by Dale Mayer
The energy around Tavika’s sleeping place was cold. Distant. But warm energy surrounded the cat.
Odd. He didn’t want to make too much of it, but there was something weird about her sleeping spot. She oozed sex appeal in a raw unbridled way. She brandished her power – physical power – power of her position – as she went about her day. But not her feminine power. He could never imagine her pulling out high heels and a little short black dress to charm any man.
If she wanted something she was going to reach out and grab it.
Now what would it take to have her reach out and grab him? He snorted, he’d have to blow the lid off the damn storage containers she kept all those unwanted emotions in. He’d had a lot of relationships in his life but had yet to come up against a woman who matched him in so many ways but refused to acknowledge what was between them.
That thought put a smile on his face as he had a quick shower. When he came out and dressed he checked his phone to see he’d missed a call. He hit redial.
“Jericho?”
“What’s up, Tavika?”
“Did you go through my file?”
He sucked in his breath, having forgotten that. He admitted, “I did. I didn’t think you’d mind. Still I know it was wrong. I should’ve asked you first, and I would have but you were sleeping already.”
An awkward silence filled the line. He could almost see the steam shooting out of her ears.
“Why?” he said. “I never removed anything so how did you know I actually read it all.”
“Because you wrote across one of the pages,” she snapped, anger making her tone vibrate.
“Whoa, no no no. I did not write on any of those pages,” he said, not sure what she was talking about but knowing he’d never do that. Had he left one of his note sheets in the folder accidentally? “I have my own notebook and took my own notes.”
“Are you sure?”
He could hear the rustle of papers in the background and the confusion in her voice.
“Of course I’m sure. I’d never do something like that to your pages.”
“But there’s a name written on one of these pages. Not neat and tidy in the top corner, but scrawled across the whole page.”
“What is the name?” he asked curiously.
“Anna. It’s written across the entire page.”
“No last name?” Anna? Jericho frowned. There was no way he’d have ruined one of Tavika’s pages. But if he hadn’t – who had?
Her voice faded as she held the phone away to switch through the papers. “No, I don’t see anything else. That’s the only name and just on the one page.”
“What page was it written on?”
“On the page I wrote up on Gordon.”
“Did Gordon have a daughter named Anna?” There was a sharp odd silence as she digested his question. He should already know the answer. And he did, but he couldn’t help asking.
“I’m not even sure I want to know where this going, but I can tell you right now Gordon had no children,” she said in low tones. “I have to go.” And she ended the call.
Anna. He spun around to look at the bed. It looked the same with the exception of Solomon having stretched out on his back. Could that have been the ghost he’d seen last night?
To the empty room he called out, “Anna, is that you?”
There was no answer. He frowned and then another thought struck. Jesus. He opened his phone again and called Hunter. As soon as Hunter answered he said, “Is her name Anna?”
Hunter snapped to attention. “Yes. Have you seen her?”
Whoa. Jericho took a deep breath. “Maybe.”
“Maybe?” Hunter asked incredulously. “There is no maybe about this. She’s been missing for seventeen days.”
“I know. You’ve told me all this.” Jericho didn’t know what to say. “All I can tell you is I saw the spirit of a child last night, maybe ten years old or younger, but she was in spirit form.” He took a deep breath. “Then this morning Tavika was looking through a file she’d brought home last night and the name Anna was written across one of the sheets. Tavika didn’t write it. I didn’t write it. And there was nobody else here who could have done it.”
“Spirit form?”
“Yeah. Spirit form.”
“So she’s dead?” Hunter’s voice fell in defeat.
“I have no idea. It’s possible though, but not necessarily true,” Jericho rushed to reassure him.
“I guess that’s a question to ask Stefan.” Hunter rang off, leaving Jericho wondering if somehow Anna had been attracted to Tavika’s energy.
He couldn’t confirm Anna was a ghost, yet she definitely appeared in spirit form. Still, he could walk in the same form so he knew that seeing her like this didn’t have to mean the little girl was dead. But it did mean that Tavika with her beacon of energy was attracting more toward her than she knew.
And if Anna had found her here at her home, who else was she attracting?
*
He had to go out of town for work. Shitty timing. And he wasn’t in a mood to make the trip fun like he had on different occasions.
He stood in front of the window staring out at the world. Maybe not. Maybe a few days to cool off would help.
His phone rang. His heart rose in joy when he saw the number.
“Hi, sweetheart. I know, I don’t want to go. Just for two days I promise. I’ll be back soon.” After reassuring the love of his life he would only be gone for as long as necessary he rang off.
Damn this love shit was hard.
But the thought of losing it was harder.
He had to make sure he was safe. He wanted this new life. He could almost taste the normalcy of it. It’s something he’d craved all his life. And there was no way he was going to let Tavika ruin it for him.
