Sam dragged a hand through his hair. ‘There’s no way she was walking and talking. She was dead, strangled, I saw her.’
‘It must have been a mistake.’ I stepped forward and placed a hand on his arm, holding back more tears when he shook free of my touch. ‘Like the man you told me about, the one who killed those people in the service station. Mistakes can happen, sometimes you think someone is dead and then it turns out they’re not.’
Sam shook his head, hands held up in front of him as if to ward off my words but I kept going regardless. ‘I’ve seen it on the news, people waking up in the morgue after being declared dead. I’ve even heard, hundreds of years ago, in America or somewhere, they used to put a string attached to a bell in coffins in case the deceased turned out to not be dead and was buried alive instead.’
‘This is insane. This can’t be happening,’ he said, running a hand through his hair.
I chose to remain silent.
One of the officers approached and this time I listened in. ‘I spoke to the woman who made the “000” call. She confirms she heard screams and saw two women running down the street, said it looked like one of them was being chased by the other.’ He glanced over at Tyler and then down at Sarah’s body, his mouth screwed into a grimace.
Sam nodded his thanks and the officer continued. ‘I’ve called the morgue like you asked and the van is on its way to pick up the deceased, again.’
‘I want you to accompany the body to the morgue,’ said Sam. ‘Do not let it out of your sight. Understand?’ The officer gave a nod, face filled with distaste for his grim task.
Orders given, Sam turned back to me and grabbed my arm. ‘I’ll take you home,’ he said, leading me over to his car.
‘I can walk,’ I said, every muscle in my body protesting at the thought of more exercise.
‘Get in the car, Tyler.’
The bleak look in his eyes stilled my protest and I quickly obeyed.
We accomplished the short drive to the flat in silence. The front door was still open. I started to walk inside but Sam tugged on my arm and pushed me up against the wall beside the door.
‘Stay here,’ he said before he stalked inside, returning in a few minutes to give me permission to enter my own flat.
At first I was angry with his high-handed behaviour but then my temper drained away. Sarah had been murdered and I was no closer to finding out who had killed her and the other women. Worse, both Chris and Connor were back on the suspect list.
I walked into the middle of the lounge, nails digging into my palms as I prepared to face Sam. I’d rather go up against a thousand Wraiths than have to turn around and tell him even more lies, but I had no choice. I had to make him believe me.
Chapter 28
‘Are you going to tell me what’s going on?’ Sam stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest, a fierce light in his hazel eyes.
I opened my mouth to repeat my story and then shut it when he glared at me. ‘If you’re going to spin me another pile of bullshit you can save your breath. I want the truth, Tyler. What are you mixed up in? Drugs?’
‘No.’ I took a step back. ‘No way. I do not take drugs, and neither did Sarah.’
Sam’s grim expression lightened. ‘I think that’s the first truthful thing you’ve said all night. If you keep it up we might get somewhere.’
‘Unless you want to be slapped with a lawsuit, Lockwood, leave Tyler alone.’
Sam and I both spun around at the sound of Chris’s voice and he gave us a sardonic smile. ‘From the activity up the street, I’d say you’ve had an eventful evening.’
‘It was Sarah,’ I said before Sam could respond. ‘She showed up here half an hour ago in bad shape.’ I took a step towards Chris. ‘She died, in my arms.’
‘She was here? But I thought …’
‘So did I, Bradbury,’ Sam said, ‘but you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you? It’s mighty convenient, Sarah Abbott turning up here, supposedly alive, as you’re about to be charged for her murder.’
‘Surely you’re not suggesting I had something to do with all this?’
‘I’m not suggesting anything, but I will be getting the truth. You can count on it.’ Sam turned his back on Chris and faced me again. ‘Starting right now.’
‘For god’s sake man, have a little compassion. Look at her, she’s about to drop. Whatever questions you have can wait until tomorrow.’ Chris strode over and placed an arm around my shoulders.
I shrugged him off and moved to stand in the middle of the two men.
‘The lady doesn’t want your help. Why don’t you leave, Bradbury? I’ve got everything under control.’ A smirk played around Sam’s lips.
