She hoped this was a dragon shifter that she had read many books about and was extremely intrigued by the prospect. He looked around the cave and focused on an area to the right of Whitney. He shot fire from his mouth and ignited a small pile of kindling. Instant flames engulfed the wood and lit up the dim cave.
“I know you are looking for help with the Susan Foley murder. I must apologize up front because there is only one cryptic clue that I am able to share with you. I will be aiding you in the future on some different adventures. My specialty is time and distance travel. I will help you roam the earth, even going back to the past to solve some future cases that may land in your lap. Call it a hunch,” the golden dragon shifter explained with what appeared to be a smile.
“What is your name?”
“My name is Darominius and I come from another time. I’ve been around for many centuries and I use my skills to help rid the surface of the earth of immoral humans. I can shift into human form at almost any time, but I am a dragon at heart. Dragons and wyverns have been misconceived from the first account to the present. Now people are starting to realize that dragons can be benevolent and are not just the nasty creatures that horde gold and jewels and steal princesses,” he clarified.
“I never believed those fake stories.”
“I know, and that is the exact reason that I am here to help you. We know that you believe in yourself and sometimes that’s the most important factor. You would be wise to concentrate on the information and help that has already been given to you,” Darominius told her.
“So what help are you going to provide me?”
“As I said, this clue might be more frustrating than helpful if you don’t use it correctly. I can only give you two letters to work with. L and S. That’s it, that’s all I can help you with right now,” he said.
“L and S. I guess that counts as two clues, but this is about as vague as it can get. When do I get to travel through time?”
“After you solve this case and only if you solve this case. I know that sounds a bit harsh, but if you can’t solve this, we aren’t going to trust you with even bigger matters. I have the utmost confidence in you on this and all future endeavors. You need to instill that confidence in yourself and never let it wane,” Darominius cautioned.
“It looks like I need to focus on this case now and not get ahead of myself then.”
“Precisely. Until we meet again, my lady,” Darominius said with a sweeping bow.
He walked out of the cave and Whitney followed him. He speeded up and suddenly started to get taller and wider until two golden wings sprouted from the middle of his back. The strong wing beats almost knocked her back as she watched the golden wyvern ascending into the night sky. If Whitney hadn’t witnessed several unbelievable paranormal instances throughout her life, she would have easily dismissed something like this as a figment of her imagination. However, she knew better by now.
Whitney left the cave and went straight to Trent’s house. They lay in bed after a great session of sex, but Whitney couldn’t sleep. She deduced by Trent’s measured breathing that he wasn’t having the same problem.
The clues of the case and the recent letters that the dragon had given her kept dancing in her head. She kept envisioning the magic vortex with its swirling colors, numbers and letters but nothing ever came together and jumped out at her. She couldn’t figure out what the L and S stood for and, feeling frustrated, she got out of bed.
She quietly walked down the hall and went to the bathroom. On the way back to the bedroom she stopped and looked into the guest room. The door was halfway open and she wandered in. She pulled the chord on one of the lamps and looked around. Folders and files were stacked on several desks with headings like Dante Crime Family.
Whitney became intrigued and wanted to take a look at Benno Dante’s file. The manila folder was extremely thick and she laid it carefully on the desk. She looked back to the open door and then focused on the folder. She cracked it open and started to read several arrest reports from when he was a teenager, including one for attempted murder. She leafed ahead to when he took over as crime boss.
Whitney became engulfed in the file but couldn’t find any pertinent information that would help in the Susan Foley case. Most of what she saw had been in the newspaper that she read almost every day. She caught a chill that her short nighty couldn’t fight away as she looked at a picture of a murder scene.
Whitney felt two hands on her hips and jumped from the surprise. A sensation of guilt ran down her body from head to toe.
Trent asked, “What are we doing here?”
“I’m sorry. I got interested.” Whitney tried to turn around but Trent held her firmly.
He ran his hands down the front of her thighs and used his short fingernails to scratch her lightly as he brought his hands back to her hips. He pulled up her nighty and his soft hands massaged Whitney’s perfect ass.
Trent reached around to the front of her thighs and spread her legs. He slowly teased his way inside from behind. Instant pleasure coursed through her body and she pushed back to meet her lover. Trent easily wrapped his hands around Whitney’s elbows and held them together at the center of her back.
Whitney almost passed out from the rhythmic strokes that followed. Her mind couldn’t fathom how the sex just kept getting better and better. She screamed wildly and exploded in ecstasy before turning around to kiss him.
“I love you.”
“I love you more,” Trent returned.
“Ha ha, I don’t know if that’s possible.”
Trent sat down in a leather chair and Whitney jumped on his lap. She kissed him again and stared into his eyes.
“So did you find out any good information?” Trent asked.
“No. Some jerk interrupted me before I could crack the case.” She laughed and laid her head on Trent’s chest.
“Well, we seem to have hit a dead end right now. So if your friends give you anything to work with, we’d love to know about it,” Trent said.
“Do the letters L and S mean anything to you?”
“Not really. They used to mean love stinks, but not anymore,” Trent said and softly kissed Whitney.
