fare.”

  “Must be nice to be rich and consider vacations like that.”

  “Heck it costs more to go to Vegas.”

  “My budget barely covers going to Martin, and that’s to work.”

  Elle tapped the note. “I don’t see any dates on this, so maybe she was just daydreaming.”

  “Or she’d done her research and was waiting to be told a date at the last minute.”

  Elle turned up one corner of her mouth. “I have an investigator who knows how to check flight manifests. If she did get on a flight, he can find out.”

  Just then the manager returned. “Here is the information you wanted.”

  Elle took the paper he held out. “She worked the Friday before he disappeared. That was her last day.”

  “Okay, that’s suspicious. And now?”

  “Before I call the investigator we need to go to her house and make certain she isn’t sitting there, watching television and drinking Southern Comfort.”

  “So off we go.”


  Elle shook Mr. Toomy’s hand. “Thank you for your help,” she said.

  “Will you let me know if you find her?” Mr. Toomy asked, sounding concerned.

  “Give me your cell number and I’ll be glad to. If she isn’t at home, it could be a little bit before we know anything. And it’s even possible that we never find out where she went. That does happen.”

  “That would be terrible,” Mr. Toomy said, trembling.

  As they went out and got in the car, Elle chuckled. “I think our Mr. Toomy had a bit of a thing for Christine Horner.”

  “It seems so,” Charli said, “yet his concern about her, or for her wasn’t powerful enough a force to get him to try and track her down. He could've gotten her address and gone to her house weeks ago.”

  “He probably thought she might think he was being nosy by poking into her business. Or maybe he would’ve been embarrassed to ask for her address without having our inquiry as a pretext.”

  “So he’s a timid sort and lacks the most inquiring of minds.”

  Elle nodded. “But he was helpful and I will call him if and when we learn anything about her.”

  “You are a nice person, for an insurance investigator, that is.”

  “I’m really a claims adjuster. This is just me doing double duty.”

  “Still...”

  “Oh, I’ll take the compliment gladly enough. There are never enough compliments in this world that are directed at me, even of the back-handed variety.”

  “Of course, now our investigation seems to be going backward.”

  Elle looked at her friend. “How’s that?”

  “A few minutes ago we were chasing a missing person. Now we have two missing people.”

  “The girlfriend isn’t insured with us, so she doesn’t count,” Elle said smugly. Then she put her hand over her mouth. “I mean, I hope she isn’t. That would be the pits.”

  “Wouldn’t it though? And another alarming coincidence. So, let’s go check out her house. Maybe she’s sitting at home with Carter Block. We could walk in on them, find them being vulgar and nasty, and thus solve the entire case without resorting to Indian legends even once in the paperwork.”