Twisted Echoes Read online

  She patted the hand he still had on her arm and shook her head. Her car was okay, she had her backpack with her wallet and credit cards, and most importantly, she had her dog. As for clothes and all the rest of her belongings, including her livelihood, well, those were gone.

  Her eyes strayed to Clancy who was leaning heavily against her legs. She patted his head and looked back up at the fireman. “Thanks, we’re going to be fine. I have family.” It sucked that she was forced to run home to Mommy, but some days were like that. At least she had a mom who was there for her. How many others did not?

  The concern in his eyes didn’t diminish. She wasn’t sure if he didn’t believe her or she looked so lost he didn’t think she’d be able to find her way out of a cardboard box. “Do you want us to take you there?”

  Apparently, it was the latter, and she must look pretty rattled despite what she considered a noble effort at looking and sounding calm. Must not be working because he seemed more than a little hesitant to leave her alone.

  She thought of her mom at the house on the cliff and the calming sound of the ocean waves outside the window. Simply visualizing it filled her with calming vibes. The drive was long, but since she’d lost her home and her business in one fell swoop, what did it matter? She might as well get out of town. There was time enough for all the paperwork and drudgery that would come with a total-loss fire on another day. That it was now nearing midnight didn’t deter her either. It would be a long time before she’d be able to sleep.

  “No, thank you. I appreciate your kind offer, but we can stay with my mother on the coast. If you need me—” She dug in her backpack and came up with a piece of paper and a pen. After she wrote the pertinent information, she handed it to the firefighter. “You can contact me here.”

  Clancy in tow, she left behind the smoldering remains of her life and headed toward her car. He jumped in the second she opened the back hatch and proceeded to whine as he pressed his nose to the window. She ran a hand down his sleek coat and leaned in to hug him. He was young, a mere five months, but he was as sharp a dog as Renee had ever shared her home with. Like her, Clancy seemed to know their life in this place was over, at least for now. It was too hard to think about rebuilding and so she didn’t. Later, she’d think about it later. As long as they were together and unharmed, it was enough. He licked her cheek, did two full circles, and lay down.

  The drive out of the city and toward the coast was odd. She’d made the same trip a hundred times before. A light heart and anticipation were her usual traveling companions. She looked forward to seeing her mother and had loved Aunt Bea, who wasn’t her aunt at all. It didn’t matter; she called her Auntie and loved her as much as if they shared the same blood. Family wasn’t always defined by birth, and her relationship with Bea proved that.

  Today, the journey was awash with great sadness. Who knew that a fire could make her feel so lost and alone? After all, she’d only lost things and things could be replaced. Thanks to a buddy who also happened to be an insurance agent, she’d been responsible and had plenty of insurance on both the business and the property. All her possessions could be replaced. The building could be repaired or replaced. Best of all, she had family who could take her and Clancy in. Unlike so many who suffered catastrophic events, they had support. None of that mattered at the moment. The blackened windows, smoking roof, and charred brick left her feeling adrift and that made her sad.

  Halfway to her mother’s, she pulled into a convenience store and ordered a tall latte. In her world, there was little that couldn’t be fixed by a good latte. Even tonight with problems of epic proportions, it helped. The sadness retreated…a little…and as she neared the coast, the band around her heart began to loosen. In times of crisis who better to see than Mom?

  At the house all but one of the windows was dark, and a strange car was pulled up in the driveway. Company? Mom did have a few friends, and since Bea’s death there had been a number of folks helping out with the estate, of which the house was part. She’d never really heard much about the will, only that Mom had a home for as long as she wished. That was great because Mom loved it here. She’d been with Bea since Renee was just a toddler. In many ways, it was as much her mother’s home as Bea’s.

