HOLY SMOKE (An Andi Comstock Supernatural Mystery, Book 1)

by Ann Simas

  “So, who did you come up with, J.B.?”

  Andi laughed. Leave it to Jack to nickname her after a sleuth who been popular in girl’s fiction a hundred years earlier. “Harold Love, for one. She purchased her practice from him and when he died, her obligation to pay what she owed was absolved.”

  “You’re kidding!”

  “Nope. My dentist mentioned it, which is why I dug deeper. Paul Stimack, her ex-husband, died just a few months after Doc Love. He never got around to changing his will, so Dawna got everything.”

  “She’s either one lucky broad, or…who else did you come up with?”

  “No one yet,” Andi admitted, “but deaths happen in threes. At least, that’s what my grandmother used to say.”

  “Your grandmother.”

  Andi translated that to, Oh, great. Andi hears dead people and she’s also superstitious.

  “What’s your point?”

  “Before Vaughn, I’d be willing to bet Dawna was infatuated with another patient’s husband.”

  “That would be four deaths then, not three.”

  “I’m just throwing out possibilities, remember? We don’t know that she killed Doc Love or her ex, do we? If she only killed one of them, then another woman besides Sherry would complete the triad. If she killed both of them, plus Sherry and another woman, then there are two other victims out there somewhere that we don’t know about yet.”

  “Jesus, Andi, stop! My head’s spinning. Could you make it any more complicated and convoluted? You have quite an imagination.”

  “I’m not imagining Sherry’s dead.”

  “Okay, I’ll give you that.”

  “I searched obituaries online. Dawna eulogized Doc Love, Paul Stimack, Amber Owen, and Merry Stiles.” Another vehicle pulled up behind them in the drive. “I think we should table this discussion until later.”

  “I can hardly wait,” Jack said, his tone dry. “You never cease to amaze me, Andi.” He slid his hand across the back of her seat. His fingers did a little dance against her neck.

  Andi’s innards began to tingle, as they did every time Jack touched her.

  A knock on his window drew both his attention and his hand away from her.

  Father Riley stood beside the vehicle, grinning at them.

  Andi wasn’t surprised that Vaughn had invited him to the party. She had an idea that after the kids went to bed, a family confab would ensue. It wasn’t a bad idea to have a priest on hand to help deal with fallout.

  She climbed out of the Highlander and grabbed the presents she’d brought from the rear seat. Jack retrieved the two he’d brought, as well, and the three of them made their way to the front door.

  “Should be quite an evening,” Father Riley commented.

  “Quite,” Jack agreed.

  Andi, her finger on the doorbell, said, “You boys be good, now.”

  CHAPTER 22

  The effort to put the children to bed began at eight. Dotty took the boys and Sally took the girls. Jack and Andi helped Vaughn clear the dining room, while Eddie and Father Riley imbibed an after-dinner brandy in front of the fireplace in the living room.

  When Andi insisted she and Jack could finish the kitchen clean-up, Vaughn climbed the stairs to Micah and Trevor’s room to read them a bedtime story. After that, he read to Ashley and Etta. Dotty, pleading exhaustion, called it an early night and went off to her room and Sally found a comfortable chair near the fire.

  “Coffee or brandy?” Vaughn inquired when he returned to the kitchen.

  “Coffee for me,” Andi said. “Sally said she wants one, too. I’ll pour.”

  “I’ll take a brandy,” Jack said.

  “I’d like to take this opportunity to tell Eddie and Sally what’s going on,” Vaughn said. “While Father Riley is here.” He looked at Jack. “Is that okay by you?”

  “It’s your call and I have no problem with it since they’re family. Everyone just needs to know it can’t go beyond these walls.”

  Vaughn nodded. He pulled out a tray, loaded it with beverages, and carried it to the living room. Andi gave the countertop a wipe-down and Jack finished drying a couple of pans before they joined the others.

  Sally and Eddy must have sensed something was amiss. Both their expressions were strained, as if they awaiting some unforeseen calamity. Vaughn broke the news to them as gently as he could, but the very idea that someone had murdered their daughter so she could have Sherry’s husband seemed almost beyond their comprehension.

