Chapter 13: An Uneasiness

The pair of investigators arrived back at Ellison House shortly after the hustle and bustle of Catherine’s return had finished. They found the discharged patient in the kitchen having a light lunch with Hazel, Benji, and Leighton. A frazzled Yvonne raced in and out of the room while snacking on a fruit salad, trying to ensure Cat settled in perfectly.

"How are you feeling, Ms. Dall?" Jake inquired while Phinn moved over to sit on a bench to observe the returnees.

“Better. Thanks. I’m still somewhat tired and weak,” the older actress replied, picking at her salad.

“You need to eat more, dear,” Vonnie insisted, reappearing. Then, she noticed the two boys. “You’re back! How did you enjoy Lumlow?”

“It’s great,” Jake responded politely.

“Not much to see,” Phinn stated honestly. “It’s also a scorcher out there.”

“Absolutely! But that exercise will pay off,” Yvonne declared, patting Phinn’s head affectionately. “Marie, the boys must be famished. We need to add some meat to these bones. Don’t worry, Phineas, we’ll get you prepared to sweep a nice guy off his feet.”

Phinn cringed at the reminder of Paisley's lie about his sexual orientation while Jake held back a laugh. Over at the small table, Leighton nearly snorted her drink at her aunt's comment. Still, she couldn't resist teasing the less social detective while slightly coming to his aid.

“Oh, I don’t know, Vonnie. I heard that Phinn might be more open-minded than he thought. Portia and AD’s teasing seemed to confirm it.”

"Shut the front door! Is this true, Phineas? Have you felt new temptations?" the strawberry blonde questioned excitedly. Suddenly, the center of attention, Phinn, blushed in embarrassment. "Don't worry. It's normal to be confused about who you're attracted to. You know, I had the strongest desire for the loveliest brunette on my dorm floor during my freshman year. The urge to touch myself after seeing her in the showers was overwhelming at times."

Jake nearly choked on the first bite of the sandwich Marie had given him moments before. Leighton also regretted opening the door to her no-filter aunt's remembrances, and it showed on her face. A fact that Phinn didn't fail to notice.

“Is that true? Then we are on the same wavelength, Yvonne. Please, tell me more. It’s wonderful to find a person who understands my conflicted feelings.”

"Please don't," the red-haired niece begged as Benji watched the back and forth with an open mouth in astonishment.

“Thank you for the salad, but I’m still feeling tired,” Catherine interrupted, earning a grateful look from Leighton. “Marie, if it’s not a bother, can you change my sheets? I think a short afternoon nap is needed.”

“Of course! Let me help Marie,” Yvonne exclaimed. Hurriedly, she dashed out of the kitchen, leaving Leighton to shoot Phinn a murderous glare.

“You started it,” he mouthed silently in response.

“I can use a nap, too,” Benji said, standing up while yawning. “Those chairs at the hospital aren't made for comfort.”

"I told you that you didn't need to stay," Catherine reminded me while they left the kitchen.

“It’s not like the motel down the road from the hospital was any better. The place looked rundown and dirty. I was almost afraid to sleep in the bed with the high risk of bugs, but exhaustion won,” Hazel recounted, standing up to join the afternoon naps.

“Asshole!” Leighton hissed after the singer left the room.

“Me? You started it.”

“He does have a point,” Jake agreed, around mouthfuls of food.

“Whatever. So, how did the call go?”

“Not in here,” Phinn hissed.

Leighton threw up her hands at the warning while Jake shrugged. The tired detectives quickly demolished their lunch, which said plenty about Phinn’s hunger. Only as they finished did Paisley show up. For once, the ice queen appeared ready to burst from excitement. She swiftly informed them that she had news.

After cleaning up, the foursome went outside. While walking toward the stables, Paisley started talking more than Jake or Phinn could ever recall seeing before.

“After you left for the hospital, Jean-Paul started acting odd…almost twitchy. He ended up making a loud announcement that he needed to meditate. However, he said some gibberish about the meditation room still requiring more time for cleansing. I guess he meant the fight,” Paisley speculated. “That led him to say the den had positive energy, so he needed the room for a lengthy stretch of time.”

