Bone Island 01 - Ghost Shadow by Heather Graham Page B

had forgotten about her ghosts, because she never mentioned a ghost again. Sometimes, though, she had information or could tell him things because a ghost had pointed something out. She would remain stubbornly silent when he asked her how she knew something.
    “Katie?”
    “What?”
    “Don’t go saying anything, anything at all-especially not to David. I know why he’s in town. If God himself comes down to speak to you, don’t say anything-do you understand?”
    “I think God is busy, Sean. The world is a mess, if you haven’t noticed. I don’t think that he’s coming down to talk to me,” she said.
    “Katie, please. I know you…think you see things,” Sean said. “I’m just…”
    “Sean, you think that whoever killed Tanya Barnard is still around? It’s been ten years.”
    “David has come home to find the killer, Katie. I’m willing to bet that he’s making that pretty clear. And if he’s right, the killer is going to be afraid. Please, Katie…listen to me?”
    “Love you to death, big brother,” she said. “And I’m listening. I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t see things.”
    “That’s what I need to hear, kid,” Sean said. He was quiet for a minute. “And be careful.”
    “Of what?”
    He was silent, but it was as if she could hear a single name in the silence between them.
    David.
    “Big brother, you either believe he’s guilty, or you don’t.”
    “I don’t.”
    “Then?” she asked.
    “It’s-sad, sometimes…”
    “You believe in a person or you don’t.”
    “I do,” he said.
    “Then?”
    “All right, let’s say I believe in him. Belief isn’t all black-and-white. And not only that, but what if someone had been after him? What if that person is still around? Just watch out for yourself. Careful on getting too friendly.”
    “I’m thrilled I’m going to get to see you,” she said, ignoring the warning.
    “Yeah. See you soon! And behave until then, huh?”
    “I’m just a regular angel, Sean.”
    His snort was loud and clear. “Love you, Katie. And behave, I mean it.”
    “Oh! We’re going in circles here, dear boy! I thought David was your friend, Sean.”
    “He was. He is, I assume,” Sean said. “But…”
    “Oh, my God! You are such a liar. You suspected him, too!”
    “No. I never did. All right, that’s a lie. I don’t want to believe that David could have been guilty. I mean, I don’t think he could have been guilty. But the thing is, no matter how mature a man he might have been trying to be, Tanya did hurt him. I understand that people think that she might have found him that night, that he might have been angry. I don’t believe it, it’s just…she is dead. David was a big strong kid from the time he was ten. But he was always-sane. Craig taught him to be respectful at all times. He didn’t have a maniacal or crazy temper. So, I really believe he was innocent. Except, inside me somewhere, I suppose, I couldn’t help but let some of the theories and rumors get to me.”
    “But now-you don’t believe it was David? Or you don’t want to believe it was David?”
    Sean was quiet a moment. “Yes.”
    “To which?”
    “To both.”
    “Okay, I’m saying that it wasn’t David. Then who?”
    “I don’t know, Katie.”
    “The police questioned you. I read it in a book.”
    “They questioned everyone. I had been hanging at Uncle Jamie’s place that night-O’Hara’s. I saw Tanya there. I told them the truth.”
    “Do you remember who left the bar?” Katie asked.
    “If I do, kid, I’m not telling you.”
    “What?”
    “Stay out of it, do you hear me?”
    “Love you, big bro. Losing the connection,” Katie said. “See you when you get here.”
    She cut off the conversation before her brother could give her more instructions.
    She looked back to her paper. Her brother’s name was the last thing she had written down. She scratched through his name. Sean certainly never hurt anyone. And neither did her uncle. She