  She parked behind the unfamiliar car and got out, wrinkling her nose when she realized she reeked of smoke. No wonder Clancy had retreated to the back of the SUV and stayed there the whole trip. Usually, he was panting over Renee’s shoulder as if he really wanted to take the wheel and drive it himself. After the one good lick alongside her cheek, he’d settled down in the back. The only time he moved was when she stopped for a latte. She’d let him out and he’d done his business. That was it; he’d slept the rest of the way.

  How long had she stood outside the burning building while billows of gray smoke wrapped around everything in sight? It had been almost like standing in the middle of a flue. Her eyes had stung, and her lungs hurt with each inhalation. The firefighters tried without success to get her to step back. She hadn’t been able to do that despite understanding the wisdom of their repeated requests. It would have felt too much like she was abandoning what she’d carefully built and nurtured. Only when there was no longer a single spark of a flame had she been able to walk away. By then, she smelled just about as bad as the firefighters on the front line.

  Until now, she hadn’t noticed the stench. If Mom even let her in the back door smelling like this, she’d be lucky. Clancy didn’t smell much better. A shower was the first thing up…for both of them. Hopefully, Mom had something she could change into until she had a chance to buy some new clothes.

  A security light kicked on as it caught her motion walking from the driver’s door to the back of the SUV. She opened the hatch. Clancy jumped out and went running over to a patch of grass to relieve himself. Energy radiated from every step. Renee smiled. She loved that dog and the boundless energy that made him such a perfect companion. How people lived without dogs in their lives she couldn’t understand. Without him in her life this day would have been unbearable.

  A light breeze blew, carrying the scent of smoke and fire across the massive bluff. In the distance, the sound of the ocean waves crashing against the rocks was a welcome reminder of home. Not the home she’d made for herself in the city, but the home where she’d been taught to love. The home where the door was always open.

  Her mother must have been watching for their arrival because suddenly there she was, her arms pulling Renee close. Unlike Renee, she smelled of soap and vanilla shampoo. “Oh, sweetheart, are you all right?”

  Renee hugged her back. The feel of her mother’s arms around her was exactly what she needed. It didn’t matter one little bit she was pushing the big four oh. She was never too old for a mother’s comfort. “Yeah, we’ll be fine. Just sucks to be me right now.”

  Her arms dropping away, Mom stepped back and studied her. In the buttery glow of the outside light, her dark eyes were serious. “Renee Kathleen Austin, I hate when you use terms like that. Makes you sound like an unruly teenager.”

  Oh no, her full name. Mom only did that when she was upset with her. She almost smiled. “Sorry,” she said even though she wasn’t really. Mom could be so old-fashioned. It was reassuring in a way. Some things just never changed, and that was okay.

  “You smell too.” Her nose crinkled and her lips turned down into a frown.

  She laughed a little this time. “I think Clancy was a little offended. He stayed in the back the whole way. What he probably didn’t realize is that he smells as bad as I do!”

  Her mother’s face lit up at Clancy’s name, all traces of displeasure wiped away in a second. “Clancy! Where’s my boy?” At the sound of his name, he came racing around the SUV, almost losing his footing as he did, and jumped joyfully, his paws coming to rest on her chest. Laughing, Mom began to rub his ears.

  It amazed Renee how much the two of them seemed to love each other. Though she’d never had a dog growing up, Renee had lived with on
e ever since she’d left home. Mom had always seemed to like her dogs, but for some reason she didn’t understand, Clancy was special to her. Something about the black-faced German shepherd touched her mother’s heart. She didn’t know what it was and didn’t care. It warmed her through and through that the two of them shared a tight bond, so she stood aside to let the two of them have their moment of joyous reunion.

  Her mother finally straightened up, her face thoroughly licked, and held out a hand to Renee. “Come on. Let’s get you cleaned up and then you can tell me all about the details of the fire. Come on, Clancy, that means you too.”

  After standing there smelling herself for a few minutes, the cleaning up part sounded fantastic.

  The fire part not so much.