“Ah, the den is an interesting selection,” Phinn remarked.

“That’s what I thought. It’s obvious that he wanted to use the phone and wanted privacy,” the pale blonde responded.

“That makes sense,” Jake added.

“Thinking it over, I went to ask Marie what happened to all the other phones. She didn’t have any idea.”

“That still pisses me off. What gives JP the right to remove all the house’s phones except one?” Leighton grumbled, cutting off her cousin.

“Where did you find them?” Phinn asked.

“I didn’t. Instead, I went into the basement.”

“Seriously? You really went down there?” Leighton questioned, sounding surprised.

“What’s the big deal about the basement?” Jake queried, suddenly wondering if the werewolf might be living down there.

“This place is nearly a hundred and fifty years old. Imagine how its unfinished basement might look. Yeah, dark, dirty, and dungeon-like,” Leighton explained. “Many of us refused to go down there as kids, with Pais at the top of that list.”

“Well, I went down there earlier, and I found one of the older telephones. It might be fifty years old, but it still works. I snuck it upstairs to my room and plugged it in,” Paisley relayed.

“What did you hear?” Phinn asked.

“The end of the conversation. However, I believe I heard several interesting parts,” the ice queen teased. “First, the man on the other end shouted the name Len when I picked up. Second, Jean-Paul referred to the other man as Sutter. He also ordered Sutter to find out.”

“Find what out?” Jake questioned.

“I don’t know about that part, but Flamand insisted that someone must be down here. He ordered Sutter to investigate Marr’s whereabouts. That’s the one time I heard that name. He ended the call by saying that Sutter owed them that much,” Paisley recounted, finishing her oral report.

“Hmm, intriguing,” Phinn mused, leaning against the side of the stable while Leighton fed Queenie a treat.

"You're welcome for doing your job for you," the ice queen stated sarcastically.

“I don’t think we’re getting paid…are we?” Jake inquired.

“No, no, excellent work, Paisley. You took solid initiative. I’d say I was proud of you, but that might imply that I’m fond of you, which I’m not,” Phinn said.

“I can’t stand you, if we’re being honest.”

“Pais!”

“It’s fine, Leighton. We’ve long known how your cousin feels about us,” Phinn remarked, earning a nod from his partner. “However, her nosiness opens a window to Flamand’s thoughts. He’s concerned. One might ask about what, but I think we know the significant event that occurred around here lately.”

“The ****!” Jake exclaimed.

"Yes and no. The **** happened more than a week, maybe two weeks ago. Yet, if Flamand wasn't involved, he learned about it a few days ago. What he did discover this morning was the name on the car rental form," Phinn pointed out.

“JP knew this Grover Atwood?” Leighton responded.

“Or still knows if he isn’t the body. Perhaps our call will provide additional details to fill in the blanks.”

“What did Dusty have to say?” the redhead inquired.

“Dusty’s out of town, so we called the Sassers,” Jake revealed. “They're going to ask around and look into Flamand and Atwood.”

“Yes, we’ll check back in tomorrow, but it might take a couple of days for them to track anything down,” Phinn added. “As for the rest of today, I have a few ideas that will require your help.”

“Such as?” Leighton queried.

"I'm going to need your nature girl skills. I want to recheck the crime scene area before dark. While we're gone, I'd like Jake and Paisley to observe everyone's behavior today. Catherine's return might spark some action."

“What about tonight?” his partner asked.

“Jake, you’re going to be on pool and barn watch tonight. I’m not sure when we’ll be back. However, we have to discover what Flamand is doing at night,” Phinn stressed. “As for our newest junior investigator, I have a simple request.”

The ice queen let out a heavy sigh before asking what he wanted.

“For you to stay in Leighton’s room. I want you to watch the upstairs porch. I have a sneaky suspicion that someone might try to visit Catherine tonight: an unwelcome visitor.”

“You think Cat’s in danger?” Leighton replied with a concerned expression.

“Possibly. Which is why I want to wait for our search until after she wakes up from her nap. I have a few questions,” Phinn explained.

---

TAP TAP

“Yes?” came the voice from inside the bedroom.

