Her mother used to say, “In for a penny, In for a pound.”
She sat, then hugged a throw pillow to her chest. “Dead people talk to me.”
The statement hung in the air, passed gas no one wanted to notice, but everyone smelled.
“Oh, lovely. You psychic or something?” He scowled while his words dripped with disdain. For some reason, she wanted him to believe her story. Somehow he was a key to the whole situation.
“Or something.”
Zach stood and paced the short length of her apartment. Ripping off his suit jacket, he laid it gently on the back of his chair. His tie came off next. “You still have some of that pizza?”
She blinked. He wanted food? “Yeah. I can heat it up.”
“Do it.”
Her eyes blinked, but she stood to do his bidding.
She put two pieces in the oven and returned to her seat. He didn’t stop pacing. His firm jaw sat in place as if glued there. His eyes gained an intense, but faraway look.
“We had a psychic in last year to solve a case. She didn’t. She was a fraud. We wasted a lot of time and effort on her.”
He stopped abruptly. So there was more to his story.
“So you’re more than a garden variety skeptic?”
“You bet. You can’t imagine the hoops you’ll have to jump through to get me to believe you.” He sat on her coffee table, his knee scraping hers.
The room wobbled and she saw him in a different light. Naked and sweaty. And so was she.
“Grace?”
His voice brought her back. His knee had lost contact with hers. She jammed herself further into the couch so as not to risk his touch again.
“I’m here,” she said.
“Tell me what you think you know. We’ll start from there.”
“Someone is going to kill Grace in a week. Next Wednesday.”
“You know this how?”
She took a bracing breath. “I worked on her after she was shot. She died and I had to go back into her hospital room. I didn’t want to.”
The tears started down her face. She wiped them away with an angry swipe. He would think the tears were planned.
“Then what happened?”
His voice had softened. “She grabbed my arm.”
“She wasn’t dead?”
“She was. She just grabbed my arm and asked me to help her.”
“Has this happened to you before?”
“Yes,” she answered.
He stood again and moved into her kitchen. With a dish towel, he removed the pizza slices. As if it weren’t hot he dug into the first one, chewing and staring out the window. He stayed that way so long she thought he’d forgotten about her.
His strong jaw made short work of the food. Wiping his hands on a napkin, he wandered back to her. Looking down, he said, “So why are you here now?”
“I was catapulted back in time to prevent the murder.”
***
Zach could tell from her lack of nervousness that Grace truly believed what she said. He couldn’t wrap his brain around it. “You’ve come back in time.”
She nodded. He wandered back to her kitchen for the second piece of pizza. The first one had scalded his mouth so he ate the next one gingerly. As he chewed he mulled over her words.
Sitting on the couch she hugged the pillow to her as if for warmth. What was he to make of her? Her hair still called to him to touch it.
“How? Some machine?”
“This isn’t science fiction.”
“It’s some kind of fiction.”
Her jaw set. “Look you can believe me or not. I actually don’t care. I’m tired from my shift and I have an early one tomorrow. I need my sleep.”
She stood and without ceremony tossed the sofa cushions aside. Then she pulled open her bed. Zach watched her not sure what she expected of him.
“Leave,” she said as if reading his mind. Maybe she could do that too.
“We aren’t finished.”
“We are for now. I’m going to bed.”
A car pulled up to one of the garage bays. “Dolores is here. I’m sure she’ll wonder why you’re up here,” Grace said.
“She might.”
“That might be more explaining than you want to do. She might get jealous.”
“She has no reason to be.”
“We both know that, but she may not and pregnant women are emotional. Go.”
He dropped the crust into her sink and turned to leave. “We are not done.”
“Fine. Find me tomorrow.”
“Come to my office.”
“No.”
She didn’t even look at him. He’d already been dismissed. When had he lost control of this interrogation? “I could have someone bring you in.”
“For what?”
“Questioning. Making threats.”
“Yeah, I look real dangerous.”
Zach didn’t reply. He just left thinking that she could be dangerous, but not in the way she thought.
***
Zach sat alone outside the River Vue Motel the next morning, his camera pointed at room 14. Another slimy place with another cheating spouse. This time the wife cheated out on her husband.
Her FBI agent husband had already done the initial surveillance, but wanted an outside source for when he sued for custody. Two little kids would have a new home soon.
The injustice of it all made Zach cringe, but fair was fair. If you didn’t keep your vows, you had to lose something.
The door opened and the women stepped out, dressed in a different suit than last night when Zach had followed them. The day had dawned bright and he could see her clearly in his telephoto lens.
Click. She looked around, but there was no way she could hear him from across the parking lot.
Click. She unlocked her car, surveying the lot again. She shrugged and slid into her vehicle. Zach took a picture of the license plate, then packed away his camera.
His phone rang just after he started his car. He stretched before answering.
“Holten.”
“Zach.”
“Hey, Ed.”
“Got news. I’m on my way to talk to a Grace Harmony.”
“Why?”
“Because the fire in that apartment was set and she was the last one there.”
