Celeste Files: Unjust

by Kristine Mason

  “And the third person?” Celeste asked, suspecting what Nick had heard.

  “You used the name Miguel, and said your parents just don’t understand the love between the two of you. Then you got this strange look on your face, and asked why?”

  “A very strange and all too familiar look,” John said, his dark eyes holding concern and the hint of anger.

  She blinked back the tears, and looked away from her husband. Since they’d met, John had watched four murder victims as they’d used her body to show their deaths. Today was number five. And there were still dozens of pictures to go through.

  “What’s weird,” she began, trying to stay on track and not focus on her husband, but the dead who deserved justice, “is that I couldn’t hear the conversation between the three people. I know one of them was the victim.” She then told them what she’d seen at the beach.

  Jerry leaned back in his chair. “Okay, so if what Celeste saw is true, Comeaux has a guy in San Juan—possibly named Miguel—who maybe finds the girls, gets close to them, then helps with the abduction.”

  “But are all the victims Puerto Rican?” Lola asked. “And who’s to say Denis only had one contact helping him. What if he had several?”

  “There were four women on the boat,” Celeste said, thinking back to that part of the vision.

  “What boat?” Nick asked.

  Celeste related everything she’d witnessed, filling in the sketchy blanks from her notes. When she finished, she said, “What’s bothering me is where Denis was when he took Solana’s, and the other three women’s pictures. I was with them, and I can say for certain that we weren’t in his trailer.”

  “Was it the same room you were in during the vision from the other night?” John asked. “You thought he’d taken you to somewhere in Louisiana to show you a girl.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t think so. But I can’t be one hundred percent sure.”

  “We should look into Denis’s financial records,” Lola suggested. “Maybe he was renting warehouse space or a house outside of Everglades City.”

  Nick tapped the table. “If Comeaux was taking more than one woman at a time, and keeping them until he could sell them, I’d think he would need help with an operation like that.” When Celeste stared at him, he added, “I’m not saying I believe in the psychic thing, but I can’t dismiss the details you’ve given us. I also can’t help wondering if Gabe had different reasons for stabbing Comeaux, or if this Miguel was also on the boat that night.”

  “I was just thinking the same thing,” John said.

  Lola pulled her cell phone from her purse. “Let me call Barney. He told us that the fishing trip south was the first time Gabe had ever worked with Denis.”

  “Maybe it was Gabe’s first time helping with the abductions, but he could’ve been keeping the women imprisoned for Denis. Could be they fought over money,” John suggested, then turned to her. “Did you sense anyone else on the boat or in the room where the women were held. Maybe this Miguel guy?”

  “No, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t, and I never saw Denis when I was on the boat with the women. One thing that’s clear—Denis wants revenge, and Gabe is his target.”

  A knock came at the door. “Come in,” Jerry called.

  The deputy they’d seen earlier entered the room, then handed a sheet of paper to Jerry. “We got a match on the plate, and I sent the woman’s name to Missing Persons with your and Nick’s contact info attached.”

  Jerry thanked the deputy, then glanced to the paper. “The plates are registered to Blake Crewe. Sarasota, Florida address.” He looked up, and stared at Celeste. “This is too unbelievable. I’m not waiting on Missing Persons to get back to us.”

  Nick read over Jerry’s shoulder. “You go talk to them. I’ll stay here. Celeste, are you opposed to being video taped?”

  “I’m not comfortable with that.” She didn’t know these detectives, and with today’s technology, she worried about her readings going viral. She had a toddler and her business to consider, along with her husband and his job. Not everyone believed in the unknown, and she refused to allow her family, herself or her business to become a target.

  John took her hand in his. “Nick, you can translate if Celeste starts speaking Spanish, otherwise, between you, me and Lola, there are plenty of us to record what Celeste doesn’t remember.”

  “Fair enough.” Nick stood. “Before you start on the next picture, do you want something to drink?”

  Wine. “Thanks, but I’m good.”

  Jerry also stood. “I’ll check back in a bit.”

