Islands Marina ball cap and tossed back her sandy-blonde hair. “Smart move, Kansas. Don’t want your parents to get the impression I’m a bad influence.” Nudging me in the ribs, Kat added playfully, “If you’re not careful, church can be habit-forming.”
“Anyway, if I stay on the boat, I can still do research and try to figure out what exactly happened to my sister.
“Hey, how did you know where I was? You spying on me?”
“Like you’re
that
cute. Oops, did I saw that out loud?” With mock embarrassment she hid her face behind the ball cap. Peeking above the bill of her cap, she winked at me, then said, “Uncle Phil. He’s in charge of the charter fleet and I work at the marina. Help clean the boats and stuff. He told me we had a homeless family that needed a place to bunk down.”
“I’m glad to hear someone finds our situation funny.”
“Seriously, you need to go see Annie. She can help you find your sister.”
“Yeah, whatever. Say, as long as you’re here, I could use your advice. I’m doing a little research on my sister’s abduction.”
“Research?”
“One of my hobbies — actually, it’s more like a job — is solving real murders by watching cop and detective shows.”
“For real, you can do that?”
“Oh sure. Sometimes I have to watch a bunch of shows, but I can usually pick out the killer about halfway through each episode.”
I handed her my phone and showed her the summary of
Grave Discoveries
. She skimmed the synopsis and handed the phone back to me.
“So?”
“What I’m doing is looking for television shows centered around zombie abduction cases, or zombies that go around killing people. In every police procedure show, all the main suspects are revealed in the first ten minutes.”
“All?”
“Yep. There are usually no more than three. Later in the show, a couple more suspects might be added or mentioned but they are never the killer. One character in the show is always the most obvious suspect. Usually they have a secret that forces them to withhold evidence. This makes the person look guilty. But they’re never the killer. Same sort of thing happens in real murders. What I mean is, police will find someone who looks guilty, who has motive and means, and then the cops rush to build a case around them. But too often, that person didn’t do it. There are lots of innocent people behind bars. Thousands, probably.”
“So what exactly do you want to know?”
“Is it possible for someone who’s into voodoo to put a curse on a person? I mean for real? I couldn’t tell last night if you were messing with me or not, but if there is such a thing as black magic, I need to know. Might help explain what happened to my sister.”
“Again, go see Annie. She’s an expert on voodoo, black magic, curses, potions, and raising dead people from the grave.”
I thought about that last part for a few seconds.
Raising dead people from the grave?
I wanted to ask how that was possible but I let it go. This girl Kat definitely had a different take on things. “Was there another reason you stopped by? I mean, other than being concerned about the homeless Cadens?”
“Oh, shucks, I totally forgot. You got a phone call. Come on, I’ll walk you up to the marina.”
On the way up the dock I said to Kat, “How come you’re not in school?”
“I’m homeschooled. You?”
“Dad pulled us out for this trip. Called it an educational opportunity of a lifetime, which was basically Mom’s way of saying Wendy and I couldn’t be trusted to stay with Aunt Molly and Dad couldn’t be trusted to come down here alone.”
The Palmetto Island Yacht Club was a white, two-story building with rockers on the front porch and ferns in straw baskets hanging from rafters. From a thatched-roof café came the ping-pong sound of steel drum music.
Kat nodded toward the double screen doors. “Tell the cashier in the ship’s store you have a phone call. When you’re done, come find me and
“Anyway, if I stay on the boat, I can still do research and try to figure out what exactly happened to my sister.
“Hey, how did you know where I was? You spying on me?”
“Like you’re
that
cute. Oops, did I saw that out loud?” With mock embarrassment she hid her face behind the ball cap. Peeking above the bill of her cap, she winked at me, then said, “Uncle Phil. He’s in charge of the charter fleet and I work at the marina. Help clean the boats and stuff. He told me we had a homeless family that needed a place to bunk down.”
“I’m glad to hear someone finds our situation funny.”
“Seriously, you need to go see Annie. She can help you find your sister.”
“Yeah, whatever. Say, as long as you’re here, I could use your advice. I’m doing a little research on my sister’s abduction.”
“Research?”
“One of my hobbies — actually, it’s more like a job — is solving real murders by watching cop and detective shows.”
“For real, you can do that?”
“Oh sure. Sometimes I have to watch a bunch of shows, but I can usually pick out the killer about halfway through each episode.”
I handed her my phone and showed her the summary of
Grave Discoveries
. She skimmed the synopsis and handed the phone back to me.
“So?”
“What I’m doing is looking for television shows centered around zombie abduction cases, or zombies that go around killing people. In every police procedure show, all the main suspects are revealed in the first ten minutes.”
“All?”
“Yep. There are usually no more than three. Later in the show, a couple more suspects might be added or mentioned but they are never the killer. One character in the show is always the most obvious suspect. Usually they have a secret that forces them to withhold evidence. This makes the person look guilty. But they’re never the killer. Same sort of thing happens in real murders. What I mean is, police will find someone who looks guilty, who has motive and means, and then the cops rush to build a case around them. But too often, that person didn’t do it. There are lots of innocent people behind bars. Thousands, probably.”
“So what exactly do you want to know?”
“Is it possible for someone who’s into voodoo to put a curse on a person? I mean for real? I couldn’t tell last night if you were messing with me or not, but if there is such a thing as black magic, I need to know. Might help explain what happened to my sister.”
“Again, go see Annie. She’s an expert on voodoo, black magic, curses, potions, and raising dead people from the grave.”
I thought about that last part for a few seconds.
Raising dead people from the grave?
I wanted to ask how that was possible but I let it go. This girl Kat definitely had a different take on things. “Was there another reason you stopped by? I mean, other than being concerned about the homeless Cadens?”
“Oh, shucks, I totally forgot. You got a phone call. Come on, I’ll walk you up to the marina.”
On the way up the dock I said to Kat, “How come you’re not in school?”
“I’m homeschooled. You?”
“Dad pulled us out for this trip. Called it an educational opportunity of a lifetime, which was basically Mom’s way of saying Wendy and I couldn’t be trusted to stay with Aunt Molly and Dad couldn’t be trusted to come down here alone.”
The Palmetto Island Yacht Club was a white, two-story building with rockers on the front porch and ferns in straw baskets hanging from rafters. From a thatched-roof café came the ping-pong sound of steel drum music.
Kat nodded toward the double screen doors. “Tell the cashier in the ship’s store you have a phone call. When you’re done, come find me and
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