‘If you’re so in control of the situation, why are the women of Easton still dying? How many is it now? Four? Five? And you’re no closer to finding the killer.’
‘I’m closing in on him. Earlier this evening I spoke to a certain doorman about his financial situation. A large sum of money appeared in his bank account a few days ago. He refused to cooperate at first, but he’s starting to come around. I believe your name was mentioned. Soon as I have confirmation from the banks involved, you and I will be having a little chat down at the station.’
‘Bravo.’ Chris gave three short, sharp claps. ‘Unfortunately for you, tipping the staff to ensure I receive the highest of service isn’t illegal.’
‘Paying for an alibi is.’
‘Get out.’ I rubbed at my face, shocking myself with my outburst. But I meant it. Listening to the two of them bickering, knowing Sam was probably right about Chris purchasing an alibi, it made my head spin. My stomach heaved and I put a hand to my mouth as I sought to keep my insides where they belonged.
Sam and Chris were silent, concern on both their faces as they stepped towards me. I held up a hand to ward them off.
‘I’ve had enough, okay? I want you both to leave.’
‘But I haven’t finished questioning you,’ said Sam.
‘I’ll come to the station tomorrow and answer your questions then. But for tonight, I’m done.’
‘Hear that, Lockwood, she’s done with you.’
‘You too, Chris. Sarah is dead, and all you seem to care about is taking pot shots at Sam.’
‘But, Tyler, I don’t think you should be alone.’
‘She won’t be,’ said a voice from the doorway and I almost groaned when I saw Andrew, his face creased with worry. But if his presence got Sam and Chris to leave I would welcome him with open arms, for now.
Sam’s frown deepened and he shifted his feet while Chris raised one eyebrow and sneered at my half-brother.
‘Sam, Chris, please go. I can’t take any more of this. Not tonight.’
Sam nodded and strode for the door, waiting on the threshold for Chris who held a hand out to me. I steeled my stomach, keeping my expression remote. He gave a shrug and then joined Sam, and I watched as they walked out of the flat, wishing they could walk out of my life as easily.
‘Tyler,’ breathed Andrew as he came forward and hugged me and I was grateful he didn’t have any aftershave on. ‘I came as soon as I heard. Are you okay?’
I pulled free of Andrew’s embrace and moved into the kitchen, busying myself by wetting the dishcloth and wiping down the bench.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Andrew. ‘Stupid question. Of course you’re not okay.’
‘Who told you?’
‘Connor. I was at Dad and Rhonda’s, dropping off a replacement for the fishing rod, when he showed up and told us what happened. He said she’d been out on a date with Bradbury.’ Andrew shook his head. ‘I thought he’d got it wrong and you were the one who’d been murdered.’
‘Why on earth would you think it was me?’
‘You’ve been spending time with Bradbury lately. I thought you were dating him, not Sarah. It makes sense though, her being dead.’
‘You think Chris killed her.’ My fingers clenched and a few drops of cold water dripped from the clot
h onto my bare foot. A chill owing nothing to wet toes washed over me.
‘Of course not. It had to be Connor.’
I groaned, not sure if I should be relieved or irritated by Andrew’s fixation on Connor. ‘I don’t want to hear this, Andrew. Not tonight.’
‘Connor told me about the girl who died last night, Monique. He wanted her to go out with him and she turned him down, so he killed her. And now Sarah. She knocked him back too.’
‘This is crazy.’ I struggled to keep it together. I didn’t know what to think. Sam thought Chris was the killer and yet Andrew blamed Connor. They couldn’t both be right.
‘Tyler, are you okay?’
‘I’m tired.’ I rubbed my eyes with my free hand. ‘Do you mind? I need to get some sleep, to figure out what happens next.’ I started walking towards the front door.
‘I don’t like Bradbury,’ said Andrew as he grabbed my arm, ‘but he was right about you not being alone. I’m staying.’ He smiled and nodded at the couch. ‘It looks comfy enough for a night or two.’
‘You don’t have to babysit me. I need some time to myself. Please, I’ll be fine. You don’t have to worry about me.’