  “When you meet with Missing Persons, you should check if there are any recent Jane Does reported,” John suggested. “It could be that Denis and Gabe were bringing more than fish back with them.”

  *

  Five hours later, Celeste slumped onto their vacation condo’s sofa. Although she’d sat most of the day, her body was as exhausted as her mind. She’d probably cried more today than she had during an entire year. For the women who’d been murdered, and for those who were still alive but couldn’t be reached.

  “What can I get for you?” John sat next to her, and rubbed her knotted shoulder. “You haven’t eaten all day. Do you want me to make you something, order out, take you out…name it.”

  “We’re on vacation. We should go out for dinner.” She started to rise. “Let me jump in the shower. I can be ready in twenty.”

  “Barney is supposed to stop by.” He pushed her back down. “And I’m good being here with you. We don’t need to go out.” He kissed her cheek. “I’m going to make an executive decision.”

  “And that is?” she asked with a grin.

  “I’m going to order take out from the beach bar we were at yesterday. I found a blender in the kitchen pantry, so I thought I’d stop by the store on my way back, and buy what we need to make a pitcher of strawberry daiquiris.”

  “Sounds perfect. Since when do you drink daiquiris, let alone know how to make them?”

  “Since always, I just don’t drink them often. A frozen fruity drink kind of messes with my badass image.”

  “Indeed.”

  “As for knowing how to make them, I can read directions.”

  She nudged him. “More of a smart ass than badass.”

  He kissed her cheek. “Where’d you put the take-out menu we took from the bar yesterday?”

  “Top left drawer in the kitchen,” she said, just as a knock came at the door.

  John rose, then moved the curtain aside. “It’s Barney. His timing is perfect. I wasn’t comfortable leaving you alone while I ran out.”

  She’d had no intention of staying in the condo alone. Not after witnessing how Denis had abducted and sold those women, and especially not after watching so many of them die. The women didn’t frighten her. They were lost, tortured souls who needed to be freed of this world. But how could she help them find a way to the other side, where there was nothing but love, hope, beauty and peace? She’d been there once. After what these women had suffered, they deserved that peace.

  “Hey, Barney.” John shook the man’s hand. “Glad you were able to stop by.”

  Barney shifted his gaze to hers. “You’re not mad at me about yesterday?”

  “Why would I be mad that you helped my wife break into a trailer belonging to the dead man who’s haunting her?”

  “I’m not good at detecting sarcasm, so if you’re PO’d at me, just come out with it.”

  John grinned and clapped the man on the shoulder. “Put it this way, you wouldn’t have been welcomed here yesterday. But I’m in a slightly better mood, so I’m not holding anything against you.”

  “Plus, you get to keep me company while John runs out for a bit. A lot happened today that I’m sure you’ll want to hear about.”

  “Yeah, I saw Lola at the boat shop for about a split second,” Barney said, as John went into the kitchen. “She was in a hurry to catch up with Ryan, so all I got out of her was that you
used your psychic skills to help with the pictures you found in the box.”

  John came into the living room and offered her the take-out menu. “I know what I’m ordering. How about you?”

  “Don’t need it,” she said. “I’ll have what I had yesterday.” She turned to Barney. “Would you like to join us for dinner?”

  He shook his head. “Thanks, but I’m heading over to Polina’s Paradise after this. Vlad is grillin’ us Shashlik tonight.”

  “What’s Shashlik?” Celeste asked, as John slipped out the door.

  “Russian Shish Kebabs, but don’t call them that or Vlad will get all uptight.” He pulled off his ball cap. “If you don’t mind, I’ll take something to wet my whistle.”

  “Absolutely. Want a beer?”

  “That’d be great,” he said, following her into the kitchen. “It’s been another hot one today.”

  “I wouldn’t know. I was inside.” She handed him a beer. “Some way to spend a vacation, huh?”

  Barney popped the top off the bottle. “I can’t help but feel like this is all my fault. If I hadn’t taken you fishing we would’ve never found the net and Denis’s boot.”

