I pursed my lips. That’s exactly what he had done with Miles. Clark seemed to read my thoughts.
“I don’t believe Miles Lucas is guilty.”
“Then why did you arrest him?”
“Libby, focus.”
I sighed. “I was thinking the same thing. George worked in the killer’s house and came across the discs, and maybe some recorder equipment.”
A sharp sense of panic overwhelmed me. I almost lost my concentration. I had just mentioned the discs, but no one outside of Clark, Miles, and the officer with him in Miles’s apartment knew of their existence. I knew because I had been there when Clark discovered the discs. He had kept them a secret. If the town had panicked over finding cameras in their homes, they would riot over discs with their names on them.
To my great relief, Clark was too deep in thought to have heard me. Still, I sat in tense silence, waiting for the hammer to fall and searching my mind for a plausible explanation as to why I knew information I shouldn’t.
“I’m going to the hardware store to check the books and log every person who has ever requested his services.” Clark stood and looked at me. “I hear you will be working there soon.”
“I…”
“Would you like to come with me? Seeing as you have more of a right to be there now than anyone.”
He might be right, but I didn’t know how long we would be there, and holding my form with one person to energize me might be too difficult. I glanced up at him to turn down the invitation and spotted the mark. Refusal of the offer faded away, and I found myself agreeing to go. For good or bad, I had assigned myself to assist Clark and to watch over him. I had to do it no matter how hard.
“Sure. I’d be glad to help.”
* * * *
Clark might have a lot of papers and folders in his office, but from what I had seen, they were organized. Watching him work, I had found the man was thorough, and he knew where to find whatever he needed. George Walsh and organization did not go together. The “books” turned out to be piles upon piles of receipts stuffed wherever they fit. If George had been contracted officially by anyone, Clark and I did not know it with a glance. We waded through the mess a little at a time, and when my concentration faded, I carried a pile of papers to one of the aisles in an excuse to spread out more instead of remaining in the confines of George’s makeshift office.
To my relief, Clark didn’t question my plan. I spread the papers as much as possible on the floor and went invisible to scan them that way. When I needed to shift any of the sheets, I used a solid fingertip only.
“Libby?”
I started and whipped to another aisle, materialized, and walked back to where Clark stood. “Oh, sorry. I was getting a crick in my neck and stretched a bit.”
Clark waved a sheet of yellow lined paper in his hand, which appeared to have been torn from a notepad. I cringed. The very moment I started in the store, I would attack the files.
“I found something,” he said.
Excitement bubbled inside me. “What is it?”
“Luis Riley.”
I wrinkled my nose. “The newspaper reporter?”
Clark affirmed. He strode over to me and let me scan the sheet. Not even a receipt, the sheet listed off a few supplies for Luis. Of course there was only one Luis in town, but how did that mean Luis was their man? I asked Clark, and he explained.
“Up until now, we were coming across all the people I’ve already interviewed and cleared, but this wasn’t with the rest of the receipts. George and Luis had a bartering agreement.”
I still didn’t get it.
Clark grinned, and I almost sighed at how handsome he was when he did. If only… I shook myself to clear my errant thoughts. The police chief held up another sheet of paper, which was a receipt.
“From these two, I figured it out,” Clark said. “In exchange for home improvement at Luis’s house, Luis upgraded the electricity in the shop.”
I slapped a hand over my mouth, eyes wide. Luis must be the contractor the mayor had hired. There was no company that handled such things in Summit’s Edge, so with Luis’s skill, his moonlighting job in addition to running the newspaper must have taken him out of Summit’s Edge. Luis also matched the description of the man who had run Monica and I off the road.
“So why didn’t the mayor recognize him if he was the one who put her wiring in?”
“My guess is she did, but remember we haven’t been able to talk to her once we realized the truth. Sharon gave you the name of the company but not the name of the contractor.” His cell phone rang, and he peered at the screen. “That’s the mayor at last.”