Chapter Five
Zach sat on the edge of Grace’s bed. He reached out a hand to brush away some hair. His molten gaze saw through to her core.
A rakish grin creased his face. “It’s just me.”
As if she’d been scared. She wasn’t. Her heart fluttered as desire streaked through her.
“Grace.”
Her name tripped off his tongue as if he’d said it a thousand times.
“Zach.”
Her breath hitched as his hand traveled from her face to the top of her t-shirt. A finger dipped below the neckline, but couldn’t reach anything.
She flipped off the shirt, eager for his hands to touch every part of her.
“Ah.”
His gaze poured over her, his grin broadening. He stood and in one practiced motion he dropped his pants and underwear.
She reached out to him and he came into her embrace. Home was the word she thought of.
He must have felt it, too. “Oh, God, Grace.”
He rained kissed down her neck then a small bite. She arched into him. Nothing had ever felt so right to her. Nothing had ever been so right. Nothing.
The room spun. She clung to the sheets as his mouth worked its magic down he stomach then back to her mouth Her breath left as his lips took possession of hers.
Their murmurings and moans mingled as their bodies did the same. Skin to skin she couldn’t touch enough of him.
His hands traveled all over her, igniting fires as they went.
Her breath came in pants and she bit her lip stifling her urge to stop him.
What was she doing?
What was he doing?
Here?
&nbs
p; Just when she thought she would shatter the alarm clock shouted with the traffic report. Her body ached as if from ecstasy.
“Damn.”
Grace had never reacted to anyone this way. Certainly not after having known him a short time.
She rose and washed away the dreams with a shower. A sense of anticipation lingered after she turned off the faucet.
Her shift didn’t start for four hours and she planned to use that time getting to know Dolores’ ex-boyfriend. Her most recent one at least.
Kent Winger worked in the Centre County Prosecutor’s Office, but today was his day off.
Masculine legs protruded out of a vintage pony car that looked halfway restored. Grace parked her car on the street, then walked up the short driveway.
With kids in school, the neighborhood resembled a ghost town, with only the drone a distant lawn mower to indicate humans lived here.
The neighborhood had identical ranch houses up and down the street, each painted a different color. Some had flowers planted. This one had the Spartan look of a man’s space. Two shrubs adorned the pathway and nothing more.
“Nice car,” Grace said.
Kent wheeled himself out from under the vehicle. “Thanks.”
He stood, raising himself to be only a handful of inches taller than her. His build was stocky, but solid, like a fireplug. His buzzed hair made her think of the military and he looked older that she expected. “You an admirer?”
His steel blue eyes twinkled as if his words meant more than their superficial meaning. A grin surfaced accentuating more lines on his face.
She waved a hand towards her car. “I like them.”
His face scrunched into a grimace. “That’s too new.”
“Sorry. Can’t afford the vintage ones.”
“Do I know you?”
“No. We have a mutual acquaintance.”
“Oh?”
“Dolores Holten.”
His spine stiffened. His gaze raced to the house as if he didn’t want someone there to hear their conversation. “Did she send you?”
“She has no idea I’m here.”
“Tell her that I don’t believe the baby’s mine. It’s that snake charmer of an ex-husband. She ain’t getting a dime from me.”
Grace blinked. Dolores’ baby could be this guy’s? “Like I said she doesn’t know I’m here.”
“Why’d you come? I’ve got a new life and I don’t wanna screw it up.”
“I think she’s in danger, but I don’t know who from.”
Kent laughed. “I was only the last in the long line of cop lovers she had. Badge bunny through and through that lady. Glad to be rid of her.”
He wasn’t describing the Dolores she knew. “Can you name any others?”
“I can hand you the employee list of every PD around here. Okay, she didn’t date the dispatchers.”
“How long did you date?”
“A month. One hellish thirty days. Who are you anyway?”
“Grace Harmony.”
“You friends with her?” He shook his head. “No she’d consider you competition. Whatever you are to her, stay away.”
“Why?”
He leaned closer to her, his coffee breath wafting across her face. “Because she’s a vampire.”
Grace didn’t know how to take his advice. “Can you at least tell me some of her recent boyfriends? Any she had trouble with?”
“Trouble getting rid of?”
“Yeah.”
Stalkers ended up killing their target. This was the only place Grace could figure to begin. If Dolores had a lot of ex-lovers, she must have pissed off at least one.
Kent wiped his hands on an already filthy, red rag. “Lance Antonio.”
“You have an address?”
“Nope, but he hangs out at the Robber Baron. I’m sure he’ll be there tonight. She had to get a restraining order on him.”
Grace left her faith in police officers not any stronger.
***
Dolores dialed the number she knew in her sleep. She’d been calling it a lot lately. She had hoped he would be her rock. That he’d be happy about her baby. Their baby.
“What now?” he said.
“Hello to you to. I’m fine, thanks.”
“Dolores, stop.”
“Stop what?”
She sighed. “Stop this. You need to come take your responsibility.”
