Catherine's Cross Read Online Free

right now.”
    â€œEverything all right here?” Detective Mason said as he stepped toward them.
    â€œYes, I was just finishing my conversation with Jenks.” Frank gave Jenks a quick nod and then turned away. The detective stood by her and they watched Frank leave the cemetery and walk to his car.
    â€œWhat was that about?” the detective asked.
    â€œI told him I wanted to know what happened to Gigi.”
    â€œAnd what did he say?”
    â€œThat he didn’t do anything to harm her.”
    â€œAnd you expected him to say otherwise?” He raised his eyebrows and looked at her.
    She wiped away a tear. “So what do we do now?”
    â€œI need strong proof of foul play to go before a judge for an arrest warrant. We’re going to look for new evidence.”
    She looked at the metal casket holding her twin sister. A new wave of tears came into her eyes and poured down her cheeks. Choking back the tears, she said, “After the school year is over, I’ll be coming to Beaufort to pack her things and put her house on the market.”
    â€œYou’ve got my phone numbers. I would like to help you in any way that I can.”
    â€œThank you, Detective.”
    Besides Jenks, he was the last person to leave.

    Several nights after the funeral, Jenks began to experience dreams about her sister. The most disturbing thing about the dreams was the acute realism. Gigi’s mahogany-colored hair was loose around her shoulders, and her hazel eyes were bright and alive. In each nightmare, Gigi appeared to Jenks wearing a gold cross around her neck. A voice repeated the word twins . Jenks would wake in a profuse sweat, unable to get the image out of her mind.
    On the third night of enduring the nightmare about her sister, Jenks was awakened by a ringing sound. At first she could not place the sound as she emerged from the darkness of the dream, but as it continued, she realized it was the ringing of her telephone. The time on her alarm clock was four a.m.
    Lifting the receiver, she heard an edgy voice on the other end of the line say in a whisper, “Miss Ellington, this is David Bernstein down in Beaufort. I apologize for calling at this hour, but someone has broken into your sister’s home. I woke to go to the bathroom, and I saw a flashlight beam inside her house. I have called the police, but I wanted you to know. The police should be here any minute.”
    Jenks rose from bed and made coffee. There would be no more sleep, but that also meant there would be no more nocturnal visits from her sister that night.
    At five a.m. the phone rang again, and David Bernstein was once again on the line. “Miss Ellington, the police are at your sister’s, but the place is too much of a shambles to tell if anything is missing. Whoever was in her house turned the place upside down.”
    â€œMr. Bernstein, thank you for calling me. Could you please make sure the policeman on duty calls me? I’ll be leaving for work around seven.”
    â€œI will, Miss Ellington.”
    At six forty-five the phone rang, but this time it was Detective Mason. “Miss Ellington, I’m troubled about your sister’s home being broken into. There have been incidents of property invasions in Port Royal, and I hate the thought that someone might have been aware of her passing and knew the house was empty.”
    â€œThat’s a horrible thought.”
    â€œWhat bothers me is that there are no signs of forced entry. Mr. Bernstein and his wife are going to look over her place this morning to see if they can determine if any of her belongings are missing. Most of her possessions are on the floor. It’s as if someone was searching for a particular item.”
    â€œWhat about her antique bottles on the shelves beside the fireplace?”
    â€œAs far as I can tell, the collection has not been disturbed.”
    â€œThank you, Detective Mason. Were you the officer on