Free In Shadows by Chandler McGrew

“We’ve always got later.”
    Pam walked up to them with an old woman on her arm. Barbara Stearn wore a red dress that Mandi thought might have been expensive in the early eighties. Her heels were so high she wobbled when she walked, and a string of fake pearls that would have choked a sperm whale dangled around her throat.
    “Jake Crowley!” she said, stroking back bottle-blond hair. “I thought you were dead.”
    “No, Barbara,” said Jake, extending his hand. “I’m alive and well. How are you?”
    “Getting crotchety, that’s how. Are you moving back into the family home?”
    Jake gave Pam a long-suffering look. “I don’t think so.”
    “Too many bad memories?”
    “I have a life out West.”
    “Do you now? Doing what?”
    “I’m a police detective in Houston.”
    “How thrilling. You must tell me all about it sometime.” She patted Jake on the cheek as though he were a ten-year-oldand grabbed Cramer’s bicep in passing. “And by all means, bring your friend!”
    She flittered away toward the food table. They all watched her go as though she were a strange sea creature crawling along the shore. Even Pierce wrinkled his nose at her perfume.
    Mandi laughed first.
“Getting
crotchety? And by all means, bring your friend!” she said, giving Cramer another squeeze and leaning close to keep her voice down. “Barbara claims she made films back in the fifties, but no one seems to have ever seen one.”
    “What were you guys talking about, earlier?” asked Pam, slipping between them and giving Mandi a reproachful grin. “You looked thicker than thieves.”
    “Old times,” said Jake, frowning.
    “Whispered voices,” said Mandi quickly, smiling at Cramer. “Cramer heard them in the woods.”
    But Pam didn’t echo Mandi’s smile.
    “It’s a weird coincidence, I guess,” continued Mandi, “but a few minutes ago Pierce told me that he heard something, too.”
    “Pierce?” said Pam.
    Mandi shrugged. “When we entered the church Pierce said he was
listening
to something. He’s been acting weird for a couple of days. He says he’s heard something at his window. I don’t know what’s going on with him . . . Maybe it’s the Crowley curse. Remember how your mother used to tell us bogeyman stories about the valley?”
    Jake was silent.
    “Curses are like baggage,” muttered Cramer, staring at his partner.
    Jake frowned and turned away.

AKE SPOTTED E RNIE TALKING TO V IRGIL M ILCHE near the front of the church, and he and Cramer made their way through the crowd. Jake could tell Ernie was alarmed as he waved his arms, calling for people’s attention.
    “Sheriff Milche has an announcement!”
    Virgil took a deep breath, glancing at Jake and nodding. “Ladies and gentlemen, there’s no easy way to put this, and I hate to have to bring it up here, but we’ve had another homicide.”
    Murmurs filled the air. Cramer bumped Jake’s arm, and Jake noticed an evil grin on his partner’s face.
    “I knew this was gonna be a good trip,” Cramer whispered.
    “We’ve got a positive ID ,” said Virgil, glancing around at the crowd. “Girl was a runaway from North Carolina, and we think she was probably hitchhiking. I don’t believe my going into the details right now is necessary. We just need to know if any of you here saw anyone hanging around the oldschool bus stop on the highway recently. No? Well, she was wearing jeans and a tie-dye shirt.”
    Mandi gasped.
    “You saw her?” Jake asked, as Virgil stepped alongside.
    She nodded. “It must have been her. Work was slow, and my boss let me out early. I came up here to the church before going home, thinking I’d get a jump on preparations for tonight. When I pulled out on the road again I spotted her, coming from somewhere up near the old Crowley house.”
    “When was that, Mandi?” asked Virgil.
    She frowned. “Yesterday. Around three maybe.”
    “See where she went?”
    “No. I started to ask her if she wanted a ride. But . . . I