Page 12 of The Sister's Curse

“And I dreamed about my mom.” I told him about the memories of my mother and the well bubbling to the surface.

“When was the last time you dreamed about your parents?” He was wary. His pupils dilated just a bit. Could be concern. Could be fear.

“Not since last year.” I stared up at the ceiling. “I haven’thad any new memories about my father come up since then, either.”

“I thought your psychiatrist had locked those away. Then they came back all at once when someone was copying your father’s killings.”

“That’s what I thought, too. I thought that was it, and that when the case was solved, he and the Forest God just…went away. That we would live happily ever after.”

“And that’s been true,” Nick said.

I drummed my fingers in irritation. “But now it’s my mom. Just stupid, fragmentary stuff.”

“I mean…that could be normal, you know? It’s not your dad, and it’s not the Forest God. You had a whole childhood locked away, and it’s probably not unusual that more benign stuff is coming up.” He was trying to understand. Nick didn’t dream at all. But he was trying to grasp the internal importance of my dreams.

“No. It’s not either one. I just…” I screwed up my face. I could never call my mother exactly benign. “It’s just…disconcerting.”

I could be honest with him. I hadn’t always been able to. Nick’s mother had been one of my father’s victims. We had more baggage than a thousand relationships. But we’d resolved to be honest with each other. I felt vulnerable. I reflexively hunched my shoulders around my ears.

“I wish I could…” He trailed off.

“What?” I prompted.

“Nothing.”

I leaned into his side.

He slipped his hand over his mouth. “I wish I could remember more about my own mom, you know?”

I slipped my hand around his and squeezed. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

I hated my father. I hated him for the pain he had caused my beloved. I wished I could erase my father from Nick’s life, and the lives of so many others. I had been able to forget him for so long, but others couldn’t.

Nick cupped my head in his hand and pressed it against his shoulder. “It’s just a dream. Let’s decide that it’s just a dream for now, until proven otherwise.”

That was a reasonable thing for a scientist to say.Stay calm and gather evidence.

There really wasn’t anything else I could do…about the dream.

But there were things I could do about the investigation into the near drowning of Mason Sumner.

4

Cold Case

I returned to the pond, this time in daylight.

The pond mirrored blue sky. The surface was still except for small ripples pushed by the breeze, and breaks in the surface tension where dragonflies touched the water. The pond was perfectly round, in a way natural ponds rarely were, maybe two hundred feet across. There were no ducks or geese here—odd for this time of year. This year’s hatchlings should be clumsy and teenage by now, but there wasn’t so much as a sentry goose left behind.

A man in a wet suit sat on the bank, fiddling with a dive tank. The grass was still damp with dew as I approached, showing his footprints as well as my own. I sat down in the crushed grass beside him, where I’d tried to revive Mason. “Sorry to call you so early this morning, Lieutenant.”

Lt. Fred Jasper nodded. “Thanks, Koray, but it’s no bother. This is Dive Team work.”

The Bayern County Dive Team was down to one member. Theother diver, Sgt. Ramirez from the volunteer fire department, was out on maternity leave. Out here, in our rural county, people wore many hats. “Thanks for coming.”

I genuinely liked Jasper. He was in his forties, with graying hair, and crow’s-feet that deepened when he smiled. His face was sunburned from his time in the water and from umpiring for the interdepartmental softball team. He was the deputy who raised the most funds in the annual charity drive, and he donated the cash to the local animal shelter. Like Ramirez, he served on the county’s volunteer fire department. When I joined the force, he was kind to me. When I was almost ready to cry after I’d gotten into my first altercation as a new deputy, he had bandaged my bloody knuckles up and given me a pep talk. I would’ve lost that fight if he hadn’t stepped in. He never mentioned it to anyone, and I didn’t forget that. Jasper was a private guy. He never invited anyone to his house, and the rumor was that he lived in a total shack and was embarrassed to have anyone over.