I waited while he spoke with Olivia Walsh. From the sound of it, she confirmed Luis had been the one the outside company had sent as a contractor. If I’d known that the day I visited her, we could have solved the case sooner, but I was glad we had ferreted out the truth either way.
Clark disconnected from his call, and I asked, “So what are you going to do now?”
He reached a hand up to the radio on his shoulder and turned a dial. “I’m going to pick him up.”
“I want to go,” I said, following him to the door.
“No, it’s too dangerous.”
“Clark.”
“Go home, Libby. I appreciate your help, but let the police handle this.” He opened the door but then turned back, the stern expression fading. “I’ll call you.”
I waited until he cleared the front of the store before I winked out and followed him anyway. We arrived at Luis’s house within fifteen minutes to find clothes strewn about the bed in an otherwise orderly home. All of the dresser drawers had been emptied as well as the closet. Clark ground his teeth and performed a brief search of the premises. From all appearances, Luis had fled.
“I need an APB on Luis Riley,” Clark barked into his radio.
“The newspaper guy?” came the response.
“Yes, the newspaper guy! Get on it.”
“You got it, chief.”
The radio crackled and then went silent. Libby followed Clark into the closet, and he stooped, examining the wall. He ran his hand over the back of it, and I rolled my eyes, thinking I knew what he looked for. Did he think George had built a hidden room for Luis? How cliché would that be?
Finding nothing, Clark came back out, and I continued to dog his steps. When he entered the hall, we both glanced up at the ceiling. A string hung from a narrow door, not uncommon for foldable steps leading to the attic. After he had pulled them down and picked his way up, I popped through the floor and gasped. If either of us had any doubt Luis was the culprit, all uncertainty disappeared. The attic walls contained shelves upon shelves of electronic equipment, cameras, recording devices, lenses, and tripods. A camera on a tripod stood before one of the windows, with a lens so long I gaped at it in disbelief. This was more than just a man who wanted to get the latest scoop. This was an obsession, and it sickened me.
Soon another officer arrived with fingerprinting equipment and a camera of his own to take stock of what Luis had been up to. I saw nothing else I could do, so I decided to head home with the hope that Luis would be found before long.
Chapter Twelve
“It’s frustrating sitting here doing nothing,” I told Monica. “I want to get out there and find Luis. I searched every nook and cranny of his house looking for my body, and nothing.”
Monica gave me a sympathetic look as she straightened her waitress uniform. “So there’s not doubt it’s him, right?”
“None.” I sighed and drifted over to the table. Monica had cooked dinner for herself and Jake before she had to head out to the restaurant. “It’s a matter of processing the evidence and getting his statement. At least that’s what I heard Clark saying to one of his men. But first they have to find him. His bedroom looked like he packed in a hurry and fled. He must have figured out pinning everything on the mayor wasn’t working.”
Monica made a noise of agreement. “Yeah neither did dumpin
g the discs on Miles. Why didn’t he assume his plan worked when Miles was arrested?”
“An informant,” I said.
Monica’s eyes widened. “An informant? Who?”
“One Sadie Barnett.” I couldn’t help a grin despite how up in the air things remained. “I would have liked to be there when Clark told Sadie in her effort to get her strawberry tarts in the paper, she impeded a police investigation and helped a murderer escape. Before I left Clark, the teenager working as a summer intern confessed to him he had supplied Sadie with information in exchange for treats.”
“These people,” Monica declared. “You can’t trust anyone.”
“No, I guess you can’t,” I agreed.
“Clark better have fired that fool.”
I chuckled. “I think he’ll be either looking for another job or going back home in shame. That is, if Clark doesn’t bring him up on charges.”
Monica clapped her hands together and peered at the ceiling. “Please let Clark handcuff Sadie in front of the whole town and toss her in jail.”
“Monica, stop. That’s cruel.” I tried to hold back a laugh but failed. “Sadie’s not getting any younger.”
