Their expressions were priceless. “Damn, was she in a freezer?” one of them asked, craning his head around to look at the chaos inside the shop. “Did a bomb go off in here?”
Cait grunted, not answering, and held out her hand to Sam, who hauled her to her feet and then straight into his arms.
Wrapping her arms around his solid body, she was grateful for his strength. After the blast of power that had flowed from her toes through her fist, she felt as weak as a baby. Which didn’t bode well. If she had to face the demon again, she needed more.
Chapter Seventeen
“The LT wants to see you,” Detective Grady Lawson called out as Sam stepped out of the elevator at police headquarters.
Sam flexed his hand and winced. He really needed to get it bandaged, because the skin of his palm felt raw.
Leland was hunched over his desk, his gaze on a dozen scattered documents when Sam walked in. Leland’s face was a cold mask, not his usual MO of being flushed and irritated.
“What’s up, boss?” Sam asked, trying to keep his voice calm. Even though he didn’t have a speck of intuition, he knew Leland had an ax to grind.
“Your wife’s off the case.”
Sam pursed his lips before replying, striving to tamp down the anger that rocketed through him before he replied. “What are you talking about?”
“The director wants this case put to rest. Donnelly’s dead. Now it’s a citywide search for the girls. We don’t need Cait. We definitely don’t need any more crap.” Leland tossed the pen in his hand across the desk and leaned back in his chair. “And tell me, what the hell were you two doin’ at a psychic’s shop? Do you know how that looks? Every reporter in town is startin’ to connect the dots. We’re lookin’ incompetent. A fuckin’ circus. Tell her to invoice us, but we no longer need her services.”
Sam bristled but kept his irritation in check, not wanting to add to whatever was putting red spots of color in Leland’s cheeks. “I think you’re making a mistake.”
Leland gave him a cold glare. “The only mistake was lettin’ her anywhere near this case. It’s a fuckin’ fiasco. We’ve had enough crazy. She’s gone. Soon as you tell her, I need you back here.” His fingers tapped a file. “And I’m reassignin’ you. Simple homicide. Husband killed wife. DA just needs the family’s statements.”
This time, fury flushed through Sam. “This is my case,” he ground out.
“Not anymore. It’s mine,” he bellowed. “And if you don’t want to be transferred to vehicle theft, answerin’ phones every time an old lady loses her car at the mall, you’ll do as I say!”
Although his face was hot, his body so rigid it shook, Sam calmly reached into his jacket and pulled out his badge and service weapon. He laid them on the desk. “I’m taking leave. Starting now.”
“I won’t approve it.”
“Then I quit.”
Leland stared for a long moment, then wiped a hand over his face because he’d started to sweat. “She mean that much to you? You divorced her ass!”
Sam gripped the edge of Leland’s desk and leaned over it. “Not one more fucking word. You know this case isn’t cut-and-dried. Not from the first time you stepped in Henry Prudoe’s room. And the shit I’ve seen, following in Cait’s tracks as she’s headed this investigation—you don’t want to know.” He shook his head. “Wouldn’t begin to believe. I’m on this case. But if you don’t want the director on your ass, I understand. It’s off the record.”
Leland huffed a breath, disgust in the curl of his lips. “You won’t have support.”
“You’ve got this thing all backward. Cait doesn’t need the department or its support. We need hers, because you’ll never find those girls alive without her.” Sam pushed away and spun toward the door.
“Take a week,” came Leland’s gruff response.
Glancing back, Sam said, “I’ll take more if I need it, but I don’t think it’s going to take that long. The girls will be found dead by then.”
Leland slammed his fist on the desk. “Dammit, get out of here. You find anything we can act on…”
Things had gone better than he could have hoped. Sam turned around and gave his LT a crooked smile. “I’ll call.”
Cait stomped in the hallway of the emergency room at Methodist University Hospital, where she’d been since the on-call doctor threw her out of Celeste’s treatment room. She guessed she was lucky he hadn’t called security and had her tossed out on the sidewalk.