“Do you mind if we come in?” Leighton inquired. A slight squeak sounded, and then the door opened in response. “I hope we didn’t disturb your nap.”

“No, it’s fine. I woke up after barely an hour. My body will take some time to recover from the shock,” Catherine explained, gesturing for them to enter. “What can I do for you?”

“We wanted to see how you’re feeling,” the redhead replied, nudging her head toward Phineas.

“Yes, I don’t know how much you recall, but I was there when you had your allergic reaction. It was very frightening,” Phinn commented, going into his playacting mode. “Have you ever had an attack like that before?”

"I've had a few bad reactions, but this was either the worst or second-worst. The other incident occurred early in my career while I was on a television show set. I wasn't–"

“Was it Jealous City?” Phinn interrupted, sounding like an awestruck fan.

“Yes, it was. That’s when I learned about the severity of my peanut allergy. Fortunately, a medic at the set on standby recognized the signs.”

“Did you realize you’d eaten peanuts before the reaction? Notice the taste?” Phinn asked.

“No, I didn’t. Not until the first symptoms began. Even then, I didn’t think much of it. I’ve had that same carrot cake a couple of times already. So, I don’t understand what happened,” Catherine admitted.

“Wow, that sounds scary. The other day keeps replaying over and over in my head. It felt so surreal, almost like from a movie.”

“I froze,” Leighton admitted. “It wasn’t until Benji yelled for someone to call 911 that I snapped out of my shock.”

“We’re so lucky that Benji reacted as he did,” Phinn gushed.

“I owe him my life. He’s a good kid who’s underestimated far too often,” the older blonde commented with a weary sigh. “It happens in our business. People start to think you’re like the characters you play. But it’s even worse for child actors. Too many people see Albie when they look at Benji.”

“There are some similarities,” Phinn pointed out.

"Yes, there often is. However, Benji's a remarkable young man. It's almost astonishing how upbeat he can be after so many rejections. Most actors would turn bitter because of the things they've seen," Cat clarified. "He just needs to wait until others see his talent again. It'll come, and I'll do my best to assist. I owe him that much."

“I can’t imagine what it’s like to be an actor. I’ve heard that insurance can be an issue if you go between roles for too long. Um, well, you know…”

Cat responded by laughing.

“If you’re trying to dance politely around a question about my finances, then don’t worry. I have health insurance, and I didn’t blow all my money as many actors do during the good times.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean…I meant that you know…with your divorces and all,” Phinn fake stammered.

“Honestly, the divorces didn’t help. I married men with less money than I had,” the golden blonde revealed. “But I also managed to avoid any shady managers, investment advisors, or fraudsters, unlike others.”

“That’s great to hear,” Leighton chimed in.

“Yes, I was fortunate. However, I’ve seen the damage that those people can cause up close. Do you remember Maureen Richardson?”

“She played your sister on Jealous City,” Phinn replied before Leighton added another fact.

“She committed suicide several years ago.”

“Yes, Maureen did. We were best friends for most of our lives. However, during my second doomed marriage, we drifted apart. Tragically, I wasn’t around when a parasite swindled her savings from her. It’s…you can’t ever live down that regret,” Cat said, wiping a tear.

Leighton and Phineas didn’t know what to say, so they sat silently while Catherine dealt with her sad memories of a good friend. Eventually, Phinn broke the silence.

“Speaking of sad events, did you hear that we found an abandoned car yesterday? We did, and it might be linked to the body we discovered the other day. The man’s name might be Grover Atwood.”

“Oh!” Catherine exclaimed, perking up. “What a…fascinating name. It sounds almost straight out of a crime thriller I appeared in.”

“Yes, it is an…interesting name,” Phinn agreed, meeting Cat’s gaze. “Have you fully recovered?”

“The doctor said that I’m getting there.”

“Well, it’s always wise to listen to your doctor. We wouldn’t want anything else to happen,” Phinn stated, drawing out the pause before his next point. “Maybe to be safe rather than sorry, you should have a person stay with you tonight. Just to be sure that you don’t have a relapse or anything.”

“Yes…That’s a good idea. I’ll see if Hazel will stay. She’s been so helpful already.”