  “And he wouldn’t be haunting me.” She took a drink of her beer. “Another chain reaction.”

  “Come again?”

  She led him back into the living room. “John and I were talking earlier about how Denis’s actions have affected so many lives,” she said, then told him about the vision she’d had of Solana, how Celeste had been able to give the detectives the first name of the young woman’s killer, along with his license plate number.

  “That’s incredible,” he said. “What’d they find?”

  “That Blake Crewe’s father, Peter Crewe, owns several vacant properties, one of which was a restaurant that he eventually planned to knock down and replace with an office building. Jerry contacted a detective he knows with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, and asked if the detective would meet him at the vacant restaurant.”

  “It’s a two-hour drive to Sarasota.”

  “That’s what I heard, but Jerry didn’t have concrete evidence to give to the Sarasota detective, at least nothing that would justify a warrant, let alone bringing in a forensics unit, so he made the drive while Nick stayed back with me, John and Lola. When Jerry got there, he said there was a dumpster, just like I described, but that it was empty. The Sarasota detective’s partner commented on how close the restaurant was to the woods. Because of the amount of garbage along the tree line, he suggested they check to make sure a wild animal hadn’t dragged the victim into the woods.” With her throat dry from talking throughout the day, she took a quick sip of beer. “They found a woman’s body almost one hundred yards from the dumpster.”

  Barney grinned. “Girl, you just gave me goose bumps. I’m sad for the young lady, but I’m sure glad she can rest in peace now, and the bastard who killed her will get his due.”

  “Let’s hope so. Hard evidence, not a psychic vision is the only way they’ll be able to convict Blake, and hopefully his father, too. From what I gathered during my vision, Dad was paying for the women.”

  “Makes you wonder what the hell is wrong with people. Even if Gabe did kill Denis, I think the man did the world a favor.”

  Celeste nodded. “I won’t disagree with you. Since you brought up Gabe…Lola didn’t mention anything about him?”

  “No. It’s like I told you. She was in a hurry and didn’t say much. Why?”

  “You’re sure this fishing trip Gabe took with Denis was the first time they’d worked together?”

  “Positive. For the past five or six years, Gabe’s been workin’ as a deckhand for a guy by the name of Lou Reese. But Lou tore his ACL a month back, and Gabe’s not qualified to captain a boat. Since Lou won’t be back to work for some time, Gabe had no choice but to hire on with someone else for a while.” He frowned. “Wait, you’re not thinking Gabe had something to do with those women, are you?”

  “A Jane Doe was admitted to Naples Community Hospital three days ago. She was picked up by a couple boating off the coast near Marco Island.”

  Barney took a sip of beer, and leaned into the sofa. “Is she Hispanic like the others?”

  Celeste nodded. “Young, too. She was badly sunburned and dehydrated. Her doctors say she’ll be fine, but she refuses to speak. At this point we don’t know if she was on Denis’s boat. But I find it too coincidental that she was pulled from the water the day after Denis’s boat sank.”

  He set his empty beer bottle on the coffee table, and placed his hat back on his head. “Yeah, but I still can’t see Gabe involving himself with abducting women.”

  “I can’t give an opinion about Gabe. He didn’t want to meet with me today, and after all the readings I did on the women’s photos, I didn’t have it in me to do one using the clothes Gabe wore the night of the storm.”

  “Did you do a reading on Denis’s clothes?”

  “No. I don’t need Denis in my head any more than he already is. But I do know he wants revenge, and he wants it against Gabe. From the beginning, Gabe claimed it was just him and Denis on the boat. Jane Doe opens up new possibilities—especially after going through the pictures of the women today.”

  “Well, if Jane Doe was on the boat, we have two people that could’ve killed Denis.”

  “Exactly. If she stabbed Denis, I’d think any court of law would let her go considering Denis was clearly abducting and selling women—and had the intention of doing the same to her. John and I are wondering if Jane Doe is too scared to talk because she doesn’t understand the laws we have here.”

