Mack's Perfectly Ghastly Homecoming (Mack's Marvelous Manifestations Book 2)

by AJ Sherwood

  “You want to give it to me to drive? But you’re making payments on that, aren’t you? Why not just sell it?”

  I’d expected this argument and thought of a counter argument. “Remember how much trouble we had for me to buy it to begin with, because I had no credit history? I can’t renege on the first thing I’ve bought; I’ll be screwed.”

  Her mouth opened in an O. “I didn’t think of that.”

  “Better keep it, pay it off,” Edmée encouraged, still at the stove cooking. “And Aunt Adelle, he’s right. It makes no sense for the car to sit there, especially with yours giving you all that trouble. If you feel bad about it, sell your car. Use the money to help pay off his.”

  Bless Edmée. I could’ve kissed her. “And when you fly up to get the car, you can meet everyone. It’ll be great fun, I promise you.”

  That sweetened the deal for her, I could tell. “Well. Let me think about it, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea.”

  Ha. I’d won even if she hadn’t admitted it yet.

  10

  “Don.” I headed outside as I answered, as it was too crowded inside the little house to easily hear him.

  “Hey, little brother.”

  “You know I hate it when you call me that.”

  “Of course. It’s why I do it. How are things going down there?”

  Blowing out a breath, I ran a hand through my hair. It had gotten much longer than the short buzz I preferred. I made a mental note to get it cut. “Good and bad. Good news, we found the ghost and Mack forced it to pass on. It did a lot of damage before we managed that, though, so we’ve got sheetrock and furniture to repair.”

  “Ouch. I’m afraid to ask about the air mattress and sleeping bags.”

  “Total write-off, bro. Send me links to things you like and I’ll buy you the replacements.”

  “That bad, huh. Okay, I’ll do that. But you’re both fine?”

  “Meh, a few bruises for me. Mack’s fine.”

  “If you’re both fine, then what else is going on?”

  “Mack’s mom isn’t doing real good—there’s a full story behind it, but short version is Mack sent her a thousand dollars to buy a new fridge with. There’s no new fridge, money’s gone, and his mom’s lost twenty pounds. At least. There was barely any food in the house. And to top that off, every time I offer to do something, it either starts an argument with Mack or he gives me these eyes, like he can’t figure out why I’m offering. Or maybe he can’t believe I’m sincerely willing to do something for a person I barely know.”

  “Ah. That look. Yeah, it’s hell, isn’t it? Being on the receiving end of that.”

  The understanding in his voice was perfectly sympathetic. My ears perked. “Does Jon do this?”

  “Less often, now. It’s this weird juxtaposition with him. He knows he needs help on a regular basis, he’s perfectly frank on his shortcomings. But if you offer to help, he doesn’t know how to gracefully accept it. His initial, knee-jerk reaction is to be suspicious of why you’re offering. Or to feel like a burden. Usually both.”

  He could have been describing Mack. “Shit. That’s Mack all over. Why they hell are they so alike on this?”

  “My guess is because they’ve unfortunately got too much in common. They both grew up with abilities no one around them understood. They had to rough it out themselves, figure it out, and they didn’t have reliable help in that process. It’s left them with some mental and emotional hang-ups because of it.”

  I let my head fall back, eyes slipping closed. “God, Don. The thought of my sweetheart going through hell like that…makes me want to kill someone.”

  “Yup. Felt the same way many a time. Want me to tell you what worked with Jon?”

  “I’m all ears.”

  “Patience. Patiently keep repeating the offers. Follow through on them consistently. Words don’t have much of an effect on them—they’ve heard pretty promises before to no good end. But do tell him, when the moment seems right, that he’s not a burden to you. That he’s your top priority. Took about six months with Jon before it really sank in. And that’s with his eyes.”

  “Which see everything. Damn. I might have more of an uphill battle with mine.”

  “Maybe. I hope for your sake not, but yeah. Odds are good. You do have one thing going for you. Mack isn’t convinced being around you twenty-four/seven will break your relationship.”

