Psychic Series Boxset: Books 1-3

by Lisa Freed

  I remained silent.

  With a smile, he moved on as if I had replied. “With both men being from Greece this will become an international issue, but for now I’m trying to pin it down before I have to hand the whole thing over. Just a little pet peeve of mine.”

  “How did you know they were at my house?” I managed to croak out, feeling completely out of my element and more than a little scared.

  The smile left his face and I could almost hear the music that signified a showdown. “Security cameras, your neighborhood has them everywhere. Good thing for you and for us.” He folded his hands across his lean stomach as he leaned back against the plump cushions of my new couch.

  I’m sure my face expressed my shock. I hadn’t realized there were cameras. Then it hit me, how had they even known to look for the cameras or me?

  Detective Willis nodded his head slowly as if in agreement with my line of deduction. “So, Ms. Ashford, would you like to tell me what the men were doing at your house that night?”

  Now it was time to skate as close to the truth as possible without actually telling the real story. It was going to be incredibly embarrassing but would beat using a toilet without a seat in front of other inmates for many years if I were thrown into jail.

  “They were here to make a final play for me. We had a love triangle of sorts and neither man was happy about the arrangement any longer.”

  The shocked look that briefly took over his lean face almost made this laughable, almost. Now to move oh so carefully as a few more pieces came to me about how they had traced them back to me.

  “I had met Mateo in Greece when I was there to help my ex-boyfriend, Lance Hamilton. When I returned home, Lance made it clear things were over, so when Mateo showed up there was nothing to stop us from dating. But I had also met Adrian in Greece, and he, well, it turns out both men, portrayed themselves to me as quite different than what they truly were.” I took a shuddering breath and let my gaze move past Willis’ face to stare at the beige wall behind him.

  “And the checks?”

  “To Adrian? It was to be for a business venture, which turned out to be another lie. Everything they both told me was a lie.” This time I looked him straight in those bottomless gray eyes, refusing to blink until he did.

  “A lovers’ spat? That turned ugly?” His accent rose on the last word, some of his disbelief evident in his voice.

  “Well if beating each other bloody in my living room could be called a spat, then yes. They demanded I make a choice between them and when I told them that I wanted nothing more to do with either of them, Mateo turned on me. Adrian pulled him off and got pretty battered. Mateo left in a fury and after I convinced Adrian it was truly over between us and I wanted my money returned he left as well.”

  “And you didn’t hire a private detective to check on Mr. Carras?”

  I forced my chin to raise and to put some ice in my voice. “Yes, I did. I was beginning to suspect he wasn’t who he told me he was. And I was correct. I had then asked the PI to check out Adrian and his family as well.”

  “Well that answers some questions, but Ms. Ashford, how did they both end up dead under the boardwalk after leaving your house?”

  I lifted my shoulders in a slow shrug. “I truly do not know.” Biting the insides of my cheeks to prevent a smile that might be considered snide I tried to be careful about the wording of my next remark. “But it’s your job to find out how and who did it. It wasn’t me.” I took another sip of soda, closing my eyes to the sight of his unconvinced face.

  I heard the rustle of his clothes as he stood and opened my eyes to see him zipping up his jacket again. I kept waiting for him to put on a cowboy hat and pull it low over his eyes but that was all fantasy on my part. Even with his jeans, gun, and jacket, he looked like he has stepped right out of a western. My mouth had always had a way of getting away from me before my brain was able to filter things and now was no different. “Detective? Can I ask where you’re from?”

  Those eyes flashed my way again, causing a slow curl of heat to unwind in my belly even as my toes clenched in my sneakers. “Alabama,” was his simple answer as he stood still, his hands hanging loosely at his sides.

  “How did you end up in Delaware?”

  As his mouth quirked up in a grin, I realized I was getting pretty personal for someone that had just been questioned in connection to two murders. I didn’t think he would answer me so when he did, I couldn’t stop the giggle that erupted at his reply.