  “And maybe Gabe’s keeping his mouth shut because he thinks the woman Denis took went down with the boat. Gabe wouldn’t know what was found at Denis’s trailer unless someone told him. Hell, I’d be tightlipped about what happened that night if I was in his place. Think about it. If Gabe tells the detectives there was a kidnapped woman on the boat, he’s implicating himself, right?”

  “Right,” Celeste said, Barney’s line of thought spurring one of her own. “Denis wanted me to know what he was, now we know. But what’s strange is that considering how hell bent he is on getting his revenge, he hasn’t showed me what happened the night the boat sank.”

  Barney cocked his head. “Why do you suppose that is?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe he wanted me to see how bad he was in life, so that it scared me enough to help him. Dead people are strange like that.”

  Barney burst into laughter, just as John opened the front door. Celeste’s mouth watered when the aroma of blackened grouper filled the room. She stood to help John with the bags.

  “That was quick,” she said. “I was just telling Barney about Jane Doe.”

  “Strange stuff.” Barney shook his head. “So Gabe doesn’t know about the girl, right?”

  “No. Nick and Jerry were hoping to get her to talk first. It’s possible she wasn’t on the Cajun Lady that night.”

  “If you don’t believe in coincidences,” John said from the kitchen. “Barney, are you ready for another beer?”

  Barney stood and pulled his keys from his pocket. “Better not. If I ain’t on time for dinner, Vlad will feed my Shashlik to his dang gator.”

  After Barney left, and John had whipped up a batch of Strawberry Daiquiris, Celeste plated their food. “Do you think Barney will find a way to let Gabe know about Jane Doe?” John asked.

  That had been one of the reasons for inviting Barney over this evening. She had disagreed with the detectives and thought Gabe should know about Jane Doe. If the man was innocent, and had nothing to do with abducting women or Denis’s murder, Jane Doe could help set him free. If Gabe had been involved in Denis’s plans, Celeste wanted the man convicted and given the harshest sentence possible. Since neither she nor John thought it was a good idea to contact Gabe’s attorney with information the detectives had yet to release, they hoped Barney would work well as the messenger. “I have a feeling he will. Withou
t her, Gabe could face a life sentence.”

  “True, but if Gabe does go to prison, Denis will have also gotten his revenge. Which means you’ll lose the stalking ghost.”

  Unless Jane Doe proves Gabe’s innocence, and Denis doesn’t get his revenge. What then? Would Denis continue to come after her, haunt her for not giving him what he’d wanted?

  God, she hoped not.

  Chapter 10

  “ARE YOU READY for bed?” John asked, and kissed her temple.

  Celeste looked up at the star-riddled sky and wondered if any of the surviving women were doing the same, or if they were enduring something unspeakable. The two daiquiris she’d had earlier curdled in her stomach, the rum, mixed with the spices from her grouper, tickled the back of her throat. “You go ahead. I think I might watch TV for a while.” She rose from the chaise lounge chair, gathered their glasses, and used her elbow to slide open the patio door.

  “I didn’t mean right this second,” John said, helping her with the door.

  “It’s been a long day, and you have training in the morning.”

  “I told Lola we’re taking off another day. I want to be with you while you’re at the Sheriff’s Office going through the rest of the pictures.”

  “You don’t have to be,” she said, not meaning it. She loved having John by her side today. There had been too many moments when she’d wanted to have a complete breakdown. Especially when she’d come close to discovering a woman’s name, who had killed her and where her body had been located, only to be dragged from the vision. Why that would happen, she didn’t know. She’d planned to call Maxine tonight and ask her what she thought about all of this. But after Barney had left, she didn’t want to talk about the women, Denis or Gabe. She’d wanted to eat her grouper, drink the daiquiris John had made, and relax with him.

  “What if I want to be there?” he asked, came up behind her, and wrapped his arms around her waist. “What if I don’t like the idea of you being alone in a room with nothing but the dead surrounding you?”