Chapter 19
Anna? She didn’t have any cases involving victims named Anna. She set up a search but with only a first name it would be hard. As a secondary search she set up one for Anne. Wouldn’t it be nice if somebody would obligingly give her a last name? It would make life simpler. Still, this name was more a curiosity.
But anything in the spirit psychic world tended to be obscure. That just made it harder to deal with. Jericho could have written the name aimlessly while he was studying something else. She’d been known to do a few things like that, but she would look at it later and remember what it was about. She shifted the papers in her file once again, studying Gordon’s information.
There was nothing new here. As she’d suspected he’d been killed with a single slice to the neck, same direction and pattern as the old man. So likely the same killer. She was still waiting for the tox screens on all the victims. Outside of the fact that both were single, lonely, and vulnerable to predators, there was very little connection between them.
And stranger killings were the worst to solve. Essentially they were strangers killed by the same killer but for no discernible reason connecting them. It was as if one day a man chose to kill a young girl sitting on a park bench. The next day he’d take out a young man in a bowling alley and then the next day he picked off a senior walking down the street.
Random occurrences brought about by random choice. Those types of killings gave the police nothing to go on. She slammed the file closed and tucked it back into her bag. She logged onto the computer, happy to see she managed to get in without any trouble. Her email list was huge, but what else was new?
She scanned through them but as there was nothing urgent she immediately closed the program. That was the last thing she needed right now. She checked on the searches she’d set up. The search for the name Anna popped up with three cases over the last ten years. One was a four-year-old she discounted as too young. Another was seventeen, which she discounted as too old. That left her with one possibility. She opened up the file and read the child had gone missing three weeks ago, but she frowned, not remembering the case. There’d been no Amber Alert.
She read the details. The child h
ad gone missing from her house, only the family hadn’t known about it because she’d supposedly been picked up by a relative to get her out of the way while the family was in the middle of a move. Missed communications had the child missing for two days before anyone realized. There were detectives on that case, but so far they had no one who looked good for this.
Chances were good a family friend or relative had taken the little girl for some sexual fun and then dumped her body. She’d be found in a ditch in the spring.
She reached up and massaged her temple. Too many years on the job made it hard to keep looking at things without bias. Of course no one was fully neutral. It was hard to look at these cases and not see the damage, the pain. But it was what she did and she was good at it.
The second search came up with more options. But as she scanned through them none looked as good. No, Anna was likely Anna Hathaway. She’d send Jericho a message and ask if he knew anything about her.
Only she didn’t get that chance.
Stefan’s voice boomed through her mind making her shudder. Instantly, he toned down the volume.
Sorry, he whispered. I thought I’d have to pound to get through, so used to using a little more force than necessary. Instead, he said with a note of humor, you opened the door. Good for you.
Mentally she responded with, And I might just shut it if you keep coming in unannounced like that.
Am I limited to ringing the doorbell?
She threw down her pencil and sat back glaring at the office in front of her. There were a couple of other people in residence, thankfully nobody looking at her. Good thing. She probably looked like an idiot. In her head she said, What’s up?
Anna?
She straightened. Anna Hathaway?
What do you know about her?
Maybe nothing. She related what she’d found on her paper. She didn’t know if he could see or not, but she pulled out the sheet and held it up in front of her as if she was studying it. It felt so stupid. He was in her head, that didn’t mean he was in her eyes.
Something shifted inside. Like a realignment. She blinked at the sensation. What was going on?
Stefan said, Actually I can see through your eyes, but only exactly what you see. And my eyesight isn’t as good.
Bemused she picked up the sheet, pulled it up closer, holding it at eye level. This is the sheet I found when I got to work this morning. Jericho says he did not write this and I certainly didn’t.
Did you meet Anna Hathaway’s ghost?
She gave a half snort.
No, the only ghosts I see are my family.
Interesting.
What does that mean? She asked crossly. I hate always feeling like somebody knows more than I do.
In this case nobody knows more than you. We’re trying to understand how you figure into this.
Tell me about Anna Hathaway, she said.
One of my men, Hunter, has been tracking her down for several weeks. We suspected she was taken by an uncle. One with a little too much interest in the girl.
Hearing him echo what she’d already considered made her stomach sour. Who’s Hunter? And what has he learned so far?
We’re still hoping she’s alive. However, if you’ve seen her in spirit form that changes things potentially.
Have you spoken with Jericho? She asked.
I have. He’s actually the one who saw her spirit – in your apartment.
Damn. Inside her stomach sank.
So she’s dead? She asked softly.
No, we don’t know that. If I’d seen her I might have been able to tell. According to Jericho there was something very lifelike in her spirit. Only her time is dwindling.
Curious she asked, If her spirit form has already separated, does that mean she’s dying? Or she has the same ability that Jericho and you have?
She also may not know she’s doing it. If the world little children find themselves in is too devastating, they can just go away inside. Sometimes they do it in spirit form. It’s up to us to find her before that spirit separates from the body. At that point it’s death. If we find her before that then maybe we can save her.”
