Suddenly Psychic (Glimmer Lake #1)(46)

“He hasn’t been back in a few years, but he writes very regularly.” Helen pointed to a drawer. “Every week. Your mother never asks about him. He calls too, but not as often. He knows I don’t like talking on the telephone.”

“Is he married?” Robin asked.

“He is,” Helen said. “His first wife wasn’t a nice person, but his second wife is lovely. She has three grown children, and they’re very much a part of Ray’s life.”

“That’s great.” This was all news to Robin. “So why did Grandfather and he fight so much, do you think?”

Helen turned to Robin with concern. “Are you and Austin fighting again?”

“No, Grandma, that’s not why I’m asking.”

“You shouldn’t fight with your son. He’s just taking his time. Sometimes the most interesting personalities like yours don’t always know what they’re meant to do right away.”

Was that Robin’s problem? Was she just a late bloomer? Forty-five was pretty damn late to be figuring out what she wanted in life.

Val asked, “What about Raymond? Did he know what he wanted?”

Helen laughed. “To be out of this house.”

“And he never came back,” Robin said. “Even after Grandfather—”

“Gordon was very kind to Raymond,” Helen said again. “And he didn’t need to be, you know. But he was. And Raymond didn’t understand that, so their fights could be very bad.”

There it was again. Robin and Val exchanged a look.

Weird?

Yeah, totally weird.

Why did Helen keep telling Robin how “kind” Grandfather Russell had been when everything Robin had heard told her the exact opposite? According to Robin’s mother, Grandfather Russell doted on his daughter and fought like mad with his son. And who described a father as being “kind” to his son and said “he didn’t need to be”?

Was there a reason for that?

Did it have to do with Billy Grimmer?

Grandma Helen reached for the drawer. “You should call your Uncle Raymond. His number is in there. He asks after you and Mark often. I know he’d be happy to hear from you.”

“I think I’ll do that.” Robin took her grandmother’s address book and snapped a picture of the page with her uncle’s information. “Hey, Grandma, remember that town history project I was working on?”

“About the dam?”

“Yes, and the town of Grimmer.” Robin watched Helen’s face. “We keep coming across Billy Grimmer’s name. Does that sound familiar to you?”

Helen took a sip of her coffee. “He was just a boy in town. Why is his name coming up?”

“He worked on the dam.”

“Lots of boys did,” Helen said. “Before the lake came.”

“What happened to the Grimmer family?” Val asked. “Did they all move away?”

Helen stared out the window. “I suppose he went with them to Sacramento. I suppose he did. They went to Sacramento and… he was going to join them. I imagine he went there.”

“So you did know him?” Robin asked. “Were you friends?”

Helen’s smile was strained. “No. Why are you asking about Billy Grimmer? Such an old name and an old family. All the Grimmers are gone now.”

Because he didn’t follow his family to Sacramento, Helen. He drowned in Glimmer Lake and I’m seeing his ghost and he has something to do with our family.

Monica poked her head into the kitchen. “Hey ladies, do you have a minute?”

Robin leaned over and kissed Helen’s cheek. “I’ll be right back, Grandma. Monica needs our help with something.”

“Okay.” Helen reached for a cookie. “I think I’ll have some chocolate.”





Val and Robin followed Monica into the large, wood-paneled entryway.

“What’s up?” Robin asked.

“Okay, I found this picture with Raymond’s name on the back.” Monica flipped over a picture frame. “Now, Robin, I can’t see Billy’s ghost, but from what I remember in my dream—”

Robin reached for the picture, which appeared to have been taken post high school. “Wow, he was the spitting image of Billy Grimmer.”

In the black-and-white photograph, Raymond was leaning against an old car and Grace was leaning next to him in a skirt, smiling. They didn’t look like they were fighting. They looked like a brother and sister posing for a family picture. Grace was the mirror image of Helen, and Ray looked like a carbon copy of Billy Grimmer.

“Where did you find this?” Robin stared at it. “I’ve never seen it before.”

“It was in a room upstairs in a dresser. Also, yeah, this house needs a lot of deep cleaning, and I’m going to have Jake come around tomorrow to deal with some leaks in the upstairs bathrooms. He’s great at that stuff.”

“Oh cool. Just tell me how much I owe him and—”

“Please. I cook for the kid every night. He can help out your grandma and bring her lunch.”

“Grandma will love that,” Robin said. “Thanks, Monica.”

Val said, “I know talking with Helen is complicated—I could tell you were kind of struggling with how to bring all this up—but I definitely think you need to call your uncle. I have a feeling he probably knows more than anyone else in the family about how you might be connected to the Grimmers.”