“I know what you mean. The letters L and S were the last clue they gave me.”
“Well, wouldn’t that be two clues?” Trent asked.
“Semantics, it’s a clue or two, is that good enough for you?”
“Aw, I like when you make it sound like a poem or children’s book. I’ll see if anyone else might know what those letters might stand for,” Trent said.
Chapter 10
Whitney kept tossing and turning in her bed. It was the first night in weeks that she hadn’t slept at Trent’s because he had to go into the city early in the morning. She sat up and assumed that she just missed her man but something felt strange.
She looked at the clock and every inclination told her to go back to bed but she started to get dressed. Whitney never got up before 6:00 a.m. but something stirring inside her caused her to grab her keys and start driving. She didn’t even know where she was going as she instinctually drove to the Granny Larson Library.
Whitney got out of her car and entered the library. She immediately went for the haunted corner and saw it glowing from across the building. The ground started to shake as she neared the vibrating shelf. Books crashed to the floor and a familiar bright light came from the opening in the wall. Whitney eagerly walked through the crack and the book case slammed shut from behind, leaving her in the dark.
She blew the stale air around in an attempt to get the sparkling dust to help illuminate the room. She heard the voice of the male ghost and felt his hand on her back as he directed her to the vortex. She dove headfirst through the constrictive tunnel until she hit the slide.
Whitney plunged into the sparkling aquamarine waters and swam back up. The ghost maneuvered the boat over to her and helped her get inside. Whitney wrung out her hair and sniffed the flowery air as they cruised down the
waterway of this magical land.
The ghost pulled up and used the code box to form the steps. Whitney jumped out and had to use her hand to brace herself and maintain balance. She walked and the ghost floated up to the front door.
The ethereal being opened the door and motioned for Whitney to enter. They took the hover board down the hallway and found the family in the same room, sitting around the same table. They looked different and as Whitney got closer she noticed that they had all seemingly aged accordingly for eighteen years. The matriarch had a huge silver smile on her face that warmed Whitney’s heart.
She could feel the love in the room as she sat at the same spot as when she was twelve.
“There she is. We are sorry to have made you wait for so long to realize your true fate, but you are a much stronger person than we could have ever realized,” the father figure told her.
“Thank you. It was well worth the wait.”
The mother said, “You are strong and patient, my dear. You had options at every turn to get out of this town, but you stayed. You stayed and kept believing that you would receive your just due. Now you are in a great position to help us bring down the man who sent us here.”
“Wait, you were sent here by Benno Dante?”
“We were, and that is why we are helping you figure this out. Allow me to introduce the family. This is my husband, Roland. These are my children, Ruth Ann and you know the comedian, Richard,” the mother pointed them out as she made the introductions.
“Oh, I know he can be a real Richard,” Whitney joked and the entire table erupted in laughter.
“Alright, I guess I deserve that. Back to the serious side of this equation. We know you are stuck on the facts that you know about this case, but everything is right in front of you. You don’t need any more information, you just need to use what you already know properly,” Richard told her.
“I have a clue in the form of the letters L and S, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how they fit into this puzzle. But don’t worry, I plan to solve your case as soon as I complete this one about Susan Foley. I promise.”
Ruth Ann spoke, “That is unnecessary. Solving this case will result in our case being settled. We don’t need to have people digging up our human bodies and disrupting our peace. You can try to figure out who we were in that world, but let us lie undisturbed.”
“I plan to check every murder case in the last fifty years until I find out exactly who you are.”
Roland said, “That would be futile. You won’t find us in the murder records. As Ruth Ann said, if you figure out the Susan Foley murder, our justice will organically fall into place. Think about that clue involving the letters.”
The father got up from his chair and floated over to her. He leaned down and pointed at her left foot. Whitney didn’t understand what he was doing as he kept pointing with his index finger. The letters L and S rang through her head but there wasn’t any connection.
“What is he pointing at?” Richard asked.
“He’s pointing at my foot. I don’t know, does it mean Lazy Susan? I’m all out of guesses. You don’t seem to understand how frustrating this has become. Trying to put together cryptic clues, getting shot at, keeping secrets from my boyfriend and my family. All this is starting to take a toll on me.” It was the first time Whitney had verbalized the pressure she felt to solve this for Susan and the family of ghosts.
The mother’s calming voice rang over the table, “My dear, we understand better than any the frustration of these matters. They can be a slow and tedious process and they will drive you mad if you allow it. Nobody has been more patient with this matter than us. Now what goes over your foot, my dear?”
Her soothing tones helped to relax Whitney as she thought for a moment.
“A shoe, a left shoe. L and S, it’s so obvious now. But I already know that Joey Left Shoe didn’t commit the murder.”
“But what does he know?” Ruth Ann posed the question.
“Ok, I think I smell what you’re stepping in.”
The table chuckled and Roland said, “It’s nice to see that you can maintain your humor. You need to get creative and figure out how to use the final clue to solve this murder. And yes, this will be the final clue that you receive from us. It was lovely seeing you again and I do hope it’s not another eighteen before we see you again.”