“Or less conniving,” my friend countered. “Okay, I have to get out of here. Are you sure you can handle everything?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” I hugged her. “Jake is playing his games, and I can fade out for a couple hours between checking on him. No big deal. Besides, so far, nothing ever happens when it’s just him and me. It gets downright boring when you’re not around.”
Monica smirked. “Are you saying I bring the drama, ’cause you need to recall who the ghost is in this relationship.”
“Touché. Now scoot. We’re fine.”
Monica left the house, and I looked in on my son before winking out and wandering the house. A plop, plop in the bathroom reminded me after all the events of the last few days, I still hadn’t fixed the leak. I knew when necessary Monica had dumped the basin and placed it back under the sink. Neither of us had the means to hire a plumber or the knowledge to fix the leak. I wondered if Ian did and checked the time. He would be out feeding, and I made a mental note to ask him when I had the chance.
“Mom?”
Jake called to me from the living room doorway where I had ended up, and I zipped through the wall to the bathroom and approached him from behind. “Hey, buddy. What’s going on?”
“Can you play one of my games with me before bedtime?”
I had agreed to let him stay up a couple hours later since it was the weekend and we had so little real time together.
I walked over to him and wrapped an arm about his shoulders. “You know I’m no good at that kind of thing, sweetie. How about we play a board game?”
He groaned. “You’re so old-fashioned, Mom.”
“This from the boy who loves history.” I was sorry to deny his first choice, but how could I risk destroying his favorite pastime?
He rolled his little eyes. “Okay, we can play your kind of game. I bet you want to play that word one you and Aunt Monica love.”
“Nope, Monopoly, so I can steal all your money.”
We laughed together and spent the next hour and a half enjoying the game. Jake and I made up our own rules as usual and had a blast. The fact that Jake thought I was still not feeling well allowed me to excuse myself to go to the bathroom every now and then to “power down.” I considered the night a major success when I tucked him into bed with a kiss and he still hadn’t figured out my secret.
An hour before time for Monica to get off work, the sound of breaking glass caught my attention. Fear squeezed my heart, and I went to check it out. Luis Riley stepped in my back door, crunching glass he had broken out of a panel under his feet. A cold chill raced down my spine. I thought of nothing at that moment except that I was the only defense between this murderer and my little boy.
Without considering alternatives, I appeared in front of him. “Get out of my house, Luis Riley, before I call the police!”
Luis looked up, started at my sudden presence, and sneered. “Oh, are you going to call Chief Givens? Don’t bother. I have him and his men running on a wild goose chase, headed for Raleigh.”
I took a step back. “Then you should have kept running away from here.”
He advanced one crawling step at a time, eyes I had never noticed were so cold and deadly, trained on me. “Oh no, Libby. You see I’ve always had to know.”
I swallowed. “K-Know what?”
The wide grin scared me worse than a frown would have. “Everything.”
“I’m just a regular boring mother. Nothing to interest someone like you.” As I spoke, I tried to peer around the hall, looking for a weapon. The vase on the table, which I loved very much, seemed the most likely tool. I hoped it shattering would not disturb Jake. With any luck, I could knock Luis unconscious and… Then what? If Luis spoke the truth, Clark wasn’t in Summit’s Edge, but I refused to believe he took every officer with him.
I licked my lips and tried calling for Ian, but I remembered he had gone to feed. I was on my own. Refusing to hesitate any longer, I stuffed a hand down the middle of the vase so that I wore it like armor and swung my arm hard at Luis. He blocked the blow with his own arm but winced when the shattered pieces cut into his flesh.
He bared his clenched teeth. “You’re going to pay for that.”
Luis lunged in my direction, fist larger than I would have credited such a slender man. He swung and—missed. His hand passed through my head, throwing his balance off. He stumbled a few times before he righted himself and laid a hand on the wall, blinking at me.
“What are you?” he whispered.
I didn’t answer. So distraught all I could do was stand there and hold myself visible enough for him to see through me.
“No wonder,” he mused. “The cameras started messing up, creating weird feedback. Mostly here, but in other places too—at the restaurant, Clark Givens’s house. You did it.”
