“Plus we knew you would so tell Lisa if you knew,” I added.
“I would not,” Charlotte said, jutting out her chin.
“In fact, I wouldn’t put it past you to still tell her now,” Sophie continued, and I laughed.
“Oh you guys are ridiculous.
“We are not, but we are getting off topic,” I replied. “I think we should go talk to the other people on that street. If someone else saw Kelly near Andrea’s place, or better yet, go inside it, then we’d have even stronger evidence against Kelly.”
“But if she went inside her house, wouldn’t it be easier to kill her there than wait for her to go out in broad daylight?” Charlotte asked.
“Well, yeah, but Andrea used to walk Sprinkles at the exact same time every single day. Seriously, those old ladies had a more precise schedule than we do, and they were all retired. If Kelly was at her place when it was time to walk Sprinkles, then she would have had to go with her aunt.”
I could see Sophie and Charlotte thinking.
“Fine,” Charlotte finally said. “There’s nothing to lose by doing it, anyway.”
“For sure.”
“Good. Because I want to go out tonight.”
“Really? But it’s almost nine,” Charlotte said.
“Yeah, but it’s summer, so it’s still pretty much light out. And I want to settle this. I’m sure Kelly did it, I want us to have as much proof as possible when we go see Chief Gary. Who’s coming with me? Sprinkles, do you want to go for a walk?” I called out, and the dog came bounding out like he was fresh as a daisy.
“I can’t,” Sophie said. “Taylor’s coming to pick me up in about half an hour, we’re going to go catch a late movie at the theatre.”
“And I have to be up at 5 tomorrow, since I have my stupid early class,” Charlotte said. “So I’m pretty much going to go to bed now, like an old person.”
“Fine. You guys suck, I guess it’s just Sprinkles and me,” I said.
“Yes! I am totally up for another walk,” Sprinkles announced. “You’re so nice! I love walking!”
“Awesome. It’s just you and me, little guy. Are you ok if we go see Andrea’s neighbors? I need to ask them important things.”
“Yes, that’s fine. I’m getting better at going to where she lived. It’s not as sad anymore. It’s still sad though.”
“I know, little buddy. I’m sorry,” I told him, giving him a scratch behind the ears. “But it’s important, to help find the person who hurt Andrea. If we go out tonight, we might just be able to solve this case.”
“I’m sorry I can’t help,” Sprinkles said. “I just can’t remember. I just remember being scared.”
“It’s ok,” I told him. He’d still repressed the memory. Poor Sprinkles.
I grabbed his leash and he jumped at the door as we went out into the evening.
Chapter 18
The evenings in June were my favourite time of the year. As the summer solstice approached the nights were so long, even though it was bordering on nine o’clock there was still some light in the sky. The air began to cool, but the heat from the pavement still kept everything warm enough to be comfortable. A light, warm breeze swept over my skin and gently rustled the leaves of the trees as I walked down the street with Sprinkles towards Andrea’s house.
Yup, this was basically the perfect evening. I made a mental note to take dinner to the barbeque outside for tomorrow, some grilled zucchini boats and fresh fruit would make for an amazing dinner on the balcony tomorrow night.
“What are you trying to find out?” Sprinkles asked as we walked down the street.
“I’m looking for anyone that lives on the same street that Andrea did,” I told him. “I want to ask them questions about who they saw there that morning.”
I desperately wanted to ask Sprinkles if he remembered anything at all from that morning, but the poor thing was so obviously traumatized, the last thing I wanted to do was pressure him and make things worse. Besides, the way things were going, it looked like the three of us had solved the mystery without Sprinkles having to spell it out for us anyway.
This was all about the details.
From the smell of barbeque wafting up from a house down the street, it was obvious that I wasn’t the only person who decided to spend this gorgeous evening outside, which made me hopeful that I’d find at least one or two people on Andrea’s street who may have seen something.
Sprinkles and I walked towards his old street. Pine Road was a short, straight road that backed onto a forest that led to the road leading out of Willow Bay towards the highway for Portland. To access it from the east you had to go up Oak Street, where Andrea’s body was found. For access from the west, which is where Sprinkles and I came from, you had to go up Birch Road. Whoever came up with the street names in that part of Willow Bay wasn’t exactly the most creative type.
Pine Road had four houses on it: Andrea’s was on the side closest to Birch Street, with the abandoned house right across from it. There were two more houses on the Oak Street side. They were right by the intersection with Oak Street, around 200 yards from Andrea’s house. These were the houses where I held the most hope that someone might have seen something. After all, Elise still lived quite a ways from where Andrea’s body was found; if someone closer to her home was around they may have seen something even more important.
Sprinkles sauntered along next to me as we made our way up Birch Road towards Pine. In the distance I could see one of the edges of the old abandoned house.
When we finally got to Pine Road, Sprinkles began to sniff in front of Andrea’s old place. I stopped to let him do what he wanted; after all, this used to be his home.
“You ok, Sprinkles?” I asked him as he moved along the fence at about half a mile an hour.
“Yes, sorry, I was just trying to remember what life was like here.”
“Ok, take your time. We’re not in a rush Sprinkles, so you take all the time you need here.”
“Thank you, Angela,” he replied. I let the leash slack and gazed around the street. Pine Road was such a rural part of town, and by Willow Bay standards, that definitely meant something. A squirrel scampered across the road with a pinecone in his mouth, and I could hear a few robins whistling their songs in the trees in the forest on the other side of the road. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see a couple deer popping out of the forest, it was just that kind of place.
Suddenly, I saw a flash out of the corner of my eye, like there was some dry lightning or something. But no, that was impossible. And if I wasn’t mistaken, the flash came from the abandoned creepy house across the street.
No, that had to be wrong. That place was abandoned. It had been abandoned for as long as I could remember. But as I stared hard at the boarded up windows, I couldn’t help but feel like I should go and have a look. My witch’s intuition was almost always correct. There was something weird about that house, and I had to go see what it was.
“Hey Sprinkles,”I asked him. “What do you know about the house across the street?”
“Andrea says it is a bad house. A very bad house.”
“Anything more specific than that?”
“No. Just that it’s a bad house.”
I nodded. “Ok. I want to go check it out for a minute, if you don’t mind.”
“Ok, but be careful. Andrea says it’s a bad house.”
Trepidation filled me as I got closer and closer to the ‘bad house’. Suddenly, I began to wonder if maybe this was a bad idea. What if the house was haunted after all? Or cursed? No, if it was either of those things Lisa would have mentioned it. Right?
I took a deep breath as I reached the picket fence at the front that had once been white, but had now long since fallen into disrepair. Covered in mould and lichen, it could now kindly be described as a mixture of beige and puke green.