Spirited 1

by Mary Behre

  Aimee-Lynn floated there. Her face drawn, and her image ended at her upper torso and arms. Smoky and transparent, she looked sickly.

  Since he already knew what she could do, Jules turned to Aimee-Lynn and said, “I know you asked me to give them to Seth, but I haven’t been able to find him. I’ll do it as soon as he comes home.”

  Aimee-Lynn moved closer until she floated just behind the couch. She eyed Dev speculatively and frowned. “Who’s this?”

  “His name’s Devon Jones. He’s Seth’s partner.”

  Dev sat a little straighter and looked toward the front door, nowhere near Aimee-Lynn, and said, “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

  Aimee-Lynn smiled wanly and nodded. “Nice to meet you. Finally.”

  “She said it’s nice to meet you,” Jules relayed.

  When Dev arched an eyebrow, Aimee-Lynn added, “Tell him Aimee-Lynn Masters has something to give to him.”

  “But you said to only give it, them, to Seth.” Jules frowned, glancing between the spirit and Dev.

  Dev’s eyes widened. “Give what to Seth?”

  “Don’t worry. You can trust this man too.”

  Not certain the ghost was right, Jules considered her options. Instinctively, she trusted Dev, but giving him the diamonds seemed like betraying Seth. Then again, Dev had no problem accepting that she saw ghosts. Would Seth be as accepting?

  “Oh, Jules, it’s so beautiful,” Aimee-Lynn whispered. “It’s more than just a light. There’s my nana. She’s waving to me. I want to go so badly. It’s warm and wonderful. I’ve never seen it before. This has to be the right thing to do. Please, I want to take my baby home.

  “Give him the diamonds and tell them what really happened. Tell them, and my mother, I tried to make it right.”

  Aimee-Lynn’s aura, which had been gray earlier in the evening, glowed silvery-white now. It pulsed bright then dark then bright again. The ends of her blonde hair sparkled. She was so beautiful, looking at her almost hurt Jules’s eyes.

  “It’s okay, Aimee-Lynn. Go home. I’ll take care of everything,” Jules said.

  The light faded and Jules was filled with an overwhelming sense of peace. In the distance she distinctly heard a baby giggle and Aimee-Lynn say, “Thank you.”

  Jules needed to clear the sudden lump in her throat. She’d just helped someone. Two someones, really. Aimee-Lynn and her baby. And her crift didn’t feel like a curse at the moment. It felt like a gift from God.

  The spirits barely departed before Dev spoke. “What just happened?”

  “Aimee-Lynn Masters said to tell you hello.”

  “Aimee-Lynn Masters is here?” His eyes widened so much, she thought they might pop out.

  “Well, not anymore. She’s gone.”

  Jules regarded Dev and the amazement on his face, then thought of Aimee-Lynn’s words. The lump in Jules’s throat became a ball of fear.

  Giving the diamonds to Seth meant risking he’d think she’d been lying. Or worse . . . crazy. But giving them to Dev could mean destroying Seth’s career if anyone ever found out that not only had she had the stolen gems the whole time, but that they were found in Seth’s apartment.

  “Why was she here?” Dev asked.

  “I’ll tell you, on one condition.” Jules squared her shoulders. As she spoke, she slipped the bag from behind her back and clutched it to her chest. “You have to swear to help me find a way to keep this from harming Seth’s reputation.”

  Dev scowled at her. “If he’s done something illegal—”

  “He hasn’t,” she assured him. “But he’s dreamed for years of being promoted. Worked for it. Sacrificed for it. If he lost that opportunity because of this, I’d never be able to forgive myself.”

  “You love him,” he said.

  “That’s not the point.” She shrugged, suddenly self-conscious. Truth was, she did love Seth, even though she hadn’t told him everything. She only hoped that when she did, he could love her in return. “I won’t have him hurt by this. He never knew I had them. I didn’t even know until a couple of hours ago.”

  “Had what exactly?” Cocking his head, Dev waited for her to answer, but her tongue was suddenly thick and dry. She couldn’t have spoken if she’d wanted to. He sighed and said, “You have my word, Jules, if he hasn’t done anything illegal, I’ll make sure my partner is protected.”