  “Thought it was time to head up north and terrorize people there with my accent.” His arm extended again in a sweeping motion that meant ladies first. I liked it. Though it just might have been so he didn’t leave his back to me. Guess that came with the territory being a cop.

  “I like your accent,” I admitted from the safety of facing forward so he couldn’t see what had to be a blush burning up my face.

  At the door, I paused waiting. Looking up I caught a similar guilty blush on his face and from the direction of his eyes before they jerked upward, I think he had been staring at my rear!

  Such a shame he had to be the cop investigating Mateo and Adrian’s deaths and a double shame that I was stuck in the middle of it. I certainly wouldn’t have minded getting to know Detective Willis better.

  He got his composure back much faster than I ever could. A simple blink and he was once again stone cold serious and all business. “Thank you for your time, Ms. Ashford. If I have any further questions, you’ll be hearing from me. And if you think of anything that might help the case, please call.”

  At first, I thought he was holding out his hand for a shake but as I reached forward, I saw the small rectangle of a business card in his hand. Plucking it out from between his thumb and index finger I saw his name, Noah Willis, emblazoned in simple script on the front along with several numbers and his department’s address.

  Only after he left did I turn the card over to see a handwritten number scrawled on the back. As my finger trailed over it a hot tingle shot through me along with a whiff of regret.

  CHAPTER THREE

  John and I were having lunch and hanging out at his apartment a few days after Detective Willis’ visit and I was doing the best I could to put it completely out of my mind. His two black cats, Max and Mr. Mango, were chilling on the couch with us and John would periodically nudge one away from our plates.

  I had picked up Wawa subs on my way over to John’s. As Mr. Mango leaned over John’s shoulder, his mouth just six or so inches from John’s sub, I was glad I hadn’t gotten tuna as had been my original intention. Popping the last bit of my spicy Italian in my mouth, I took pity on my long-time friend and pried Mr. Mango off his shoulder. John’s sharp intake of breath let me know that the cat might have taken some bits of skin with him as he went.

  “Sorry about that,” I said before swiping at my mouth with a white paper napkin.

  John had just shoved the remainder of his ham and cheese sub in his mouth and his stubbly checks puffed out but he still managed to mutter out thanks.

  I tossed my napkin at him, “gross, John!”

  He finished chewing, picked up the napkin and lobbed it back at me. “Whatever, T.”

  Grabbing out plates and discarded napkins he stood up and took them into the kitchen, dumping the plates into the sink and the napkins into the waste can. “Need anything else?” his mellow voice called out.

  “I wouldn’t mind a refill of soda?” I yelled back, taking another healthy gulp of the Coke from the green plastic tumbler.

  John’s large bare feet slapped at the floor as he came back with the two-liter bottle in hand. After topping mine off he refilled his orange tumbler. Then placed the almost empty soda bottle between the cups on the coffee table.

  My friend John was a firefighter for Lewes’ fire department and his typical schedule had him working twenty-four hours on and forty-eight off. Spur of the moment I had called him up around eleven and had gotten lucky, with this being one of his
days off. Even better I hadn’t mistakenly awakened him and he was in a great mood. Lately, things had been tense between us due to hormones floating from him and things he’s never spoken of weighing heavily on us both.

  The downside of being a psychic is sometimes I knew things I really didn’t want to. And John wanting a more intimate relationship was definitely one of those! But today was good, only the cats were in the middle of us, things were calm and we were back to just being friends. I never wanted to lose that. John was my best friend and I seriously didn’t know what I would do without him in my life.

  I reached out and gave his left arm a friendly punch.

  His blue eyes turned to me and he grinned, exposing a bit of green stuck between his front teeth. “What was that for?”

  “Because you’re a goober, and you got lettuce between your teeth.”

  A quick flick of his thumbnail and he bared his teeth at me again. “Better?”

  “I suppose. So how are the boys doing?”