‘I’m your big brother. It’s my job to worry about you.’ Andrew wrapped his arms around me, and I heard a squelch as the damp dish cloth pressed into his stomach. He recoiled and stepped back.
I held back a smile as he glared down at the wet patch on his shirt. ‘Sorry,’ I said. I held up the wet cloth. ‘Forgot I was still holding it.’
‘It’s okay.’ He grimaced. ‘No harm done.’
‘I appreciate your wanting to stay but I’d rather have some time to myself. Tomorrow …’ I sighed, ‘I’ll have to speak to Sarah’s parents and make a statement for the police and there’ll be other things I’ll have to do I guess. But tonight I want to crawl into bed and pretend this has all been a bad dream.’
‘If you’re sure, I’ll head home then. But if you need anything, anything at all …’
‘You’ll be the first person I call, I promise.’
The smile I had plastered on crumbled the second the door closed behind Andrew and I locked it to make sure no-one else could disturb me. Next I switched my mobile off and went into the bathroom. The empty mirror taunted me and I covered it over before running a shower hot enough to burn my skin even as my thoughts scoured my insides.
I had killed my best friend.
I hadn’t been the one to strangle the life out of her, but I no longer doubted Sam’s theory about the killer being connected to me. Chris, Connor or Grimm, one of them had Sarah’s blood on their hands and I had to find out which one and make them pay.
But not tonight. My eyes were struggling to stay open, and though my thoughts were spinning I couldn’t concentrate to make sense of them. I turned off the shower and forced impossibly heavy limbs to move as I grabbed my towel and dried myself in slow motion. Then I stumbled into my room and found clean pyjamas, fingers struggling to do up the buttons on my shirt even as I toppled into bed.
With the covers pulled up to my chin, I gratefully released myself into the oblivion of sleep.
Chapter 29
I tumbled headlong into nightmare, denied the healing sleep my body desperately sought. Dark reapers chased me across a landscape of shadows while Wraiths wearing Sarah’s face taunted me.
‘Tyler, Tyler,’ they called, a chorus of hisses and cackles accompanying my name. I dodged around a large rectangular shape and found myself in the middle of a graveyard, surrounded by headstones with “Tyler Maree Morgan” on them as the Wraiths shambled to a stop around me, penning me in. The dark reapers swooped overhead, blocking out the meagre light and I screamed as cold fingers clutched the back of my neck.
Unseen hands spun me around and around, my arms windmilling as I sought to stay upright. The thought of being on the ground and at the mercy of whatever hunted me gave me the strength to punch through my attackers and flee. In the darkness I had no sense of direction, no idea where I was going, yet I continued to run, running as fast as I could, until finally the ground beneath my feet vanished and I fell headlong into darkness so complete I was sure the end had finally come.
I smacked the ground, unable to move, frozen both in fear and pain as I sensed a gathering of dark spirits surrounding me.
I pushed up onto my hands and knees and then got into a crouch, white silk pooling around me as I searched for Grimm. ‘Where are you, you bastard? Come out and face me.’
A skull appeared in the air above me, lit from within by the light of a soul. Darkness at its edges pulsed, seething over the light, splintered shadows flickering around the inside of the skull. My necklace vibrated, sending tiny shocks into my body, not unpleasant but it set my nerves quivering as I stood up.
‘I have someone here who’d like to meet you.’ Grimm’s disembodied voice was accompanied by the clicking of fingers and light bloomed, revealing us to be within the Underworld. He stood to one side of me with mist forming the shape of a headless woman wearing a replica of my Underworld dress. I bit back a cry as the skull containing the soul floated over to take its place on top of the vaporous body.
The lower jaw creaked open and a woman’s voice issued from within the cavernous mouth. ‘Don’t listen to him, Tyler, he’ll betray you like he-’
‘Enough, my dear,’ said Grimm, patting the top of the skull as a thread of mist wound around the jaw. ‘We wouldn’t want to give your daughter the wrong idea.’
‘Daughter?’ I stared at Grimm, stomach churning.
