by Dale Mayer
He reached out and gently cupped her cheek. His hand slid down her arm to her hand and squeezed her fingers. “I’ll explain later. Let’s just drive please. Being around cop shops makes me nervous.”
“Not surprising considering you just stole my truck.”
“Actually I delivered your truck. I knew you were tired and having a tough day. I was just being nice.”
But there was something in his tone of voice that bothered her. She glanced over at him but couldn’t read anything in his expression. Suspicious, she asked, “Or is it that you want to be driven somewhere? But why? You have your own truck.”
He laughed. “You’re a hard person to fool.”
She hit the brakes and glared at him. “What the hell.”
“It’s okay. You really want to go there too.”
Silence.
“And why do I want to go there?”
“Because there’s going to be another spirit in that electrician’s nightmare of a house.”
She sucked in a breath too shocked to even stare, much less glare at him. In a hoarse voice she asked, “How do you know?”
She waited for him to answer but he didn’t. Her mind raced with the implications. It also explained why her vehicle. He didn’t want anyone to notice his presence. Whereas, she went there all the time.
Out loud she said, “You said you are a pre-cog, meaning you see things before they happen. Has this next victim actually died? Or is the Ghost about to kill this person?” Seeing the answer on his face she turned the engine, ripped it to life and tore out of the parking lot heading for her old house of horrors. Damn. Maybe Jericho was going to be of some use after all.
Now maybe they could get there before the next victim died.
*
She pulled onto the street in record time. He’d seen a lot of people drive fast, but she drove with almost a furious disconnection. A scary one. She parked down the block where several vehicles filled the side of the street. He hopped out of the truck and waited for her. And again she surprised him.
He figured she’d run for the house. Instead, she walked cautiously forward, her stride never slowing, but he could see her energy was sending out a ton of feelers. Very cool. Not only was she an incredibly good driver but she was cautious.
He was afraid she’d go half-cocked crazy after realizing the killer was back in town. If she was going to impede his investigation, he couldn’t afford to let her in on the case. He still wasn’t sure. He may end up shutting her out at one point.
Nothing and no one was going to stop him from taking this asshole down. Not this time.
Two steps behind Tavika he watched as she approached the front door. She had her hand on her weapon as she studied the front window. Or what should have been one. Instead it was just broken glass lining a big hole in the wall. The place appeared deserted. Instead of going into the house she slipped around to the back. He followed. Together they searched the outside to see if there was a sign of anyone around.
He couldn’t see anything. His vision had been strong so he knew another victim was arriving. He just didn’t know when. She shot him a questioning glance. He shrugged. How did he explain pre-cog half-truths to somebody who didn’t understand them?
Around the back where the kitchen door was already partially ajar she slipped inside. He raced to keep up. She really didn’t understand the concept of teamwork, did she?
Inside the house it was cold, desolate, and dark. Empty. She walked through quietly. Searching the physical space. On her heels he studied the area. It was empty. Back in the kitchen, she asked, “Is the time frame still accurate?”
He nodded. “As much as I can see.”
Interestingly she didn’t double question his ability. Of course it was an entirely different issue altogether.
“Then let’s get out of sight.” She stepped outside. “I’m going to keep watch from the neighbor’s. I suggest you do your ghostly thing and hide out but keep watch from the front.” She turned and walked toward the next property.
His eyebrows rose.
Interesting. Acceptance. And trust. He kind of liked it. But she was right. He could keep track in a far different way. Unless the killer was also psychic. If she was watching the back he needed to watch the front. Contemplating his options, all he really needed was to be out of sight physically. His gaze caught on the long line of huge trees out front lining the streets. They were in bad need of a trim so they were heavy and lush. If he had enough time…
The words were barely through his mind when he was already climbing up the tree. With a couple of jumps and pulls he was tucked up in the greenery on a large limb above the sidewalk. He was a good fifty feet from the front door, but he had good visibility.
Now to secure his position and then go hunt the Ghost.
He laughed. This time he’d be one himself.
*
No. No. No. How did they know? They shouldn’t know. He was happy to blame the guy she was with. He’d never seen her with a male before – other than the other detectives she worked with.
But this one was a different relationship.
If they weren’t lovers already they would be soon.
He sat in the car, the engine running, trying to figure out what to do. His plans had to be changed. But what was his plan B? He’d thought this one would be easy. The woman had been walking by when he’d left the damn electrician’s house. One of those more impulsive moves that had caused him more trouble than it was worth.
He’d planned to dump her inside where the others had been. But that was out. So now what?
Plan B? Hell, there wasn’t one because he’d never needed it.
His breath came in hard gasps, his black gloved hands squeezing the steering wheel so hard he couldn’t feel his fingers.
Think, damn it. Think!
Chapter 13
Tavika settled down behind the huge, busted window. She had a great view of the back of the house. She expected the killer to show up once night settled in. She didn’t know how many deaths Jericho had attributed to this killer, but she knew herself there was at least eleven. She wouldn’t be surprised if the number was four times as high.
