“Uh, okay. What about it?”
“What killed her?”
“Shitty karma?” Christina offered. “A bad attitude? The grim reaper finally catching up to her?”
It made Tori laugh.
“That was funny as hell and while probably true, I need something a little more finite to get Beau off.”
There was silence.
“I really should use the picture in the file, but I’m going to say by the indentation, it’s going to be a long cylindrical shaped object.”
“Like?”
“A pipe, a piece of tree branch, maybe even a…”
“What?” Julian asked.
“I wanted to say bat, but the shape looks off. Then again, she’s pulverized. Someone was pissed when they knocked her brain into next week.”
Yeah, they got that.
That was what worried them.
“Christina, you, as usual, have been so helpful. How’s the baby?”
She gushed with joy, happiness, and pride. “I want more. Well, not right away. Do you know what pregnancy does to your body? I thought my girl parts were going to be in a different zip code.”
Both men groaned.
“Oops. TMI! Sorry, boss!”
Tori laughed. “Thanks, Chrissy. Kiss Milo and tell him Veronica sends her love.”
She hung up.
“I really hate girl pregnancy talk,” Beckett admitted. “It creeps me the hell out.”
Julian did, too, and he’d been there to see it happen. “Well, now what?” he asked.
Tori glanced at her watch.
They were going to wait until it got dark, but they needed to move.
“I say we go early. We have to get Beckett in there so he can do his Voodoo.”
Julian agreed.
Normally, they’d go with safe, but the clock was ticking, and they were safely hidden away. No one followed them, and they had run of the place.
They were creeping around in a sexed up, no-tell motel and neither man was getting lucky.
“I’m in,” he said, as he pulled on a pair of leather gloves to keep from leaving fingerprints.
Beckett was already in his.
“I’m good to go.”
Julian patted him on the back in solidarity. He knew this was going to be hard, but they needed the man to bring his A game. This was all about saving Beau.
They needed everyone at one hundred percent.
“Let’s go commit a misdemeanor as we try to save our brother from a felony.”
Tori laughed.
They had interesting lives.
Here was the proof.
Chapter Three
Monday Afternoon
J ulian had two jobs. Since he was the boss, it was his job to make sure the team stayed safe, and his other job was to ensure that his wife didn’t make herself a magnet to anyone with a gun. If anything, she was predictable. Now that she wasn’t carrying their child, he could relax.
Marginally.
But he wasn’t able to shake that eerie feeling that something bad was brewing. In fact, this whole case felt off to him. Shelby was killed, the Littlemoon name was smeared, and now they were going to do battle against the cops.
He couldn’t help but think back to the case where the nut was keeping women in cages. The police had promised retaliation against the family.
What if this was it?
While he didn’t like to be the Debbie Downer of the group, it was hard to pretend that he wasn’t beyond paranoid. Something was coming.
But what?
As they crept along the back of the building, trying to access the room without being seen from the main road, it was hard to miss the used condoms all over the place.
While that was gross, they were more worried about someone seeing them playing the rousing game of ‘breaking and entering a crime scene’.
This was all about being stealthy.
Tori and Claire had changed out of their hooker garb, and they were sandwiched between both men as they single filed it down the back of the building.
Once at the window that led to Shelby’s rented room, Julian hoped that he’d counted right. If not, this could be awkward. He was pretty sure they’d be busting in on some hooker and ‘John’.
Yeah, awkward wasn’t the half of it.
Wrapping a cloth around his wrist, he smashed open the bathroom window to gain them access to the space. If he was lucky, at all, it would have been open.
Clearly, that wasn’t the case.
The window wasn’t big.
This was going to be a stretch with Beckett fitting inside. Pushing him through wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. He had to be careful what he touched on his way inside.
As for Claire and Tori, they were the same size, and he wasn’t large for a male. They should be fine.
As long as no one got cut.
Julian reached in and unlocked the window. Slowly, he slid it open, making sure to watch the broken glass. After he brushed it aside, he turned to his team.
“Tori, you’re up first,” he whispered, helping her inside. “You both will have to steady Beckett.”
When she was in, she reached her hand out to Claire to make sure she made it in safely.
“I have you,” she promised.
Claire took her hand, and Tori helped her inside.
Beckett was up next.
“Be careful!” Julian warned.
He was preaching to the choir.
If he touched anything with bare skin, he could slip away. Julian cupped his hands and helped boost him through the metal frame of what was left of the window.
When he peeked out, Julian released his breath. Three were in, and he was the last one to go.
Climbing in, he was careful not to move anything around. While techs had checked the scene, detectives could return if they needed to take another look. There was fingerprint powder smudges everywhere.
Inside, they stood in the bathroom, and they were so close to each other, they were practically living in sin.
“Come here often?” Beckett asked his wife.
Claire snorted. “No. Want to?”