  She unsnapped the purse and exposed the diamonds.

  CHAPTER 19

  SETH’S USUAL PARKING space was taken by an old blue Buick. Swinging his head from side to side, he searched for an open spot on his street. Given the time of evening, it wasn’t surprising that spaces were hard to come by. Harmon’s patrol car poked out of the mouth of an alley, but the officer didn’t appear to be in it. Jones’s black Lexus gleamed beneath the streetlamp. It too appeared unoccupied.

  Swinging his car into the alley next to the patrol car, Seth killed the engine and jumped out, his gun drawn before the car door slammed closed. The street appeared deserted, save for the parked cars. A glance down the alley behind him showed even Sam wasn’t home.

  In quick, silent strides, he hurried down the sidewalk and into his building. The stairwell, still as death, creaked and echoed with each step he climbed.

  The entire time, images of Jules beaten as her mugger had been or strangled as Aimee-Lynn had been played through his mind like a horror movie.

  He reached his landing. With his hand on his doorknob, he listened but heard nothing. Twisting the handle, he breathed a small sigh of relief. It didn’t budge. Perhaps she was okay after all?

  Extracting his key from his pocket, he silently unlocked and pushed open the door.

  Jules sat alone in the room. On one end of the couch she had her legs drawn up to her chest, her fingers wrapped over her toes and her forehead pressed against her knees.

  Letting the door close with a slam behind him, he dropped his gun to the coffee table, where it landed with a thunk.

  Her head snapped up and she appeared startled at first. Her face relaxed and split into a wide grin. Jules was off the couch and in his arms before he’d pocketed his apartment key.

  His arms wound around her waist at the same time she looped hers around his neck. Their lips smacked together, almost bruising in the rush. She thrust her tongue into his mouth with a ferocity to match his own. Her sweet scent on his skin and the heady taste of her combined with a rush of relief so strong, he could think of nothing but losing himself inside her warm, welcoming body.

  Bearing her down to the couch, he dropped his head to her neck and said between kisses, “I was so worried about you.”

  Of their own accord, his hands found her breasts and kneaded them.

  “Oh, Seth!” She arched into his touch. “I was worried too.”

  He nipped her neck and placed a knee between her spread thighs. “You’re safe, precious.”

  “Seth, we can’t.” She pushed her hands against his chest.

  He sat up and found lust still hazing her eyes. Leaning forward, he stole another kiss. She eagerly participated, then shook her head, placing a hand between them again. “No, Seth, you’ve got to listen to me. I’m not the one in danger. You are.”

  Surprise had him sitting back. “What?”

  Jules sighed and straightened her shirt. She slid back to the other side of the couch, as if worried he might attack her again. Crisscrossing her legs, she folded her hands in her lap then delivered, “I found your diamonds.”

  His jaw went slack. The words were clearly spoken and yet foreign. “You found my . . . diamonds?”

  A wan smile ghosted across her face and she nodded.

  Panic, fear, and fury ripped through him. “Juliana, I gave you specific instructions not to leave this apartment. Why would you risk your life like that? Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? I tried to call but you didn’t answer. Why didn’t you stay put?”

  “Seth, I didn’t leave.” She winced, tugged on her earlobe, and admitted, “Okay, well I ran t
o my apartment for two minutes. Maybe that’s when you called because I promise had I heard your phone ring, I’d have answered. I’ve been trying to reach you for hours. I only left long enough to grab some clean clothes.” Gesturing to the small stack of clothing sitting on the floor, she added, “But I swear, I didn’t go anywhere else.”

  A dull ache formed between his brows. “Then how did you find the diamonds?”

  More earlobe tugging. She appeared to wage an internal battle that ended with a sharp nod of her head. She lifted her chin and met his gaze, and something steely sparked in her eyes. “Seth, I need you to listen to me and keep an open mind. I-I’m crifted.”

  “Crifted?” He’d never heard such a term before.

  “Yeah, I’m gifted or cursed, depending on your perspective. I’ve seen spirits my whole life. It’s not something I tell most people. I mean, what a way to start a conversation. ‘Hi, I’m Jules and I see your dead aunt Willa standing behind you.’”