Too bad she hadn’t brought food with her for the stakeout. It was not how she planned to spend the rest of her night.
And although she was hungry, she was hungrier for this killer.
She closed her eyes and hunkered down for a long wait. The houses all around her had the same desolate look. It had been nice at one time then drugs moved in. It was possible the Ghost actually lived in one of the other houses on the block. Which meant he may have seen them arrive. She frowned. That would suck. She leaned back and let her eyes drift closed. Her shield wavered with all the stress. Instinctively she plugged the drain by pouring more energy into it. The shield was going to kill her one day. She knew that.
But she had no choice. Some secrets had to be kept.
They were just too precious not to. She had no idea if this killer had any abilities or not. She hadn’t thought he did. She’d listen to her mom’s broken cries back then, but she’d not made any sense. Tavika had been blessedly unconscious in the beginning. By the time she’d woken, her mother had been broken. She hadn’t said anything to clarify who her killer was. And Tavika had lots of time to listen, but she’d never recognized the voice.
Her phone rang. Damn it.
Then she realized it was Travis. Pulling the phone out, she smiled and held it to her ear. “Hey, bro, how’s life?”
“What have you done, Tavi? Talk to me,” he said. His voice was sharp, angry.
Of course he was angry.
“Stop tracking the Ghost,” he said. “Vengeance is no way to live.”
He might be right, but she was hardly living.
“Like you’ve moved on,” she scoffed. “I’m surprised you’re not here trying to take him out yourself.”
Until she put this asshole away she knew it was going to dominate her world. Only after she took t
his man down and made him pay for all the things he’d done would she be able to move on.
“Tavika, that’s not the way to handle this.” Travis’s voice sounded distant. “We’ve gone over this time and time again.”
“And I never change my mind,” she said. “I understand where you’re coming from, but it’s different for me.”
“It doesn’t have to be. You can walk away. At least you get to live that way. To have a good life, not this half existence.”
“If he doesn’t kill me it’s going to be somebody else. This is my job. My calling.” She gave a half ugly laugh. “Who knows, maybe what happened had to happen to set me on this course.”
“Don’t think like that. It’s over. It’s been so for a long time.”
“No,” she said. “It is over for you. I’m still reliving the nightmare.”
Silence but then what could he say. He knew what she’d been through – that she had any kind of a normal life was amazing. Things could’ve ended up so much worse.
She heard a sound outside. She froze and shifted her position so she could see. Nothing but…
“I have to go,” she whispered. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Tavi…” She shut off the call and put her phone away rather than listen to more. It had all been said many times over. In truth there was nothing more to say.
Footsteps? Was she hearing footsteps? Her mind strained to hear the sound more clearly. To figure out exactly what it meant. Why would anybody walk so loudly that she could hear the footsteps? Or was it…
She’d come here hundreds of times over the last few years. Only three times had she ever met anybody walking around, and there’d been maybe a half dozen when she found people inside the house. She didn’t like it. She couldn’t see anything from where she sat. The window was busted and open, giving her access if she needed to jump through to get to the other house. But the footsteps came closer from the front. She stilled, scared to breathe.
The footsteps were young with energy. Not an older person or anyone carrying a burden. Then they stopped. She could sense the hesitation.
“Hello. Anyone here?”
She frowned. What the hell?
Jericho whispered in her mind, Don’t move, it’s a trick.
The young voice called again, “Hello. I have a pizza delivery for someone named Tavika.”
She closed her eyes in frustration. How the hell…?
She didn’t know if she should jump up to quiz the delivery boy or stay where she was. It had to be from the Ghost. But how could he know she was here? And how had Jericho not seen this? And had this event then made Jericho’s vision defunct? Or was it still part of it? Damn. None of this made any sense. Like most psychic visions it was as clear as mud.
Outside she could hear the delivery boy talking on the phone.
“You’re sure you have the right address? Are you sure she’s living here? The house is really destroyed.” A pause as he listened. “No, there’s another house on the right, but honestly it doesn’t look like anybody’s here at all. The windows are all smashed in, the front doors are hanging off their hinges. I think you need to check the address again.” He waited for a few minutes.
But she knew the address was correct.
The young man spoke again. “Okay, what about a phone number?” There was silence as he listened. “Okay I’ll call. Thanks.”
She strained to hear. Interesting.
He quickly dialed. When a voice answered, he said, “Hello, I’m trying to deliver the pizza but the address appears to be wrong. Okay, so it’s 369 not 367?”
He turned to look at the house beside the hovel.
The house Tavika was hiding in.
“Okay. If you’re sure she’s in there,” he said doubtfully. He put the phone away and walked closer to her hiding spot.
Tavika was torn. Obviously the gig was up. She wanted to answer the door and question the delivery boy, maybe gather information of value.