He shook his head. “Pass. I want to peel off my skin from the mojo coming out of this bathroom.”
That said it all.
“Let’s go,” Tori said, heading for the door. She silently placed her ear to it, making sure there was no one out there.
It appeared to be clear.
Heading into the room, the foursome checked out the scene.
It was…intense.
Beckett could feel the energy hitting him in waves. It was threatening to pull him under, and he was fighting to stay in the present.
This was the problem with places like this. It was why he and Claire had to be very careful where they got naked. One romp here…
Yeah, he’d be gone.
“Are you okay?” Claire asked.
He wasn’t looking forward to this.
At all.
“I think so,” he muttered, staring into his wife’s brown eyes. The compassion and love helped him focus.
“What do you feel?” Julian asked him.
“Death.”
That was all he had to say.
Tori could feel it too. She could feel the licks of spirits flickering by her. She could see the shadows from her peripheral. The dead were definitely there.
Tori moved around the room. She could see where her mother had laid in her last moments of life.
The smell of acrid old blood filled the room, and it nearly made her want to throw up.
She held on.
She fought.
Tori wasn’t going to let this take her out.
“We should get moving,” she whispered. Truth be told, she needed to focus on something.
Anything.
As they approached the brown stain, Beckett pulled off one glove. The dangerous part was he was about to leave fingerprints there. Being an ex-cop, he was going to be in the system.
Oh we
ll.
He went for it.
As he reached for the chair that was on its side, they heard a noise.
Turning, the closet opened, and there stood a man with a gun.
Well, shit.
Not only a man, but one wearing a bright, shiny, gold badge.
This was bad.
Very.
Very.
Bad.
“I figured this was the plan,” he stated. “Now, everyone in this room is going to explain what the hell they’re doing here, tampering with our scene,” Detective Woods stated. “We’ll start with our happy hooker wannabes.”
Tori sighed.
“You’re not going to like it,” she finally answered.
He kept the gun trained on her as they all stood there with their hands in the air.
“Oh, I think I’m going to like it more than you crashing my crime scene,” he offered.
He had a point.
Still…
This was going to suck.
* * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *
Killing her had been a necessity.
She was pushing his limits of patience, and the end was nowhere in sight.
When she contacted him, at first, he thought it was a joke. There was no way any of this could be true, and the more he listened to her weave her vile web, the more it seemed outrageous.
Still, he had to listen to her.
He had to give her the shot to explain.
What she told him horrified him.
There was no way any of it could be true. It had to be lies. If it wasn’t, everything he’d ever learned was false, and nothing more than a joke.
No.
She was a liar.
She was a bitch.
She was going to pay.
How dare she mess with his happy life, and how dare she want to blackmail him?
Oh, well, there was only one way this could end.
He had to make her pay.
And make her pay he did.
With her pathetic, soulless life.
* * * L i t t l e m o o n * * *
Sumass Motel
“Well?” he asked. “Are you going to spill it, Mrs. Littlemoon?”
Tori stared at him. “We aren’t armed,” she stated. “How about you put your gun away, and we can talk?”
Arsen laughed.
“That is NEVER going to happen. As far as I’m concerned, you’re doing something illegal. I like to know I’m going home at night. Denied.”
Tori shrugged.
That was fine by her. Julian was behind her, and she was glad. If the detective got twitchy, he wouldn’t be shot. Claire either. The cops in town seemed to have it in for the Littlemoons, and she didn’t doubt it was because of their ethnicity.
“You’re afraid of us? You should be afraid of the people you work for at the office. They aren’t good cops.”
He was aware, but he said nothing.
“How about you tell me why you’re in here, where your mother was killed, and why I shouldn’t throw you all in jail?” he replied.
“I’m going to find her killer.”
“We have him. Beau did this,” he said, waiting for her reply. Arsen was good at reading people. If they lied, he would never trust them again.
“He’s innocent, and that’s why we broke in here. I’m also going to bet that you had Vivian tailed the second she asked for the autopsy,” Tori offered.
He didn’t smile.
“Okay, so you’re not in the mood to be friendly. I figured since we were hanging out in a shit dive, we could at least be amicable.”
Arsen kept his eyes on all four of them. While he wanted to trust them, he wanted to be safe more.
“I’m in the mood to stop screwing around. I have a dead woman, a suspect, and now his sister is at the crime scene with three other people who work for her. Oh, yeah, she’s ILLEGALLY there too.”
“Actually, I work for him,” Tori said, pointing at her husband. “He’s the boss.”
“Thanks for pinning this one on me,” he muttered. “Break into the room, she says. What can happen, she says?”
The detective growled in irritation that the lot of them weren’t taking this seriously.
They were breaking into a crime scene.
AN ACTIVE ONE!