Her insistence that she be near to protect her family friend probably didn’t make a bit of sense. What was Celeste in danger of? Falling into a freezer again? The excuse Cait had given hadn’t been delivered with her usual bravado; she’d stammered. Sounded like a big fat lie even to her own ears.
She’d stayed inside long enough to see that things were going well with Celeste. Buried under warming blankets, her temperature was steadily rising. Cait paced, walking out the adrenaline spike that had kept her moving through everything that had happened—the wraith attack, her sudden burst of power. She hadn’t known until the moment she’d slammed her fist into the air that she could do that. The knowledge left her shaken, but also so excited her stomach churned.
With a quick turn, she stalked down the hallway again, hoping the restless energy would dissipate so she could think.
Coming down the hall was a white-haired woman pushing an oxygen tank on rollers, tubes in her nose. A harried orderly stepped out of a treatment room and barreled right into the old woman, passing through without noticing anyone had been there.
“Jesus, not now,” Cait whispered.
Blue eyes so bright they gleamed from twenty feet away stared right at Cait.
Cait turned her back.
“Pardon me,” came a creaky voice from beside her.
At the sound, Cait felt like clapping her hands over her ears and singing, “La-la-la.” But she crossed her arms over her chest and kept her gaze glued to the room where her friend lay recovering.
“Pardon me, miss.” The old woman’s voice held a crisp, disapproving note. “It’s not polite to ignore someone speaking to you.”
“You’re dead,” Cait muttered under breath, not glancing her way. “I don’t have to be polite.”
“I just need directions. I seem to be lost.”
Cait’s breath stilled, and she glanced sharply down at the frail woman, who looked a lot like Miss Daisy from the famous movie. “You’re really talking to me.”
The old woman’s chin lifted high. “Of course I am. You’re the first person who’s ever seen me.”
“So you know you’re dead.” Cait couldn’t keep the skepticism from her voice.
“Of course I do. I’m not an idiot.”
“Shouldn’t you have walked into the white light? How about looking for that?”
Miss Daisy sighed. “Don’t be ridiculous. The only bulbs around here are fluorescent, and they make everyone’s skin purple.”
“You’re worried about your skin tone?”
A fierce scowl dug deeper lines into her wrinkled forehead. “I’m worried about my husband. He’s not well. He’ll need me soon. I should be there.”
“He’s in this hospital?” Her brows drew into a frown.
“No, he left after they pronounced me. That’s what they call it when someone croaks.”
Cait shook her head, still not quite believing she was having this strange conversation. “I don’t think I can help you.”
The woman came closer, staring upward with her rheumy blue eyes filling with tears. “You have to. You look like a girl who needs some good karma.”
The orderly hurried back and gave Cait a strange look.
She crossed herself and closed her eyes, pretending she’d been praying all along.
When he passed, she aimed a glare at the old lady. “Why can’t you find your own way home?”
“I get turned around. It’s the Alzheimer’s, you know.”
Cait rolled her eyes. “Are you supposed to sta
y close to where you…passed?”
“No, not at all. I hitch rides with cute doctors all the time, but I lived in the country. Didn’t come to Memphis much.” A thin shoulder lifted. “Don’t know my way home.”
“I can’t help you now.”
“On account of the wraith?”
On an indrawn breath, Cait’s gaze narrowed. “What do you know about that?”
“I can hear them. Same as you. The others heard it first. My hearing’s not so great. The one that followed you howled right through the doors when the ambulance pulled up. It’s why I hid until it left. Why everyone hid. Scary little bastards.”
Cait shot a quick glance around the hallway. “There are more of you?”
“Of course. Now I know you can see us, I’ll have something Mrs. Klein didn’t know first.” She wrinkled her nose. “She’s a know-it-all. Been in this hospital for years. Looks over the sleepers. Kicks their call buttons when they need help ’cause they can’t.” Her gaze roamed over Cait, and a little smile turned up the corners of her mouth. “You’re gonna be a very busy girl.”