  “Ah. Yeah, I remember you telling me about that argument.” I was heartened by this observation. It was true, Mack didn’t try to discourage me from staying at his side. He actively kept me close. I didn’t believe that got me any closer to winning the war. I just had one less battle to wage. “Patience, huh?”

  “I know that’s not your strong suit. But try hard, okay? Seriously, it’s the only method that will work.”

  “What if I accidentally lose my temper from time to time and punch someone who deserves it?”

  Don laughed outright. “You seriously never change. When are you going to grow up?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  My brother snorted. “Keep me updated on how things go, okay? And don’t give me any details on the ghosts, just when you manage to exorcise them.”

  “You seriously can’t even handle hearing about it secondhand?”

  “I don’t want to know. Seriously. Nope. Uh-uh.”

  I rolled my eyes. “And you say I never change. Yeah, fine. We’ve got a second case we’re gearing up for tonight. Should be a doozy, as it’s on a college campus. We’re meeting up with another team to work with, which should be fun too.”

  “You’ve never worked with another team, right?”

  “We have in training, sure. This is our first lead, though. So, like I said, should be interesting.”

  The side door opened and an energetic toddler bounced out, waving at me commandingly. “Brandon, Brandon!”

  “I’m being summoned,” I informed my brother dryly. “Talk to you later.”

  “I can hear her. Okay, stay safe and kick some ghost ass.”

  “Trust me, I’ll do my best.” I hung up and slid the phone into a pocket as the demanding princess ran up to me. I caught her up in an arm, and she lifted into the air with a satisfied smile. “Hey, little one. What’s up?”

  “Breaky,” she informed me seriously.

  For that matter, I took it seriously. “Breaky sounds great. Let’s go in and eat it.”

  I took two steps before my phone rang again, this time with a number I didn’t know. I answered it, because in this business, you had no idea who was calling you. “This is Brandon Havili.”

  “Hello,” a smoky, female voice answered in return. “I’m Falisa Tate. I wanted to touch base with you before we got in later this afternoon. How are you, Mr. Havili?”

  “Brandon, please. We’re good. My medium’s rested, and we’re both ready to go. Thanks for coming in so quick like this. I understand you’re coming off a case?”

  “We are, but it wasn’t a strong ghost. Just a pesky one that took some time to deal with. We’re rather rested ourselves. Have you been on campus yet?”

  “We haven’t. Our plan is to drive in after breakfast and get the lay of the land, try to get things set up for when you arrive.”

  “That would be excellent. Get us two hotel rooms, too, wherever it is you choose to stay.”

  “Will do.”

  “Looking forward to meeting your partner and you, Brandon. It’s always nice to have fresh faces in the field. We’ll get to know each other better over dinner.”

  “Sounds great,” I answered honestly. “I’ll see you later and I’ll call when I have a better idea of what we’re walking into.”

  “Thanks. See you soon.” Click.

  “Well, Cali,” I noted to her, her apple-green eyes fixed on me. “Looks like things are going to get interesting sooner rather than later.”

  University of Louisiana at Lafayette was quite the campus. I’d been on larger, certainly, and it wasn’t really the size that
seemed intimidating at first glance. It was the architecture more than anything. All of the buildings were at least three stories, red brick with black roofs, white-trimmed doors and windows. It looked too uniform for my taste. The campus grounds had a lot of mini courtyards and trimmed trees, everything pruned to within an inch of its life. We passed football fields, agriculture buildings, and hundreds of students, all while looking for the administration building.

  Mack took it in, head turning this way and that as we drove slowly along the asphalt. It wasn’t until this moment that I really thought about it, but Mack was twenty-one. Technically, college graduate age. But I knew he hadn’t gone. Had he even wanted to?

  Clearing my throat, I ventured, “Ever thought about going to school, Mack?”