  Chapter Two

  From the shadows, he watched the two women and the dog. Wrapped in the darkness, he was but a whisper. Something seen from the corner of the eye yet never fully formed. It had been that way for him since the time of his fall.

  His wait had been long, but deep in his heart he had known she would come. Had understood they both would come. They had to. For it had been written in the stars so many years ago. The familiar crash of waves against the rocks filled the night with a lullaby of sorts. The sound had been his constant companion year after year, its steady beat a comfort in the endless procession of nights as he watched and waited.

  His eyes drifted back to the massive house that had stood on this spot for more than a century. Old in the human realm. But a blink of time in his existence. Inside, one slept, her slumber no longer troubled. No more on this night would he send her dreams. His work for now was complete. He had given her what he could, and it would have to be enough. She would wake and begin to wonder. It was the wonder that would bring her understanding and knowledge.

  Not open to him yet, the other one he would not trouble for he could not. Her time would come, and her soul would open to him. Until then, he would wait and watch just as he’d been doing for so long. His patience was endless. His time to make this right was not.

  Once before, he had failed, and two had been lost. His fault. Their damnation. Ever since, he had been waiting to bring them home. Only then could he hope to find his own salvation. Alone, he could do so little. Together with the two women now beneath the roof of the old house, they could do so much. In his heart, he dared to hope.

  But still he was afraid.

  The wind picked up and blew around him in a swirl of dead grass, golden leaves, and fine beach sand. It did not touch him. Neither did the rain, the cold, or the heat. Nothing touched him except the ache of the lost. As their souls suffered in a limbo they did not deserve, so too did his. Guilt was a heavy burden, his rightfully to bear.

  He wished a thousand times it could have been different. That he could have stopped the evil that saturated this place and hurt two who committed no greater sin than to love each other. He wanted to bring them home, and more than anything, he wanted to go home. His failure kept his feet on the earth, his soul waiting. Until he could bring them with him, the gates would never be open to him.

  Tonight, two came, and for the first time, a flicker of hope pushed away a little bit of the darkness in his heart. Outwardly, little changed for though he neared seven feet tall with a body rail thin, no one saw him. Ever. A blessing. A curse. His fate.

  No more could be done this night. With his eyes still on the windows of the old house, the Watcher took several steps back into the deepest shadows and faded as if he had never been there at all.

  *

  Lorna rolled over and groggily thought she heard a dog barking. Must have been a dream. Somebody’s pet would have to have gotten really, really lost to end up clear out here. It wasn’t like they had close neighbors. The isolation was one of the things that appealed to her when she decided to make the move. One of the things that scared her too.

  The sleepy fog cleared and the barking continued. The sound should have annoyed her because it meant someone’s dog was far from home and she’d probably have to find its owner. Strangely though, the presence of the dog didn’t bother her at all. Instead, she couldn’t help smiling. For a long time, she’d wanted a dog. Anna hadn’t been a fan of the idea. She always said a dog was a burden. They messed up the house, and if they wanted to go out of town, they’d either have to find a sitter or put the dog in the kennel. Either way, Anna insisted it was too much trouble and too much money.

  In her heart, Lorna hadn’t cared about any of those things. She thought dogs were incredible and would have shared her life with one in a second. Still, she’d never pushed the issue. She loved Anna, and it was just one of those things that a couple compromised on. At the time, she’d been okay with it. Now as she listened to the dog’s bark outside her window, she wondered how okay with it she’d really been. It made her think that once she settled in a little more, she just might make a visit to the local Humane Society.

  Daylight pushed through the slats of the blinds spilling pale light across her room. The day appeared to be starting off much better than yesterday. Awesome. Truth was she needed to get on her bike and spend some quality time putting serious miles on it. Then she remembered…it was still in Spokane at the bike shop getting tuned up. There’d be no bike ride today. It was going to have to be another run.