The mother said, “It won’t be anywhere near that long. I have a healthy suspicion that we will be seeing you and a guest of yours extremely soon. Until then, the pleasure is always ours, my dear.”
Ruth Ann said, “Whitney, we wish you the best of luck and thank you for taking on this task. Without you, this crime will go unpunished. I don’t want to put any undue pressure on you, but no one else has the ability to handle this. We believe in you, Whitney Powers. Remember what we said all those years ago. Never forget that you must believe in yourself. Goodbye, Whitney.”
“Goodbye, everyone.” She could barely get the words out because she was getting choked up.
She felt a strong connection to the family and enjoyed the limited time she got to spend with them.
The mother said, “I almost forgot. My name is Raquel. Richard, please show this precious angel back to her world.”
Whitney followed the floating figure back to the boat and up the slide. She dove back through the other side of the vortex and landed on the ground. She heard the splashing sounds of water and when she regained her vision, she had landed back on the small piece of land in the middle of the public pond.
She looked down and noticed that she was wearing an amethyst gown that appeared to be sprinkled with tiny diamonds. She felt beautiful until the townspeople started to show up like when she was twelve. Everyone started to point and laugh and suddenly the confident, strong woman felt exposed to the world.
She thought the degradation was over now that she had Trent and a purpose in life. However, she had never felt worse as more and more people gathered around the pond. This felt like the worst four years of her life again, high school.
Just as her emotions hit rock bottom, her knight in shining armor strode up to the bank of the pond. Whitney tried to stop her tears to be strong in front of her lover. Trent took off his shirt and handed his gun belt to a fellow officer. He removed his shoes and socks and walked up to the shoreline.
Her lover dove into the water and started to swim out to her. Whitney wanted to jump in and meet him halfway but she feared she would drown in the voluminous gown. She waited eagerly and tried to wipe away her tears, but joyous droplets now started to flow.
Trent made it to the small island and picked up Whitney. Their lips met before her feet left the ground and Trent spun her around.
He looked her in the eyes and said, “I thought I lost you, baby. You’ve been gone for two and a half days. I was ready to kill each and every gangster until I found you. Did you get to go back to the other world?”
“Maybe.” She rolled her eyes.
“That’s great. I wish I could have come with you,” Trent told her with a reassuring smile.
“It was great, until I got back here and this felt like high school all over again. Everyone standing around judging and laughing at me.”
“Well since this is like high school and you never went to your prom or homecoming, may I have this dance, Miss Whitney?” Trent requested.
More tears flowed liberally down her rosy cheeks as Trent held out his hand.
She said, “Of course, but how did you know that?”
Trent kissed her and said, “Let’s just say your family likes to talk a lot. A whole lot.”
“I should have known it was them.” Whitney didn’t let it bother her and reveled in the moment.
She planted her hand in his as he pulled her close and they slowly worked around the small patch of land. Whitney felt confident again in the arms of her lover. She held on tight to what appeared to be the perfect man. They danced for about fifteen minutes until the small boat arrived to take them
ashore.
All the ugly looks from the people had turned into bitter looks of jealousy as Whitney scanned the crowd. Her self-esteem soared again as she pulled Trent in for a public kiss. She didn’t realize that she had been missing for two and a half days this time. She thought about how to get in touch with her parents until she saw Robert Powers, standing along the bank of the pond with a relieved look on his face.
The rest of her family flanked her dad. Whitney Powers felt complete again.
Chapter 11
Whitney walked inside Bo’s front door and screamed, “Wake up, sleepyhead.”
The yawning man came out wearing a Hugh Hefner style robe and a tired look on his face.
“What up, buttercup?” he asked.
“I need help on the Susan Foley case.”
“Well just like the Dukes of Hazzard, here comes Bo to the rescue,” he said.
“I thought Luke was the one who usually saved the day.”
“Look, do you want my help or not? I didn’t wake up early to argue about old TV shows,” he said in a bitchy tone.
“Easy there, buttercup. I have a clue about Joey Left Shoe.”
“You already had that clue, I thought,” Bo said as he scratched his head and started a pot of coffee.
“I’ve been told to use that clue again, but I’m not sure what to do. As far as I know, he just paid that kid to alert the mob as to when Susan showed up at the library. That’s not much leverage.”
“No, but it’s some leverage. I’ll bet he’s got a lot of other convictions in the closet and this might put him over the top. It’s technically accessory to murder, a felony,” Bo told her.
“Right, but everything is circumstantial. I can’t prove that he paid that kid for that reason.”
“He doesn’t know that. For all he knows, you’ve got the goods on old Benno Dante and it would be in his best interest to flip or spend the rest of his life behind bars,” Bo said.
“So basically you’re suggesting that we blackmail him.”
“Not basically, that’s exactly what I’m saying. We have the pictures of him making the drop off. Send him a little love letter with the picture inside and see what happens. Chances are he will never respond, so I say it’s worth a shot to at least feel like a badass,” Bo opined.
Whispers From Another World: Whintey Powers Paranormal Adventure #1 (Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventures) Page 9