  “Nah. What would I even study? And frankly, getting through high school was a nightmare. Think about it. In a classroom environment, I can’t react if something approaches me. I can’t just get up and deal with it. I have to sit there and pretend to study.” Mack shuddered, and it wasn’t all exaggeration. “No, thanks. I’m done with school. Shit, Brandon!”

  I saw him scrabble for a brake on the passenger floorboard and said calmly, “Ghost, honey.”

  “Damn, he looked real.”

  They always did. I was used to such interruptions and carried on the conversation from before. “That’s fair. About not going to college, I mean. And really, in your line of work, a college degree isn’t going to do much. I just wondered if you’d ever wanted to go.”

  “Not really.” Light-brown eyes looked at me, studying me with interest. “But you’re a college graduate.”

  “Yeah, I chose to get a Criminal Justice degree before I went into the police academy. And I took extra courses in order to become SWAT. In fact, Don’s the only one who didn’t go to school. He went Army, which turned out well for him, in the end.” I spotted the administration building and pulled into the first parking spot that I saw. “Double checking, who are we supposed to see again?”

  “Ms. Constance Narcine. She’s the executive secretary for the president’s office.” Mack frowned at the phone in his hands. “That’s weird. Shouldn’t we be talking to the president of the school or the dean or something?”

  “That would have been my first thought.” I exchanged a speaking look with him. “Something smells.”

  “And it ain’t fried chicken,” he agreed, finally unbuckling. “Alright, well, let’s go in for a looksee.”

  There wasn’t anything else to do, so we unloaded and went for the front doors. The humidity was like a slap in the face in contrast to the air conditioning of the Tahoe. I really was looking forward to leaving the Deep South so that I could breathe pure air. Instead of, you know, feeling like I was drinking water with every breath.

  We got some funny looks from the students as we walked in. Granted, we didn’t look like anything in particular. I was in a button-down white shirt and khaki cargo pants, Mack was wearing dark-wash jeans and a green button-down that offset his curly brown hair in a flattering way. He could pass for a young college student, but I sure didn’t look the part. We both had FBI badges on us, in pockets, but they weren’t something we wanted to flash here.

  Mack flinched a few times, hanging onto me, his head swiveling as he spotted something, or something approached him. I knew what was happening, that we were passing ghosts as we went, but he didn’t react other than that. I assumed they were the friendly variety or at least were willing to ignore him. He did the same.

  We referenced a directory right inside of the doors, then followed the directions up to the appropriate office. The president’s outer office door was open, so we stepped in. Two secretarial desks flanked another door leading into a second room. That door was closed. The two women sitting at the desks looked up as we stepped in.

  “May I help you gentlemen?” the woman on the left asked me. I glanced at the nameplate, but she wasn’t who I needed, so I gave her a smile.

  “No ma’am, but it looks like your coworker is who I need to see.”

  “Indeed she is.” Mack noted with a smile of greeting to the other secretary. “Ms. Constance Narcine? I’m Mackenzie Lafayette from the FBI Paranormal Activity Division. This is my partner, Brandon Havili.”

  The woman looked both relieved and agitated as she rose quickly from her desk, scurrying around it on her high heels. She pushed back her bobbed black hair as she moved, speaking in a low tone. “I’m glad you gentlemen have come. Y’all are more prompt than I expected, which is even better. Things have been escalating, but here ain’t the right place to talk about it—”

  In an abrupt movement, the president’s office door jerked open and a trim man who looked to be in his sixties stepped smartly out. He was straightening his red tie, a question or statement clearly on the tip of his tongue, but he paused when he saw us. “Who’s this, a prospective student?”

  “No,” the other secretary, still seated, said in resignation. “Connie, you might as well tell him. Cat’s out of the bag.”

  “Well it is now,” Constance responded in exasperation. She gave us a pause sign with her hand, then straightened her shoulders before turning to face her boss. It looked like she was gearing up for a throw down. “Sir. These gentlemen are from the Paranormal Activity Division of the FBI.”