She loved the idea of saving her. But she hadn’t seen Anna. So there wasn’t anything she could do.
Jericho said she laid down on the bed beside you.
That almost broke her heart. She hadn’t known. If she had she might’ve been able to offer some comfort. But why me? Why would she come to me?
Actually, I was going to ask you that question, Stefan said. I think it has to do with your beacon.
She gasped. How did he know about the beacon? And why would it bring the little girl to her?
Silence.
At least you aren’t disputing the fact that you have a beacon, he said quietly. Thank you for that much honesty.
If that were the reason then I should be inundated with spirit forms coming toward me, she said. And that hasn’t happened.
If you aren’t actually seeing these entities how do you know? It’s Jericho who saw Anna. Maybe your space is completely full and you don’t know it?
Is that even possible? She shook her head. This was beyond odd. Or maybe I should say what difference does it make?
Maybe these people are trying to communicate with you, Stefan said. It’s not uncommon to have that happen.
And they chose the wrong person to try and talk to, she snapped, irritated at the sense of guilt she was already feeling for not having sensed or seen anyone. As I can’t see them, I can’t help. She gave a half snort and inelegant shrug of her shoulders. It wouldn’t matter if I could see them because the bottom line is I can’t do anything for them.
And what if you could? Stefan asked. What if there was something you could do to help them – would you?
I don’t know. She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. This was all too stupid. We’re talking about stuff that isn’t real to most people. Even if it’s real to a few it’s not to me. Because I can’t see them.
Her phone rang. She refused to answer it. Last thing she wanted was to talk to her brother right now. She was inundated by having Stefan in her mind as it was. Having Travis read her mind right now would just be too much.
With that thought Stefan disappeared and her phone stopped ringing. The tension around the back of her neck and the pressure inside her head eased. Oh happy day. Under her breath she whispered, “Thank God for that.”
She stared back down at her files but struggled to get her focus back. Just the idea that there were spirits attracted to her and she had no idea was bothersome. She’d always felt so alone. But if she felt alone and they were all hanging around her how did they all feel when she didn’t respond? Did they see each other? Could they communicate with one another? What were they talking about? And how often was one trying to talk to her? But why was it that Jericho could see Anna and yet Tavika couldn’t?
And did it matter?
*
Jericho leaned against the inside wall of Tavika’s apartment, his head bowed. He wafted out a gentle wave of energy. Energy that floated lightly on the air. He didn’t want to scare Anna, but if he could find a way to communicate then maybe he could talk to her.
If he could talk, he could find out something about where she was.
And where she was being kept.
“If you can hear me I mean you no harm. I’m here to help.”
Silence.
“Anna, are you there?” He continued to send out a gentle healing energy throughout the space. He didn’t know if the little girl had followed Tavika or been attracted to come here to this apartment. Both were long shots. With ghosts one just never knew. He sat down to wait, letting that energy shimmer lightly. “Anna?”
No answer. He raised his head and turned to look around. He couldn’t see anything to the side or in front. He closed his eyes so his mind could pick up her energy on an intuitive level. Then with a technique that Stefan had taught him, he opened his eyes looking for an energetic position thro
ugh the layers and found the room completely overwhelmed with other energies. So many pressed in on him. He closed his eyes trying to regulate his breathing. He had to appear controlled, otherwise the other energies would react negatively to his. He needed everybody calm. And what the hell? Was Tavika running a halfway house for spirits here?
And did she even know? He could answer the last question on his own. No. She had no idea what was going on.
He’d seen no sign of her energy acknowledging the other entities. And yet they appeared to be on the same dimension. He’d seen her attract them. Send out feelers as if letting everybody know she was there. But she didn’t seem to know what she was doing when she got them. But it all required energy – energy she didn’t have.
As if there was a disconnect.
That wasn’t unusual but was something she needed to change. Just as he was ready to give up he thought he heard a tiny sniffle. Trying not to move, his gaze slid from one side of the apartment to the other, coming back to the bed. There the little girl was curled up in a ball, her head on the pillow. Her form curled up around Solomon. Was that by accident? Or was she gaining what comfort she could from the feline? As he listened, the sniffle came again. In a low voice he reached out mentally and verbally. “Anna?”
The spirit bolted upright. She looked around fearfully. At one point she shoved her fist into her mouth as if to stifle cries. His heart went out to her. She was obviously panicked and that was not what he wanted.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. My name is Jericho. I’d like to help you.”
Where are you? And how can you help? she asked. Nobody came for me. I waited and waited and nobody came.
“Take it easy, little one. I’m trying to help you now. There’s lots of people looking for you.”
She raised her gaze hopefully.
He could see Tavika’s bedding through her.
He was struggling to determine if this was a spirit form or ghost. He didn’t want to ask her. Reminders of traumatizing events often made the ghost run away. He couldn’t see her silver cord from where he sat, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one. And in some cases the silver cord itself was awfully hard to find.