  “Are you saying…?” Sally broke off, unable to control her sobs.

  Eddie completed his wife’s question with teary eyes. “Sherry’s dentist killed her so that she could have you for herself?”

  “That’s what the police suspect,” Vaughn said, the agony in his voice apparent. “The medical examiner says Sherry died of mercury poisoning.”

  Eddie’s face grew redder. Andi suspected it was not because of the brandy. For the next thirty minutes, between what Jack could tell them and Andi relaying her story yet again, the Spences listened in silence. When Andi pulled out her journal, they read Sherry’s communiqués together in silence. Sally ran her fingertips gently over the words, as if she were caressing her daughter.

  Andi’s eyes welled with tears. The ramifications of hearing the voices was getting harder by the day. Even if she hadn’t known Sherry or the Spences, her involvement would be difficult.

  “This explains so much,” Eddie said. “Sherry was never sick. Oh, she had the usual childhood illnesses, but once she got past those, she was healthy as the proverbial horse, wasn’t she, Sal?”

  Sally nodded. “I’ve been feeling so awful because I couldn’t do anything for her when she got sick. She thought at first it was morning sickness, but she hadn’t taken a pregnancy test yet, so….” She glanced expectantly at Jack. “Did…that is, could the medical examiner…did he…?”

  Andi knew what Sally was trying to ask and it broke her heart.

  Jack’s tone, fairly businesslike up until then, gentled when he responded to Sally’s incomplete query. “Yes. He estimated she was about twelve weeks along.”

  “Was the baby…harmed?” Eddie asked.

  “I’m afraid poisoning from elemental mercury is detrimental to a fetus,” Jack said.

  Andi gave him silent kudos for imparting that horrific news without being graphic about it.

  “Was there more…more than one baby? Could he…could he tell the gender?” Sally asked.

  “Only one,” Jack said. “It was a boy.”

  Andi glanced at Vaughn, who had been sitting stone-faced in his chair, trying to take it all in for the second time in three days. At this latest revelation, he dropped his head into his hands. His shoulders shook with silent sobs.

  Andi and Jack looked at each other helplessly.

  Father Riley said, “I know it may seem inconsequential at a time like this, when the wound of your grief has been reopened, but I think praying may help. If you’ll allow me, I would be honored to lead you.”

  After several moments, when he had himself a little more put together, Vaughn stood and went to Sally and Eddie. He held out his big hands to them, which they accepted. They stood, as well, and the older couple each offered a free hand to Andi and Jack. Father Riley completed the circle.

  “Heavenly Father, hear our prayer. Sherry Spence Hemmer, a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a friend was taken under the most heinous of circumstances, for a purpose so selfish it claims a place on your list of Commandments. Her physical life was cut short, but her spirit lingers here, seeking not retribution but answers so that she may leave the earthly plane and proceed home to You.

  “Take her unborn son to Your heart and let him know how he is loved on earth. Watch over and protect the children, his siblings, whom she helped create. Dear Lord, please help those who loved Sherry find not only the inner strength to deal with the loss of their beloved girl, but also the courage and wisdom to trust those who are charged with bringing her killer to justi
ce. Protect them all from evil and imbue them with Your love and Your grace. Console them with Your blessed presence. Grant them courage to persevere. Grant them also your protection and care in tranquility and peace. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

  Andi didn’t know how the others perceived those words, but they touched her deeply. She hadn’t prayed like that for a long time and it affected her in ways she hadn’t expected. For one thing, she felt instantly renewed. Not in a way that was like hooray-I’m-going-to-kick-Dawna’s-ass, but more like I’m-confident-now-that-I’m-on-the-right-path. Whatever justice Dawna faced, if Jack’s investigation even got that far, she still had Judgment Day ahead of her. The determination made at the Pearly Gates was far more important than anything decided in a court of law.

