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“You’re telling everyone in town that you are here to research the legend of the Carnelian ghosts, but you’re really looking into the disappearance of Emery Geddings.”
“That’s right,” Ambrose said.
“I’ve been looking for him, too,” Jodi whispered.
Ambrose got a hit of anticipation. “Two weeks ago Geddings contacted me. Told me he had some information I needed to see. He said he would meet me out at the old asylum but he never showed. Why are you looking for him?”
“He was my boyfriend,” Jodi said. “I knew he was supposed to meet someone early that morning. I didn’t know that person was you. Emery never returned. I think someone murdered him.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Ambrose had releasedher hand, but Pallas did not need the physical connection to sense his icy tension. Her own excitement meter had just shot into the red zone.
“Talk to us, Jodi,” Ambrose said.
Jodi responded by flinching and retreating a couple of steps. She was inches away from flight.
Pallas clamped a hand around Ambrose’s arm in an attempt to send a not-so-subtle message and took charge of the conversation.
“It’s all right, Jodi,” she said. “Please don’t be afraid. We’re not going to hurt you. We really want to hear what you have to tell us.”
“You can’t record me,” Jodi said. “I don’t want to be on your podcast. I just want to know what happened to Emery.”
“Okay,” Pallas said. “No recording.”
Ambrose kept silent.
“Tell us about Emery,” Pallas said gently.
“The day before he disappeared he told me he was going to meet someone who would pay him a lot of money for some information about what was going on in the Institute,” Jodi whispered.
“But he didn’t mention me?” Ambrose asked.
“No. He said the less I knew, the better. But today when I heard you talking to Dr.Fenner I realized you were probably the overnight Emery planned to meet.”
“Overnight?” Pallas asked.
“That’s what we call the sleep study patients,” Jodi explained. “Overnights. There haven’t been very many of those. I knew something bad happened a month and a half ago on one of those shifts. Emery said there had been trouble. He said he’d cleaned it up for Fenner and that now Fenner owed him. Emery told me that was a good thing.”
“Why?” Ambrose asked.
“Emery said it was the big break we had been waiting for. We had plans, you see, but we needed a little more cash. Emery told me he was going to get the money we needed the day he was supposed to meet you. I was all packed and ready to go. I finally realized he wasn’t coming back.”
“Why didn’t you report him missing?” Pallas asked.
“No point,” Jodi said. “Everyone who knows him is aware that he’s gone. The cops know it, too. It’s not a mystery as far as they are concerned.”
“What’s their explanation for his disappearance?” Ambrose asked.
Jodi sighed. “Most people think he took off because things had gotten too hot for him here in Carnelian.”
“What do you mean things had gotten too hot?” Ambrose asked.
Jodi hesitated. “There are those who say he left because he was dealing drugs and he found out the cops were getting ready to arrest him. Others think he was killed by a gang that is trying to move into this territory.”
“Did he deal drugs?” Pallas asked.
“He did some dealing when he first got out of the Army,” Jodiadmitted. “He came back with a habit himself, you see. He was in a bad place. But after he got that job at the Institute he cleaned up his act. Mostly. It was a good job, even if he did have to work nights once in a while.”
