Celeste Files: Unjust

by Kristine Mason

  Vlad shrugged his massive shoulders. “Vlad let Polina exercise. No worry, Vlad wrap band around Polina snout.”

  Everyone looked to the floor, then under the table. “She’s over by the bay window,” Lola said, and turned to Vlad. “You can’t let that gator run loose in the house. She’s getting too big. What if her band breaks?”

  “Try living here,” Harrison said. “I sleep with the door locked.”

  Ryan, Lola’s fiancé, grinned. “Has Vlad taught Polina how to open doors?”

  “You’re a real frickin’ riot, dude. You try living with a three-foot alligator and a Vlad, and see how well you sleep.”

  Good Lord, had Ian any idea of what his southern-based operation was all about? She looked to John, who was grinning and obviously enjoying himself. She could understand why. In comparison to the agency in Chicago, the people down here were relaxed and acted more like a dysfunctional family than a group of badass agents.

  Once Polina was put in her cage, Barney grew serious. “Can we get back to me apologizing to Celeste?”

  “There’s no need,” Celeste said. “As it is, I don’t want to hold you guys up from your training. You do have an airboat business to run.”

  “Does your dad know what happened?” Lola asked. “He called this morning about something he wants us to look into for him, but made no mention of it, so I didn’t.”

  “No, and I’d like to be the one to tell him.” She glanced to the others at the table. “Okay, so everyone knows what happened during the night?”

  “Only Ryan and Barney know the details. Harrison has been doing research, but doesn’t know why.”

  “Since when am I on a need-to-know basis?” Harrison asked. “But I’m glad the guy you had me looking into is dead. From what I’ve found so far, it sounds as if he was one mean son of a bitch.”

  John folded his arms across his chest. “Explain.”

  “Denis Comeaux was fifty-one when he died, but he’d probably spent half his life in prison. He did time for burglary, assault, rape, drugs and attempted murder. Most of his prison stays were either in Louisiana or Alabama. I found an old newspaper article about him and the woman he’d raped. Took place in Lafayette, Louisiana, about eighteen years ago. Comeaux would choke her until she passed out, then he’d revive her and do it again.” He looked up from his laptop and stared at Celeste’s neck. “The woman said she’d lost count after the sixth time. What happened to your neck?”

  “Denis choked me last night.”

  “Celeste sit.” Vlad pulled out a chair for her. “Florida heat get best of Vlad, too.”

  Once she was seated, she looked up at the Russian. “The heat didn’t do this, or this,” she said, pointing to her throat and showing him her wrists.

  Barney let out a low whistle. “Damn, girl. I’ve known a few hauntings myself, but nothing like that. Why, back when I was in ‘Nam—”

  “Tell us about it later,” Ryan said, keeping his attention on Celeste. “What happened?”

  “You seriously believe a ghost did that?” Harrison asked.

  “I believe my wife.” John rested his hand on her shoulder. “You don’t?”

  “No offense, it’s just…forget it.”

  The Russian grinned. “Vlad believe Psychic Celeste.”

  “Boys, not now,” Lola said to Vlad and Harrison, but kept her gaze locked on Celeste’s. “Tell them what you saw.”

  Celeste explained what she’d seen in the initial vision, what had happened at the condo before John had come home, and then later in the shower. She also told them about the ghost’s calling card. “I’m not one hundred percent sure about that part,” she said. “But each time he made his presence known the temperature rose and I got that same suffocating feeling. So I’m thinking that’s a definite sign.” She then told them what had happened during the night, and about the bound woman. “This scares me the most.” She pulled their camera from her purse and passed it around for everyone to see. “That was taken last night, when we were the only ones in the condo.”

  Harrison shivered. “This is so messed up.”

  She let out tired sigh. “Look, I get that you don’t believe—”

  “It’s not that, and it doesn’t matter what I believe anyway,” he continued. “I honestly don’t want you to prove me wrong about ghosts, because if one was suffocating me every time it came around, or choking me during the night, or taking pictures of me, I think I’d need to be drooling and sedated to make it through the day. What bothers me is if you really have a ghost hanging around, and if it’s Denis Comeaux, then you’re not dealing with Casper.”

