Daughters of the Lake(65)

“You found something?”

“It took all day, but yes,” she said, walking fast. “Can you meet me at the coffee shop? I can’t wait to show you what I found.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Kate crossed the street and hurried down the block to the coffee shop, ordering two coffees before settling into a table by the window. She opened the file folder she was carrying and pulled out the copies she had made at the library, strewing them across the table.

Nick arrived a few minutes later.

“Look at this!” she said, her eyes shining.

“I’ll be damned,” Nick whispered as he studied the grainy newsprint photograph of Addie. “That’s the same woman in the photo you showed me yesterday. And her name—Addie. Didn’t you tell me that was the name of the woman in your dreams?”

“They called it the ‘Trial of the Century.’” Kate was talking fast. “Jess Stewart—he’s the husband—was arrested and put on trial for the murder of his wife. My great-grandfather stood by him in a very public way. He even offered a reward to anyone who found the real killer. They were friends! Jess Stewart worked for him at Canby Lines.”

Nick stared at Kate, open mouthed. In one afternoon of research, she had indeed produced evidence of the impossible.

“You’re right about one thing,” Nick said. “I can hardly believe this. It’s just—” He sighed. “I deal with black-and-white issues. This is one hell of a shade of gray.” Nick leafed through the copies of articles. “What happened with the trial?” he asked her. “Was he found guilty?”

“I don’t know!” Kate cried. “The library was closing. I didn’t get to the rest of the story.”

“You’re going back tomorrow, I assume,” Nick said.

“As soon as the doors open.”

“Let me know what you find,” he said. “I won’t be putting this in the case file, but now you’ve got me hooked.”

Kate took a gulp of her coffee and gathered her copies back into their folder. “I’ve got to tell Simon about this,” she said. “He’s not going to believe it, either.”

She stood up and Nick reached for her hand. “You know, Kate, I have no idea what to do with this information. But I’m really glad you took me along for the ride.”

She smiled at him and squeezed his hand, electricity jolting through her as she did so. The truth was, Nick was the first person she’d thought of calling when she found out about Addie and Jess. She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she knew it meant something.

“I’ll be in touch,” she said.

Kate hurried up the hill and burst through the doors of Harrison’s House to find Simon in the library with a cup of tea.

“I found it!” she announced, tears stinging the backs of her eyes. “It’s all true, Simon.”

She opened the folder and fished out the copies, telling him the whole story.

“You know what I wonder?” Simon said, still staring at the articles. “She died more than a century ago. You’re dreaming about her now. Why?”

“I don’t follow you,” Kate said.

“I think we’re going from a whodunit to a whydunit and, from there, to a whyKate.”

Kate wasn’t sure what he meant.

“Think about it from your perspective,” he said. “What would be so vital, so important, to compel you to come back from the dead and reach out from beyond the grave to someone living? Because that’s exactly what I think Addie is doing.”

“It sounds creepy when you say it like that.” Kate grimaced. “Do you think it’s that deliberate? You’re making it sound like Addie herself is doing all of this somehow. Invading my dreams.”

“If she’s not doing it, who is?” Simon said. “And why?”

Kate felt a chill at the thought of it. All these events were becoming too starkly real, too tangible. The bodies, the photograph, the articles. Her own physical reactions. The whole situation was haunting—literally.

“Do you think I’m supposed to do something for her?” Kate wondered.

“You want to hear a flat-out guess?” Simon said. “I’ll bet it has something to do with the trial.”

“We don’t even know if her husband was found guilty or innocent at this point,” Kate said. “Still, like Nick said last night, what could it possibly matter now? She’s been dead for almost a century. That trial is so long in the past that nobody even remembers it anymore.”

“Addie does.” Simon smiled.



As Kate settled in beneath her thick down comforter later that night, a confusion of thoughts swirled through her mind. It was difficult to process all that had happened during the day. A newspaper article confirming that the woman in her dreams was real and might have been murdered had produced a tightening in Kate’s stomach that wasn’t quieted by a good dinner, fine wine, or the companionship of the person closest to her in the world.

She couldn’t get it out of her mind. It was breathtaking, literally. Kate had been having trouble filling her lungs with air ever since she had seen those black, typewritten words on the page, those grainy photographs confirming Addie’s existence, and the fact that her death had resulted in the “Trial of the Century.”