  Before the breakup, she’d plopped down a crapload of money to compete in the Coeur d’Alene Ironman competition. Now only four months away, she admitted, at least to herself, that she was getting nervous. With a swim of just over two miles, a one-hundred-twelve-mile bike ride, and a marathon-length run, training wasn’t an option. It was an absolute necessity. Even if the weather stayed horrible here for the next four months, she’d have to adapt. She might have failed miserably at love, but she wasn’t about to fail at Ironman. The thought of not finishing the race was too embarrassing to contemplate.

  She swung her legs out of the bed and stood with her arms reaching to the ceiling. Her muscles warmed as she did a quick sun salutation. It felt good. Stretched out all the right muscles and helped her feel ready for the day. For no apparent reason, she had a feeling today was going to be a good one. It took a second to realize this was the first morning she hadn’t awakened thinking of Anna. Well, how about that? Things must be looking up.

  An old T-shirt and a faded pair of sweats might be ugly, but they were perfect for a sweaty workout in a little bit. First things first though, coffee and a bagel. She skipped down the stairs following the smell of freshly brewed coffee. God, it smelled like heaven. No big mystery why Aunt Bea was so fond of Jolene. She hadn’t been here that long and she was already in love with waking up every morning to Jolene’s kitchen magic.

  A housekeeper was a strange reality for her. Her family never had the kind of money that would allow for such a luxury. Her mother provided well for Lorna and her brother. Solidly middle class, they always had what they needed, and much of the time what they wanted as well. Had she been the kind of girl who blended into the mainstream, her memories of growing up would have been all good.

  What they needed didn’t include a housekeeper. With no one to clean up after them, she was taught very early to be self-sufficient. Before moving here, she cleaned her own house, cooked her own meals, and washed her own clothes. She never thought too much about it until now and never minded doing for herself. Still, she had to admit waking up to coffee and a clean house was pretty sweet.

  Having Jolene around for company wasn’t too bad either. At first, she thought it would be uncomfortable having another woman living and working in her home. That lasted about ten minutes. Jolene had a way about her that made everything comfortable, and more importantly, natural. Now Lorna couldn’t imagine not having Jolene here.

  She stepped through the kitchen doorway with a cheery greeting on her lips. Before she uttered a single word, she stopped and stared trying to put together all the pieces of the picture she was seeing. Jolene was seated at the kitchen table. No big surprise there. It didn’t seem to m
atter what time Lorna got up, Jolene was already in the kitchen with the coffee made. That isn’t what made her stop in confusion.

  What surprised her enough to derail her mission for coffee was the younger woman sitting across from Jolene whose features made it obvious the two were related. The kind of whoa baby moment that usually happened in clubs, not her kitchen. Funny, until this moment, she’d not considered how beautiful Jolene was. Seeing the younger version made her breath catch.

  Jolene jumped up beaming, and seemingly unaware that she’d been struck speechless. “Lorna, good morning. I hope you slept well. This is my daughter, Renee. I don’t know if you remember her. You two played together a couple of times when you were children.”

  Daughter? A vague recollection of a skinny girl a year or two older with crazy red hair who talked a lot flitted through her mind. Yeah, maybe there had been a daughter but certainly not this vision of hotness sitting at her kitchen table. “Good morning,” Lorna said. She sure didn’t remind her of that wild little girl who annoyed the hell out of her back in the good old days. If she was, then that little girl was long gone, replaced by a graceful beauty.

  Renee stood also and extended her hand. “It’s been a long time. I think I was about eight last time we saw each other. I remember you being tall with braids I liked to pull. I bet that annoyed the hell out of you.” Her laugh was soft and musical.

  Lorna shook the outstretched hand, liking the way her fingers touched her palm. She didn’t look even remotely like that Raggedy Ann little girl of her memories. Not even close. This woman was, to put it bluntly, gorgeous. The crazy red hair was gone, replaced by long, wavy tresses a shiny shade of auburn somewhere between red and brown. Her green eyes were large and bright, her pale skin sprinkled with just a few freckles.