  “Vlad know not this Casper.”

  “It’s an old cartoon, and Casper is a friendly ghost.”

  “If the ghost is Denis we obviously know he’s not friendly,” John said.

  Celeste let out a sigh. “What concerns me is that he’s looking for revenge, and I don’t understand why. He died during a storm and went down with his ship. It wasn’t as if he was murdered.”

  Barney lifted his ball cap and scratched his head. “See, now that’s why Lola wanted you to come by Polina’s Paradise this morning.”

  The worry in Barney’s good eye made Celeste’s stomach clench. “Are you telling me Denis was murdered?”

  “No, that’s what detectives think. I don’t believe it, but they think Gabe killed Denis before the boat sank.”

  “Gabe? The deckhand?”

  “We’re acquainted with a few detectives with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office,” Lola began, “and I asked them if they could give us the details from the medical examiner’s report. Turns out, Denis Comeaux had been stabbed in the chest. There’s also evidence of blunt force trauma to the head, but that could have happened when he fell off the boat. Since water was found in his lungs, the ultimate cause of death was drowning.”

  John puffed his cheeks and blew out a breath. “But if he hadn’t been stabbed, he might not have drowned.”

  Anger burned in Celeste’s belly. She let go of John’s hand and stood. “Oh, come on,” she said, with disbelief. This was utter bullshit. It had to be. She was in Florida—child free—to relax with her husband and hopefully make another baby. She was ovulating and no damned ghost or murder was going to mess with that—not after they’d been trying for the past three months with zero success. “Maybe Denis was hit by a passing boat. Wouldn’t a propeller make stab wounds? Besides, if these detectives already have Gabe in custody, and Denis wants revenge, there’s no need to bother me. His killer has been caught.”

  Lola stared at her, sympathy in her eyes. “The ME considered the propeller being the cause. Unfortunately for Gabe, the single stab wound was too deep and too concise to be from a propeller. Here’s what’s not helping Gabe, or Denis…Gabe confessed to killing Denis over a lifejacket.”

  “When?”

  “Shortly before midnight. But around three-thirty this morning, he woke up in his cell screaming that he didn’t do it.”

  Celeste looked to John. “Three-thirty? It was four o’clock when I finally snapped out of the vision or nightmare.”

  “Why did he recant?” John asked.

  Lola shrugged. “The detectives weren’t sure. When they spoke with him this morning, he said he didn’t kill Denis, that he was innocent and that there were plenty of lifejackets on the boat. Something else to consider, Gabe passed a polygraph before he even confessed, which was why the detectives were surprised when he claimed to have murdered Denis.”

  Celeste turned to Barney. “You said you know Gabe. Do you believe he killed the captain?”

  Barney shook his head. “Hard to say what a man is capable of doing in the heat of the moment. Personally, I was surprised when Gabe signed on with Denis, but that ain’t none of my business.”

  “It’s mine now,” Celeste said. “Why were you surprised?”

  “I told you I didn’t much care for Denis. He was one of those guys who always had an angle, if you know what I mean.”

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nbsp; “Barney need explain for Vlad,” the Russian said with a frown.

  “The man was a schemer,” Barney began. “Shady and secretive, too. When I heard Gabe was gonna start working for him, I wasn’t too surprised. Gabe has always been the trustin’ type. He’s a hard worker and does what he’s told. He also ain’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. He can read and write, but he never made it past the sixth grade.”

  “So Gabe hooked up with Denis, and then what?” John asked.

  Barney shrugged. “Don’t know much about it, except Denis hired Gabe to go with him down to the tip of Florida to do some shrimping and fishing. They were gone about three or four days—can’t remember which, before heading back to Everglades City. Denis claimed he had a buyer who’d pay him top dollar if he brought back specific fish, along with shrimp. Sounded dumb to me. Shrimping is one thing, but the Gulf ain’t like the fish market. You can’t just drop a line and snag a blue marlin or a sailfish or…you get the idea. My point is that I sure as hell wouldn’t risk losing days on fishing for what I know I can catch locally, on the chance I might come back with what the buyer wants.”