  Seth glanced behind him, then back to her.

  “It’s just the two of us in here right now.” She smiled briefly, then said, “I found the diamonds because Aimee-Lynn Masters’s ghost showed them to me.”

  Seth had never had an out-of-body experience before. He’d heard about them in movies, read about them in books, but had always considered such things nonsense. Listening to Jules talk about the ghost telling her their purses had been switched and that Jules had been carrying one with diamonds sewn into the lining for days, he felt his mind disconnect from his body and float up to the ceiling, where he looked down at himself and her.

  “So then Dev came by and I gave the purse to him.” That sentence snapped him back to himself.

  “You’re telling me,” he said in a voice so calm it frightened him, “you’ve brought stolen diamonds into my home repeatedly. You called the police to report it. Jones was here, collected them, and has now taken them?”

  “Well, not exactly.” Her eyes widened and she paled. “I called the station looking for you. Dev, um . . . Detective Jones came over because he was worried when he heard I was alone. I hadn’t planned to give them to anyone but you. Except the ghost said Dev was safe.”

  “The ghost of the woman from the Dumpster?” he asked. “The ghost of one of the thieves?”

  “Aimee-Lynn wasn’t a thief! She was tricked. The Knight, whoever that is, had her and Mason convinced they were part of some crack team sent to test security systems. The moment she realized what happened, she hid the diamonds until she could figure out who to trust.” Jules pointed an accusatory finger at him. “Aimee-Lynn thought you and Dev were trustworthy.”

  The dull ache between his brows spread to encompass his entire forehead. He rubbed the growing spot with his thumb and forefinger.

  I’m in love with a beautiful nut case.

  “You said your ex gave you that purse.” His jaw ached from clenching it. “How could you not know you’ve been carrying the wrong one since Friday night?”

  “I’m not sure how I missed it.” She conceded the point, proving she wasn’t completely out of touch with reality. “Except like I told you, I never used it before last Friday night. When the purses were switched at the reunion, I hadn’t noticed probably because I barely recognized my own.”

  “So you expect me to believe that you happened to be at a party where your old friend, Mason Hart, happened to be with his fiancée?” he asked, his frustration mounting. He doubted she’d seen a ghost, but it was far more likely that she’d been in on the theft from the start. “Hart, who you’ve just implicated in multiple robberies? But we’ll get back to that because you and Aimee-Lynn Masters accidentally switched purses but you didn’t know it. And you just happened to be discovered in a Dumpster with her body. Added to that, you just happened to find the stolen gems in your purse. Because a ghost told you to rip away the lining?” He whistled between his teeth. “Did I get everything?”

  “Yes.” Jules swallowed audibly and closed her eyes briefly, then whispered through a sob, “Tell me you believe me.”

  “I’m a detective, honey,” he said. “I need proof. Can you ask Aimee-Lynn a question for me?”

  She shook her head. “I can’t. Aimee-Lynn crossed over before you came home.”

  “Crossed over?” he asked, then wished he hadn’t.

  “Went into the light.” Jules nibbled on her lip, then said, “At least, I think she went into a light. She talked about seeing it. But she talked about her nana too. Hmmm . . .” She shrugged. “Either way, Aimee-Lynn’s not here anymore.”

  She’s crazy.

  Why had he fallen for her? Was every woman crazy or just the ones that held the most attraction for him? Damn, he didn’t just suck at relationships; he hoovered at them.

  “Seth . . .” She reached for him but he jerked away from her touch. A desolate look washed over her beautiful face, followed by a strange sort of expression of acceptance. “Ask Dev if you don’t believe me. He’ll confirm what I’ve told you.”

  “Yeah, well . . . I’ve been trying to call him all night.” The hard edge to his words appeared to physically hurt her. Her head whipped back as if he’d slapped her. Jules’s reaction served to amp up his rioting emotions from frustration to rage. He growled the next sentence. “Stay in town until this is sorted out.”

  She blanched. “Are you going to arrest me?”

  “Not without the diamonds.” He shook his head. “Right now, the only proof I have is that you’re a certifiable nutcase.”