“Someone had better tell me what the hell is going on,” he ordered, “or I’ll assume, and you don’t want me doing that,” he stated. “It will involve a trip to the precinct and a night in jail!”
Yeah, that was the opposite of what they wanted.
Tori knew they had to own it.
“We came here to check out the crime scene,” Tori offered. “I want to solve this so my brother gets his reputation returned to him. Believe it or not, he was using it before your band of foul cops besmirched it.”
“Listen, lady...”
“Tori,” she said, cutting him off. “I have a name, and I didn’t disparage you, Detective.”
Arsen took a deep breath. Clearly, getting angry wasn’t going to work, and he didn’t think he could scare them into confessing anything. He knew his adversary, and three of them had been cops at one point.
“Listen, Tori, you’re here illegally. Why don’t we start with why I shouldn’t toss you into jail?”
“Well, would you have let me in here if I asked nicely?” she challenged.
“Um, honey, he has the gun,” Julian warned. “His ears are also getting red. Try not to piss him off too much.”
Then again, if he had a stroke, they could walk right out the door…
“He’s harmless,” Tori stated. “We have nothing to worry about.”
“Uh, how do you know that?” Julian asked.
“Bethany,” she stated.
Julian lowered his hands.
Arsen didn’t know what the hell was going on. “Who the hell is Bethany?” he asked.
Talking to this woman was confusing and making him want to start drinking.
“I want in,” Tori stated.
“What?” he asked, not sure what the hell was happening around him. This woman was insane.
“I have special gifts, and they’ll help you solve this. We both have one thing in mind, Detective, and it’s all about finding the killer to close this one,” she stated.
He stared at her.
“What kind of gifts are you talking about?” he asked. “If you’re eluding to your previous job, please don’t think your job at the FBI impresses me. I’ve worked with Feds before.”
She glanced over at Julian. “Should I show him?” she asked.
They didn’t have much choice.
“It’s your call, honey.”
Tori took that as her husband’s blessing, and also as a sign that he was over his fear of her gift. Tori was a medium, and she was going to use that gift to save Beau.
“I talk to the dead.”
Arsen stared at her.
Then he lowered his gun.
Then he began laughing like she was a few bricks shy of a wall.
“That’s insane. You are crazy. There is no way you can expect me to buy into that bullshit.”
Tori was accustomed to this kind of response. If she had a dollar for each person who did laugh, she could start paying Julian back.
“You were adopted.”
He still laughed.
“You were actually stolen from your real parents, sold on the black market, and you don’t know who you really are.”
He stopped laughing.
“What?”
“You were taken from your real mother as a baby. That’s all you know about her. Well, you know her name.”
He didn’t speak.
It was a sucker punch to his gut.
“Ask,” she stated, knowing what he was thinking. Bethany was in her head, and she was spilling all his secrets. There were days it was good to have a spirit guide.
That day was today.
“What’s her name?”
“Twinkle Twinkle, Starla Bri
ght, Arsen is searching for his momma tonight.”
He went pale.
Then he took a step away from Tori.
That wasn’t enough to shut her up.
“You found out her name last year, and since then, you’ve been searching for Starla Bright. You don’t know where to begin to even look for her.”
“How do you know that?” he asked.
“Bethany,” she admitted. “She gives me all my information.”
“Well, then I want to talk to this Bethany,” he stated. “I need to see her.”
Julian, Beckett, and Claire began laughing at that request. If this man only knew what he was asking to do.
He would shut up fast.
“You really don’t,” Tori admitted. “You’ll be scared shitless.”
He moved closer to her. “Listen, Tori, I don’t know what the hell you’re trying to prove, but I need to know how you knew about that name. I told one person—my brother.”
“Adopted brother. He’s not biologically yours or your adopted mother’s.”
He swallowed.
“He’s mine. He’ll always be mine. Blood doesn’t make a family. Love does. Now, tell me where do I find Bethany?”
“Detective.”
He grabbed her arms and she went up on her toes.
Julian moved.
Tori looked over at him. “It’s okay, Jules. He won’t hurt me. Arsen isn’t that kind of man. I’m safe.”
Julian didn’t like it.
At all.
Still, he let his wife drive the bus.
“Where is she?” he asked, angrily.
“Bethany, I need you. Come here,” Tori whispered.
The room got colder.
Tori blew out a breath, and the plume of air shocked him. She could see it on his face as that vapor now escaped his semi-open lips.
“What the fu…?”
There was laughter in the room. It seemed to come from Tori, but her mouth was now closed.
“Jesus!” he muttered, taking a step back from her. “Who the hell was that?”
“I told you I talk to the dead. You called for Bethany, and she’s coming,” Tori admitted.
The wind in the room picked up. There was the sway of cheap curtains, the stirring of papers that were on the dilapidated desk, and there was the palpable kiss of fear.
Kiss of Souls Page 8
