15

 

Five Years Ago

 

Siyah glanced over his shoulder again, eyes narrowed. He thought he’d seen her in the crowd. Searching the ferry passengers, he spied long dark hair, but shook his head. Raven’s was glossy black, with soft waves. His gaze passed over the boarding party, seeking the curve of her waist, the way she swayed as she walked, but found only the milling commuters leaving Noble to head into Seattle for a Saturday night.

Ahead, on the gang plank, a throng of teens shouted for him.

“Let’s go, Si,” Amy called. She waved him over, her blonde hair tossed in the wind. “We’re going to miss the movie.”

Pushing down the unease in his gut, Siyah ran to join them. They stood outside, leaning on the rail of the ferry, summer sun glinting off the water as they joked and jostled one another.

Amy and her brother, kids from a large house on the hills of Noble, swore and laughed loudly.

Tyler and his girlfriend, Kelly, hugged and kissed as if they were the only people on the boat.

Siyah stifled the urge to look around apologetically, old habits from growing up as the son of an elder. What the Romany thought proper was different from the other families on Noble.

“Are you OK?” Amy asked. She tossed her cigarette over the rail and blew out a stream of smoke. “You look spooked.”

“Nah.” Siyah cleared his throat, remembering to push the accent from his words. To Amy and her friends, he was a new kid on the island. “I’m good.”

“You want?” She offered him a sip of her bottle, scotch stolen from her father’s liquor cabinet.

Siyah took it, held it to his lips, and drank in the amber heat. He coughed, struggling to get the drink down. “That’s the stuff,” he wheezed, and tried to look like he drank expensive alcohol often.

Amy giggled, handed the bottle to her brother, and plunged her arms into Siyah’s jacket. “I’m cold.” Encircling him with a hug, she rubbed against his chest, purring. “You’re warm.”

Startled, Siyah found himself hugging her back, a sliver of guilt boring through him.

“So where did you say you lived?” Tyler asked, passing the bottle to his girlfriend, Kelly. “You live with your mom in Oregon, but you said your dad is here?”

“I’m just on Noble to hang out,” Siyah answered and took his coat off, handing it to Amy. “Here, I’m not cold.”

“I kind of liked it better when we were sharing.” She pouted, but took the jacket. “So you’re just here for the summer, then?”

“Uh..,” Siyah shot a look to Tyler. “I’m not sure.”

Tyler rolled his eyes, gesturing to Amy behind her back, urging Siyah to make a move.

Siyah sighed, glanced through one of the windows of the ferry. A flash of ebony hair and swirling skirts caught his eye and he squinted, heart ramming.

“What?” Tyler grabbed the bottle, shoving it behind a trash can. “Is it the security guy again?”

“No,” Siyah shook his head. “I–I’ll be right back.”

Packed with passengers, the ferry lounge bustled and Siyah, grateful for his height, scanned the crowd. Half hoping and half dreading the idea of Raven watching him, he gave up, leaning on the wall under the coat hooks. The steady, slow dip of the large boat rocked through him, and he rubbed is face with both hands. What was he doing? Spying his friends outside, Tyler and Kelly hugging, a giggling Amy shouting something, Siyah’s stomach tumbled.

Raven’s beautiful face flashed in his mind and he stood, dusting off his shirt as if that would erase the remnants of a girl he should not have had in his arms. Dark eyes, crimson lips, the way her skin smelled of sun and warm honey–she didn’t treat him like Amy did. Raven was not silly or flirtatious. She was pensive and, at times, fiery with temper. She could arrest his heart with a glance. It made his chest tight to think that she might be hurt by his actions.

But lately when he looked at her, he saw a future that was certain, one without doubt or possibilities. Raven loved Noble Island, the ways of the Romany, and the idea of spending forever at his side. She represented his life as the son of an elder, a brother of the heir apparent, and she tethered him to it. Tension twisted his gut, a trapped feeling that made it hard to breathe.

Knocking on the window to his right pulled his attention. Amy smiled, pressed her lips to the glass in a kiss and laughed. She motioned for him to come back outside.

Siyah cast one last glance at the lounge and then went back to them.

What was the harm in a little fun?

 

****

 

Siyah stood on the deck of his boat, the sea lapping at the hull as the setting sun drove shards of light into the brooding sky. Indigo and orange bled along the horizon under dark swaths of clouds. Already the flames of the bonfire twisted and swayed on the shore, people were drifting onto the beach to celebrate.

Families greeted each other with hugs and slaps on the back. The night moved across the sand, eating up every detail until there was only the flickering glow of the fire on the people.

Late August chill hovered over the water bringing with it the scent of burning wood and meats roasted over a flame. Siyah held the mug of coffee to his lips letting the dark liquid burn down his throat warming him.