“It’s good to have people you can rely on,” Phinn agreed. “But we’ve taken up too much of your time. I do hope you feel well enough to chat tomorrow.”

Leighton and Catherine exchanged pleasantries before the two teens departed the bedroom. The redhead led the sleuth out onto the porch so they could reach her room by that route. However, once outside, Leighton pulled Phinn close to whisper a question about his changed tone toward the end of their visit. Even the actress had to have caught Phinn dropping the fawning fan act.

“What was that at the end?”

“We need to speed this case along. I don’t think Cat has a lot of time until the second attempt on her life happens. She suspects it as well. What? Didn’t you hear the squeak before she let us in? Cat clearly had a chair propped under the doorknob.”

---

“Jake’s right. You are insufferable!”

“I highly doubt that Jake called me that,” Phinn scoffed.

"Fine! He called your tendency to withhold facts or your deductions annoying," Leighton clarified as they neared the end of the driveway to reach the main road.

“I don’t do it to be annoying. I don’t!” Phinn insisted. “If I rattled off everything that pops into my head, it would only confuse everyone else. No, we’re going left.”

“But the trail is to our right.”

“Okay, I may have left a detail or two out in front of Jake. Don’t give me that look!” Phinn responded to his client’s ‘I’m right’ expression. “Listen, I want to do a little digging into the man we saw last night. If I said that in front of Jake, he’d freak out about werewolves.”

“Alright, that’s a fair point,” the redhead admitted. “Where are we going instead?”

“To Frank Noonan’s place.”

“Frank’s? Why?”

“As Jake correctly pointed out this morning, Frank’s the only person we know of who also spotted the strange man. Although I should ask Rafael, he seemed skittish the other day, almost like he’d seen something he didn’t like,” Phinn recalled.

"That's possible. Raffy often takes our horses and the Carpenters’ for rides to keep them active. He might have noticed something on a trail," Leighton speculated.

Phinn inquired about the next closest neighbors besides Frank. However, what he heard didn't raise any suspicions. Despite that, Phinn felt someone who knew the area had to be involved in whatever shenanigans were happening.

“Sure, there are other neighbors further down the road or on the other side of the field from the back of Frank’s place. But those are all fairly lengthy distances. I suppose you have some Lumlow locals who enjoy exploring the trails. It’s too bad that Vince quit. He tended to know who was around that shouldn’t be.”

“Ah, yes. What’s the deal with him?”

“I don’t know. Marie says she has no idea why he quit. He never even said goodbye. Vonnie is still in shock about it. Vince was almost part of the family like Marie.”

Phinn wanted to ask another question about the former gardener, but another idea sprang to mind.

“What about meth? Have any labs been broken up around here?”

“Not around our place. Moonshiners used to be more common years ago,” Leighton recalled.

“Hmm, I wonder if any of the old stills might be a useful hiding place,” Phinn pondered aloud.

“Hiding places?”

“Yeah. Are there any buildings like that shack over in this area?”

“Sure, I guess. Due west of Frank’s property, past the forest and fields, were some old farms that went bankrupt. The same farther north of the Carpenters. You might have some abandoned buildings—Oh! The shed!”

“Shed? What shed?”

“It’s probably a mile and a half east of where we found the body off the trail. Well, it’s not directly off the trail but several hundred yards down a dirt road that ends in a dead end,” Leighton explained. “It’s barely standing these days, and I know Frank’s threatened for years to tear it down. We played in it a few times as kids, but it’s mostly used as a party spot for high schoolers or twentysomethings.”

“Huh. Once we’re done here, I want you to show me this shed,” Phineas said, turning down the short driveway that led to the Noonan farmhouse.

Frank’s truck wasn’t around, nor did he answer the door after several loud knocks. Phinn led Leighton around the side of the house to his backyard. He pointed out the triple line of barbed wire around the chicken coup.

“It doesn’t look like you’ll be able to ask him any questions. Do you want to go find the shed?”

“Not yet. Also, I wasn’t expecting Frank to provide any answers, at least not from any direct questioning. Any answers we find will be from his property,” Phinn replied.