Cait gritted her teeth. The old woman was working her, even dead. “Look, can you keep me a secret for a while? I’m a little busy with that wraith.”
“I will if you promise to take me to Frank.”
The starch in the old woman’s voice softened and cracked. She loved her husband. Cait melted beneath the woman’s teary blue eyes. “I promise. When this is over, I’ll find you and take you to Frank. What’s his last name?”
“Digby.” Her mouth slid into a wide smile. “If you like, I’ll keep an eye on your friend, too. If the wraith comes around, I’ll make sure old Miz Klein makes a ruckus.”
The sound of booted feet approached, and she glanced back to see a uniform walk closer, a small spiral pad in his hand. She straightened.
“Looks like the law’s after you, girl.” She gave Cait a wink and rolled her tank into Celeste’s room.
Muffling a groan, Cait didn’t need to give herself a pep talk to stiffen her backbone and get ready to tell another batch of lies. She had years of experience lying to police. But first she searched the gaze of the officer, looking for any hint of glowing or overlarge pupils. He seemed human enough to just be a pain in her neck.
“Ma’am, I understand you were with Ms. Glapion when the EMTs got there?”
Cait gave a curt nod. “I was.”
His gaze rose from his notepad. “You told them she fell into a freezer.”
“I did.”
He cleared his throat and his eyebrows rose. “The only freezer in her store was part of a fridge and not big enough for her to fit inside.”
Cait shrugged. “Must have fainted and fell into the doorway.”
He arched an eyebrow. “And the plate-glass window? It was broken from the inside.”
“Guess I got a little carried away, trying to get someone’s attention on the street.”
“That someone Detective Pierce?”
“It was.” That statement wasn’t a lie.
“I understand the door wasn’t locked. Wasn’t blocked in any way.”
This guy was getting on every last one of her nerves. She gave him a dead-eye glare. “Your point?”
His chest rose, nostrils flaring. “Just tryin’ to get the facts, ma’am.”
“That’s OK, officer. I’ll take it from here.” Sam’s large hand skimmed her back and came to rest on her hip.
Sam couldn’t have been more obvious that she was his business if he’d peed on her. Her breath caught in her throat.
The officer eyed them both but gave Sam a crisp nod. “I’ll make a note that you’re adding to the report, sir.”
“Do that.”
As the officer walked away, she snuggled against Sam’s chest, her hands coming up under his jacket. “Not packing?” she asked, feeling no holster straps.
“Beg to differ, hon,” he growled.
Her lips twitched at the innuendo. “Shhh. Not now. You’re on the job.”
Sam pulled her hips tighter into his. “Turned in my badge and gun. For now.”
“What?” Shock shot through her, and she leaned back to stare into his face.
“Leland wanted you off the case. We had a difference of opinion. You and I are going it alone from here on out.”
“That list of officers who touched Donnelly?”
“We’ll have to do without.” He shrugged. “Leland stopped all inquiries except those directly involved with finding the girls.”
“Damn.” Her throat tightened. She knew how much being a cop meant to him. “What about you, though? This going to bite you in the ass?”
“He wanted to move me to another case altogether. Looking at this from his standpoint, I get why he’s so pissed. We had the guy. Henry’s murder’s neatly solved. He doesn’t want anyone else looking too closely at Donnelly now. Director wants it closed. Dead cop killer makes it nice and neat.”
“You didn’t figure out who was watching the street outside Celeste’s?”
He shook his head. “Didn’t have time before he pulled the plug.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Don’t know why that guy’s always gunning for me.”
Sam snorted.
At the sound, she couldn’t help but smile herself. She arched a brow and shrugged. Leland and she had a history. All of it bad.
“Going to stay and guard Celeste?”
She shook her head, then leaned around him to peek into the room. Miss Daisy gave her a wink. “Celeste has angels watching over her. She’ll be fine.”
Cait, Sam, and Jason congregated at the agency to share what they knew up to that point.
Jason opened his notebook. “No deliveries. No valid address in anyone’s customer database. Donnelly was a ghost.”