  One of the brothers had jumped up on the couch and was leaning over sniffing at John’s bare feet. He nudged the cat and then caught him around the middle, placing him in my lap. “They’re bad,” John said, patting the cat’s head.

  Max purred as he began kneading my legs, his sharp claws penetrating my jeans. “Just like their owner. You should trim their claws.”

  Next to me John froze. “Trim them? How am I supposed to do that? They’ll shred me!”

  I grabbed one of Max’s front paws, pressed gently on his fingers and showed the claws to John. “Clip, clip. He seems pretty calm you shouldn’t have any issues. If you get my purse, I might have a set of clippers in there you can have.”

  John gave me a funny look but got up and rummaged around in the dark blue Louis Vuitton bag I had picked up for myself as an early birthday gift. I’m not a cloth horse or even a brand name snob but I had to admit the bag was awesome. He finally found the little nail trimmers and brought them over then watched googled eyed as Max calmly let me trim his front and back claws.

  “Easy peasy,” I said, handing the little orange trimmers over to him. “Why don’t you try Mr. Mango? And you could change his name you know.”

  The trimmers got tossed on the table narrowly missing my stocking-clad feet as John chased Mr. Mango around the living room. It ended abruptly when the sleek black cat dived under the sofa and even on his belly John’s long arms couldn’t reach him. Brushing the cat fur and dust off his black t-shirt, he sat back down next to me. “I call him Mr. M, makes him sound mysterious.” John let out another of his dorky laughs and I felt the urge to punch his arm again. Same old John.

  The theme from the movie, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly split the air. With Max in my arms, I couldn’t easily get up so I rolled my eyes John’s way.

  One of his wide brown eyebrows quirked up at that but he still got up and retrieved my purse from the counter where he had left it after getting the cat trimmers. He set it down next to me and I stuck a hand inside, the sound of keys, lipsticks, and about a dozen pens making quite the racket as I shifted around in search of the phone.

  Pulling it out I didn’t recognize the number on display though the phone was glowing an interesting shade of gray that reminded me of Detective Willis’ strange, gloomy eyes. Having items glow was a newer aspect of my abilities and one I didn’t quite know how to take yet.

  “Hello?” I answered, my eyes moving to John who had resumed his seat on the couch next to me, his arm brushing against mine.

  “Good afternoon, Ms. Ashford,” a deep, accented voice spoke clearly in my ear, causing goosebumps to form and tighten on my arms under my long-sleeved brown shirt. No wonder the phone’s glow had reminded me of the good-looking detective, it was him!

  “Detective Willis,” I responded, pushing at Max so I could get up. The stubborn boy resisted for a moment, then jumped up, whacking me in the face with his long, skinny tail as he went. I scrambled off the couch and walked into the hallway.

  “I wanted to call and let you know I’ve spoken with Mr. Hamilton and he has collaborated your story about what happened in Greece. He further added that Mr. Carras seemed helpful and nice during his interactions with him. Which we now know is part of his chameleon act.”

  I wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that so kept my big mouth shut. Though I wish I could have been a fly on the wall during that phone conversation! Especially if Lance’s new wife, Pam, had been around during it.

  Sadly, despite knowing it was for the best and Lance and I could never have had a true future together I was still bitter over how quickly he had moved on and gotten married. Here I was still single.

  “Ms. Ashford? Are you still with me?” The detective’s voice had a trace of an edge to it. Or maybe it was simply that I didn’t care for how he said Ms. Ashford, somehow it made me feel like I was twelve years old and was about to get a talking to by a teacher.

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  “I also wanted to let you know that after today I’m off the case, everything is being turned over to the state police.” He paused and I heard something shift around on his end. “I’ll be giving the lead investigator all my input and my findings on you. Once again, you are not currently a suspect, but if you have any upcoming travel plans, please let the department know.”