The junior investigator directed his client’s attention to the woodshed and barn. Leighton gaped at the hole in the side of the woodshed, but she dismissed Phinn’s point about barn and farm animals.

“Coyotes are a legitimate problem for livestock sometimes around here.”

“I understand that. However, I don’t think Mr. Noonan is merely taking precautions. This setup feels more like a fortress,” Phinn remarked, gesturing to the reinforcements to the barn door and several patches on its sides.

“I wouldn’t call this a fortress,” Leighton scoffed, chuckling at the paranoid detective.

“You wouldn’t? Not even with the cameras?”

“What cameras?”

Phinn pointed above them on the barn. He also showed off several more around the property before mentioning the five he noticed on the farmhouse itself. Leighton performed a double-take upon spotting the camera near Frank’s back door. Finally, after seeing one above the front door, the redhead shook her head in surprise.

“These weren’t here two weeks ago when I first arrived. I’m sure of it. I would’ve noticed when I stopped by to say hello.”

“That’s not surprising. I suspected the ‘werewolf’ is a recent development. Yet, Frank’s two sightings spooked him plenty.”

“Two sightings?” Leighton repeated in confusion.

"At least. This area might be known for shooting first and asking questions later, but I don't see Frank as that sort of a guy under normal circumstances," Phinn declared.

“He’s not.”

“Yet, he didn’t hesitate to fire off a round at his woodshed. That had to have been his second sighting or more. The first time he saw someone creeping around, he’d likely blast a shot into the air rather than at anyone,” Phinn explained his reasoning. “He’d become increasingly agitated, so that he didn’t even wait to see us the night he fired in our direction. He merely shot at the sound of someone.”

“I guess that makes sense,” Leighton agreed.

"It has to. I'm even going to guess that Frank's seen our strange man several times. It has to be enough to get him unnerved enough to make his own silver bullets," Phinn commented as they started south on the main road again.

“What did you see last night?”

“Jake had most of the facts correct. We saw a man hop onto the road, stand up to sniff the air, and then hop down the trail. He also appeared to have long hair and patches of hair on his skin. Despite my partner’s hopes and fears, I’m fully confident that we did not see a werewolf.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because I refuse to believe in superstitious nonsense like the supernatural or the paranormal. We went through a whole phase early in our investigations, debunking this crap. Dusty and I were the skeptics, while Jake threw himself wholeheartedly into believing everything existed,” Phinn recounted. “Don’t get me wrong. Often, Jake’s willingness to believe helped us get close to other believers, which helped our cases. And it often caused the person behind a hoax to drop their guard around a bunch of kids.”

“I see. So you used to mind his beliefs less in the past. But now, you seem to have a short fuse whenever he brings up the idea,” Leighton noted.

"That's because Dusty moved away, and I'm the only one left to deal with this crap," Phinn complained with a groan.

Despite his announcement that he didn’t want to check the crime scene, Phinn decided to change his mind now that they’d headed in its direction. With Leighton tagging along this time, the investigator wanted to use the award-winning camp tracker’s skills.

They spent well over an hour searching the section of the forest where Jake stumbled over the body several days ago. Every small clue or possibility that Leighton discovered turned out to be nothing or a dead end. Eventually, Leighton brought Phinn out from the narrow path onto the dirt road in the exact location where he and Jake had found themselves a few days ago.

“Hmm, you’re right. I can see traces of tire marks along this dirt road,” Leighton said, noticing the same location where Phinn suspected the since-abandoned car had been parked.

However, the redhead traveled roughly ten feet north of where Phinn had guessed the car had stopped. To his chagrin, Leighton declared the vehicle had been parked there, and she noticed a footprint in the muddy grass.

“Aha!”

“What? Did you find something?” the bespectacled sleuth asked, rushing over.

“You didn’t notice this brush had been disturbed?” the nature lover challenged.

“Don’t give me that look. I’m not an outdoorsman,” Phinn shot back, peering at the trampled brush and broken twigs. “What am I looking at?”

“Somebody likely walked in there or walked out.” The redhead vanished into the brush for several moments until she returned. “Whoever it was, they didn’t go very deep inside. Huh? I wonder, do you think the killer waited here to attack Atwood when he got out of his car?”