“I thought the families only had bonfires on Saturday,” Sheriff Thompson called from the small galley just inside the door. He sat at the booth built opposite the sink and counter.

“A boy turned eighteen today. His family is celebrating.”

“Are you going in?” Thompson asked. “Or are you just going to drift out here in the dark?”

“We’re anchored,” Siyah intoned, not turning.

“Its best that we meet without your people knowing,” Thompson said. “The scandal and the hurt my predecessor caused the families is still fresh.”

“I am not ashamed of my association with you,” Siyah said and turned to look over his shoulder. “You’ve been respectful and fair with the families. You deserve their trust.”

“Yeah, well,” Thompson shrugged, “give it a bit longer.”

He pulled a file from a beaten up messenger bag on the bench next to him and slid it across the table. Watching Siyah, he pulled an artist’s pencil from behind his ear, doodling as he waited.

“And this is what you saw, also?” Siyah took the papers, sinking down on the seat opposite Thompson. He looked at the artist’s sketch from Raven’s statement and Thompson’s own drawing on a napkin from a few days before. They each had very similar images; a ghostly, anguished face. “This can’t be right.”

“And we aren’t the only ones to see something strange out in the woods.”

“The drunk tourists do not count as much as you and Raven.” Siyah set the pages down and rubbed his eyes. “I’ve been over the electrical system of the carousel since that night. An electrician confirmed the wiring is sound. He found no short, nothing amiss. There is no way it would have turned on by itself.”

“I’m not saying it did,” Thompson said and gathered the sketches into the folder. “Somebody real stabbed Niklos, a flesh and blood killer moved him to your boardwalk and—”

“And frightened Raven,” Siyah finished, worry wracking his gut. “She said it chased her.”

“Now that I do believe.” Thompson pulled a booted foot up to rest on his knee. “If I was dumping a body, I’d chase the person who saw me do it.”

“But that’s not what Raven believes she saw.”

“Does the killer know that?” Thompson leaned forward, his eyes hard. “She could be in real danger, Siyah. If whoever stabbed Niklos hears that all she remembers is a shadowy image that could be helpful. Why would he bother going after a witness who didn’t see anything?”

“She already suffers for what others believe of her. This would make her sound like she has lost her mind.” Siyah stood and paced the small path next to the sink. “Niklos had gambling debts. I found him beaten on the ferry docks eight months ago. The stabbing could be from his darker dealings and have nothing to do with Noble at all.”

“And what I saw?” Thompson asked. “Am I crazy, Siyah?”

Taking a breath, Siyah met his friend’s eyes. “If you are, then I have lost my mind, also.”

“Why, did something else happen?”

“This afternoon, after you spoke with Raven, she took a path through the woods. I hoped she would stay in the village or even get a ride with you, but then the rain started and she ducked between the trees.”

“Despite all that happened the other day, she wandered into the woods?” Thompson asked and popped a chip into his mouth from the bag next to him. “Doesn’t scare easily, does she?”

“Raven tends to do things despite the danger,” Siyah muttered. “And the trees would have provided shelter from the storm.”

“Did she see something out there? Did you?”

“I am not sure. I heard her scream and went in after her. She was running, frantic. There was movement all around us. Trees, shadows…” Siyah sat back, sighed. “I cannot be sure what I saw. But Raven kept looking behind her, as if afraid of what gave chase. And then she was hurt.”

“What did she say after?” Thompson asked, smiling. “You did take her to your place, right?”

“She was injured. I took her to the loft, but things got out of hand before I knew what was happening—”

“I’ve seen her.” Humor crossed his face as he looked at Siyah. “I don’t blame you.”

“Careful…” Siyah warned, an edge to his voice. “We fought, nothing more.”

Putting his hands up in surrender, Thompson chuckled. “I didn’t say otherwise.”

“I did not have a chance to ask her about what frightened her in the woods.” He nodded to the messenger bag. “What are you going to do?”

“Nothing that happened at the boardwalk needed to go beyond Noble, until now. The accident with the scaffolding, your cousin’s injury, they were all just work-related problems. Niklos’s murder changes that.”

“How long?” Siyah asked.

“These storms will give us a few more days before it starts to look strange that I didn’t contact the Seattle Police on this. If we get another good squall, then longer.”

“Not long enough to find out what is haunting my home.”

“You mean more than memories?” Thompson asked as he went back to sketching.

Lips pressed into a thin line, Siyah was again reminded that Dylan Thompson had not always been the easy going sheriff of Noble. A former soldier, he was a man acquainted with the darker side of humanity.

“I won’t let anything happen to her,” Siyah said quietly. “This time, I will keep her from harm.”

“Then we need to find out what is happening to Noble.” Thompson stood, the butt of his gun peeking out from behind his leather jacket. “Before whatever is out there catches up with us.”