  I blinked a few times. After just being in Greece a month ago I definitely had no upcoming trips. And with everything going on I just wanted to get my life back on the nice, peaceful track it had been before Victor’s little body jumping adventures changed things.

  “Let the state police know, or you?” I cringed, whatever had made me add that last part?! Must be his weird resemblance to a young, handsome Clint Eastwood that still had me all hot and bothered.

  “The state police.” Any warmth that had been in Detective Willis’ voice, even if it had only been in my mind, was nowhere to be found in that clipped reply.

  “Okay, then.”

  “Have a good afternoon, Ms. Ashford.”

  “Thank you, you too, Detective.” I ended the call and returned to the living room. I could tell immediately by John’s face that although I had tried to speak softly during my phone conversation, he had overheard enough of it to have a lot of questions. Questions that I really didn’t want to answer.

  “Detective Willis?” John’s gentle blue eyes flashed. “That wouldn’t be from homicide would it?”

  With John being a firefighter, he knew most of the local police as well as the other department’s firefighters and EMT’s.

  “Yes.” The word hung in the air damning me.

  I kept things from John because I didn’t want him to worry. And because sometimes I just didn’t want to listen to him harp on me for my bad choices. Like Mateo. John hadn’t liked him latching onto me in Greece. And he would have flown off the handle if he had known Mateo was in town, I had gone on dates with him, had him over to my house and kissed him. Part of it stemmed from jealousy, which I had to ignore for both our sakes but a huge part was John just being a good friend and him being right.

  Most of the Mateo mess I might have avoided, at least my stupid attraction to the lunatic. With Victor’s involvement and Mateo’s grandfather’s death being hooked to his I’m sure Mateo would have still pulled me in somehow…No, strike that, Victor going to Greece had been what had put on Mateo’s psychic radar. So once again this all went back to Victor.

  Another sore spot between me and John.

  My sister Megan and John were the only living people aware of my abilities but only John knew how close Victor and I were. And even he didn’t know just how close we had become. He knew about Lance but not that Victor had taken over Lance’s body so that he and I could enjoy some forbidden physical intimacy.

  A huge mistake on my part and one I vowed never to repeat. And there was no way I would ever tell that to John. Besides any mention of my sex life might be a further blow to John.

  He continued to stare at me, his brow scrunched up in annoy
ance. “You knew Mateo was in Rehoboth,” he exploded, his blue eyes hot with intensity.

  I bit my lip, nodding my head miserably.

  “And I suppose you saw him,” John continued. Receiving no response from me he jumped up, stalking the length of the coffee table in long strides. The dark flat screen TV on the wall reflected his agitation. “And what about the other guy found?! Did you know him too?”

  “Victor’s nephew,” I squeaked out.

  That had John slamming on the brakes, raising up on his toes as he stopped and whirled to face me, his expression thunderous. No trace of good-natured, easy going John remained.

  My fingers knotted in my lap as I settled lower in the cushions of the couch.

  “The ghost’s nephew?” he whispered through clenched lips. I saw a vein on his neck pulsate with his elevated pulse.

  A deep exhale rushed out of his nose in a nosy exclamation of his frustration as his hands rose up to his chest and he began to tick off points on the fingers of his left hand. “We got two dead guys from Greece.” His index finger shot up.

  “One of which is the family member of your own personal ghost pal that you went to Greece to help.” The middle finger joined it.

  “Oh, wait, no, you went there to help an ex-boyfriend.” He rolled his eyes briefly before they narrowed on me once again.

  “A homicide cop is calling you.” The ring finger went up. John wiggled those three upright fingers at me before he threw both hands in the air and they settled down on his head to rake through his short brown hair. “What in the world are you messed up in, T?”

  Standing, I walked around the coffee table, stopping within a foot from John. I looked up at his dear face. John was not what most would call attractive, he never had been, but he was one of the sweetest people I knew and he deserved as much of the truth as I could give. “A complete mess. You were one hundred percent right about Mateo. He targeted me for my money and because of Victor.”