‘Grace has been waiting a long time to see you, twenty-five years in fact, ever since you killed her.’
‘No, no, that’s not possible.’ I stared at the soul, watching as it glowed brighter, the mist body taking on solid form, curling around the skull to create a face. One I recognised from the few photos I had of my mother.
Grimm pointed a finger at me and a blinding pain hit me in the centre of my forehead. I grabbed at my head with both hands and gasped in horror as I could suddenly see my mother’s car slamming into a tree.
She catapulted forward, head slamming into the windscreen with such force glass shattered around her. Then she fell back into her seat, slumped to the side, eyes open and unseeing. I could hear a baby screaming and the sound of a small boy sobbing; Andrew and I, in the backseat. I couldn’t tear my eyes away as my mother’s astral form slipped out of her body and stood beside the mangled car.
Her hand stretched towards the back of the car, ethereal tears filling the air around her, calling my name over and over, promising me everything would be okay. Then, within the vision, I heard Grimm’s voice.
‘If you want your daughter to live, you should talk to me.’
My mother spun around, eyes widening at the sight of Grimm. ‘Who are you?’
‘I’m the man who holds the power of life and death. Should I chose, your daughter’s soul will be extinguished. It will be as if she never lived.’
‘No, please, don’t hurt my baby.’
‘I wouldn’t dream of touching your precious child. He’ll do it,’ said Grimm, pointing to where a dark reaper hovered over top of the wreck. ‘There’s nothing as sweet as the soul of an innocent.’
‘I’ll do anything, don’t hurt her.’
‘Promise to do whatever I want, for eternity, and I’ll spare her life. Cross me and your daughter will be the one to regret it. Do we have a deal?’
My mother hung her head, and then cast one last longing look at the screaming baby in the back of the car. Then she floated closer to Grimm. ‘Yes.’
The vision ended.
I opened my eyes and gazed at my mother, horror warring with pity.
The mist holding her jaw closed dissipated. ‘I’m so sorry, Tyler. I had no idea what Grimm was planning or I’d never have agreed to his bargain.’
‘It’s okay, I understand. You were protecting me,’ I said, my tears turning to ice as they slid down my cheeks. They dropped to the ground and shattered, shar
ds slicing into my bare feet. ‘It’s not your fault.’
‘Enough family time. Let’s get down to business.’ Grimm waved a hand. My mother’s mist body started to dissolve, the light of her soul fading.
‘No, wait, Mum, don’t go.’
‘I love you, Tyler,’ she said as the skull crashed to the ground, the soul animating it gone, the vibration in my necklace vanishing along with it.
‘I hate you.’ I launched myself at Grimm, hitting his chest, furious when he didn’t even flinch. The mist burst into movement, capturing my wrists and pulling me back. My chest heaved as I struggled to get to Grimm and wipe the smug smirk off his face.
‘Hate is such a paltry term for the depths of feeling I hope to inspire in you, but it will do for a start.’
‘Let my mother go.’
‘She made a deal, and so did you.’ He grinned. ‘I like Grace. She’s been keeping me company for a long time and I’d hate for anything bad to happen to her. But if you don’t stop messing around, your mother’s soul is going to discover the true meaning of torment. How long do you think it will take me to extinguish her light forever?’
I struggled against the mist, wanting to scratch his eyes out, to plunge my hand into his chest and rip his heart to shreds.
‘Of course, I get to bring her back and do it all over again. I’ve got her for eternity, unless …,’ he cocked his head to one side, ‘we make a new deal, you and I.’
‘What do you want?’
‘Your soul for your mother’s, once you complete your mission. Find Ash, and agree to act as my reaper for the rest of your life and I’ll let your mother go. She can be reborn with no memory of her existence as Grace Morgan. She’ll have a chance to live a long and happy life, something you denied her.’
I stared at him, aghast.
‘This is your chance to right an old wrong. You owe it to her.’
His words settled in under my skin, whispering of absolution for guilt I had carried all my life. I closed my eyes, scrambling for something, anything that would help me decide what to do. I couldn’t trust Grimm, but he was right. I did owe it to her.
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