  Andi and Jack left not long after. Father Riley stayed behind with the family. They needed him now, more than ever. She sent a little prayer of her own skyward, thanking God for making it possible for her to meet the priest. He and Jack had both been a godsend, each in his own way.

  . . .

  “Can I come up?” Jack asked as he eased into a parking space.

  “Sure.” They hadn’t finished their discussion about other possible victims of Dawna Stimack. Andi was a little surprised he hadn’t grilled her on the way home. Instead, he talked about what a good time he had at the party. She knew he’d been a little reluctant to accompany her, so the surprise in his voice when he admitted he enjoyed himself amused her.

  Jack came around to her side of the vehicle and took her hand as she climbed out. When he slid his arm around her, Andi snuggled against him, liking the closeness. Liking it a lot.

  “Want coffee?” she asked when they stepped into her apartment.

  “Naw. I’m stuffed and practically floating as it is. Dotty and Sally put together a fabulous meal.”

  “They did.” Andi hung up Jack’s coat on the hall tree and put hers in the guest closet.

  “Mind if I turn on the fireplace?”

  “Nope.” She reached over the sink to close the blind over the kitchen window.

  Jack came up behind her and slid his arms around her waist, pulling her back against him. “Thank you for inviting me tonight.”

  “You did put up a little resistance. I wasn’t sure you’d agree to go.”

  “In retrospect, I should have jumped up and down at the prospect.”

  Andi detected a note of facetiousness in his tone and nudged him lightly with her elbow. Jack’s thumbs began to move back-and-forth against the underside of her breasts. “Jack?” she asked, her voice a strangled whisper.

  He nuzzled her ear. “What?”

  “What are you…doing?”

  He lifted one hand, settling her hair behind her ear before he began to plant little kisses on her neck. “I like your hair down like this. I had no idea it was so long.”

  Andi’s head fell back against his chest. “It’s easier to keep it up when I’m working. I never have to worry about….” Her body gave an involuntary shudder when the hand at her waist ventured up and captured a breast. His thumb grazed over her tautened nipple. She forgot what she’d been about to say.

  “I like your dress, too. You have great legs.”

  Andi couldn’t do more than moan in response. Did he have any idea what he was doing to her?

  “You should show them off more often.”

  He turned her in his arms then, kissing her like they were experiencing the last five minutes of human existence. Andi almost exploded with pleasure…and passion. She didn’t even know she could feel like this. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her breasts against him, unable to resist rubbing them against his chest. His hands slid down to her butt and pulled her tightly against his groin. She had no doubts remaining about how he would respond to the encounter.

  “Jesus, Andi,” he said, his breath heaving as he rested his forehead against hers. “All I can think about all day long, every goddamned day, is you and how much I want to screw you.”

  Andi couldn’t contain a laugh. “Geez, Jack, that’s really romantic.”

  He pulled back and studied her with stormy, sultry eyes. Andi sizzled at her core, matching him breath for breath.

  “What do you say?”

  “Yes. I say yes.”

  They couldn’t get their clothes off fast enough. Between the two of them, they managed to undo buttons and zippers and fling off underwear from the kitchen sink to the bedroom, then they were at Andi’s bedside. Jack flung back the covers, sending them mostly to the floor. He fell on the bed, taking Andi on top of him.

  “You are so damned hot,” he mumbled and took her mouth again.

  Tongues tangled and danced, hands fondled, squeezed, explored. His erection pressed against her belly reminding her that she had that unopened box of condoms in her nightstand. The problem was, she didn’t want to break contact with him to get one.

  Jack pulled her up higher and suckled first one breast then the other. His shaft pressed against her, seeking entrance. “Rubber,” Andi managed to get out.

  Jack swore and she knew he hadn’t come prepared. That both flattered and amused her. With reluctance, she disentangled herself and managed to open the drawer. She got the box open and took out a package, opening it carefully so she didn’t damage the prophylactic. She watched, shivering with anticipation, as he rolled it down his erection.

  “Climb on, Andi,” he said, helping her get situated. His eyes flared with desire and hunger as her warmest of places accepted every inch of him.