"Doubtful. There aren't any signs of blood. Additionally, the spot where we found the body certainly appeared to be a meeting place more than this one. I also don't think a clandestine meeting makes sense on this dirt road, even if it's not well-traveled."

“But if your strange man attacked him. A person high on **** might stab somebody that many times,” Leighton suggested.

“No, I still think this killing was personal. Although I can’t rule out your idea…What the hell? Is that a tree fort?”

Leighton followed Phinn’s finger to find a small building constructed in the trees. Her eyes widened as she studied the seemingly out-of-place structure.

“No, it looks more like a tree stand. A hunting blind,” she added, noticing the sleuth’s blank expression.

“I might get lost in the woods easily, but I’m sure that was not here the other day,” Phinn proclaimed.

“It does look pretty new. C’mon, let's check it out,” Leighton said.

Phineas stood back to watch as the redhead studied the tree stand from underneath. She also ran her fingers along the thick tree trunk before ordering Phinn to give her a hand.

“How? Oh, I should’ve known,” the scrawny teen complained as he bent down to allow the agile young woman to climb on his back before grabbing a branch to lift herself up by.

The spry ginger swiftly climbed through a hatch to disappear.

“What do you see? Is there anything in there?” Phinn called up until Leighton’s head popped out of the hatch again.

"Nothing. It's completely empty," Leighton revealed, moving to dangle from a branch before dropping to the ground. "It does look new. You can also see up and down the trail and road for a long way."

“I’d imagine even farther with binoculars or night vision goggles. Hmm, I wonder if this is a Frank Noonan creation,” Phinn wondered. “It makes sense if he’s out hunting the so-called werewolf.”

“You could be right, except for one thing: I can’t see Frank climbing up there without any help.”

“True. Maybe he brings a ladder with him.”

“But that would give away your hiding spot,” Leighton pointed out.

With dusk settling in, they decided to move along toward the shed. Twenty minutes of walking abruptly halted as Leighton stopped, throwing out an arm to **** Phinn to do so as well. She made a shushing sound as she turned slowly to study their surroundings. Suddenly, she shouted, “There!” after hearing a rustling in the forest.

“Not again,” Phinn moaned, watching as Leighton darted into the woods after someone.

Hurrying after his client, Phinn tugged off his backpack to pull out a flashlight. Unfortunately, he ate the ground as the cost for not paying attention. After untangling his feet, Phinn had to rush after the sounds Leighton made while chasing somebody through the woods.

His efforts to follow fell apart after a few minutes. Unsure of what route to take, Phinn decided to play it safe by retracing his steps to the trail. Once back on the gravel and woodchip mix, he pulled out the lantern-style flashlight Jake bought at the store. Occasionally, the brainy gumshoe flashed and waved a beam in the air while sitting on the ground. Hopefully, Leighton might see the beam of light in the growing darkness and find her way back to him.

“It would’ve been nice to have a flashlight.”

After nearly forty minutes of waiting in the dark, Phinn gave a start as Leghton’s voice came out of nowhere. Relieved to see the redhead, he handed over the smaller flashlight. He also asked if she had any luck.

“Nope. I never even caught more than a glimpse of a black shirt or jacket. And that color didn’t help once it got dark. Maybe fifteen minutes earlier, I could’ve caught him.”

“So it was a man?”

"Oh, I don't know. I just assumed so," Leighton admitted as they started to walk in the direction of the shed. The redhead also conceded they might have a harder time finding the shed at night.

“We need to try. Hopefully, the flashlights will help. I want to eliminate as many possibilities tonight,” Phinn disclosed. “I get the sense that the situation is ready to blow soon.”

“As in blow up? I hope not.”

Leighton’s hopes met reality a half hour later. After declaring they’d reached the dead-end road they needed to turn onto to reach the shed, she swung her flashlight in that direction. Suddenly, a roar sounded as two bright lights temporarily blinded the teens.

“Get down!” Phinn ordered, lunging at the redhead, who stood frozen in shock.

A large vehicle barreled down the short road, barely missing the two teens before it turned to race off down the trail.