  Tears sprang to her eyes, clung to her lashes, but went no farther. She rose to her feet and bent over. Seth, unsure of her intent, snatched his gun from the coffee table, keeping it out of her reach.

  Jules flinched; agony flashed across her face. Her eyes swam more, threatening a waterfall of tears, but not a single drop fell. With her gaze on the gun he held loosely in his hand, she retrieved her clothing from the floor.

  With the grace of a queen—or of someone completely comfortable in her delusion—Jules crossed the room. She opened the door a crack, then turned back, “One more thing. Aimee-Lynn said to tell you to beware the Knight.”

  The door closed behind her with a snick. The sound pierced his ballooning anger. It radiated through him, echoing, reverberating, stealing the strength from his body. He sunk to the couch. A hollow ache in the center of his chest opened up and he wanted to howl in grief.

  The front door slammed open and bounced against the wall.

  Jones’s big body nearly filled the frame.

  CHAPTER 20

  “ARE YOU OUT of your ever-lovin’ mind?” Jones slammed the door closed and stomped across Seth’s floor. His face contorted with rage and he practically vibrated. “Did you just call her a nut case?”

  “Where the hell have you been all night?” Seth ground his teeth in an effort to reign in his temper, then said, “It’s none of your damned business what I said to her. If you’d heard what she just told me, you’d have said it too!”

  “She told you about the diamonds?” Jones’s eyebrows knitted together.

  “So she did have them all along?” Seth shot a quick glance at the younger man’s hands. “If she gave them to you, where are they? And where in the hell have you been?”

  “I went to my car for my field kit and to document the discovery of evidence while it was still fresh in my head.” Jones reached into the interior pocket of his expensive blazer and withdrew a plastic evidence bag. Loose white diamonds, a red diamond ring, and a now-tattered black purse were sealed inside.

  The bag slapped to the coffee table. Jones glared at him. “Anything else you want to ask me?”

  Not quite trusting the younger man, Seth continued to dangle his weapon between his fingers and asked, “Did you send me on that wild-goose chase? Are you part of the Diamond Gang?”

  Jones blinked. “You are out of your mind! Of course I’m not part of it. I’m your partner. You know, the one who’s barely slept the past few nights trying to help you solve this mystery. T
he one who worked this afternoon and all night tonight going over those cryptic ass-licking diaries while you made time with the very woman whose heart you just crushed! Why the hell would I give up my entire fucking week to work on this case if I were in on it?”

  For a taciturn fellow, Jones certainly has a way with words.

  “Then why did you tell me I needed to come into the station?”

  Jones goggled at him, then spoke through his clenched teeth. “Because Harmon handed me a note from the captain. The note even said, ‘No more screw-ups.’”

  No more screw-ups.

  The phrase rang in his ears. He’d heard it before. Where?

  “But you didn’t show up. Where the hell did you go?” Jones continued. “You left Jules alone for hours after telling me you weren’t comfortable doing that for twenty minutes. I thought I was doing you a favor by coming over here to keep an eye on your girlfriend.”

  Jones’s agitation was too raw to be faked. Or was it?

  Seth’s mind raced over the details of his case.

  “Someone claiming to be Peterson called me while I was on my way to the station,” Seth admitted, but watched Jones carefully for any signs of guilt. An eye twitch, an averted gaze, anything to indicate he’d been the one to make the call. “The guy did a great impersonation. Why would someone do that?”

  Jones’s eyes widened but he didn’t so much as flinch. If he hid something, he hid it well. Could he trust his partner after all?

  Jones pointed to the purse. “Maybe someone wanted you out of the way to steal this?”

  “Jules’s purse?”

  “No. Not her purse,” Jones growled the last word. “It belonged to Aimee-Lynn Masters. I thought Jules told you what happened. Or were you too busy judging her to listen?”

  Seth growled low in his throat at the insult. He closed his eyes and rolled his shoulders. “Shit. I must’ve handed that purse to her at least three times since we met.”

  In a flash, he saw the future: Jules arrested for obstruction of justice at best if not conspiracy, burglary, and accomplice to murder. But he was her alibi for the murder.