He clutched his head and laughed, the sound vibrating through me and increasing my fear.
“You’re right. I could have run and kept going. I could have been in Mexico by now, but I had to know. You. You interested me more than anyone else. Why did my camera stop working in our house and everywhere you had been? So funny.”
I said nothing to this monologue, and my thoughts refused to settle on a plan.
“Of course, it’s also fishy that I can’t even get into Ian McClain’s house to set up equipment. I might even go over there tonight after I’m done with you. Who would have thought you were a ghost?”
He laughed again and didn’t seem like he would ever stop. I needed another weapon, but I wasn’t sure if I could hold it, and even if I could, I would have to leave Luis in the hall. I didn’t want to take my eyes off him.
“That’s right,” I said with courage I didn’t feel. “You can’t hurt me no matter how hard you try.”
Luis straightened, all humor disappearing from his face. “Can’t hurt you? Don’t be so sure about that. You have a son, don’t you?”
Horror struck me between the eyes, and I saw red. “Don’t you dare go near my son!” I had vowed after what happened to Clark never to possess a person again, but I had no choice. At that moment, I didn’t care what happened to Luis when it came to protecting Jake. I swooped in on Luis, and just before I took control of his body, as with Clark, I had an inkling of his thoughts. They were dark, mingled with an insatiable desire just like he said to know simply everything about everyone. I had no doubt if Luis had gotten away with his crimes, he would have continued until he had planted a camera in the house of every person in Summit’s Edge and every commercial building as well.
When I took him over, I no longer knew what he thought or felt. His body was at my mercy, and I charged him down the hall toward the kitchen. Seeing my butcher block of sharpened knives brought me up short. I didn’t think I could stab myself, even if it wasn’t my body.
I picked
up a heavy frying pan and swung it toward my head. At the last second, self-preservation made me lighten the blow, and it stung rather than cause damage. I groaned, thinking I looked like a complete idiot.
I took in the sturdiness of my kitchen table, a heavy real wood one, given to me by my mother-in-law and hated from day one. If I banged Luis’s head on it, he would definitely pass out. I backed up into the hall off the kitchen, sucked in a deep breath, and charged. I let myself fall, eyes closed, tense. The pain sliced through my skull on impact but was gone in an instant. One minute I occupied Luis’s body. The next I floated above his prone body.
“Good to know. I can’t stay inside if they aren’t conscious.”
“Not quite,” came the reply behind me.
I whirled to face Ian standing calm and self-assured in the archway. “You are fine I take it?”
“Yes.” I ran a hand over my forehead. “I can’t believe I did that.”
Ian’s gaze held amusement. “I wish I had gotten here a moment earlier.”
I scowled at him. “What did you mean when you said not quite?”
“You could possess him while he is unconscious, but his head is injured. Self-preservation made you will to get away from it.”
“Oh, that makes sense.” Worry came over me. “He’s not dead, is he?”
Ian didn’t even look at Luis. His gaze remained on me, and I had the feeling he assessed me. “No, I hear him breathing.”
I couldn’t address my next question to do with his hearing because a banging started on the front door. Ian instructed me to go and collect myself while he answered. I didn’t have the will to stop him but hurried into my bedroom to get my mind together enough to become visible. As I walked down the hall, I heard Clark demanding where I was and threatening Ian that he better not have done anything to me.
“Clark, really,” I said as I entered my kitchen. Clark stooped over Luis, checking his pulse. He looked up at me, and I saw relief in his gaze. “You want to tell me what happened here?”
“She’s a ghost, a ghost!”
Of all times, Luis awakened, sputtering my secret. Once again, Ian reacted in a flash. He jerked Luis’s chin up to force him to look into his eyes. “Be quiet.” Luis’s teeth clicked audibly together, but his eyes widened in terror. Clark stood up and rested a hand on his weapon. He placed himself between Ian and me.
Audrey Claire - Libby Grace 01 - How to be a Ghost Page 15