  And then she went for the wildest, most exciting, incredible ride of her life. Andi had been far from dexterous or coordinated on previous occasions, which were limited to the course of one relationship, but with Jack…it was synchronicity. Their joining couldn’t have been choreographed better if they’d worked on it for years.

  Jack fondled her breasts, teasing the tips to rock hardness before he sought the nub between her womanly folds. Within seconds, she catapulted into something indescribable. She’d never experienced anything like it. Ever. She never wanted it to end. She kept moving, kept moaning, couldn’t believe it when she felt Jack’s erection grow harder and larger, and then, he, too, was moaning and bucking.

  “My God,” Jack murmured.

  “Yes,” Andi whimpered back.

  By the time she collapsed against his chest, her body still buzzing, Andi had never felt more content, more sated. His hands traveled gently, tenderly, up and down her back, over her buttocks, stirring her again.

  “Better take care of business.

  Andi decided then and there, she was going to see her doctor for birth control pills. She liked feeling Jack inside her. She didn’t want to have him pulling out right away because he was worried about escaping swimmers. “Hurry back.”

  For a moment, he stood over her, tall and muscular, like some kind of medieval statue, and in the vague light filtering in between the blinds, she knew he was devouring her with his eyes. “You can count on it,” he growled. “Don’t move.”

  Andi could be a good little girl when it suited her. She stayed exactly where she was and when Jack came back from the bathroom, he came at her from the bottom of the bed, kissing and licking every inch of her legs, her thighs, savoring the place he’d recently vacated, sending her into another frenzy. He proceeded to cherish her belly, her breasts, her face, and finally her lips.

  Andy couldn’t wait to shower the same attention on his magnificent body.

  It was a glorious night. They slept. They made love. They slept. They made love. All night long. And in the morning, he didn’t sneak away like he’d made some huge mistake. Instead, he spooned Andi, a rubber already in place, and between them, they figured out how to do it that way.

  Later, they showered together and then Andi made breakfast. Jack kissed her long and hard at the door, obviously reluctant to leave.

  “I’ll see you later,” he finally said.

  “When?” she asked eagerly, her hand wandering d
own to the front of his slacks.

  He grabbed it, pressed it hard against him, then laughed and told her to stop. “I can’t be walking out of here at this hour with a hard on.”

  Andi grinned. “It’s okay by me.”

  “I’m sure it is, but I still have my modesty.”

  She gave him an extra squeeze.

  “You are a naughty girl.”

  “So, arrest me,” she suggested in a naughty tone.

  Jack smirked at her and pressed his crotch closer still to her hand.

  “Can you come for dinner tonight?”

  “I can come for you anytime, babe.”

  She slapped him playfully on the chest.

  “I can be here by six. We’ll finish our discussion then.”

  “And after?”

  He kissed her again, leaving her imagination to run wild with possibilities.

  CHAPTER 23

  The first thing Andi did when she got to work was call her doctor. As it turned out, Elise Stern, MD, had a noon opening. Andi switched her lunch hour around and took it.

  Andi had never experienced having to concentrate on work after an incredible night of making love. Usually, she could multi-task and compartmentalize at the same time, oxymoronic as that seemed. Today, she would be lucky if Quality Assurance only found a dozen bugs in her coding. Blessedly, since she heard no Smokies all day, she did manage to accomplish something.

  Dr. Stern told her the pills would take a week to be effective. Andi mentally checked the box in her nightstand and on her way home, when she picked up her prescription, she threw another box of Trojans into her shopping basket, along with a package of chicken breasts, some fresh Brussels sprouts, and a half-gallon of Lochmead ice cream. If she got lucky, while dinner roasted in the oven, she and Jack could have appetizers in her bed.

  Andi decided to make it easy for him. If Jack liked her legs, she’d give him legs. And a little boob, too. She quickly prepped dinner and set the table, including fresh flowers and candles. Next, the fireplace went on and at fifteen minutes before six, she turned on the oven. She planned to slide the chicken in the moment he knocked on the door, giving them an hour for…whatever.