The Edge Of The Cemetery by Margaret Millmore Page A

to begin?”
    There was a touch of anger in Pete's voice. “I drove up to the ranch after I talked to the neighbor.” He frowned lightly. “I'm not sure I'd qualify it as a ranch, though…it's more like several overgrown acres and some ramshackle buildings that consist of a house, a barn, a pump house, and a dilapidated shed. The power is still on and there was food in the fridge that was still relatively fresh, so I'm guessing someone was there recently and maybe plans to come back. Two of the three bedrooms were furnished and there were linens on the beds. Calvin, or his house guest, was pretty tidy…hardly any dust on the furniture or floors, so they haven't been away for that long. I found a shopping bag under the bathroom sink with most of the items still in it, including a three-month old receipt from a pharmacy in Valley Springs. The receipt listed antibiotic lotion, bandages, a suture kit, an eight-inch surgical clamp, and a five-inch Kelly clamp…the sorts of things you might need to remove a bullet and dress the wound.” He looked around the room expectantly.
    “When I searched the barn, I found a Honda 750 motorcycle with blood on the seat and splattered around the neutral and shoe stand switches. Initially I thought it was the one the neighbor had mentioned, but I had Aris run the plate anyway; it belongs to a guy here in the city. He reported it stolen the day we killed Vokkel. He was in an alley about two blocks from the garage we fought in. Said he was parking the bike when a bald black guy approached him, walloped him over the head, and took the bike and his helmet. By the time he came to, it was over an hour later.” Well, at least that explained how Edgar had gotten away. I'd always wondered how he'd managed to disappear so quickly, especially since we knew he was injured.
    Phil glanced over at me and mumbled, “Speak of the devil and the devil doth appear….”
    A heavy silence filled the room as all hope that Edgar was dead vanished.
    “So we think Edgar is in cahoots with the kid?” I asked, not waiting for an answer. “I guess that would make sense…he'd be pretty pissed that we killed his master and his sister, and based on what we saw of the kid's power and what he's been doing with that demon, Edgar could be using him to exact his revenge.” There were nods all around. “Do we think he's the one that told Julie about what really happened? Or could it have been Caleb?”
    Aris answered, “It is certainly possible that Edgar had been in contact with Ms. Vokkel. As of yet, we do not have a cell number for her, so we cannot track her recent calls. As far as Caleb is concerned, Vokkel's acolytes went underground when word of his death spread. We have known his cell phone number for some time and I asked Carol to trace the activity and check his call log. The phone is in Vancouver, and has been since shortly after Vokkel's death. In addition, we have confirmed with our local sources there that Caleb has been seen with much regularity around the city for some time, and we can identify all the numbers he's called or texted in the past three months.”
    I glanced at Billy, then back to Aris. “Why would Julie want her father's papers and journals though? I thought she kept her distance from all this stuff.”
    “We know that she visited her father a few times a year, but what was said between them, or what knowledge she had of his work, is unknown. Perhaps she feels they have monetary value…after all, there are others out there like Vokkel.”
    Billy grunted. “That's probably it. She's greedy, so if she thinks they're worth something, she'd want them.” Her shoulders sagged a bit. “That, and I think she just likes to make me miserable, and the missing papers were a good excuse to stop by and grace me with her noxious presence.” Billy did look miserable, so I'd say Julie was succeeding swimmingly.
    Carol said, “I did an extensive search on Gail Brelong. She owns the house