Cait certainly hoped he wasn’t, at least not now. And then she wondered whether ghosts retained their odors. She shrugged. “We need his bank information.”
They turned to Sam, who shook his head. “I’ll try to get with Grady Lawson. He was working on it. If Leland left him any bandwidth, he’ll give us what he can.”
“Gotta say, you two have certainly had more fun with this investigation,” Jason said, loosening his tie. “Never thought I’d have my fill of flaky coeds.”
“Wanna trade?” Cait drawled.
“Not if I’m gonna be the one bouncin’ on ceilings.”
Sam cleared his throat. “We’re stuck until we can piece together where Donnelly stayed.”
Cait nodded. “I have one more thing for you to run down, Jason.”
He arched an eyebrow. “Since you’re the lead, just tell me what you need.”
“It’s a pro bono thing, unrelated to the case.” Anticipating his reaction, she grimaced.
“We have time for this?”
“We have to make it. I promised someone I’d find her husband.”
Jason looked at her from under lowered eyebrows. “Do I want to ask?”
“Not if you want to sleep tonight.”
He grunted. “Hit me.”
“Name’s Frank Digby. An elderly guy whose wife died at Methodist Hospital.”
Both eyebrows rose, catching the bit about searching for a dead woman’s husband. “When?”
“I forgot to ask her. But it can’t have been that long ago.”
Jason’s gaze narrowed. “That’s new…talkin’ to ghosts.”
Cait shrugged. “It is what it is.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “So, if we’re done for the night…”
A glint of challenge shone in Jason’s gaze. “Not hittin’ O’Malley’s?”
“Since I’m not looking for a drink—no!” Her gaze slammed into Sam’s. “Seems you’re free too.”
“I’ll be right behind you, babe.”
“You always are,” she purred.
“TMI, guys,” Jason groaned.
Chapter Eighteen
Sam parked his sedan sideways in her parking lot, not sure how he got there because he’d only
just slammed his car door and now he was here. The minutes flew by without him noticing, because he was already imagining every way he wanted to have her before they went their separate ways. Maybe if he screwed her every which way and sideways he’d get her out of his system at last. But he knew that was just bluster on his part. He couldn’t imagine ever getting his fill.
Somehow, she’d beaten him to her place. Cait stood in the doorway, gave him a glance over her shoulder, and walked inside, already stripping. He hurried out of the car, sure she’d be nude and the whole world would get an eyeful because she sure as hell didn’t look like she gave a damn.
Stepping through the door, he slammed it closed behind him and followed the trail of her clothes into the living room.
She sat on the edge of the couch, just inside, her chest bare. Her pretty rosy-brown nipples were flushed a deeper shade, and the tips were hard and jutting.
Sam’s mouth watered. Feeling as though a fist closed around his balls, his hands got clumsy as he rushed to catch up. He barely restrained the urge to rip off his shirt because he knew he’d have to wear something going out the door later, but the little buttons frustrated him.
Cait must have sensed his desperation because she laughed and stood to wriggle sexily out of her tight jeans.
Groaning, he swore under his breath, which only made her laugh harder. He’d been hanging by a thread ever since he’d charged inside the store to see her prone, Celeste’s cold body in her arms. For just a moment he’d thought the wraith had her too, and his whole world had stopped turning.
A wake-up call for sure, and another sign he was sinking deep. His face and chest tightened as he remembered; his hands dropped to his sides. Good Lord, he still loved her. Heart and soul. If they went their separate ways when this was over, that stark, scary fact would never change.
Cait’s smile dimmed. Her stubborn chin rose. “Don’t want to hear that it’s not good for us.”
Sam drew a deep breath, readying to argue, but what did he want to say? Cait, I’ll love your forever, but I can’t stay?
With her gaze darkening, she shrugged, pretending nonchalance although he could tell from the way the corners of her mouth turned down she was disappointed. Her mouth opened, no doubt to deliver a caustic reply, but she closed it again.
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