Page 77 of Stalked By Shadows

The cops and EMTs left. Lukas stood beside the door, looking tired.

“There’s no ring,” Lukas said. “I don’t know where he got the idea, but there is no ring.”

I tilted my head to process what he was saying. Jared thought he could get Sarah back if he returned some ring that Marc and Mary had taken from the grave. But if there was no ring… “Was something taken from the grave?”

“The family says no,” Lukas said.

I wondered about that. Had they been there? Searched the grave, which by my understanding was full of old bones and ash? Somehow I didn’t think so. Maybe they hadn’t buried whomever with anything important. Or maybe they were hiding something.

“Stop,” Lukas said. “I can see it on your face. Stop analyzing this. It’s not some paranormal mystery. It’s a missing girl.”

“And two dead tour guides,” I pointed out. “What if Jared is sensitive?”

“What if he is?” Lukas said. “What does that change? Will finding some magical ring, if it even exists, bring Sarah back? Back from where? Think about this logically, Alex.”

“And when logic fails, what is left?” I asked. “You’re the one who said I shouldn’t distrust what I see.”

“But what did you see? A shadow in the cemetery? How does that help us bring Sarah back? Or answer for the death of two people?” Lukas sighed. “I don’t want you to go down this path.”

“I’m already down this path,” I defended. “Not by choice. A girl is missing. Everyone thinks Jared did something, but you have him on camera with date stamps.”

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t do something to her. We always suspect the significant other first. It’s how life works.”

And wasn’t that a shitty fact of life? “But you haven’t found her body.”

“Maybe it’s in a tomb we didn’t notice was opened? It’s not like we can go and start opening them all.”

I remembered back to the daytime tour and what Micah said about most of the tombs being sealed. It wasn’t like that was something easy to do, to open a sealed tomb and reseal it. “But the cops would have noticed if something was tampered with, right?”

“This is not your problem,” Lukas reiterated.

“Stop,” Micah whispered. His hands gripped my shirt but he hadn’t pulled his face away from my collarbone. “Stop, please. Don’t fight.”

I hugged him and kissed the top of his head, purposely looking away from Lukas to try to hide my irritation.

“Look,” Lukas said and paused, seeming to think for a minute, “keep your distance from this, okay? I don’t know what this is. Or why it’s happening. But I really don’t want either of you hurt. Okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed. I didn’t want Micah hurt.

“Has anyone gone into the cemetery?” Micah asked. “Maybe it’s not paranormal.” He looked at me. “Maybe Jared really hears her and she’s stuck in there. The walls are high and if the gate is locked, she would have no way to get out.”

Lukas frowned. “I don’t know…”

“Common sense would say that someone should at least check instead of everyone calling Jared crazy,” Micah said. “I think the two of you should be the last to call anyone crazy.” He pulled away from me and stalked to the door to tug on his shoes. He was really taking this not being afraid of life thing seriously.

“We have patrols doing drive-bys,” Lukas defended.

“And how are cops in cars going to hear a girl crying from inside a cemetery?” Micah asked. “If people reported hearing her would the cops claim it was some ghost bullshit and ignore it?” Lukas’s expression said that Micah hit that nail on the head. I grabbed my shoes too. If he was going, so was I.

“This is silly,” Lukas said.

We both looked at him and he threw his hands up in defeat. “Fine. Fucking fine. We can walk around the outside of it and if we hear something, I’ll call someone in to unlock it. And if we hear absolutely nothing then I get to tell you both ‘I told you so’ and ‘stay the fuck out of police business.’”

Chapter 23

It was almost nine by the time we got the Uber to the cemetery. Lukas had suggested he go get his car, but Micah wasn’t willing to wait. And since Micah wasn’t willing to wait, neither was I.

We walked along the perimeter, no one else around and the street stretching empty as far as I could see. Micah put his fingertips to the wall and trailed them over the stone, walking ahead of us and listening hard. Each time Lukas said something, Micah shushed him. I was actually enjoying how much that annoyed my brother, but followed the two of them silently.