I said don’t move, Jericho snapped.
She went to stand up and found she couldn’t. Her body was locked in this position, frozen to the floor. What the hell? She struggled harder but there was no moving her legs. She could move her upper body, but her knees were frozen to her chest, the same position as she’d been hiding in under the window.
Jericho had to be behind this. She didn’t know how he was managing it, but it was pissing her right off.
She’d had more than enough of being any man’s prisoner.
*
She better not fucking move. He’d been sending her warning messages for the last five minutes. She either wasn’t hearing him, or she’d slammed the door so hard between them she couldn’t hear. And that worried him. He didn’t know if the pizza guy was another errand boy and completely innocent in all of this or there could be something else inside that box. Either way he didn’t want her to move.
He’d heard the phone call the pizza delivery guy had made checking on the address. The fact that the guy was now heading toward the house where Tavika sat was terrifying. He shifted his position to study the street below. The only way this could be happening was if the Ghost had actually seen Tavika go into that house. And if he’d ordered that pizza. If so he’d have to have used a credit card. Jericho needed to know who placed that order.
He sent Hunter the request. The answer coming back was damn fast. The pizza order had been charged to Jericho’s own credit card. Damn it.
He cursed his decision to hide in the tree. He was stuck. If he had chosen any other damn place he might have had a better chance of seeing the Ghost.
Stefan’s voice reached in through his mind. No. He already knew.
“Knew what?” Jericho whispered under his breath. “Stefan, what do you know?”
Know for sure? Stefan said in a low voice. Nothing. This was too well-planned. The pizza was delivered so fast after Tavika walked into that house.
Jericho sat back. Stefan was right. He’d known ahead of time – somehow. Shit.
*
He should have sent a double order of pizza for the cops because they were being so stupid. He could see them from his living room. It hadn’t taken him long to come up with the plan, but it required he return to his apartment.
He’d stashed his victim for the moment. Hopefully, Tavika would realize she’d been made and leave.
He’d chosen the apartment specifically for the view. When the high-end units went up he bought one right away. There weren’t many of the larger ones with the layout he wanted on this side of the building, but it had to be this side. So he could see the house that started it all. He loved watching that place, and many others he had fond memories of. Just looking down on the roads and alleys he knew so well put a smile on his face. Particularly if he was going to shut down that part of his life.
A place he had a lot of fond memories of. It also gave him a clear view of the comings and goings there now. And if he needed to open that house up again, well he would. Especially if Tavika really was psychic. He’d let himself be convinced she was innocent of all that evil when she was a child.
But if he found he was wrong – then she would have to be destroyed like the rest of her family. He’d given her lots of time to prove herself… But with his plans he couldn’t afford to leave any threads to unravel – especially not if she found out the truth about him.
Besides he needed to be sure.
And the only way she could know at this point was if she was using those nasty, evil ways of her mother’s. A woman he could cheerfully kill a dozen times over.
There was no end to that kind of evil.
Chapter 14
Instinct told Tavika to stay still but it warred with the primal fear aching with the need to run. She couldn’t do either. The fact was she couldn’t even move. She could barely breathe.
What the hell was this? She struggled to free herself from the invisible bonds, her panic increasing with each movement, which caused the bonds to tighten. Like she
was fighting against herself.
And you are, came a smooth gentleman’s voice. You need to stay where you are right now. Stop fighting it – relax.
Only it wasn’t Jericho’s voice, she’d heard voices like that before. The shrinks had told her she was making it up.
That they weren’t real.
That they were all in her imagination. She knew her family’s voices weren’t her imagination. She’d eventually learned to not tell the shrinks anything of the voices. And finally learned to tell the shrinks to go away and leave her alone. That’s what she was going to tell this asshole too.
“I don’t know who the hell you are,” she said in a hard voice. “But I’ll kick your ass for doing this to me.” She snorted, managing to raise her arm even though it felt like lead with a forty pound weight attached to her wrist. “Don’t think I won’t.”
The note of humor in the voice made her pause as he said, Then you must just punch yourself in the face. Because this is your doing.
She snorted again. “Like hell. There’s no way I’m doing this.”
Maybe I should say, you’re letting this happen to you. This time the tone was sharper. You don’t have time for this. There’s someone in your space that you have allowed power over you. Whether it’s a belief or fear of a person I don’t know. All I can tell you is that it’s keeping you immobilized on that floor.
“What hocus-pocus bullshit is that?”
Tavika, this is Stefan. He released a heavy sigh. It would make life so much easier if you weren’t so goddamn stubborn.
“I am the way I am.”
We were all the way we were sometime, he shot back. It’s called free will. The ability to change, to grow, to learn. You don’t have to sit there refusing to acknowledge what happened to you way back when. You’re using your abilities at a rate that is alarming, but now it’s burning through your system. You have one goal, one vengeance, one purpose in your life right now and achieving that is going to kill you.