  “I agree with Barn on that,” Mel said, and tapped her long pink nails against the table. “Unless the buyer paid me upfront, I wouldn’t take the risk. I also don’t see Denis doing anything without guaranteed money.”

  “You knew him, too?” Celeste asked.

  She tossed her wavy, long blonde hair over her shoulder. “I steered clear of him after he gave me a smack and shoved his hand up my shirt.”

  “Jesus,” Ryan said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I took care of it. Denis might’ve been quick with his fist, but he was scared of my knife.” A wry smile tilted the woman’s mouth. “It’s kind of fitting that he was stabbed.”

  “Damn, you are cold,” Harrison said.

  She shrugged. “I am the ice cream lady.”

  Melanie was a piece of work. According to John, Mel not only ran the ice cream shop attached to Ryan and Lola’s airboat business, but she also ran a chop shop and had a thing for knives. Celeste had a hard time believing that the petite, pretty woman with the sweet southern drawl was capable of anything unsavory. But, at this point in her life, nothing surprised her.

  “Has anyone checked into Denis’s bank accounts?” John asked. “Or Gabe’s?”

  Lola nodded. “Detectives looked into Gabe’s. He’d made a deposit the day before he and Denis left. But the check wasn’t from Denis. It was from the last job he’d worked. Since Gabe didn’t withhold any money from the deposit, it’s possible Denis paid him in cash.”

  “Do you want me to hack into Denis’s bank account?” Harrison asked, as if this was an every day occurrence.

  “No. Let the detectives handle the bank the proper way, with proper warrants.” Lola glanced to Barney. “From what I’ve been hearing about the man, he doesn’t seem like the type to leave his cash in the bank. It makes me wonder what else he might be hiding at his place.”

  It didn’t take a psychic to know Lola was hinting that Barney should break into Denis’s house. If Celeste was right, she wanted to be there when Barney was nosing through Denis’s things. If she could gain a reading from a few objects in the dead man’s home, she might have a better understanding of him and what exactly he wanted from her.

  “Do we know if Denis or Gabe radioed for help during the storm?” Ryan asked.

  Lola frowned. “I’m not sure. When we meet with the detectives later, we’ll ask.” She glanced to Celeste. “We were hoping you’d join us.”

  “Me?” She shifted her gaze to John. “Do the detectives know that I’m psychic and being haunted?”

  “Just the psychic part.” Lola let out a breath. “Look, the detectives working this case aren’t convinced Gabe killed Denis. Let me rephrase…the evidence points to Gabe, but based on Denis’s history of violence, they’re wondering if Gabe killed Denis in self-defense.”

  “I don’t think he killed Denis,” Barney said. “Gabe has no history of assault and has never been arrested. Hell, in the fifteen years I’ve known the man, I’ve never once heard him raise his voice in anger, let alone come to blows.”

  “I can’t see Gabe killing a man, period,” Mel said.

  Ryan nodded. “Neither can I. Gabe’s a good guy.”

  “Or maybe you don’t know the man the way you think,” John said. “Someone killed Denis. That’s evidence you can’t deny. I’m sorry, but there were only two people on the boat, one of them is dead. Since I doubt Denis stabbed himself, either Gabe did it, or there was someone else on the boat that night.”

  “If there was, Gabe’s not talking,” Lola said. “The detectives are open to using a psychic to help fill in the blanks and figure out what happened.”

  Barney leaned back in his chair and stared at Celeste. “Seeing as how you’re on vacation and all, I feel bad for asking you to help us.”

  Since she was willing to break into Denis’s house with Barney to gain a reading, she’d have no problem working with the detectives. She’d do just about anything to stop the dead captain from haunting her.

  “It’s fine,” Celeste said. “I don’t mind performing a reading. I’ll just need an object from both Gabe and Denis—a piece of clothing they were wearing the night of the storm should work—and hopefully I’ll see something.”

  “About those objects,” Barney said. “Lola and I were talking, and we were both wondering…I mean, I certainly don’t want to upset you, but we were thinking—”

  “Honey,” Mel began, “Barney and Lola want to know what’ll happen if you touch a dead guy.”