  The president rolled his eyes to the ceiling in a clear bid for patience—or maybe he was praying for strength—then glared at his secretary. “There’s no such thing as ghosts! I can’t believe you called them because a student tripped on the stairs—”

  “She was pushed down the stairs, the security camera clearly shows that motion, and there was no one behind her,” Constance argued in a rising tone that indicated she’d said this more than once already. “And that ain’t the only case! We’ve now had multiple students stuck in an elevator, two others pushed on the stairs, three of them have woken up with mysterious scratches, and that’s just from the ones brave enough to report it to me! Y’can’t keep burying your head in the sand. Something is wrong.”

  Whoa. That was quite the laundry list of injuries. Certainly more than our initial report indicated. I shared a glance with Mack and found my medium’s mouth set in a grim line. Yeah, this sounded like bad news. I was very glad now we’d called the extra team in.

  “This is a prestigious school, and we’re not going to teach our students that occultism is something viable!” the president shouted back.

  I internally groaned. The disbelievers could be a pain in the ass.

  Mack took two steps forward, placing himself next to Constance and clearly putting himself on her side. “I am Special Agent Mackenzie Lafayette. Sir, quite frankly, it doesn’t matter if you believe in the supernatural or not. A possible apparition has been reported on these grounds, and that apparition has been accused of assaulting multiple students. If that is not the case, we will prove it and deal with whatever is truly going on here. If that is the case, then I will deal with it personally. Either way, this is no longer in your jurisdiction. It’s in mine.”

  He sure was sexy when he was mad, my cute Creole. Or maybe I just enjoyed seeing him whittle grown men down to size.

  The president spluttered, flabbergasted someone would have the gall to tell him he couldn’t do something on his own turf.

  “I,” he said with great importance, “have not given anyone leave to investigate any trumped-up charges on these grounds.”

  “I,” Mack repeated sarcastically in the same tone, “do not need your permission. The FBI is above you, sir. Now, we have reports of multiple students being hurt on this campus, all in the same dormitory building. I will investigate until I am satisfied the issue has been dealt with, whatever that is. If you interfere with my investigation, I will have you brought in on charges of interfering with a federal case. Is that clear enough for you?”

  The president was red in the face, and seriously in danger of bursting a blood vessel, but he managed a mutinous nod.

  “Good. In the meantime,
I’m borrowing your secretary so she can grant me all the access I’ll need. I’ll give her back when I’m done with her.” Mack extended an elbow to the secretary with a tight smile. “Ms. Narcine, if you’d be so kind.”

  Constance looked ready to hug him for putting her boss in place. She promptly took his arm, and the two of them led the way out of the office. I followed, mentally making a note to report all of this to Sylvia later. Just in case an official complaint came in.

  “Thank you so much, Agent,” Constance said to Mack as we walked, her heels clicking on the tile floor. “I swear to you, he’s a good man and a good boss, but there are times I just want to shake him. He’s strongly against anything occult and does the adult version of drumming his heels against the floor when it’s brought up. He threatened to expel the first student for spreading ‘salacious rumors’ when she first came in to report it.”

  “I hate stubborn men like him,” Mack said flatly. “They make my life hell some days, so I was glad to shut him down. Now, if you don’t mind telling us in more detail about what’s going on?”

  “I’d be pleased to. But let’s go to the building in question, that way I can show you exactly where everything’s happened.”

  “We’d appreciate that,” I assured her. “And we’ll do a conference call while we’re there. We have another team coming in to help.”

  Constance glanced back at me, brows raised hopefully. “It ain’t just the two of y’all?”

  “No, ma’am. We’ve got three more people who will arrive later this afternoon.”

  “Oh good. It’s such a large building, and things seem to be happening on two of the floors. I wondered how you’d manage.”

  We stepped outside, back out into the humidity, and Constance dropped Mack’s arm to look at both of us equally. The wide smile on her face spoke of relief. “Thank you so much for coming. Truly. The students are so scared in that dorm. They’re literally sleeping anywhere else to avoid coming back to it.”