“I think my responsibility ended with your blackmail.”
“Look, I’m desperate. I don’t have as much money as I’d like to raise this kid. Either come here and marry me or keep those checks coming.”
“I will find a way out of this,” he said.
She flipped her hair over her shoulder and snorted. “What? Burn me down.”
“Shit. Don’t say it out loud.”
“And blow your cover? You don’t think someone will figure you out. How about that best friend of yours? She might want to know. Bet she already does.”
“Leave her out of this,” he hissed.
She’d touched a nerve. Good. Maybe his checks would be on time. “Fine. Just remember. I have an envelope with her name on it. Anything happens to me.”
“Dolores, you are not that clever.”
“You want to find out for sure? Try me.”
“Okay, I get it. I’ll write another check. Make sure it doesn’t go up your nose.”
“I’m clean. Can’t be anything else with a kid inside of me.”
“Whose fault is that?”
“Yours and you’ll keep paying for it.”
“No, I won’t Dolores. I’ll find a way out.”
She cackled as she hung up the phone. No he wouldn’t.
***
“It was set and we think for hire,” Ed Bauer told Zach.
He sat on the only other chair in the office besides Zach’s.
“For hire?”
“Owner had financial trouble. Gambling debts. He won’t tell us who he hired. Said the guy is long gone.”
“You believe him?”
Zach sipped his coffee. Part of him missed being on the front line of these things. Arson had been his specialty.
“We’ll keep looking, but the usual arson guys have all been accounted for. We’re going through the owner’s phone records and e-mail to see if we can track down anyone. He must have contacted him some way. Not telepathy.”
Zach laughed. “Cell phone?”
“Got that, too, though he insisted it belonged to his business.”
“You can get around that.”
Ed nodded. He stood. “I have to say I really miss not having you on this case.”
Zach shook his friend’s hand. “Part of me misses, it too. On the other hand, I make my own hours.”
“Something to be said for that. Gotta go.”
Zach watched him leave, but didn’t feel the regret he expected.
***
Grace’s shift started with a potential suicide victim who moved the gun at the last second and only managed to shoot off his ear.
Cleanly.
While her partner stemmed the bleeding, she and a cop searched for the missing body part.
“What are the chances that this guy’s ear would blow out the window?” Officer Henry said.
“If he’d had screens we wouldn’t be doing this.”
“Dumpster diving on a Spring day.”
Grace didn’t chuckle, her mind ruminating on Jared’s attitude “You know a Lance Antonio?”
“Yeah. Used to be my partner. Why? He giving you trouble?”
“Why would you think that?”
“He does that. Latches onto a woman and doesn’t let go. He has at least one restraining order out against him.”
“So I’d heard. You know Zach Holten?”
The officer moved around some rotting garbage. To Grace’s relief her nose stopped working. She couldn’t smell anymore.
“By reputation.”
“Which is?” she asked.
&nb
sp; “He’s a cop at all times and would ticket his grandmother for jaywalking. Even if he isn’t a cop anymore.”
“Why’d he quit?”
Officer Henry stopped and looked over his mirrored sunglasses at her. “He believed a psychic and she was wrong. They arrested the wrong guy.”
Grace digested that information. Her abilities would not be welcome in Zach’s eyes. “No temper?”
The officer stopped and studied her. “Why do you want to know about all of these people?”
“I think a friend of mine is in trouble and I’m just trying to get to know the cast of characters in her life.”
“Anyone I know?”
“Dolores Holten?”
He snorted. “She brings trouble on herself.”
“You know her?”
“We dated several years ago before I met my wife. She lives life on the wild side.”
His picture of her didn’t fit with the Dolores Holten Grace knew. Maybe the pregnancy slowed her down. Who knew? Grace’s job wasn’t to judge, but to save her from being killed.
Just because the victim made it hard to narrow down subjects didn’t mean it couldn’t be done. “You think you could show me around the Robber Baron tonight?”
“Hey, I’m a married man.”
She punched his arm lightly. “This isn’t a date. I just need you to introduce me to Lance Antonio. Then you can leave. It’ll take five minutes.”
“Sure. Wait I found something.”
Officer Henry’s grin creased his face as he held up an ear.
***
“There’s been another one,” Ed Bauer said while sitting in Zach’s office.
“Beer? It’s quitting time.”
“I’m off. Please don’t tell me it’s an import.”
Zach reaching into a small refrigerator behind his desk. “I stocked some beer for you.”
“Good.” His friend looked around his new office and Zach realized just how shabby it appeared. He hadn’t had time or even the inclination to decorate. Maybe some part of him had hoped this was temporary.
Opening the bottle he said, “I know I haven’t done much with the place.”
“Martha Stewart, you are not.”
The clinked bottles. Zach took a sip, savoring the amber brew. Nothing like a cold beer at the end of the day. “So tell me about this new case.”
“Set. Arson for hire. I’d bet my balls it is the same person as last time.”
“That sure?”
Corpse Whisperer Page 4