  “Way to sugarcoat it,” Harrison said.

  Mel tapped her manicured nails along the table. “I’ve got ice cream to serve. The sooner Barney says what he needs to, the sooner we can get through our training, and I can go back to work.”

  “No, you want to go back to your little chop shop and play with the Camaro that happened to—”

  Lola held up a hand. “Enough.” She gave both Harrison and the pretty blonde a censoring look, before meeting Celeste’s gaze. “We all like Gabe, and we all want to believe he’s innocent. If he’s not, then he deserves to pay for his crime. I’m not a psychic, so if touching a dead body isn’t something you think will be helpful, the detectives will provide you with whatever you need to perform a reading.”

  Celeste shifted her gaze to John, who shook his head. “Denis’s body was in the water for five days,” he said.

  Which was exactly why she had no intention of going anywhere near the dead man. “Let’s start with objects first, then go from there.”

  While Barney let out a sigh of relief, Lola grinned. “Excellent. I’ll let the detectives know and schedule a time to meet with them.”

  “See if you can make it happen after we’re done training,” John said. “I’d like to spend the rest of the day at the beach with Celeste.”

  Guilt elbowed Celeste. Her poor husband. Nothing, not even a mini vacation, could be normal for them. She’d make it up to him, and ensure that they’d enjoy the rest of the week. Denis wanted revenge. He’d come to her before Gabe had confessed, then had become aggressive during the night when Gabe had denied killing the man. To her, it was clear Denis wanted Gabe to pay for his crime. Unfortunately, the only way to get rid of her ghost was to prove to Gabe’s friends that he was indeed a murderer.

  Chapter 5

  BARNEY PULLED HIS station wagon into Crystal Creek RV-Trailer Park where he lived and stored his boat. He parked under the carport attached to the back of his mobile home.

  “I thought we were going to Denis’s place,” Celeste said. After she and Barney had left Polina’s Paradise, they’d gone to Cap’n Ryan’s Airboat Tours. Ryan’s brother, Shane, was handling the light morning tour schedule, which gave her and Barney the opportunity to spend an hour boating through the Glades. While she’d had a fantastic time, her mind hadn’t been on the mangrove trees or whether she’d glimpse an alligator. She�
�d been thinking about breaking into Denis’s house and searching for a way to rid herself of his spirit.

  “We are. But, first we need a few things.” Barney began ticking off on his fingers. “Lock-pick kit, gloves and camera, unless you can think of something else. Second, Denis was my neighbor.”

  “Seriously?” She glanced to the RV at her right. “And you didn’t think that was worth sharing?”

  He chuckled. “I don’t mean that he lived right next door. He had a trailer a couple of lanes over. The good news is that I know the folks who lived by him. The majority are either snowbirds, or only come down to Everglades City on the weekends to do some fishing. So we shouldn’t run into any problems.”

  “Unless the detectives find out we broke into his trailer.”

  Barney shrugged. “I’ve been living in Crystal Creek for seventeen years. I’m also friends with the guy who owns the park. We’ll be just fine,” he said, climbing out of the car.

  She did the same, then followed him to the front of his mobile home. While Barney went inside to grab whatever he needed, she stepped around the American and the black POW-MIA flags, and once again admired his cozy and adorable covered porch, equipped with a ceiling fan, flower boxes and lawn furniture.

  “Ready?” he asked when he stepped outside.

  Celeste’s stomach tightened with nervous energy. John would be furious with her for doing this, but he wasn’t here. While she still had six days left of their vacation, she wanted to enjoy each day to the fullest—without a ghost. “Ready,” she said, falling into step with Barney as he started down the lane.

  When they reached a four-way intersection, they turned right. Just like yesterday, except for the hum of the occasional boat, or the seagulls overhead, the trailer park was quiet, which should’ve put her at ease. Instead, the silence made her edgy and anxious. The glaring sun, the way its heat licked at her scalp, bare shoulders, arms and legs, only intensified the anxiety. As they turned down another lane, her feet grew heavy, her legs strained. As if she had thick bands around her ankles, every step became cumbersome.